Week 8: Mass Wasting
Landslides are most common in mountain areas and coastal cliffs in Spain, because of these landslides it has caused the land in certain areas to change. Spain is considered in the "high" zone for landslides because of rainfall patterns, terrain slopes, geology, soil, and may even be earthquakes that become the causes for these reoccurring landslides.
An example was on February 20, 2020, a landslide occurred in the basque region. It traveled over a distance of 330m and submerged onto the highway. two people were presumed to be dead and were considered as their last location was working at the dump.
Usually for Spain, rainfall is one of the main causes. Parts of northern Spain had been seeing rainfall since November 2021 which had then caused for rescues. A fatality was reported after a landslide in the village of Sunbilla. Unfortunately one man was reported missing and later found dead after being swept away.
The increasing amount of landslides in Spain have caused national economy losses amounting in 36 million euro a year. High tectonic activity and few sand and clay deposits have increased these regions susceptibility to landslides and will continue to act upon if urbanisation and poor forest management are present.
recommendations when in areas prone to landslides:
- contact government organizations for a detailed map of areas to avoid
- obey regulations
- consider impacts of landslides
- do not increase the hazard
sources:
https://thinkhazard.org/en/report/229-spain/LS
https://floodlist.com/europe/spain-floods-navarre-december-2021
https://www.climatechangepost.com/spain/avalanches-and-landslides/
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteGreat post this week! I noticed you said rainfall is one of the main causes for landslides in Spain. just like Spain, Turkey is a region that receives a lot of rainfall which in turn, causes dangerous landslides. However, landslides are mostly observed in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey, mostly in the central Anatolia region because tremendous rainfall occurs there compared to other areas in Turkey. In addition, you mentioned that "Parts of northern Spain had been seeing rainfall since November 2021, which had then caused for rescues. A fatality was reported after a landslide in the village of Sunbilla. Unfortunately, one man was reported missing and later found dead after being swept away." Last Year in Turkey on July 14, 2021, heavy rain triggered flash floods and landslides in the Province of Rize in the Black Sea Region of northern Turkey. Leaving 6 people dead and causing 2 bodies to go missing.
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteIt was great to read about how a majority of Spain's landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. My own country, Iceland, has its majority of landslides being caused by a large number of earthquakes. I do wonder what the contents of Spain's landslides contain seeing that the waters would carry various amounts of debris while Iceland's usually only contain fallen rocks off the free faces.