The relationship between the landslide frequency and hydrogeological aspects: a case study from a hilly region in Northern Bavaria (Germany)

• DOI: 10.1007/s12665-016-5451-6
• Publication Date: 2016-03-31T04:27:49Z
• Authors: Johannes Wiedenmann; Joachim Rohn; Michael Moser
• Keywords: 06 humanities and the arts; 15. Life on land; 0603 philosophy, ethics and religion

LIDAR data and other data-bases such as geological maps, topographical maps, and orthophotos were used to build a landslide inventory of more than 1000 landslides in a study area of about 1590 km2. All landslides were tested particularly during extensive field investigations. Analysis of the landslide inventory reveals a high dependency between the spatial ratio of the landslides and the lithological setting in the study area, as almost two-thirds of all objects are tied to one lithological setting: ‘hard rock overlying alterable rock’. This condition is fulfilled in three different combinations of geological formations (geological settings). The analysis of the degree of landslide frequency along the borders (‘linear ratio’) between the involved formations shows that there is a big difference in their susceptibility to landslides. The present study attempts to reveal the basic relationship between the hydrological context of the study area and the observed susceptibility to landslides of the three different geological settings. Therefore, calculated groundwater discharges, observed springs within the mapped landslides, calculated mean infiltration area for groundwater generation, and annual precipitation were included into a more detailed consideration. A comparison of the gathered results indicates that there is a strong connection between these different features in the study area.