Munich Alpine Hazards and Mitigation Cluster (AlpHaz)

New details on a high alpine landslide associated with glacier retreat in Georgia


A large landslide last week was released from just below the peak of Mount Kazbek in Georgia. The failure originated at 4,100 m, well above the regional permafrost limit, but immediately underneath an actively retreating glacier. Debris travelled 10 km down-valley and killed a number of people near a hydropower project in the main valley. Lessons learnt from such high alpine events in relatively remote regions can provide useful insight into potential events in more populated regions. For further details on the location and size of the slide can be found on Kerry Leith's geohazard blog.