<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>We applied dendrochronological methods for dating landslide activity in the study area (3.75 km<sup>2</sup>), on the slopes of Sucha Mountain (1040 m a.s.l.), in the Beskid Żywiecki Mountains, in the Western Carpathians. 46 sampling sites were distributed throughout the study area. At each site we sampled 1-3 coniferous trees: Norway spruces (<italic>Picea abies</italic> Karst.) and/or silver firs (<italic>Abies alba</italic> Mill.). From each tree 2 cores were sampled: one from the upslope and the other from the downslope side of the stem. Based on tree-ring widths measured for opposite sides of stems we have calculated eccentricity index values and dated past landslide events. Mean frequency of landslides was obtained for each sampling site. Finally, the data was interpolated into a map of landslide activity. Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation has been applied. For most of the study area we found medium (19 sites) and low (23 sites) levels of landslide activity. The highest level of activity was recorded for the largest landslide slope and for the one small landslide. The study conducted on Sucha Mountain has shown that dendrochronology can be an effective method for analysing landslide activity and may be useful in further studies, including those for landslide hazard and risk assessments.</p></abstract>

We applied dendrochronological methods for dating landslide activity in the study area (3.75 km2), on the slopes of Sucha Mountain (1040 m a.s.l.), in the Beskid Żywiecki Mountains, in the Western Carpathians. 46 sampling sites were distributed throughout the study area. At each site we sampled 1-3 coniferous trees: Norway spruces (Picea abies Karst.) and/or silver firs (Abies alba Mill.). From each tree 2 cores were sampled: one from the upslope and the other from the downslope side of the stem. Based on tree-ring widths measured for opposite sides of stems we have calculated eccentricity index values and dated past landslide events. Mean frequency of landslides was obtained for each sampling site. Finally, the data was interpolated into a map of landslide activity. Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation has been applied. For most of the study area we found medium (19 sites) and low (23 sites) levels of landslide activity. The highest level of activity was recorded for the largest landslide slope and for the one small landslide. The study conducted on Sucha Mountain has shown that dendrochronology can be an effective method for analysing landslide activity and may be useful in further studies, including those for landslide hazard and risk assessments.

Dendrochronology as a source of data for landslide activity maps – an example from Beskid Żywiecki Mountains (Western Carpathians, Poland)

Department of Reconstructing Environmental Change, Faculty of Earth Sciences

Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

We applied dendrochronological methods for dating landslide activity in the study area (3.75 km2), on the slopes of Sucha Mountain (1040 m a.s.l.), in the...

Dendrochronology as a source of data for landslide activity maps – an example from Beskid Żywiecki Mountains (Western Carpathians, Poland)

Published Online: Sep 23, 2017

Page range: 40 - 46

Received: May 11, 2017

Accepted: Aug 30, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/environ-2017-0015

Keywords
dendrochronology, landslides, growth eccentricity, Western Carpathians

© 2017 Katarzyna Łuszczyńska et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Dendrochronology as a source of data for landslide activity maps – an example from Beskid Żywiecki Mountains (Western Carpathians, Poland)

Published Online: Sep 23, 2017

Page range: 40 - 46

Received: May 11, 2017

Accepted: Aug 30, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/environ-2017-0015

Keywordsdendrochronology, landslides, growth eccentricity, Western Carpathians

© 2017 Katarzyna Łuszczyńska et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
dendrochronology, landslides, growth eccentricity, Western Carpathians