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Large Late Pleistocene landslides from the marginal slope of the Flysch Carpathians

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Abstract

The gently concave piedmont of the marginal slope of the Flysch Carpathians in the Czech Republic has long been considered to comprise a system of pediments or coalescent alluvial fans. However, within one of the typical sections of this piedmont, large successive landslides with long travel distances of ~2.5 km have been identified through geophysical measurements and the investigation of an extensive artificial exposure. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating and pollen analysis demonstrate that the uppermost generations of landslide deposits have originated since ~56 ka BP during the warmer and more humid interpleniglacial conditions of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3). The geomorphological evidence for landsliding during MIS 3 has almost completely disappeared from this region due to intensive periglacial processes operating during the Last Glacial Maximum and subsequent fluvial and anthropogenic processes operating during the Holocene. The considerable antiquity of the studied terrestrial landslide bodies is unique within the context of Europe. This study shows the value of re-examining landscape development using new techniques and fresh exposures.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Prof. Jozef Minár and Dr. Pavel Mentlík for fruitful discussions, Veronika Komárková for help during the fieldwork, and Dr. Věra Čulíková for determining the macroremains. We are particularly indebted to Dr. Daniel Nývlt from the Czech Geological Survey for alerting us to the existence of the artificial exposure. The suggestions of four anonymous reviewers substantially improved the quality of this paper. Finally, we would like to express our thanks to Dr. Matthew D. Rowberry for proofreading the text and correcting the English language. This research was supported by the University of Ostrava Foundation (project no. SGS15/PřF/2013) and by CzechGeo/EPOS (project no. LM2010008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, Faculty of Science, University of Ostrava, Chittussiho 10, 710 00, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Pánek, Veronika Smolková & Jan Hradecký

  2. Department of Engineering Geology, Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, V Holešovičkách 41, Prague 8, 182 09, Czech Republic

    Filip Hartvich, Jan Klimeš & Petr Tábořík

  3. Department of Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Poříčí 3b, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Vlasta Jankovská

  4. Czech Geological Survey, Brno Branch, Leitnerova 22, 658 69, Brno, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Bubík

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  1. Tomáš Pánek
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Correspondence to Tomáš Pánek.

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Pánek, T., Hartvich, F., Jankovská, V. et al. Large Late Pleistocene landslides from the marginal slope of the Flysch Carpathians. Landslides 11, 981–992 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-013-0463-8

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