Combined monitoring of earth-flow movement and its environmental drivers, Montaguto earth flow in southern Italy

We investigated movement kinematics of the Montaguto earth flow and dynamic of its most active sector using data from GPS surveys and an instrumentation station. Residual movement of the flow was concentrated where the basal slip-surface form risers, where deep drainages are not installed and/or where springs fed man-made earth-flow creeks. Movement within the most active sector of the earth flow, the Body, was characterized by short-lived acceleration and deceleration driven by water-table-level variation during the spring, and by a slow-persistent movement interrupted by small surges, triggered by rapid rises of the water table caused by heavy rainfall during the winter. Our results improve the knowledge of the behavior of the Montaguto earth flow and might contribute to a better understanding of its future evolution. © Società Geologica Italiana, Roma 2016