Rockfall an application of the risk-consequence hazard rating system for the "mirawa" main road rock cuts, kurdistan region, North Iraq

Abstract EN

In this work, the Missouri Rock Fall Hazard Rating System (MORFH RS), named as Risk-Consequence rockfall hazard rating system, was used as an attempt to assess the rockfall hazards of the road rock cuts along the "Mirawa" main road, especially, after the population and urban growth witnessed in the area in the last decade.

The MORFH RS is a risk consequences-based classification system that includes 22 factors, including 9 factors for risk, 10 factors for consequence, and 3 adjustment factors.

Seven (7) sites of rock cuts along 2.36 Km of the Mirawa main road have been studied in detail.

These road cuts consist of the clastic rocks (sandstone, siltstone, and claystone) of the Injana Formation of the Late Miocene age.

The Mirawa main road is located to the north of Shaqlawa summer resort, between Darband village (in the southeast) and Mawaran-Ulia village (in the northwest), within Erbil Governorate, Kurdistan Region, N-Iraq.

The used risk-consequence rockfall rating system diagram shows that; five-rock cuts (S 6, S-10, S-11, S-14, and S-22) have High risk-High consequences, and only two rock cuts (S 18 and S-22) have "Low risk-High consequences".

The risk-consequence rockfall hazard rating diagram shows that; the rock cuts (S-6, S-10, S-11, S-14, and S-22) are within the "High Hazard Zone" (Zone A), while the rock cuts (S-18 and S-20) are within the "Moderate Hazard Zone" (Zone B).

Accordingly, the "Mirawa" main road is high to moderate rockfall hazards for vehicles and road users, and two maps related to the "risk-consequence" rockfall ratings were prepared.