A review of scale dependency in landslide hazard and risk analysis

Author(s)

Thomas Glade, Michael James Crozier

Abstract

Landslides affect humans on a variety of spatial and temporal scales. At one end of the spectrum there are small

localized rock falls essentially of nuisance value. At the other end, there can be huge single rock avalanches of

catastrophic proportion, or widespread multiple occurrence events involving thousands of slides and flows of

earth and debris, occurring over areas of hundreds of square kilometres. Independent of landslide magnitude,

movement rates vary from mm/y for creeping mudslides or earthflows up to several m/s for rock avalanches.

This variety of spatial and temporal behaviour requires specifically adapted investigation methods. Spatial

assessments, in particular, require scale-dependent analysis in order to mitigate damage and other negative

consequences at the respective scales of occurrence. The ultimate goal of damage avoidance is inherent in all

hazard and risk studies and should be sought by adopting appropriate analytical methods and techniques.

This chapter is introduced by a discussion of the philosophy underlying the treatment of the relationships

between data availability, model complexity and model performance both in theory and practical application.

Sets of well-established methods and techniques are then reviewed conceptually but also with respect to

numerous worldwide study cases. Specific examples from Iceland and Germany illustrate the application of

different scale-dependent methods in local and spatial risk assessments.

Organisation(s)

Department of Geography and Regional Research

External organisation(s)

Victoria University of Wellington

Pages

75-138

No. of pages

64

Publication date

2005

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

507001 Applied geography

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