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International audienceIn de-glaciated areas, para-glaciation (i.e. the conditioning of landscapes by prior glaciation) has often been considered a major predisposing factor in landslide occurrence; its consequences have been particularly well identified at a fine scale (especially on bedrock jointing). Hitherto, the relative impacts of para-glaciation on hillslope dynamics at a regional scale had nevertheless not been quantified statistically. We examine Skagafjörður area (northern Iceland) where landslides are widespread (at least 108 were mapped in an area of c. 3000km2).We compare the role of para-glaciation (debuttressing, influence of post-glacial rebound) with that of classic factors (topography, lithology, etc.) in landslide occurrence and location, using a spatial analysis based on a chi-square test. On the one hand, the results highlight that landslides are over-represented in areas where post-glacial rebound was at its maximum, with a stronger concentration of landslides in the northern part of the fjord. On the other hand, the distribution of landslides did not show any clear relationship with the pattern of glacial debuttressing. Tschuprow coefficient highlights that the influence of post-glacial rebound on landslide location is higher than the combined influence of slope gradient, curvature or geological structure. This result is supported by our initial evidence for the timing of landslides in the area: most landslides occurred during the first half of the Holocene, and a period of hillslope instability was initiated when the post-glacial uplift was at its maximum. Finally, the mechanisms that link post-glacial rebound and landsliding as well as the geomorphic impacts of landslides, are discussed

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The Höfðahólar rock avalanche, in the Skagafjörður area of northern Iceland, was investigated on the basis of a geomorphological analysis of its landforms and close surrounding environment. Thanks to sound chronological constraints (14C dating from birch remnants in peat areas that developed within depressions over the chaotic rock-avalanche deposit, tephrochronological sequences resulting from subsequent ash fallouts over the deposit, calibration of an age–depth model of peats and previously dated raised beaches), we define the rock-avalanche implementation with a wider timeframe between 10,200 and 7975 cal. yr BP and with a narrower frame between 9000 and 8195 ± 45 cal. yr BP. Such a well constrained timing proposes one of the most precise datings of an early-Holocene major slope failure in Iceland. This result fits well in the known chronology of the deglaciation in this area and in the prevailing Icelandic theory of a generalized phase of landsliding that occurred shortly after the deglaciation of the area. The main driver for the rock-avalanche occurrence is associated to a paraglacial origin; glacio-isostatic rebound, associated to rockwall debuttressing, is thought to be the main factor in the genesis of this Boreal major disequilibrium.

Most studies focusing on landslide spatial analysis have considered the relationships between predictors and landslide occurrence as fixed effects. Yet spatially varying relationships, i.e. non-stationarity, often occur in any spatial data set and should be theoretically considered in statistical models for a better fit. In Skagafjö rður, a landslide-rich north-south oriented area located in northern Iceland, we investigated whether spatial nonstationarity in the relationships between paraglacial variables (glacio-isostatic rebound and post-glacial debuttressing, both captured in this area by latitude) and landslide locations is detectable. To explore the non-stationarity of factors that predispose landslide occurrence, we performed two logistic regression models, one global (GLR) and the other enabling the regression parameters to vary locally (geographically weighted

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Abstract. To understand the sedimentary signal delivered at catchment outlets, many authors now refer to the concept of connectivity. In this framework, the sedimentary signal is seen as an emergent organization of local filiations and interactions. The challenge is then to open black boxes that remain within a sediment cascade, that requires both accurate geomorphic investigations in the field (reconstruction of sequences of geomorphic evolution, description of sediment pathways) but also the development of tools dedicated to sediment cascades modelling. More precisely the development of tools dedicated to the study of connectivity in geomorphology is still in progress, even if the graph theory offers promising perspectives (Heckmann and Schwanghart, 2013). In this paper, graph theory is applied to abstract the network structure of sediment cascades, keeping only nodes (sediment sources, sediment stores, outlet) and links (linkage by a transportation agent), represented as vertices and edges. From the description of the assemblages of sedimentary flows, we provide three main indices to explore how small-scale processes may result in significant broad-scale geomorphic patterns. First, we assess the potential contribution of each node to the sediment delivery at the outlet. Second, we measure the influence of each node regarding how this node is accessible from both sediment sources and outlet. Third, we calculate a connectivity index to reveal whether the potential contribution of a node is lower or higher than expected from its location within the network. These indices are calculated in the case of a virtual sediment cascade, but are also applied to a catchment located in southern french alps. We demonstrate that these indices are robust, and may lead to simulations. In the present case, we try to predict how a sediment cascade may be impacted by a node disruption or by a reconnection.