Vaiont landslide, Italy

Considerable engineering geological research has been undertaken as a consequence of both the dramatic scientific and human impact of the Vaiont landslide disaster and the complex dynamics involved. In spite of the volume and number of research investigations undertaken to date, the Vaiont landslide continues to provide an engineering case study of great scientific interest and technological challenge. As emphasized by Mencl in 1966: “Anyone working in the field of slope stability may meet a similar problem and no pains should be spared to discover an explanation of the Mount Toc landslide.” Papers on the Vaiont landslide, published in the international literature after 1963, can be schematically subdivided into the following groups: papers based on geological and geomorphological data collected or providing detailed engineering geological and rock engineering descriptions of the Vaiont landslide (Müller, 1964; Selli et al., 1964; Semenza, 1965; Broili, 1967; Müller, 1968, 1987; Semenz...