Landslide susceptibility assessment in ash-fall pyroclastic deposits surrounding Mount Somma-Vesuvius: Application of geophysical surveys for soil thickness mapping

Along the steep slopes of the carbonate mountains that surround the Campanian Plain and Mount Somma-Vesuvius, rainfall-triggered debris slides occur in unconsolidated ash-fall pyroclastic deposits. The initial debris slides evolve into debris flows that often cause significant property damage and loss of human life in the towns located at the foot of the slopes. In this particular geological situation, the pyroclastic soil thickness, the slope angle, and the morphological variations of the slope profile are the most important factors that contribute to landslide susceptibility.In this paper, the results of an experimental application of shallow resistivity and refraction seismic soundings in mapping the thickness of pyroclastic soils are presented. These geophysical methods are proposed as low-cost and versatile methods to be used in the difficult morphological conditions of the steep slopes in which debris-slides initiate.The methods have been used experimentally in a sample area located on the upper slope of Mount Pizzo d'Alvano, from which debris flows initiated that dramatically hit the town of Sarno on 5–6 May 1998.The inversion of geoelectrical soundings has been calibrated with resistivity values measured directly on pyroclastic outcrops and with soil thickness estimations derived from refraction seismic soundings and from the application of a mobile dynamic penetrometer.The results of the field experimentation can be summarised as follows: (i) unconsolidated ash-fall pyroclastic deposits, ranging in particle size from fine ash to lapilli, can be differentiated from fractured carbonate bedrock by means of electrical resistivity and velocity values of longitudinal seismic waves; (ii) thickness of ash-fall pyroclastic soils can be empirically related to the slope angle using an inverse relationship; and (iii) the empirical model has been applied to Digital Elevation Model data, allowing pyroclastic soil thickness mapping in the sample area.