The XI International Conference and Fieldtrip on Landslides (ICFL)- Early June, 2005 - Norway For more information, contact Jan Otto Larsen

In coordination with Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Jan Otto Larsen will chair the Organizing Committee for the XI ICFL in Norway in 2005. Field excursions include Northern Norway to examine quick-clay problems and submarine landslides and Southern Norway to study rock falls and avalanches, plus a mapping exercise, to be followed by the conference.

Xth ICFL - 6th to 16th September 2002 - Poland Review by Joseph C. Clark

Follow the text with the ICFL photo presentation. Photos provided by David Evans collection and the ICFL materials.

On September 6th, eighteen participants from Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Norway gathered at the Hotel Bristol in Warsaw to begin ten days of landslide and geology examination from the Polish Lowlands to the Carpathians to the Baltic Seaside under the able leadership of Professor Stanislaw Ostaficzuk of the University of Silesia.

In Warsaw, we observed landslide damage that has plagued Warsaw structures above the escarpment of the Vistula River for centuries. Professor Lech Wysokinski described protective measures that involved geotechnical stabilization works on the slope and engineering reinforcement of historic structures. In Plock City, to the north, landsliding along the escarpment of the Vistula River partially destroyed a 12th century castle during the first half of the 16th century. Periodic landsliding caused further damage until preventive measures in the 1980s that included 76 piles and buttressing have slowed the sliding to less than 1 mm per year.

A highlight of the field trip was a tour of the Belchatow open-pit lignite mine in central Poland (see ICFL Photo Presentation #1), led by mine-geologist Mr. Leopold Czarnecki. This mine, opened in 1977, is the largest in Poland, covering 22 km2 and producing 38 million tons of coal annually for an adjacent large electrical generating power plant. After visiting landslides above the open pit that were activated during mining in the 1980s and 1990s, we examined the geology and mining operations within the pit at a depth of 200 m, where huge mining machines were excavating a 54 m-thick lignite bed of Miocene age. In addition to landsliding, other environmental concerns included the protection of groundwaters and coal deposits against salt pollution from the leaching of a Permian salt diapir that intrudes the lignite deposit. Another special problem is the seismic hazard to buildings by earthquakes apparently triggered by load release from mining operations. Between 1979 and 1999, over 1200 shocks were recorded with magnitudes as high as 4.66. The four 1000 megawatt power plants fed by the lignite coal run 24 hours a day. One interesting strategy to capture the low demand, late night energy involves a pump storage facility perched on the top of a mountain (see ICFL Photo Presentation #2).

Antoni Wojcik and Teresa Mrozek of the Polish Geological Institute guided us through landslides in the Carpathian flysch. Our group was confronted with the problem of what should be done with a damaging landslide in the rural village of Lachowice (see ICFL Photo Presentation #3). This complex, deep-seated slide had moved abruptly in August 2001 after a period of heavy precipitation, destroying 14 houses. No reclamation had occurred prior to our visit to the site, and in discussion with the village mayor and representatives of the Polish Geological Institute, we suggested that this slide with the destroyed homes be left as is and that an educational center be established at the site. Although this landslide had been mapped in the 1960s, governmental authorities had not, until perhaps recently, enforced an existing regulation to prevent building on landslides.

We visited several active slides in the region upon which homes had recently been constructed and considered the potential hazard. One such slide at Podhale that slid in 1965 was probably the ICFL’s first truly international slide with the headscarp in Poland and the toe in Slovakia. Outer Carpathian landslides around Wieliczka near Krakow (see ICFL Photo Presentation #4) could have been caused by the solution mining of Miocene salt; however, recent movements were related to periods of heavy rainfall.

Other field trip highlights included trekking in upper Cretaceous to lower Tertiary nappes of the Tatry Mountains (see ICFL Photo Presentation #5) with Professor Jerzy Lefeld, rafting through the scenic Pieniny klippen belt on the Dunajec River between Poland and Slovakia (see ICFL Photo Presentation #6), examining with Dr. Zbigniew Perski of the University of Silesia, surface subsidence problems (see ICFL Photo Presentation #7) related to underground long-wall mining of Carboniferous coals in the Upper Silesia coal basin, descending into the Wieliczka Salt Mine (see ICFL Photo Presentation #8) of Miocene halite that has been operating continuously for more than 700 years, and visiting protective measures on the Baltic Seacoast (see ICFL Photo Presentation #9) with Professor Marciej Werno. There, seacliff erosion rates of 1.6 m/year were reduced by construction of a gabion wall that failed to prevent landsliding in the upper part of the cliff caused by infiltration of groundwater. In 2000, an impressive “cliff reconstruction” using reinforced sand blocks stabilized the cliff along a 200 m-long stretch, affording protection to an historic building and a hotel.

Memorable repasts (see more ICFL Photos #10) included an elaborate luncheon in a 19th century hunting lodge in southern Poland where Professor Scott Burns described the cervid heads that adorned the walls, an “international” backpack lunch on a windy Tatry Mountain ridge between Poland and Slovakia, a multi-course luncheon in the 14th century Niedzica Castle above the Dunajec reservoir, and a subterranean banquet in the Wieliezka Salt Mine 135 meters below the surface.

Cultural highlights in Warsaw included a tour of the reconstructed old town and Royal Palace, destroyed almost totally after the Warsaw Uprise in 1944, and a reception at the Polish Academy of Sciences Museum of the Earth, where we were entertained by the Silesian Philharmonic string quartet before viewing an impressive Baltic amber nodule collection. At Zelazowa Wola, we heard a piano concert of Fryderyk Chopin’s music in his childhood home. A tour of Krakow included a visit to Krakow University, founded in 1364, and a walk through the Wawel Castle and the Jewish Quarter of Kazimierz. In Gdansk we were impressed by the authentic reconstruction of a city that had been 90 percent destroyed by the end of the IInd World War in March 1945.

After the field trip, a one-day conference was held at the rebuilt castle of the von Krochow family. Participants presented eleven papers, which are included in Landslides, edited by Justyna Ciesielczuk and Stanislaw Ostaficzuk and published by the Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

A farewell banquet at Krokowa Castle was a fitting end to the Xth ICFL that had provided a near-perfect blend of landslides, geology, cuisine, culture, and camaraderie.

View more Photos from ICFL Poland. ICFL photos submitted to Stanislaw Ostaficzuk will be made available at this site, so check back often!!!

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Publications and Notes

Editors of the Conference Materials (the Landslides book, and the ICFL 2002 Fieldtrip Guide-brochure) are urging P.T. Authors and Readers to send their correction proposals and remarks as soon as possible for the revised edition of the book available on CD, and for the limited-edition revised fieldtrip guides.
Contact: ostaficz@us.edu.pl or so@igf.edu.pl

Dave Evans has kindly informed me, that he has recorded a CD with 500+ collection of his ICFL photos, available for friends.
Contact: David Evans

The ICFL 2002 book "Landslides" is currently available for order. The revised edition of Landslide Field-Guide will be available soon!!!
To order these books, contact: quarzcol@wp.pl

The ICFL 2002' Principal Organizer and his Team would like to express their gratitude for so many nice words they have got during and after the event from the brave Participants, who decided on long traveling to the remote and strange place, throughout the troublesome world in such turbulent times. See you in Norway 2005.

For more information, contact Stanislaw Ostaficzuk.