Seismic control of large prehistoric rockslides in the Eastern Alps.

ABSTRACT: Large prehistoric rockslides tend to occur within spatio-temporal clusters suggesting a common trigger such as earthquake shaking or enhanced wet periods. Yet, trigger assessment remains equivocal due to the lack of conclusive observational evidence. Here, we use high-resolution lacustrine paleoseismology to evaluate the relation between past seismicity and a spatio-temporal cluster of large prehistoric rockslides in the Eastern Alps. Temporal and spatial coincidence of paleoseismic evidence with multiple rockslides at ~4.1 and ~3.0 ka BP reveals that severe earthquakes (local magnitude M_L 5.5-6.5; epicentral intensity I₀ VIII¼-X¾) have triggered these rockslides. A series of preceding severe earthquakes is likely to have progressively weakened these rock slopes towar

SUBMITTER: Oswald P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7886888 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature