Abstract

CAPRA, Lucia; LUGO-HUBP, José  and  ZAMORANO-OROZCO, José Juan. The importance of geology in the study of landslide processes: the case of Totomoxtla, Northern Puebla Range, Mexico. Bol. Soc. Geol. Mex [online]. 2006, vol.58, n.2, pp.205-214. ISSN 1405-3322.  https://doi.org/10.18268/bsgm2006v58n2a3.

Every year mass movement affect densely populated areas anywhere in the world. In Mexico, during the hurricane season mountain regions are affected by different mass movement processes such as rotational landslides and debris flows. The Sierra Norte de Puebla was affected by an intense hydro-meteorologic event at the beginning of October, 1999, which generated thousands of movements. The larger landslides were generated in unstable slopes due to the presence of geologic-structural, such as interbedded sequence of limestones and deformed rocks that constitute the limbs of large folds. The landslide happened in the town of Totomoxtla is a clear example of such instability, where the sliding mass transformed into a cohesive debris flow due to the water saturation of the clay-bearing metamorphic beds. This flow was able to transport blocks of more than a meter in diameter, up to great distances. Only with the aim of a detailed geologic-structural study it will be possible to generate susceptibility maps that can really demonstrate the threatened zones and thus propose the temporary relocation of some houses during the rain seasons.

Keywords : Sierra Norte de Puebla; Totomoxtla; Zapotitlán de Méndez; landslide; cohesive debris flows.

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