Customer

Ministry of Mineral Resources and Justice, Government of Greenland

Services Provided

• Recording of ambient vibrations at several landslides during a two-week field campaign.
• Analysis of seismic amplification to assess the degree of rock fragmentation and spatial extents of the instabilities.
• Rapid identification of the most critical landslides, effectively directing the focus of mitigation strategies.

Project Description

Following the devastating rock avalanche in the Karrat Fjord in 2017, which triggered a fatal tsunami that flooded the villages of Nuugaatsiaq and Illorsuit, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) initiated a large-scale landslide screening project.

As part of the ongoing monitoring carried out by the Government of Greenland, we have investigated two critical landslide complexes (Karrat and Kangerluarsuk). Our work included detailed passive seismic mapping to delineate the spatial extent and identify the internal structural compartments of these instabilities. The passive seismic mapping campaign provided a rapid assessment of the investigated landslides and enabled the prioritization of high risk areas for further in-depth monitoring and mitigation planning.