Tectonically Induced Deep-Seated Gravitational Slope Deformations and Large Landslides in the Central Adriatic Coastal Belt (Southern Marche-Abruzzi, Italy)

Abstract

This short note deals with the relationships between the large landslides that recurrently affect the Plio-Pleistocene clayey bedrock and the overlying marine conglomerates along the central Adriatic coast. This coastal sector is affected by regional uplift and tectonic shortening that gives rise to elongated topographic highs grown above buried compressive structures along which the investigated coastal sector has formed. The landslides are related to a particular mechanism of deep-reaching lateral spread, induced by the interaction of surficial tectonic deformation and gravitational stress.