Pavlovské Vrchy Hills, Western Carpathian Flysch Belt Michal Bíl 1*, Oldřich Krejčí2, Lukáš Dolák1, Vladimíra Krejčí2, Jan Martínek1 & Jiří Svoboda3,4
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www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN A chronology of landsliding based on archaeological and documentary data: Pavlovské vrchy Hills, Western Carpathian Flysch Belt Michal Bíl 1*, Oldřich Krejčí2, Lukáš Dolák1, Vladimíra Krejčí2, Jan Martínek1 & Jiří Svoboda3,4 Pavlovské vrchy Hills represent a distinctive elevation near the Czech-Austrian border where the active, dormant and relict landslides cover 12% of the area. Here we focused on the chronology of landsliding in this area using geological, archaeological and historical evidence. The earliest records of landsliding were determined in locations underlying the dated archaeological settlements. The Upper Paleolithic settlement complex dated between 37–24 ka cal BP, was originally deposited over these landslides. It was consequently destroyed in certain places by additional landslides preceding the last (Upper Pleniglacial) loess deposition (22 ka cal BP). These landslides took place before and after the Upper Paleolithic occupation of this area. This Pleistocene landslide event ranks among the oldest (albeit indirectly) dated landslide within the Czech part of the Western Carpathian Flysch Belt. The chronology of later, historical, landsliding was determined using written records (chronicles, ofcial reports, archival evidence, etc.). Continuous records of landsliding were available as of the middle of the seventeenth century. The major concentration of landslides occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century (1910–1915). The 1663 landslide is currently the oldest landslide, in the Czech part of the Western Carpathian Flysch Belt, which was dated on the basis of documentary data. Te Western Carpathian Flysch Belt (WCFB) ranks among the areas most susceptible to landsliding in the Czech Republic1–5. As many as 15,215 landslides, representing 75% of all landslides registered within the entire Czech Republic (CR), can be found in the Czech part of the WCFB (6,465 km2). Holec et al.6 claimed that the ratio of landslide-afected areas in the entire WCFB is 13.6%. Certain local studies, conducted in the Czech part of WCFB, presented even higher numbers, up to 20%7. Many types of landsliding can be found in the Czech WCFB, e.g. shallow landslides3,8, debris flows9,10, deep-seated landslides2,11–13, rockfalls14–16 or complex fow-like landslides9,10,17. A number of slopes in the highest parts of WCFB were also afected by DSGSD [e.g.11,18,19]. Current Research on Landslide Dating in the Czech WCFB Pleistocene landslides. Te vast majority of dated landsliding in the Czech part of WCFB are from the Holocene age. Te inventory of the dated WCFB landslides with new radiocarbon dates (from woody and other organic remnants within the landslide body or from lakes on the landslide surface) allowed for the identifcation of landslide phases in the Holocene20. Te results of dating the slope movements by the 14C determination method in the Czech WCFB have yielded so far results from the youngest phase of sliding in the Holocene17. Pánek et al.17 reported the results of dating from 13 localities ranging from 12.86–9.30 ka (Kykula locality; cal BP) to 510–470 years (Pluskovec locality; cal BP). Virtually, these data fall mostly into the Holocene period (0–11.734 ka cal BP). Many well-known, large-scale landslides occurring in Czech WCFB still have not been dated, however. Te primary cause of the lack of dating of these pre-Holocene landsliding here is the intensive erosion of the oldest landslide forms. Exceptions include the slopes of Kabátice in the Moravskoslezské Beskydy Mts. (around 51–56 ka cal BP with a continuation until <36 ka cal BP21); and the Malenik Ridge in the Moravian Gate22, where the Upper Pleistocene mass movements (47,704 ± 2346 cal b2k) were dated. 1CDV – Transport Research Centre, Líšeňská 33a, 636 00, Brno, Czech Republic. 2Czech Geological Survey, Klárov 3, 118 21, Prague, Czech Republic. 3Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 267/2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic. 4Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, 69129, Dolní Věstonice, Czech Republic. *email: [email protected] SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | (2020) 10:976 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-57551-4 1 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ www.nature.com/scientificreports Figure 1. Pavlovské vrchy Hills (PVH) and its position within the Czech Republic and WCFB. Processed in QGIS Version 2.18.0 ‘Las Palmas’. Historical landslides. Te general lack of suitable materials for landslide dating using geochronological methods, even among the youngest landslides, lead to utilization of other methods in WCFB, e.g. dendrochron- ological16. Te existence of written documents (and related references to the current weather therein) has already been utilized by historical climatologists. Research focusing on landsliding which were active during historical times can also utilize this data. Špůrek23 provided the frst comprehensive overview of dated landslide events with this method which covered the area of Central Europe, but also contained records from other parts of the world. Te primary sources of his work were newspapers and historical documents. Several episodes of intensifcation of mass movements were identifed in this work in WCFB (e.g.23). Te most recent (1939, 1941, 1970, 1997, 2006 and 2010) were identifed from the village of Halenkovice and its vicinity (approx. 70 km NE from Pavlovské vrchy Hills7);. An example of a landslide episode with a large spatial extent (e. g. the entire area of the CR and its vicinity) is that which took place in the spring of 19417,23–25. Other historical documentation of landslide events, over more than the last 200 years, was conducted by Raška et al.26,27. In this paper, which combines geological, archaeological, and historical records, we present evidence from the Pavlovské vrchy Hills for repeated landsliding which afected human settlements. We also synthetized data and built a chronology of landsliding for this part of the Czech WCFB from prehistory to the recent times. Tis area (located in Moravia, i.e., eastern part of CR; Fig. 1) has been systematically surveyed by archaeologists as of the 1920s. Landslides were mentioned a number of times along with the abundant archaeological fndings28–30. It was also inhabited up until the end of World War II by a German population which carried out detailed reports, ofen mentioning natural processes, in their chronicles. Such systematic observations, including reports on landsliding, are not available for the rest of the Czech WCFB until the frst quarter of the twentieth century. Geological and geomorphological setting. The topography of this area is strongly affected by the presence of relatively hard limestone which overhangs the neighboring weak fysch rocks forming a rather fat relief (Fig. 2). Te Pavlovské vrchy Hills exceed the neighboring landscape up to 350 m31. Te Hills are mainly built up by the rootless, tectonically transported, sediments of the lowermost unit of the WCFB nappe stack. Tey consist of numerous imbricates, duplexes, and partial thrust sheets of the Upper Jurassic to Lower Miocene strata. Tectonic klippen of Jurassic marls and carbonates and Upper Cretaceous (Turonian to Campanian) clastic rocks are tectonically incorporated into the thrust sheets of the younger, Paleogene to Lower Miocene sequences (Fig. 3). Te Pavlovské vrchy Hills make up part of the exterior Menilithic-Krosno Group of nappes of the WCFB. The area around Dolní Věstonice, built up of pre-Quaternary calcareous claystones, sandstones, and rare SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | (2020) 10:976 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-57551-4 2 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ www.nature.com/scientificreports Figure 2. Te Pavlovské vrchy Hills form a distinct dominant in a generally fat terrain which attracted Paleolithic humans for settlement. Photo Jan Vondra, Aerofot Brno. conglomerates, belongs to the Pouzdřany unit and mainly to the Waschberg – Ždánice units32,33. Waschberg – Ždánice units are the major frontal thrust system of the WCFB. Te area was the subject of erosion and denudation in the Late Miocene afer the WCFB moved to its present position. Limestone bodies form an anticlinal nappe structure protruding from the surrounding, mostly claystone strata. It is a geological structure, typical for the Pavlovské vrchy Hills and disturbed by vertical fault tectonics, which resulted in the sliding of large block along the claystone surface. Pleistocene denudation and accumulation processes on the NW slopes of the Pavlovské vrchy Hills led to a complicated lithostratigraphic sequence, ofen disturbed by sliding. Te block-stony rubble colluvium with the soil-clay matrix created large landslides that slid down the slopes. Tese landslides resulted in the next disintegration and a mixing of the material on the slopes arose and arises under appropriate climatic conditions, earthfows with devastating efects to both prehistoric settlements and modern villages. Evidence of this process are the limestone blocks found in the riverbed of the Dyje River28. Te role of bed- rock and its structure in WCFB as a factor of landslide origin was investigated by Rybář34 who defned the typical case situations. Te common pattern in the WCFB is the alteration of inclined rigid and plastic beds. It has been demonstrated that fysch slides commonly originate on slopes determined by downslope bedding. Te Quaternary cover of the Pavlovské vrchy Hills consists of fuvial sandy gravels of the Dyje River in several terraces (fuvial accumulations), colluvial slope sediments