A Hazard Assessment of Settlements and Historical Places in the Upper Volga River Region, Russia

Abstract

The problem of natural hazard to historical places has received a great deal of attention from the world community in recent years. This issue has been discussed at international meetings such as the International Congress on Engineering Geology in Canada (1998) and the UNESCO Conference in Paris (1999). In response to the worldwide effort to protect historical places from natural disasters such as landslides, a field investigation was conducted by the Institute of Geoscience of the Russian Academy of Science under the International Geological Correlation Program, IGCP-425, “Landslide hazard assessment and cultural heritage”. The purpose of that work was to perform a hazard assessment of the Volga River Region, including a landslide inventory and detection of places where landslides posed a threat to historical landmarks. The results indicated that a number of landslides occurred on the high banks of the Volga River due to river erosion. The characteristics of those landslides as well as their mechanisms were studied. It was revealed that several historical buildings were in a potential danger due to slope processes, and it was suggested that further slope deformation be monitored. Other exogenous geological processes such as river erosion, abrasion and suffusion were also studied. It was pointed out that the creation of a cascade of water reservoirs has caused great damage to the environment of the studied area. In addition, many examples of bank destruction were observed at the Rybinskoe and Uglich Reservoirs.