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Mechanisms of failure on terraced slopes: the Valtellina case (northern Italy)

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Abstract

Slopes that are terraced by means of dry-stone retaining walls are very common in the alpine environment. In Valtellina, a typical Italian alpine valley, these slopes are widespread and quite often involved in superficial mass movements that can result in severe damage and casualties. For an in-depth understanding of the processes that can trigger these events, numerical modeling of groundwater movement and a related stability analysis were performed on a detailed scale, based on an intensive monitoring of rainfall events and groundwater movement. Field observations suggest that the formation of a perched groundwater table at the contact between the bedrock and the backfill soil of walls as well as the concomitant saturation of this backfill soil are the determining factors of potential slope failure. The numerical models support these observations. In addition, the models are able to explain the mechanisms of formation of perched water tables, highlighting the factors that can influence groundwater levels and slope instabilities.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Comunità Montana Valtellina di Tirano and in particular Giovanni Di Trapani and Alessandro Gervasini for their support during many phases of the work, as well as Alessio Conforto. Thanks also to geologist Maurizio Azzola, who kindly answered every question about the events of 1983, and shared his material with us. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that helped to improve the original version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra A. Desio, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Corrado A. S. Camera, Tiziana Apuani & Marco Masetti

  2. Energy, Environment and Water Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Corrado A. S. Camera

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  1. Corrado A. S. Camera
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  2. Tiziana Apuani
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  3. Marco Masetti
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Correspondence to Corrado A. S. Camera.

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Camera, C.A.S., Apuani, T. & Masetti, M. Mechanisms of failure on terraced slopes: the Valtellina case (northern Italy). Landslides 11, 43–54 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-012-0371-3

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