REGIONAL HYDROLOGICAL THRESHOLDS FOR LANDSLIDES AND FLOODS IN THE TIBER-RIVER BASIN (CENTRAL ITALY)

The definition of landslide warning thresholds, based on the analysis of hydrological data, is proposed. In the Tiber River Basin of central Italy historical information on landslides and floods, for the period 1918-1990, was available from a nationwide bibliographical and archiv e inventory on geohydrological catastrophes. Hydrological data were ob tained from mean daily discharge records at various gauging stations w ithin the basin. Several hundred hydrological events, broadly defined as a series of consecutive days having mean daily discharge exceeding a predefined value, were identified. Hydrological parameters obtained from the discharge records were used to rank the events according to t heir probability to trigger mass movements or inundations and to defin e regional thresholds for the occurrence of landslides and floods. The proposed approach, not lacking limitations, has conceptual and operat ional advantages, among which is the possibility of using historical i nformation on geohydrological catastrophes.