Expansive clays and hydroclimatic controls as conditioning factors of mass movements in SE Spain

Abstract

In the Iberian Peninsula, Alpine belts concentrate the main areas with high susceptibility to slope instabilities. Steepening of slopes by recent tectonic activity has classically been suggested as the cause of mass movements in these areas. However, in the Betic Cordillera the most important landslides, in terms of volume of mobilised material and economic losses, have been produced in areas of low-moderate slope.