A Global Database of Giant Landslides on Volcanic Islands

Abstract

This paper describes a comprehensive online database of giant landslides on volcanic islands compiled by researchers from the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Czech Academy of Sciences, in the framework of IPL Project 212. The database was constructed from 2016 to 2018. It comprises a total of seventy-five events from the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, sixty-seven events from the Pacific Ocean, and forty events from the Indian Ocean. In this paper some of the main benefits of landslide inventories and thematic databases are outlined and the global distribution of giant landslides on volcanic islands is described in depth. The database is hosted on the website of the Institute of Rock Structure & Mechanics and records can be downloaded as a spreadsheet or kml file for integration in a number of geospatial programs including ArcGIS and Google Earth. However, since completion of the database in 2018, a number of potentially significant studies of giant landslides on volcanic islands have been published from archipelagos in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans while outstanding modern analogues for past events are represented by the collapse of Anak Krakatau on 22 December 2018 and the collapse of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai on 15 January 2022. Consequently, the recent literature will be scrutinized with the aim of updating information already contained in the database while two new layers are planned: the first of these will provide information about recent volcanic collapses and the second will provide information about the long-term instrumental monitoring of giant landslides. It is intended that the second release of the database will be available online in early 2023.