Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-613-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-613-2017
Research article
 | 
08 May 2017
Research article |  | 08 May 2017

A multi-centennial record of past floods and earthquakes in Valle d'Aosta, Mediterranean Italian Alps

Bruno Wilhelm, Hendrik Vogel, and Flavio S. Anselmetti

Abstract. Mediterranean Alpine populations are particularly exposed to natural hazards like floods and earthquakes because of both the close Mediterranean humidity source and the seismically active Alpine region. Knowledge of long-term variability in flood and earthquake occurrences is of high value since it can be useful to improve risk assessment and mitigation. In this context, we explore the potential of a lake-sediment sequence from Lago Inferiore de Laures in Valle d'Aosta (Northern Italy) as a long-term record of past floods and earthquakes. The high-resolution sedimentological study revealed 76 event layers over the last ca. 270 years; 8 are interpreted as most probably induced by earthquakes and 68 by flood events. Comparison to historical seismic data suggests that the recorded earthquakes are strong (epicentral Medvedev–Sponheuer–Kárník (MSK) intensity of VI–IX) and/or close to the lake (distance of 25–120 km). Compared to other lake-sediment sequences, Lago Inferiore de Laures sediments appear to be regionally the most sensitive to earthquake shaking, offering a great potential to reconstruct the past regional seismicity further back in time. Comparison to historical and palaeoflood records suggests that the flood signal reconstructed from Lago Inferiore de Laures sediments represents the regional and (multi-)decadal variability of summer–autumn floods well, in connection to Mediterranean mesoscale precipitation events. Overall, our results reveal the high potential of Lago Inferiore de Laures sediments to extend the regional earthquake and flood catalogues far back in time.

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Short summary
We explored the potential of a sedimentary sequence in Valle d'Aosta (Northern Italy) as a natural archive of hazards. Our results suggest that this sequence is regionally the most sensitive to earthquake shaking with the record of 8 earthquakes over the last ~270 years and that it well represents the regional and (multi-)decennial variability of Mediterranean summer–autumn floods. Hence, this sequence offers a great potential to extend chronicles of regional floods and earthquakes back in time.
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