We report on a slump-earth flow occurred in Southern Apennines following a 3-day rainstorm in late 1993. Subsequently, the landslide underwent different phases of activity, and in particular, the reactivation phase in 1995, which apparently coincided with a series of minor earthquakes (local magnitude ∼ 3) and seasonal rainfall events. We focus on one and a halfyear temporal-spatial variations in retrogressive evolution of the landslide and attempt to identify cause-effect relations between the main scarp failures and the occurrence of seismic and rainfall events. For this purpose, qualitative and quantitative correlations are sought between possible causative factors and landslide activity. The results show that: (1) the general retrogressive trend is neither directly correlated to the temporal seismic activity pattern, nor to the monthly or short term precipitation; instead, the trend appears to be influenced by groundwater level variations, which are related to a few month cumulative precipitation pattern; (2) the variations in retrogressive activity of the main scarp, with respect to the general trend, show a limited positive correlation with seismic energy and monthly precipitation pattern; (3) the relative influence of precipitation appears to be greater than that of seismic activity; the latter seems to give a contribution to instability only when the main scarp is already unstable. These results indicate that, in presence of other causative factors, low energy seismic activity can have a complementary role as destabilising agent; however, a rigorous quantification of its relative weight would require more detailed and longer term monitoring data provided by continuous in situ recording instrumentation.

Low magnitude earthquakes and landslide activity: a case study from Italy

DEL GAUDIO, Vincenzo;
2005-01-01

Abstract

We report on a slump-earth flow occurred in Southern Apennines following a 3-day rainstorm in late 1993. Subsequently, the landslide underwent different phases of activity, and in particular, the reactivation phase in 1995, which apparently coincided with a series of minor earthquakes (local magnitude ∼ 3) and seasonal rainfall events. We focus on one and a halfyear temporal-spatial variations in retrogressive evolution of the landslide and attempt to identify cause-effect relations between the main scarp failures and the occurrence of seismic and rainfall events. For this purpose, qualitative and quantitative correlations are sought between possible causative factors and landslide activity. The results show that: (1) the general retrogressive trend is neither directly correlated to the temporal seismic activity pattern, nor to the monthly or short term precipitation; instead, the trend appears to be influenced by groundwater level variations, which are related to a few month cumulative precipitation pattern; (2) the variations in retrogressive activity of the main scarp, with respect to the general trend, show a limited positive correlation with seismic energy and monthly precipitation pattern; (3) the relative influence of precipitation appears to be greater than that of seismic activity; the latter seems to give a contribution to instability only when the main scarp is already unstable. These results indicate that, in presence of other causative factors, low energy seismic activity can have a complementary role as destabilising agent; however, a rigorous quantification of its relative weight would require more detailed and longer term monitoring data provided by continuous in situ recording instrumentation.
2005
1507-97-91
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11586/70463
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