An investigation of the combined effect of rainfall and road cut on landsliding (2022)
Journal Article
Pradhan, S., Toll, D., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2022). An investigation of the combined effect of rainfall and road cut on landsliding. Engineering Geology, 307, Article 106787. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2022.106787

The reduction of soil suction and consequent loss of shear strength due to infiltration is known to trigger shallow landslides during periods of concentrated rainfall. In the mountainous terrain of Nepal, the risk of shallow rainfall-induced landslid... Read More about An investigation of the combined effect of rainfall and road cut on landsliding.

Mass Movements (2022)
Book Chapter
Brain, M., & Rosser, N. (in press). Mass Movements. In T. Burt, A. Goudie, & H. Viles (Eds.), The History of the Study of Landforms or the Development of Geomorphology. The Geological Society. https://doi.org/10.1144/m58-2021-32

In this chapter, we consider key advances in understanding of mass movements between ~1965 and ~2000. This period saw a burgeoning need for a greater level of understanding of mass movement processes in response to a series of high impact mass moveme... Read More about Mass Movements.

Field monitoring of soil-moisture to understand the hydrological response of a road-cut slope (2020)
Book Chapter
Pradhan, S., Toll, D., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2020). Field monitoring of soil-moisture to understand the hydrological response of a road-cut slope. In R. Cardoso, C. Jommi, & E. Romero (Eds.), 4th European Conference on Unsaturated Soils (E-UNSAT 2020). EDP Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202019501029

Rainfall and slope-cutting for road construction are two key landslide causative factors in Nepal, but how they interact to cause failures is poorly understood. To improve understanding of the effects of cut slopes during rainfall, geotechnical inves... Read More about Field monitoring of soil-moisture to understand the hydrological response of a road-cut slope.

Cosmogenic exposure dating reveals limited long-term variability in erosion of a rocky coastline (2020)
Journal Article
Swirad, Z., Rosser, N., Brain, M., Rood, D., Hurst, M., Wilcken, K., & Barlow, J. (2020). Cosmogenic exposure dating reveals limited long-term variability in erosion of a rocky coastline. Nature Communications, 11, Article 3804. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17611-9

Predicted sea-level rise and increased storminess are anticipated to lead to increases in coastal erosion. However, assessing if and how rocky coasts will respond to changes in marine conditions is difficult due to current limitations of monitoring a... Read More about Cosmogenic exposure dating reveals limited long-term variability in erosion of a rocky coastline.

Emergent characteristics of rockfall inventories captured at a regional scale (2020)
Journal Article
Benjamin, J., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2020). Emergent characteristics of rockfall inventories captured at a regional scale. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45(12), 2773-2787. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4929

High-resolution rockfall inventories captured at a regional scale are scarce. This is partly owing to difficulties in measuring the range of possible rockfall volumes with sufficient accuracy and completeness, and at a scale exceeding the influence o... Read More about Emergent characteristics of rockfall inventories captured at a regional scale.

The Importance of Monitoring Interval for Rockfall Magnitude-Frequency Estimation (2019)
Journal Article
Williams, J., Rosser, N., Hardy, R., & Brain, M. (2020). The Importance of Monitoring Interval for Rockfall Magnitude-Frequency Estimation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 124(12), 2841-2853. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jf005225

The frequency distribution of rockfall sizes ('magnitude-frequency') is important for erosion and hazard modeling. This typically follows a power law, with few larger rockfalls compared to more numerous small events. Advances in LiDAR hardware and al... Read More about The Importance of Monitoring Interval for Rockfall Magnitude-Frequency Estimation.

Identifying mechanisms of shore platform erosion using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry (2019)
Journal Article
Swirad, Z., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2019). Identifying mechanisms of shore platform erosion using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 44(8), 1542-1558. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4591

Shore platforms control wave energy transformation which, in turn, controls energy delivery to the cliff toe and nearshore sediment transport. Insight into shore platform erosion rates has conventionally been constrained at mm-scales using micro-eros... Read More about Identifying mechanisms of shore platform erosion using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry.

Controls on the geotechnical response of sedimentary rocks to weathering (2019)
Journal Article
de Vilder, S., Brain, M., & Rosser, N. (2019). Controls on the geotechnical response of sedimentary rocks to weathering. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 44(10), 1910-1929. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4619

Weathering reduces the strength of rocks and so is a key control on the stability of rock slopes. Recent research suggests that the geotechnical response of rocks to weathering varies with ambient stress conditions resulting from overburden loading a... Read More about Controls on the geotechnical response of sedimentary rocks to weathering.

Alongshore variability in wave energy transfer to coastal cliffs (2018)
Journal Article
Vann Jones, E., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2018). Alongshore variability in wave energy transfer to coastal cliffs. Geomorphology, 322, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2018.08.019

The alongshore distribution of wave energy is believed to be an important control on the spatial variability of coastal erosion. There is, however, a lack of field data quantifying the alongshore variability in wave energy on rock coasts, whereby the... Read More about Alongshore variability in wave energy transfer to coastal cliffs.

Optimising 4-D surface change detection: an approach for capturing rockfall magnitude–frequency (2018)
Journal Article
Williams, J., Rosser, N., Hardy, R., Brain, M., & Afana, A. (2018). Optimising 4-D surface change detection: an approach for capturing rockfall magnitude–frequency. Earth Surface Dynamics, 6(1), 101-119. https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-101-2018

We present a monitoring technique tailored to analysing change from near-continuously collected, high-resolution 3D data. Our aim is to fully characterise geomorphological change typified by an event magnitude frequency relationship that adheres to a... Read More about Optimising 4-D surface change detection: an approach for capturing rockfall magnitude–frequency.

Forensic rockfall scar analysis: Development of a mechanically correct model of rockfall failure (2017)
Book Chapter
de Vilder, S., Rosser, N., Brain, M., & Vann Jones, E. (2017). Forensic rockfall scar analysis: Development of a mechanically correct model of rockfall failure. In J. De Graff, & A. Shakoor (Eds.), Landslides : putting experience, knowledge and emerging technologies into practice (829-839). Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists (AEG)

The mechanical controls on small (< 10 m3), individual rockfall in jointed rock masses are not well constrained. We use forensic analysis of rockfall detachment surfaces (scars) which display fractured surfaces broken through intact rock, termed rock... Read More about Forensic rockfall scar analysis: Development of a mechanically correct model of rockfall failure.

Forensic analysis of rockfall scars (2017)
Journal Article
de Vilder, S., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2017). Forensic analysis of rockfall scars. Geomorphology, 295, 202-214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.07.005

We characterise and analyse the detachment (scar) surfaces of rockfalls to understand the mechanisms that underpin their failure. Rockfall scars are variously weathered and comprised of both discontinuity release surfaces and surfaces indicative of f... Read More about Forensic analysis of rockfall scars.

The control of earthquake sequences on hillslope stability (2017)
Journal Article
Brain, M., Rosser, N., & Tunstall, N. (2017). The control of earthquake sequences on hillslope stability. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(2), 865-872. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl071879

Earthquakes trigger landslides in mountainous regions. Recent research suggests that the stability of hillslopes during and after a large earthquake is influenced by legacy effects of previous seismic activity. However, the mechanisms that control hi... Read More about The control of earthquake sequences on hillslope stability.

Rockfall detection and volumetric characterisation using LiDAR (2016)
Book Chapter
Benjamin, J., Rosser, N., & Brain, M. (2016). Rockfall detection and volumetric characterisation using LiDAR. In S. Aversa, L. Cascini, L. Picarelli, & C. Scavia (Eds.), Landslides and Engineered Slopes: Experience, Theory and Practice (389 - 396). CRC Press

What controls the geometry of rocky coasts at the local scale? (2016)
Journal Article
Swirad, Z., Rosser, N., Brain, M., & Vann Jones, E. (2016). What controls the geometry of rocky coasts at the local scale?. Journal of coastal research, 75(sp1), 612-616. https://doi.org/10.2112/si75-123.1

There is a need to understand the controls on rocky coastal form in order to predict the likely response to climate changes and sea-level rise. Spatial variations in coastal geometry result from inheritance and contemporary processes, notably erosive... Read More about What controls the geometry of rocky coasts at the local scale?.

The effects of normal and shear stress wave phasing on coseismic landslide displacement (2015)
Journal Article
Brain, M., Rosser, N., Sutton, J., Snelling, K., Tunstall, N., & Petley, D. (2015). The effects of normal and shear stress wave phasing on coseismic landslide displacement. Journal of Geophysical Research, 120(6), 1009-1022. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014jf003417

Predictive models used to assess the magnitude of coseismic landslide strain accumulation in response to earthquake ground shaking typically consider slope-parallel ground accelerations only and ignore both the influence of coseismic slope-normal gro... Read More about The effects of normal and shear stress wave phasing on coseismic landslide displacement.

Quantifying the environmental controls on erosion of a hard rock cliff (2015)
Journal Article
Vann Jones (née Norman), E., Rosser, N., Brain, M., & Petley, D. (2015). Quantifying the environmental controls on erosion of a hard rock cliff. Marine Geology, 363, 230-242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2014.12.008

Linking hard rock coastal cliff erosion to environmental drivers is challenging, with weak relationships commonly observed in comparisons of marine and subaerial conditions to the timing and character of erosion. The aim of this paper is to bring tog... Read More about Quantifying the environmental controls on erosion of a hard rock cliff.

Are microseismic ground displacements a significant geomorphic agent? (2014)
Journal Article
Brain, M., Rosser, N., Norman, E., & Petley, D. (2014). Are microseismic ground displacements a significant geomorphic agent?. Geomorphology, 207, 161-173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.11.002

This paper considers the role that microseismic ground displacements may play in fracturing rock via cyclic loading and subcritical crack growth. Using a coastal rock cliff as a case study, we firstly undertake a literature review to define the spati... Read More about Are microseismic ground displacements a significant geomorphic agent?.

Coastal cliff-top ground motions as proxies for environmental processes (2013)
Journal Article
Norman, E., Rosser, N., Brain, M., Petley, D., & Lim, M. (2013). Coastal cliff-top ground motions as proxies for environmental processes. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 118(12), 6807 - 6823. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013jc008963

A two-year dataset of coastal cliff microseismic ground motions is used to explore energy transfer to a cliff. The long-term dataset enables us to characterise cliff motion responses to a wide range of environmental processes and examine whether shor... Read More about Coastal cliff-top ground motions as proxies for environmental processes.

Coastline retreat via progressive failure of rocky coastal cliffs (2013)
Journal Article
Rosser, N., Brain, M., Petley, D., Lim, M., & Norman, E. (2013). Coastline retreat via progressive failure of rocky coastal cliffs. Geology, 41(8), 939-942. https://doi.org/10.1130/g34371.1

Despite much research on the myriad processes that erode rocky coastal cliffs, accurately predicting the nature, location, and timing of coastline retreat remains challenging, and is confounded by the apparently episodic nature of cliff failure. The... Read More about Coastline retreat via progressive failure of rocky coastal cliffs.