Investigation of the Montaguto Landslide

Background

In the spring of 2006, a large failure started moving in the Montaguto municipality, Campania, southern Italy, 40 km ENE of Benevento and 35 km SW of Foggia. The movement was a partial reactivation of an older mass movement in the same general area. In April 2010, the earthflow reached the Cervaro River valley, advancing at a maximum rate of approximately 5 m/day

Purpose

The earthflow damaged the SP90 provincial road and covered approximately 300 m of the national railroad that connects Naples to Foggia. The traffic along the railroad and the road was interrupted for about three months causing severe problems for the residents, the local economy, and the national railway system. The consequences extended throughout southern and central Italy. The Italian national Civil Protection Department led a large-scale effort to mitigate the effects of the moving landslide, re-open the railway, and re-construct the provincial road.

Methods

The Geohazards Monitoring Group (GMG), on behalf of the CNR IRPI, worked to study the landslide’s evolution employing a monitoring system in near-real-time and performing a comparative analysis of a set of DTMs available from 2006.