30 July 2008
Some landslide images from the Alps
Posted by Dave Petley
Well, I am finally back – apologies for the prolonged absence! It will take me a day or two to get back up to speed, but in the meantime I thought I’d post four landslide images from Switzerland and France that I took whilst on holiday (I have a very long suffering family…). In each case you can click on the image for a better view. Please feel free to use them in presentations, lectures etc but not commercially.
A large, apparently recent, complex rock fall near to Champery in Switzerland.
Classic ridge splitting and counter scarps, indicating deep seated, slow mass movements near to Leysin in Switzerland.
A recent, shallow slump caused by cutting a road into weak deposits at Chatel in France
An old rock fall deposit above a small settlement near to Chatel in France. I guess that the deposit mostly predates the buildings.
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
The first picture, the rockfall of “Les Dents-Blanches” occurs the 8th nov 2006. The lower part of the picture shows even more recent activty (remobilization of rockfall deposit by debris flows). Two funny things (perharps not of strong importance!): 1) It occurs after the rockfall of les Dents du Midi the 30th oct 2006 2) During summer 2006 we have a lot of landslide activty linked with effect of the temperature level (that was far from the mean)Bye
Hi Dave,Welcome back! At least two of the photos look so much like some place out here..I wonder how? I thought Switzerland had much, much less precipitation than us, rain-drenched mountain folk from the Himalayas