Dolomite mountains: "crumbling down" in winter caused by climate change?
29.12.2011
A few days before Christmas, the eastern slope of the Sass Maor has fallen to pieces.
Known as one of the major peaks in the Dolomites, the Sass Maor had never been considered as rock prone to instability. According to Antonio Calgaro from the Geoscience department of the University of Padua, "The phenomenon is uncommon in the winter months."
Recently, the 3D terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technique has been proposed as an alternative technique to perform rock instability analysis in a remote way. The researchers based at the University of Padua are sanguine that the data provided by the TLS survey can be used to obtain information aimed at landslide prevention.
The Dolomites are famous for skiing and mountain climbing. One national park and many other regional parks are located in the Dolomites, declared a natural heritage site by UNESCO in 2009.
Photo (c) Vin / Flickr
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