ABSTRACT
This paper presents a chronology of landslide events during the Holocene, inferred from several landslides located in the Western Swiss Alps. Five periods of enhanced landsliding are evidenced during the Holocene, namely 5’700–5’400, 3’500–3’000, 2’800–2’300, 1’600–1’300 and 700–300 cal BP. Compared with climate-related processes, such as glacier fluctuations, solifluction and humidity index, the landslide chronology can be associated with periods of more cold and humid conditions. Apart from climatic influence, Holocene landslide activity occurs together with synchronous vegetation changes, such as human-induced deforestation. Climatic changes, vegetation fluctuations and anthropogenic impacts can, therefore, be considered as major factors that contributed to increase landslide susceptibility in the Alps during the Holocene.
