Landslide types and spatial pattern in the subcarpathian area

Abstract

The Romanian Subcarpathians are the most representative landslide-prone areas of Romania in terms of typological complexity. Conditioned by a wide range of predisposing, preparing, and triggering factors, landslides are playing a determinant role among the present-day geomorphic processes, posing in the mean time a major threat to a large number of elements at risk throughout one of Romania’s most densely inhabited regions. Within this chapter, the landslides characterizing the main morphostructural and physiographic subunits of the Subcarpathians are discussed in terms of typology imposed by the litho-structural predisposition, anthropic preparatory factors and climatic and seismic triggers. Based on the above-mentioned considerations, a regional distribution reflecting their spatial pattern is attempted through a synthetic map.