Course content

Lecture series representing a comprehensive and complete synthesis of landslides on a master's level including geomorphology, structural geology, sedimentology and engineering geology that contains: Terminology and classification; structural geology of unstable slopes; slow rock slope deformation; rapid rock slope failure, mobility and run-out; ground based, aerial and satellite remote sensing techniques; landslide monitoring; secondary effects of voluminous landslides; rock falls; debris flows; shallow landslides; susceptibility and hazard mapping, risk assessment; impact of climate change; landslides in the earth system; earthquakes and landslides, volcanic landslides.

Learning outcome

Ingress: The course will provide the students with multidisciplinary knowledge and understanding of the various landslide types.

Knowledge: The course will give students an overview and an understanding of landslide processes from geologic conditioning, triggering and run-out including time dependent impacts such as climate change. It will give the student an overview of landslide mapping products that are used in society for planning and mitigation. The students will learn about landslide detection and monitoring techniques and understand the role of landslides in the earth system.

Skills: Based on lectures and exercises, students will learn how to characterize and map landslide processes, analyze unstable slopes and produce process oriented hazard maps. Students will be familiar with geological conditions leading to slope failures and understand run-out and depositional characteristics.

General competence: Students will develop the ability to perform mapping of unstable rock slopes and analyses of run-out behavior, read and perform basic hazard mapping and risk assessments, and understand the relevance of geomorphology, sedimentology, structural geology and engineering geology of landslides investigations in rock and soil. The course will use the software DIPS and RocFall from rocscience in the exercises so that students become familiar with digital tools for kinematic analysis of structural data and rock fall hazard analysis. Data collected during mapping on the compulsory excursion will be used in these software packages.

Learning methods and activities

Lectures, colloquium, exercises, literature study, excursions. The excursions, literature study and assignments given in exercises are compulsory. Exercises consists of hazard mapping, kinematic analysis and description of the avalanches. 100% of exercises have to be approved to get access to exam. Field work may be scheduled for a weekend. The course is evaluated by a reference group.

Compulsory assignments

• Report
• Exercises
• Excursions

Specific conditions

Recommended previous knowledge

Basic knowledge of general geology, introduction into structural geology.

Required previous knowledge

TGB4150 Structural Geology, Basic Course or similar.

Course materials

To be announced at start of course.