Abstract. – Inventory of unstable hillslopes, hydrogeological mapping and hydrochemical characteristics of natural spring waters were used to determine the long-term relationships between groundwater and gravitational instabilities in the Upper Tinée Valley (South-East French Alps). Water chemistry and flow records allow to propose a conceptual model of water flow within unstable rocky slopes and to back-calculate the volume of infiltrated water and the flow velocity in the aquifers for different deformation states of the slopes. An increase in infiltrated yield, flow velocity and porosity is observed and linked to collapsed and toppled structures in the upper parts of the hillslopes. In these areas, perched aquifers take place in the rewor...