Climate-induced landslide reactivation at the edge of the Most Basin (Czech Republic) – progress towards better landslide prediction

• Main Authors: J. Burda, F. Hartvich, J. Valenta, V. Smítka, J. Rybář
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2013-02-01
• Series: Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• Online Access: http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/13/361/2013/nhess-13-361-2013.pdf

The catastrophic landslide at Eisenberg in North Bohemia was reactivated during January 2011. This study integrates a range of geoscientific evidence in order to constrain the spatial and temporal development of this reactivation. It has investigated long-term geodetic measurements to assess the morphological development of the site over the last two decades. There is evidence to suggest that, over this period, the site had been subjected to progressive deformation caused by the collapse of an old mine gallery. However, climatic data show that the reactivation itself was triggered by a dramatic rise in the water table induced by rapid snowmelt during a period of winter warming. Furthermore, geomorphological mapping has been used to characterise the morphology of the reactivated landslide and geophysical profiling has been used to analyse its internal structure. The results show that fissures are continuing to develop above the reactivated landslide scarp while highly saturated stiff-fissured claystones provide an incipient slide plane. The application of laser scanning has shown minimal evidence for ongoing landslide activity. It is, however, clear that future landslide events will occur here due to the favourable lithological, structural, and geotechnical conditions. Finally, we propose that future landslide activity at the site may be predicted by the height of water table as this defines theoretical pore pressure at the depth of the shear plane.