Geological risks in large cities: the landslides triggered in the city of Rome (Italy) by the rainfall of 31 january-2 february 2014

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4408/IJEGE.2014-01.O-02

Keywords:

Rome, exceptional rainfall in 2014, landslides, inventory, WebGIS

Abstract

An exceptional rainfall battered the city of Rome (Italy) from 31 January to 2 February 2014. The event had variable intensity and duration in the different parts of the city. The exceptionality of the event lies in the intensity of rainfall cumulated in 6 hours (return period > 50 years) and in its uneven distribution over the urban area. The event triggered a number of landslides of different type, which caused substantial damage. researchers from the Centro di Ricerca per i Rischi Geologici (research centre on prediction, prevention and control of geological risks - cEri) of the university of Rome “Sapienza” carried out field surveys and assessments immediately after the event. The team detected and inventoried 68 landslides, mostly occurring in the sandy and sandy-silty deposits of the Monte Mario, Ponte Galeria and Valle Giulia Formations. The complete inventory of the landslides is accessible via WebGIS on CERI’s website http://www.ceri. uniroma1.it/cn/landslidesroma.jsp. The spatial distribution of the landslides evidences that 69% occurred in clastic deposits of sedimentary origin and only 6% in volcanic deposits. this finding disagrees with more general statistical data, based on the inventory of rome’s historical landslides, indicating that almost 41% of slope instabilities occur in volcanic deposits and almost 12% in sedimentary ones. in the data reported here, this apparent contradiction is justified by the fact that most the rainfall under review was concentrated in the north-western portion of rome’s urban area, whose hills accommodate outcrops of dominantly sedimentary deposits from plio-pleistocene marine and continental cycles.

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Published

2014-06-30

How to Cite

Alessi, D., Bozzano, F., Di Lisa, A., Esposito, C., Fantini, A., Loffredo, A., Martino, S., Mele, F., Moretto, S., Noviello, A., Prestininzi, A., Sarandrea, P., Scarascia Mugnozza, G., Schilirò, L., & Varone, C. (2014). Geological risks in large cities: the landslides triggered in the city of Rome (Italy) by the rainfall of 31 january-2 february 2014. Italian Journal of Engineering Geology and Environment, (1), 15–34. https://doi.org/10.4408/IJEGE.2014-01.O-02

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