Rockfall stability assessment at the western slope of the Camaldoli Hill (Naples, Italy)

Slope processes in weathered volcaniclastic deposits within the city of Naples: The Camaldoli Hill case

“…In general terms, the western slope of the Camaldoli is susceptible to small-scale slope movements, whose potential of invasion into the footslope is in the order of a few hundreds of meters (Parise et al, 2004), hence showing a lower magnitude when compared to other sectors of the Campanian Apennines . However, due to the widespread and uncontrolled urbanization, which in the last decades has spread over wide portions of the top highplain, at the footslope and on the basal plain, the overall landslide risk remains very high, as clearly stated by the official Risk maps produced by the local Basin Authority.…”

“…The structural setting of the hill is characterized by the presence of two main fault systems (N-S and N80E striking), which, along with a subordinate N40W set, are responsible for the severe jointing of the various formations and contribute to the susceptibility to fall and topple failures of the rock mass. Following Parise et al (2004), four geomorphological settings were recognized along with their specific processes. The top highplain is characterized by urban development which, having already deeply modified the original morphology, is also a causal factor for instabilities in the uppermost reaches of the slope.…”

“…The presence of wastes at the thalweg of the valleys may cause, on the occasion of rainfall events, their remobilization and transport, so increasing the overall volume of materials transported downvalley; or, alternatively, they may create blockages, and cause the accumulation of further materials upvalley, with the likely consequence of sudden release of large amount of mixed deposits (Parise et al, 2004). At the mouth of some valleys, fan deposits have been recognized.…”

Rockfall Threatening Cumae Archeological Site Fruition (Phlegraean Fields Park—Naples)

“…Indeed, the widespread presence of unconsolidated pyroclastic deposits, associated with both hard and weak volcanic rocks, predisposes slopes to fast-moving landslides [10][11][12][13][14][15]. While debris flows and avalanches, triggered by rainfall, are very common in the presence of steep slopes covered by pyroclastic soils, rock-slope instabilities, like rockfall and topples, are common in the presence of vertical, highly fractured tuff and lava cliffs [16]. As a consequence, at the Camaldoli Hill (i.e., the highest peak of the Phlegraean Fields area, 458 m asl), vertical or subvertical cliffs formed by lithified materials are frequently affected by rockfall and block size is consistently controlled by the main discontinuity systems in the rock mass.…”

Landslide hazard and land management in high-density urban areas of Campania region, Italy

“…In the following years, a number of papers have dealt with the landslides in Naples and the surrounding areas, treating both historical (Calcaterra et al, 2002(Calcaterra et al, , 2003bCalcaterra and de Luca Tupputi Schinosa, 2006) and recent events (Pellegrino, 1994;Calcaterra andGuarino, 1999a, 1999b;Calcaterra et al, 2004aCalcaterra et al, , 2004bCalcaterra et al, , 2005Calcaterra et al, , 2007aCalcaterra et al, , 2007bCalcaterra et al, , 2010ade Riso et al, , 2007Parise et al, 2004;Palma et al, 2009;Calcaterra, 2010).…”