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dc.contributor.author
Walter, Fabian
dc.contributor.author
Amann, Florian
dc.contributor.author
Andrew, Kos
dc.contributor.author
Kenner, Robert
dc.contributor.author
Phillips, Marcia
dc.contributor.author
de Preux, Antoine
dc.contributor.author
Huss, Matthias
dc.contributor.author
Tognacca, Christian
dc.contributor.author
Clinton, John Francis
dc.contributor.author
Diehl, Tobias
dc.date.accessioned
2019-11-25T11:25:39Z
dc.date.available
2019-11-23T03:39:09Z
dc.date.available
2019-11-25T11:25:39Z
dc.date.issued
2020-02-15
dc.identifier.issn
0169-555x
dc.identifier.issn
1872-695X
dc.identifier.other
10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.106933
en_US
dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/379987
dc.identifier.doi
10.3929/ethz-b-000379987
dc.description.abstract
Catastrophic collapse of large rock slopes ranks as one of the most hazardous natural phenomena in mountain landscapes. The cascade of events, from rock-slope failure, to rock avalanche and the near-immediate release of debris flows has not previously been described from direct observations. We report on the 2017, 3.0 × 10^6 m3 failure on Pizzo Cengalo in Switzerland, which led to human casualties and significant damage to infrastructure. Based on remote sensing and field investigations, we find a change in critical slope stability prior to failure for which permafrost may have played a destabilizing role. The resulting rock avalanche traveled for 3.2 km and removed over one million m3 of glacier ice and debris deposits from a previous rock avalanche in 2011. Whereas this entrainment did not lead to an unusually large runout distance, it favored debris flow activity from the 2017 rock avalanche deposits: the first debris flow occurred with a delay of 30 s followed by ten debris flows within 9.5 h and two additional events two days later, notably in the absence of rainfall. We hypothesize that entrainment and impact loading of saturated sediments explain the initial mobility of the 2017 rock avalanche deposits leading to a near-immediate initiation of debris flows. This explains why an earlier rock avalanche at the same site in 2011 was not directly followed by debris flows and underlines the importance of considering sediment saturation in a rock avalanche’s runout path for Alpine hazard assessments.
en_US
dc.format
application/pdf
en_US
dc.language.iso
en
en_US
dc.publisher
Elsevier
en_US
dc.rights.uri
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subject
Rock avalanche
en_US
dc.subject
Debris flows
en_US
dc.subject
Permafrost
en_US
dc.subject
Environmental seismology
en_US
dc.title
Direct observations of a three million cubic meter rock-slope collapse with almost immediate initiation of ensuing debris flows
en_US
dc.type
Journal Article
dc.rights.license
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
dc.date.published
2019-11-02
ethz.journal.title
Geomorphology
ethz.journal.volume
351
en_US
ethz.pages.start
106933
en_US
ethz.size
11 p.
en_US
ethz.version.deposit
publishedVersion
en_US
ethz.grant
Glacial Hazard Monitoring with Seismology (GlaHMSeis)
en_US
ethz.grant
Seismic investigations of englacial and subglacial environments
en_US
ethz.identifier.wos
ethz.identifier.scopus
ethz.publication.place
Amsterdam
en_US
ethz.publication.status
published
en_US
ethz.leitzahl
ETH Zürich::00002 - ETH Zürich::00012 - Lehre und Forschung::00007 - Departemente::02115 - Dep. Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik / Dep. of Civil, Env. and Geomatic Eng.::02611 - V. Wasserbau, Hydrologie u. Glaziologie / Lab. Hydraulics,Hydrology,Glaciology::09558 - Walter, Fabian (ehemalig) / Walter, F. ((former))
ethz.leitzahl
ETH Zürich::00002 - ETH Zürich::00012 - Lehre und Forschung::00007 - Departemente::02115 - Dep. Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik / Dep. of Civil, Env. and Geomatic Eng.::02611 - V. Wasserbau, Hydrologie u. Glaziologie / Lab. Hydraulics,Hydrology,Glaciology::09599 - Farinotti, Daniel / Farinotti, Daniel
ethz.leitzahl
ETH Zürich::00002 - ETH Zürich::00003 - Schulleitung und Dienste::00022 - Bereich VP Forschung / Domain VP Research::02818 - Schweiz. Erdbebendienst (SED) / Swiss Seismological Service (SED)
ethz.leitzahl.certified
ETH Zürich::00002 - ETH Zürich::00012 - Lehre und Forschung::00007 - Departemente::02115 - Dep. Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik / Dep. of Civil, Env. and Geomatic Eng.::02611 - V. Wasserbau, Hydrologie u. Glaziologie / Lab. Hydraulics,Hydrology,Glaciology::09558 - Walter, Fabian (ehemalig) / Walter, F. ((former))
ethz.leitzahl.certified
ETH Zürich::00002 - ETH Zürich::00012 - Lehre und Forschung::00007 - Departemente::02115 - Dep. Bau, Umwelt und Geomatik / Dep. of Civil, Env. and Geomatic Eng.::02611 - V. Wasserbau, Hydrologie u. Glaziologie / Lab. Hydraulics,Hydrology,Glaciology::09599 - Farinotti, Daniel / Farinotti, Daniel
ethz.leitzahl.certified
ETH Zürich::00002 - ETH Zürich::00003 - Schulleitung und Dienste::00022 - Bereich VP Forschung / Domain VP Research::02818 - Schweiz. Erdbebendienst (SED) / Swiss Seismological Service (SED)
ethz.grant.agreementno
157551
ethz.grant.agreementno
183719
ethz.grant.fundername
SNF
ethz.grant.fundername
SNF
ethz.grant.funderDoi
10.13039/501100001711
ethz.grant.funderDoi
10.13039/501100001711
ethz.grant.program
SNF-Förderungsprofessuren Stufe 2
ethz.grant.program
SNF-Förderungsprofessuren: Fortsetzungsgesuche
ethz.date.deposited
2019-11-23T03:39:14Z
ethz.source
SCOPUS
ethz.eth
yes
en_US
ethz.availability
Open access
en_US
ethz.rosetta.installDate
2019-11-25T11:26:10Z
ethz.rosetta.lastUpdated
2022-03-29T00:20:56Z
ethz.rosetta.versionExported
true
ethz.COinS
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