Tree ring-based estimation of landslide areal reactivation as a fundament of magnitude–frequency assessment

Abstract

Magnitude–frequency (M–F) relationships represent important information on slope deformation and are used in hazard assessment or as supporting data for urban planning. Various approaches have been used to extract such relationships in the past, but most of these methods drove at the problem of exact events´ frequency determination. Dendrogeomorphic (tree ring-based) approaches are actually thought to be the most precise method of dating past mass movement events that occurred within the last several centuries. Together with information on the spatial positions of the analysed trees, they represent a potentially very valuable tool for reconstructing M–F relationships, although their use for this purpose has been very rare in the past. In this study, M–F relationships are reconstructed using dendrogeomorphic methods for three landslides of different types (a translational slide, a flow-like slide, and a rotational slide) occurring in different geological materials (thick-bedded flysch, limestone marls, and volcanic breccia). In total, 572 disturbed trees were analysed, and chronologies of mass movement events were built. Landslide magnitudes were expressed in three ways: (i) the value of the standard It index; (ii) the area, as determined using homogenous morphological units; and (iii) the area, as determined using tree buffers. The power-law nature of M–F relationships was confirmed for all the landslides that were studied and using all the approaches that were applied. All of the combinations of results yielded high correlation values; nevertheless, differences were noted. The advantages and limitations of each approach used to reconstruct M–F relationships are also discussed.