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  • Review Article
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The occurrence, mechanisms and hazards of large landslides along tablelands

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 5, pages 686–700 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

The largest terrestrial coalescent landslide areas of the Earth, spanning hundreds to thousands of square kilometres, occur along the fringes of relatively low-relief sedimentary and volcanic tablelands. However, difficulties in landslide recognition in these areas have led to underestimations of their frequency and likelihood. In this Review, we explore the global distribution, controls and dynamics of landslides occurring along tableland fringes. Landslide fringes are caused by the uninterrupted and extensive presence of weak sub-caprock lithologies below a more competent caprock. Topography, escarpment height and caprock thickness do not affect landslide size but can locally influence the type of displacement. Rotational landslides dominate most landslide fringes and will eventually lead to tableland consumption over million-year timescales. Some tableland rims can generate catastrophic long-runout rock avalanches or earthflows, which might in turn trigger tsunamis, river avulsion or outburst floods. Tablelands can also fail by slow (centimetre per year) landslide movements sufficient to cause damage to infrastructure. These hazards are increasing especially in high-latitude tablelands owing to cryosphere degradation, as observed in Western Greenland. A more detailed global inventory of landslide fringe activity is urgently needed to better quantify these potential hazards.

Key points

  • Coalescent landslides found along tablelands in eastern Patagonia, the Colorado Plateau, the central Sahara, West Greenland and Central Asia cover areas spanning hundreds to thousands of square kilometres.

  • Landslide fringes emerge from the coalescence of numerous individual landslides over time and space, occasionally in conjunction with larger catastrophic events.

  • Giant tableland landslide fringes are influenced by geology, particularly weak rock occurrences at escarpment bases, with the lateral distribution of these units dictating the extent of landslide areas. Topography, escarpment height and caprock thickness do not affect landslide size but can locally influence the type of displacement.

  • Retrogressive rotational landslides, prevalent along tableland fringes, were often assumed to be fossilized or inactive, especially in arid regions. Satellite monitoring reveals that some landslide rims, even in arid regions, show movements in the order of centimetres per year.

  • Tableland fringes can also experience earthflows and catastrophic rock avalanches. Long-runout landslides can result in the damming of valley floors or landslide tsunamis, which can in turn trigger a chain of other hazards, such as flooding, river avulsions or outburst floods.

  • Future research should aim to build a broader global inventory of failed tablelands, through increased interferometric synthetic aperture radar-based monitoring and more extensive radiometric dating of known landslides along tableland rims.

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Fig. 1: Tableland types and landslide fringes.
Fig. 2: Global distribution and regional examples of failed tablelands.
Fig. 3: Landslide mechanisms occurring in failed tablelands.
Fig. 4: The relationships among landslide metrics, escarpment height and caprock thickness.
Fig. 5: Landscape evolution of tablelands with a caprock versus flat plateaus made only of weak rock.

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Acknowledgements

This Review was conducted within the framework of the Czech Science Foundation, project 23-07310S.

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  1. Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Pánek & Michal Břežný

  2. Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, GEUS, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Kristian Svennevig

  3. Institute of Geography and Regional Development, University of Wrocław, Wrocław, Poland

    Piotr Migoń

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Pánek, T., Svennevig, K., Břežný, M. et al. The occurrence, mechanisms and hazards of large landslides along tablelands. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5, 686–700 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00587-1

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