Rockfalls threatening trails in the Aurunci and Riviera di Ulisse Regional Parks of Italy: Susceptibility assessment for a safer fruition of cultural landscapes

The San Michele Arcangelo historic trail in the Aurunci Regional Park and the Punta Cetarola trail in the Riviera di Ulisse Regional Park (Italy), are both developed alongs lopes prone to rock falls, for which the understanding of the condition of development and evolution of instabilities are significant to support the adoption of specific mitigation measures. To provide a rock fall susceptibility scenario, specific analyses were completed on the basis offield and literature data. Possible mechanisms of detachment were analyzed using the Mark landtest, while, through GIS processing and deterministic/probabilistic propagation analyses, susceptibility to rock block propagation and deposition was estimated. The results obtained indicate the potential for rock blocks detachment by wedge and planar sliding or toppling, the susceptibility to both propagation and deposition of rock blocks only for some segments along both trails and the control exerted by screes and slope angle on rock fall deposition.