Moosfluh, towards a rock slope failure? ...

Landslides and rockfalls are critical hazards to take into account in mountainous areas and understanding their mechanisms is crucial for mitigation purposes. Due to climate change, permafrost degradation and glacial retreat are becoming more and more relevant to consider in steep terrain. Indeed cr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Galletti, Maud
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: ETH Zurich 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000456801
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/456801
Description
Summary:Landslides and rockfalls are critical hazards to take into account in mountainous areas and understanding their mechanisms is crucial for mitigation purposes. Due to climate change, permafrost degradation and glacial retreat are becoming more and more relevant to consider in steep terrain. Indeed critically stressed slopes might react to these rapid changes and generate an increasing number of rock failure events. In the Great Aletsch region (Switzerland) glacial retreat has been considerable in the last decade and the adjacent southern slope (Moosfluh) has suffered progressive debuttressing, as well as increased deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DSGSD) and enhanced rock failure phenomena. In this study, we investigate rockfall events occurring in the lower portions of the Moosfluh DSGSD in the 2017 summer season. We used a local network of three low-cost seismometers (raspberry shakes), webcam photos and field data to detect rockfalls and generate an event’s catalogue. Rockfall parameters as ...