Earthquake-induced rockfalls and rockslides are a major component of landslide hazard in Central Italy as they posed major threat to people, buildings and infrastructures in the last 50 years. During the recent 2016 earthquake sequence, many landslides have been systematically collected and documented. In the framework of the Sapienza grant in 2017, several surveys in the area hit by the 2016 earthquakes and analyses of landslides allowed recognition of further instability phenomena. Moreover, the analysis of related data posed some questions about instability mechanisms, which deserve further investigations and analysis. Main findings of this preliminary reconnaissance work has been made available on the web through freely downloadable reports and published in peer-reviewed journals.
The proposed research project can be considered a continuation of the 2017 Sapienza grant. In this view, two large rockslides and a rock toppling phenomenon have been identified for investigation and analysis. Particular attention will be focused on the peculiar structural features that characterize the selected landslides. To this aim, innovative procedures will be carried out such as the high-resolution UAV photogrammetric surveys that will allow, in addition, to get a precise geometrical 3D model of the rockslides. Site investigation through geophysical methods is a very important part of the proposed project, whose objective is twofold: to define the geometrical characteristics of landslide bodies and to characterize the low-strain elastic stiffness through seismic velocity. The outcomes of these investigations will provide the input data for numerical modelling of the unstable slopes under dynamic actions.
Insights on the main factors predisposing instability in different structural and geotechnical contexts will be finally provided and therefore will be ultimately useful to improve procedures for assess landslide susceptibility and for mitigating seismic risk in mountain areas.
