Quantifying geomorphic evolution of earthquake-triggered landslides and their relation to active normal faults. An example from the Gulf of Corinth, Greece

Abstract

Photogrammetric analysis of aerial photographs is used to investigate morphological changes in two large landslides located adjacent to the active Marathias normal fault along the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. This E–W trending fault intersects at almost right angles a series of west-verging and east-dipping thrust faults, and has a clear geomorphic expression. The fault's structural signature, such as the trace length, displacement, segmentation, and scarp freshness resembles other normal faults within the Gulf of Corinth. Along this fault we mapped a series of landslides that are mainly concentrated at the near tip areas. Two of them are hosted in the damage zone formed by the intersecting normal and reverse faults. The Marathias and Sergoula landslides show a significant geomorphic evolution on aerial photographs from 1945 to 1991. Evolution of landslides in the study area appears to be correlated with two earthquake clusters that drive mass wasting in the order of 10 6 m 3, significant drainage adjustment, and triggering of post-landslide river incision. We infer the following process sequence for these presumably earthquake-triggered landslides in the region: eroded material in Marathias landslide and reactivation of movement within the main body of the Sergoula landslide were observed in 1969 aerial photographs. Both landslides are deep-seated rotational rockslides. Obstruction or abandonment of channels due to the landslides establishes river incision and a dramatic increase of the rate of fan-delta progradation in the order of 1 m/yr. These large landslides are related to strong (M > 6.5) earthquakes concentrated along faults, and their reactivation period is almost a century, based on seismological or paleoseismological analyses.