Standards and methods of hazard assessment for mass-movements in Great Britain

With less extreme topography and limited tectonic activity, Great Britain experiences a different landslide regime than countries in many other parts of the world e.g. Italy and France. Glacial modification of the landscape during the Pleistocene, followed by severe periglacial conditions have led to the presence of high numbers of ancient or relict landslides. Debris flows and rock falls common to higher relief areas of Europe occur but are less likely to interfere with development and population centres. Despite the often subdued nature of landslides in Great Britain, numerous high profile events in recent years have highlighted the continued need to produce useable, applied landslide information. The British Geological Survey has developed a national landslide susceptibility map which can be used to highlight potential areas of instability. It has been possible to create the national susceptibility map (GeoSure) because of the existence of vast data archives collected by the survey such as the National Landslide Database, National Geotechnical Database and digital geological maps. This susceptibility map has been extensively used by the insurance industry and has also been adopted for a number of externally funded projects targeting specific problems.