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The 27 February 2014 San Leo landslide (northern Italy)

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Abstract

The report describes a recent landslide occurred in San Leo (northern Italy), an outstanding village from the historical, architectural and landscape point of view. On February 27, 2014, around 6 pm local time, about 0.30 Mm3 of rock detached from a sub-vertical cliff and fell into the facing valley, producing a roar and a shake, which was initially perceived by the inhabitants as an earthquake, then followed by a dust cloud produced by the fragmentation of material during the collapse. Fortunately, nobody was injured, neither the landslide damaged any relevant structure; anyhow, it is still posing a severe threat to the village and, above all, to the fortress that represents an architectural masterpiece dating back to the middle ages. An outlook of the event will be given, along with the description of the peculiar geological and geomorphological features driving the slope instability phenomena, which indeed are widely diffused in the entire region. Lastly, an overview of the landslides, which historically affected the village, is also given, showing how natural hazards can influence the history of a site.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV, Italy), which provided the seismic record of Mount Carpegna station (http://ismd.mi.ingv.it/). The support and encouragement by the municipal administration is also acknowledged. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers who provided useful insights, which improved the original manuscript.

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Correspondence to R. W. Romeo.

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Borgatti, L., Guerra, C., Nesci, O. et al. The 27 February 2014 San Leo landslide (northern Italy). Landslides 12, 387–394 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0559-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0559-4

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