Geomorphological evolution of slopes and climate changes in northern Italy during the Late Quaternary: spatial and temporal distribution of landslides and landscape sensitivity implications

This paper deals with the use of landslide records in the analysis oflandscape sensitivity, with pamcdar reference to climate change as aforcing process. The dating of past landslide events is useful to reconstruct the evolution of the slope-systern at a broad ternporal scale and to recognize the different formative events it has experienced. If the environrnentai context can be defined by rneans of a rndtidisciplinary approach which cornprises geornorphological, sedimentologicai, paiaeobotanical, dendrochronological and archaeologicai anaiysis, then a deep understanding of the relationship between the possible triggering factors and the responses of the landscape can be achieved. The goal is to recognize the ternporal changes through environrnentai factors which condition landsliding events such as climate, seismic activity, vegetation and land use, trying to identify the relationship between landslide events and their initiating process, which is known to be complicated by the behaviour and the propenies of the hiilslope systern, in other words its sensitivity.The conceptual and rnethodological aspects of the topic are discussed,aiming prirnarily at the reconstruction of the temporal occurrenceof landslides and at the assessrnent of possible clustering of climate-induced landslides, as a consequence of the slope-systern sensitivity to climate changes. Case studies in the Alps and in the northem Apennines are described and the research perspectives are outlined.