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Rainfall Thresholds for Possible Occurrence of Shallow Landslides and Debris Flows in Italy

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Dating Torrential Processes on Fans and Cones

Part of the book series: Advances in Global Change Research ((AGLO,volume 47))

Abstract

In mountain regions worldwide, rainfall-induced landslides and associated debris flows erode slopes, scour channels, and contribute to the formation of alluvial fans that may harm humans and destroy buildings. Rainfall-induced slope failures are frequent and widespread in Italy, where individual rainfall events can result in single or multiple slope failures in small areas or in very large regions. Most of the harmful failures were rainfall-induced, and several were shallow slides or debris flows. In the 60-year period 1950–2009, casualties due to landslides were at least 6,349, an average of 16 harmful events per annum. The large number of harmful events indicates the considerable risk posed by rainfall-induced shallow landslides and debris flows to the population of Italy (Guzzetti et al. 2005a; Salvati et al. 2010).

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Acknowledgements

Part of the paper is reprinted from the work of Brunetti et al. (2010), and it is used with permission. Work supported by the Italian National Department for Civil Protection (DPC), which provided the national rainfall database for the period 2002–2009. MTB, SP and MR were supported by DPC grants. We thank G. Tonelli for the work on the rainfall database, and E. E. Brabb for reviewing the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNR IRPI, via Madonna Alta 126, 06128, Perugia, Italy

    Maria Teresa Brunetti, Silvia Peruccacci, Silvia Luciani, Mauro Rossi, Francesca Ardizzone & Fausto Guzzetti

  2. CNR IRPI, Strada delle Cacce 73, 10135, Torino, Italy

    Fabio Luino, Marcella Biddoccu, Chiara Giorgia Cirio, Guido Nigrelli & Mara Di Palma

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Perugia, piazza dell’Università 1, 06123, Perugia, Italy

    Carmela Vennari & Daniela Valigi

Authors
  1. Maria Teresa Brunetti
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  2. Fabio Luino
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  3. Carmela Vennari
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  4. Silvia Peruccacci
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  5. Marcella Biddoccu
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  6. Daniela Valigi
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  7. Silvia Luciani
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  8. Chiara Giorgia Cirio
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  9. Mauro Rossi
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  10. Guido Nigrelli
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  11. Francesca Ardizzone
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  12. Mara Di Palma
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  13. Fausto Guzzetti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Teresa Brunetti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Berne, Laboratory of Dendrogeomorphology, Institute of Geological Sciences, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, Berne, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Michelle Schneuwly-Bollschweiler

  2. University of Berne, Laboratory of Dendrogeomorphology, Institute of Geological Sciences, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, Berne, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Markus Stoffel

  3. Forestry Environment &Water Management, IV/5 – Torrent & Avalanche Control, Federal Ministry for Agriculture,, Marxergasse 5, Vienna, 1030, Wien, Austria

    Florian Rudolf-Miklau

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Brunetti, M.T. et al. (2013). Rainfall Thresholds for Possible Occurrence of Shallow Landslides and Debris Flows in Italy. In: Schneuwly-Bollschweiler, M., Stoffel, M., Rudolf-Miklau, F. (eds) Dating Torrential Processes on Fans and Cones. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 47. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4336-6_22

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