Geomorphic and stratigraphic criteria used to date the Råda Landslide, Västra Götaland, Sweden

Abstract

A high-resolution digital elevation model has been used to locate a large and previously unknown landslide in glacial-marine sediments in southwest Sweden. Interpretation of the geomorphology and stratigraphy allow for bracketing of paleo-sea level to between 68 and 71 m above sea level when the landslide occurred. Existing sea-level curves suggest that this elevation would have emerged above sea level, and the landslide would have occurred, about 10 800 calendar years before the present. We suggest that the presence of a confined aquifer beneath the area that slid created a weakness in the slope upon which it eventually failed.

Keywords::

• landslide
• paleo-landslide
• Sweden
• Quaternary
• LiDAR
• Holocene

Acknowledgements

The authors thank L. Rodhe and H. Mikko for providing constructive comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.