Massive rock-slope failure in the Central Apennines (Italy): the case of the Campo di Giove rock avalanche. Bullettin of Engineering Geology and the Environment

The study of catastrophic rock slope failure is of great relevance as such phenomena can potentially occur at the intramontane, more urbanised areas, or in developing tourist areas such as the Maiella National Park. They must therefore be considered in landslide risk assessment exercises. This paper describes the Quaternary Campo di Giove (CDG) rock avalanche which occurred along the western edge of the Maiella Massif in the central part of the Apennines, Italy. The aim of this work is to contribute to the present debate about the nature of large-sized, Quaternary debris deposits of the central Apennines that have been controversially interpreted in the last decades as moraine, tectonic breccias or landslides and to provide an example of a rock avalanche that was strongly controlled by local geomorphic conditions. Field evidence, supported by morphometric and sedimentary analysis of clastic deposits, has demonstrated that the material originated during a rock avalanche event which occurred in a significantly different geomorphological setting. The control on the depositional mechanism by the Middle Pleistocene landscape is revealed by the reduced lateral spreading and the evidently asymmetric shape of the accumulation area.