Flow-type landslides in pyroclastic soils on flysch bedrock in southern Italy: the Bosco de’ Preti case study

Abstract

In the last 20 years, major efforts have been made to investigate shallow flow-type landslides. Such phenomena are usually rainfall-induced and in the geological context of Campania (Southern Italy) occur in pyroclastic soils resting on steep slopes mainly constituted by carbonate or volcanic bedrock and by flysch deposits. They are generally complex landslides with an early soil slide and a subsequent flow evolution. In this paper, a database of flowslides occurring in recent years within the flysch deposits of Avellino (Campanian Apennines) is first discussed and then the case study of Bosco de’ Preti landslide on March 4, 2005, is described. The geological and geotechnical characteristics of the soils involved are described and the monitoring of the groundwater heads collected over 1 year from June 2005 to June 2006 is also shown. The last part of the paper illustrates the results of numerical modelling of the landslide triggering to gain insights into such phenomena. Slope stability analyses are preceded by hydrological modelling of the slope based on the monitoring data. Numerical analysis demonstrated that the rainfall during the 2 months preceding the event was able to fully saturate the pyroclastic cover and to establish positive pore water pressure at the depth of the surface of rupture, a soil condition never witnessed in carbonatic contexts. Hence, a combination of antecedent (predisposing factors) and single rainfall events (triggering factors) led to slope failure, as usually happens in pyroclastic soils in carbonatic and volcanic contexts. Finally, analysis of the historical landslides together with detailed investigation of the Bosco de’ Preti case study permitted comparison between flow-type landslides in pyroclastic soils on carbonatic/volcanic bedrock and those on flysch.