Falls consist in a movement of material whose detachment from a steep

slope such as a cliff or a fault scarp is followed by a free fall movement on

air, for at least part of their trajectory, downward to the foot of the slope.
After the main impact of the material on the slope foot, the movement can
proceed as a free fall, roll, bounce, slide or flow onto the slopes before,
depending on the geo-mechanical properties of the falling material and
the elastic properties of the impact plane, the latter depending on:
mechanical properties of the outcropping rocks or surface deposits;
topographic features (steepness and aspect); presence and type of
vegetation coverage.
On a micro-scale the detachment phase is very similar to a typical rock
slide phenomena, as the rupture of the rocks is produced by a non-
vertical component of the gravitational stress, so that the form of the
initial failure surface can be planar, wedge, stepped and less frequently
vertical.
One of the characterizing elements of the fall movements is the possibility
that the material involved in the landsliding can change its mechanical
properties due to the intermediate impacts on the slope surface, before it
reaches the base of the slope. This trend is typical for irregular longitude
topographic profile of the slope
A typical fall front is characterized by a scar area, the detachment surface,
a track zone, along which the material involved in the deformation has
travelled, and an accumulation areas, where the landslide debris has
stopped. By delimiting the accumulation zone and the landslide scar, a
run out angle and distance can be measured.
The most frequent fall landslides affect scarp made of rocks (carbonate
and crystalline) whose weakness planes are both primary (bedding
planes) and secondary (mainly tectonic stress or metamorphic horizons),
the latter having acted after their deposition or solidification.
Specific conditions are those observed in the moraine fronts, where the
erosion bring to outcrop on a steep front an unsorted and chaotic glacial
deposit, where large block and boulders are dispersed in a matrix of
medium-fine debris easily erodible by runoff waters.
Lunghezza

Spaziatura

Frequenza

Persistenza
Ammassi rocciosi e rilevamento geostrutturale
Lunghezza

Distanza fra le estremit di
ogni singola frattura
Ammassi rocciosi e rilevamento geostrutturale
Spaziatura:
distanza fra due fessure
successive, misurate con la
lunghezza del segmento
ortogonale ad una delle due
Ammassi rocciosi e rilevamento geostrutturale
Frequenza: il numero di
fessure per unit di
lunghezza
Ammassi rocciosi e rilevamento geostrutturale
Persistenza: estensione
areale o dimensione di una
discontinuit osservata su un
piano; approssimativamente
coincide con la lunghezza
delle tracce su superfici
esposte
Ammassi rocciosi e rilevamento geostrutturale