Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, Switzerland
The Säntis nappe is a complex fold-and-thrust structure in eastern Switzerland, consisting of numerous tectonic discontinuities and a range of hillslopes prone to landsliding and large slope failures that modify the topography irreversibly. A slope failure, namely the Sennwald rock avalanche, occurr...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Geosciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/11/8/331 |
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| author | Selçuk Aksay Susan Ivy-Ochs Kristina Hippe Lorenz Grämiger Christof Vockenhuber |
| author_facet | Selçuk Aksay Susan Ivy-Ochs Kristina Hippe Lorenz Grämiger Christof Vockenhuber |
| author_sort | Selçuk Aksay |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Säntis nappe is a complex fold-and-thrust structure in eastern Switzerland, consisting of numerous tectonic discontinuities and a range of hillslopes prone to landsliding and large slope failures that modify the topography irreversibly. A slope failure, namely the Sennwald rock avalanche, occurred in the southeast wall of this fold-and-thrust structure due to the rock failure of Lower Cretaceous Helvetic limestones along the Rhine River valley. In this research, this palaeolandslide is examined in a multidisciplinary approach for the first time with detection and mapping of avalanche deposits, dynamic run-out modelling and cosmogenic nuclide dating. During the rock failure, the avalanche deposits were transported down the hillslope in a spreading-deck fashion, roughly preserving the original stratigraphic sequence. The distribution of landslide deposits and surface exposure age of the rock failure support the hypothesis that the landslide was a single catastrophic event. The <sup>36</sup>Cl surface exposure age of avalanche deposits indicates an age of 4.3 ± 0.5 ka. This time coincides with a notably wet climate period, noted as a conditioning factor for landslides across the Alps in the mid-Holocene. The contemporaneity of our event at its location in the Eastern Alps provide additional support for the contention of increased regional seismic activity in mid-Holocene. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:46:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4ef5b0c8ef464d80ba18d2e3f1100c26 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3263 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:46:44Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-4ef5b0c8ef464d80ba18d2e3f1100c262023-11-22T07:47:53ZengMDPI AGGeosciences2076-32632021-08-0111833110.3390/geosciences11080331Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, SwitzerlandSelçuk Aksay0Susan Ivy-Ochs1Kristina Hippe2Lorenz Grämiger3Christof Vockenhuber4Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092 Zürich, SwitzerlandDepartment of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092 Zürich, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zürich, SwitzerlandDepartment of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092 Zürich, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, CH-8093 Zürich, SwitzerlandThe Säntis nappe is a complex fold-and-thrust structure in eastern Switzerland, consisting of numerous tectonic discontinuities and a range of hillslopes prone to landsliding and large slope failures that modify the topography irreversibly. A slope failure, namely the Sennwald rock avalanche, occurred in the southeast wall of this fold-and-thrust structure due to the rock failure of Lower Cretaceous Helvetic limestones along the Rhine River valley. In this research, this palaeolandslide is examined in a multidisciplinary approach for the first time with detection and mapping of avalanche deposits, dynamic run-out modelling and cosmogenic nuclide dating. During the rock failure, the avalanche deposits were transported down the hillslope in a spreading-deck fashion, roughly preserving the original stratigraphic sequence. The distribution of landslide deposits and surface exposure age of the rock failure support the hypothesis that the landslide was a single catastrophic event. The <sup>36</sup>Cl surface exposure age of avalanche deposits indicates an age of 4.3 ± 0.5 ka. This time coincides with a notably wet climate period, noted as a conditioning factor for landslides across the Alps in the mid-Holocene. The contemporaneity of our event at its location in the Eastern Alps provide additional support for the contention of increased regional seismic activity in mid-Holocene.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/11/8/331Sennwald rock avalanchecosmogenic nuclide datingrun-out modelling |
| spellingShingle | Selçuk Aksay Susan Ivy-Ochs Kristina Hippe Lorenz Grämiger Christof Vockenhuber Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, Switzerland Geosciences Sennwald rock avalanche cosmogenic nuclide dating run-out modelling |
| title | Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, Switzerland |
| title_full | Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, Switzerland |
| title_fullStr | Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, Switzerland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, Switzerland |
| title_short | Slope Failure in a Period of Increased Landslide Activity: Sennwald Rock Avalanche, Switzerland |
| title_sort | slope failure in a period of increased landslide activity sennwald rock avalanche switzerland |
| topic | Sennwald rock avalanche cosmogenic nuclide dating run-out modelling |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3263/11/8/331 |
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