ABSTRACT
The Arvel quarry is located in southwestern Switzerland close toVilleneuve (Fig. 1a).The rock forming the slope above Villeneuve has been extensively exploited as construction material since the middle ages. The site of the actual quarry is industrially exploited since 1905. The quarry has experienced several rockslides and rockfall events during the last century. The most important event occurred on March 13th 1922, when a rockslide of about 600’000 m3 destroyed partially the extraction machinery. Recently, on December 12th 2008, a rockslide of about 20’000 m3 occurred on the upper part of the quarry. Because of this event and unstable rock spur detected in the same area, an important portion the quarry extraction is presently stopped. This article illustrates the application of remote sensing techniques and field analysis in order to analyze and model the potential trigger mechanism of the 2008 rockslide and to assess the present-day stability of the upper part of the quarry.
