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The Mount Pizzuto earth flow has been periodically active in recent decades. Early in 2006, it surged and created a dam across the Ginestra torrent. Episodic floods induced by the earth-flow dam periodically damaged a section of a local road and power and telephone service lines. This paper presents a map showing deformational structures along the flow and a geometric reconstruction of thrust faults at the earth-flow toe from 2006 to 2014. The map, produced on the basis of field observations, shows the spatial distribution of back-tilted surfaces, flank ridges and normal, thrust, and strike-slip faults. Springs, creeks, and ponds are also shown on the map. The map indicates that the earth flow is composed of five kinematic zones. Cartographic data and the spatial–temporal reconstruction of the thrusting evolution offer the basis for interpreting the (mid-term) kinematics of the flow and its controlling factors, and for assessing the influence of earth-flow movement on torrent channel capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface mapping, GPS surveys, T-Lidar surveys, boreholes, seismic profiles, and HVSR measurements were used to study the mechanisms of sediment transport along the Mount Pizzuto earth flow in southern Italy. The earth flow has several kinematic zones, with transitional areas marked by changing structural styles, from compressional structures (thrusts) upslope to extensional structures (normal faults) downslope. We relate sediment discharge at these transitional zones to internal strain. The results suggest that during surge events, flow acceleration starts within the head and propagates downslope inducing a cascade effect between kinematic zones. During surge events, the average sediment discharge is nearly constant, and a change from sliding to flowing allows propagation of movement towards the toe. During slow movement, kinematic zones are independent and sediment discharge varies along the flow. In general, the velocity profile and the structural style are controlled by the basal slip surface. The implications are: i) sediment discharge is not constant but is a function of the earth flow activity, ii) during surge, earth flow material behaves similar to an incompressible fluid, and iii) the distribution of surface structures can provide information about the geometry of the slip surface and the velocity profile. Additionally, earth flows with a well-defined neck seem to be more likely to surge with respect to those without. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-seated landslides are important agents of relief shaping and can have substantial impact on human settlements. Many examples are present in the Campania region of southern Italy, where the association of complex lithostratigraphic and structural geologic conditions might have effect on landslide initiation and evolution. On this basis and considering the effect that the deep-seated landslide have had in the last years on the urban settlement, the Buonalbergo landslide was analyzed in terms of decadal kinematics and geological control and insights in prospective evolution were provided. The analysis of data derived by geological and landslide field mapping, settlement damage analysis, Persistent Differential Interferometry SAR data analysis, and Finite Elements stability analysis revealed i) the approximately constant rate movement of the landslide in the last three decades with a consistent enlargement of its area, ii) the presence of a large overturned anticline, characterized by a complex lithostratigraphic arrangement and multiple discontinuity sets, iii) the presence of faults responsible for morphological depression development, iv) a rotational mechanism characterizing the upper sector of the landslide and the ongoing translational sliding of blocks located at its toe and v) the effect of potential pore pressure scenarios on prospective kinematics (i.e. single to multiple stages creep) with the observed constant rate movement potentially related to a pore pressure at the landslide base ranging between 300 and 400 kPa. Result interpretation suggests i) the role of the structural and lithostratigraphic setting of the slope as predisposing factor for landslide development, ii) the potential of fold-related fabric in controlling landslide geometry and fragmentation, iii) the possible occurrence of multiple landslide events affecting the slope affected by the deep-seated landslide and iv) the potential of hydrologic conditions in modulating landslide velocity and evolution toward slope failure. The relevance of results is related to the representativeness of the Buonalbergo landslide as common process in the Apennine context in terms of potential long-term morphologic evolution of the slope and the existence of many landslides that develop in similar geological conditions driving sediment production and inducing persistent topographic changes in mountainsides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]