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LiDAR and geomorphic characterisation of landslide-induced liquefaction deposits in the eastern Swiss Alps

Resource type
Thesis type
(Thesis) M.Sc.
Date created
2015-12-08
Authors/Contributors
Abstract
The Flims rockslide, located in the eastern Swiss Alps, is the largest postglacial landslide in Europe. About 9400 years ago, 10-12 km3 of limestone detached from the north wall of the Vorderrhein River valley and rapidly fragmented, impacting and liquefying approximately 1 km3 valley-fill sediments. A slurry of liquefied sediment, the “Bonaduz gravel”, traveled 16 km downvalley and up the Hinterrhein valley, carrying huge fragments of rockslide debris (tumas). The sheet of liquefied sediments is >60 m thick and fines upward from cobble gravel at the base to sand at the top. Another large, slightly older rockslide (Tamins rockslide) blocked the Vorderrhein River and impounded a lake into which the Flims rockslide fell, increasing the mobility of the Bonaduz flow and affecting its flow path. I used field observations and a LiDAR-based DEM to map the Bonaduz gravel and infer its mechanism of emplacement.
Document
Identifier
etd9400
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Permissions
This thesis may be printed or downloaded for non-commercial research and scholarly purposes.
Scholarly level
Supervisor or Senior Supervisor
Thesis advisor: Clague, John
Member of collection
Download file Size
etd9400_NCalhoun.pdf 33.77 MB

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