4 November 2016

The Nera River landslide triggered by the Norcia earthquake

Posted by Dave Petley

The Nera River landslide triggered by the Norcia earthquake

In my post earlier today I briefly mentioned the large Nera River landslide, which blocked the Nera River near to the town of Visso.  Salvatore Martino has kindly sent an update on this landslide:

The M 6.5, 30 October earthquake occurred in Central Italy triggered hundreds of landslides among which a rock slide of about 600,000 cubic metres (estimated by preliminary field surveys) along the Nera gorge (close to the Visso village) about 8 km from the epicenter. The landslide debris dammed the Nera River, generating a lake upstream. Presently the river is flowing again, by-passing the natural dam.  The landslide seems to have a structural control since the detached rock block was delimited by well developed joint systems. The fallen blocks probably mobilized previously existing debris cover so increasing the volume of debris which filled the river.

Here there are some images of the landslide event collected by the CERI research team and the Google Earth view of the gorge before the landslide collapse.

These are the images:

Nera river landslide

A Google Earth image of the location of the Nera River landslide

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Nera River landslide

A Google Earth image of the location of the Nera River landslide prior to the failure

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Nera River landslide

The Nera River landslide by Salvatore Martino and the CERI research team

Nera River landslide

The Nera River landslide by Salvatore Martino and the CERI research team

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Nera River landslide

The Nera River landslide by Salvatore Martino and the CERI research team

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Nera River landslide

The Nera River landslide by Salvatore Martino and the CERI research team