Mapping and Monitoring of Landforms Evolution. Case study: Breasta Landslide (Southwestern Romania)

The steep right slope of the Jiu River (a tributary of the Danube River in the Romanian Plain) in its lower course is one of the hotspots for landslides in Southwestern Romania, constantly facing instability issues due to landslide reactivations and slope-related active deformations.In our study, we aimed to analyze the behavior of the Breasta landslide.The 16-year monitoring data set (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017)(2018)(2019)(2020)(2021)(2022) contributes to a better understanding of the movement mechanisms associated with triggering factors.Following GNSS monitoring of the profile line since 2006, it became obvious that the most significant morphological changes occurred in the median and final sectors of the landslide, where the slope retreated by 6 to 19 meters.In terms of results, a digital terrain model of the central sector of the Breasta landslide was generated using 5000 GPS-measured points.Using the Kriging method, this sector was enclosed within a rectangle covering an area of 313.40 square meters, with an average height of 108 meters.This sector emphasizes the morphology of the landslide from 2022 in one of the 'amphitheaters' that developed after the 2006 reactivation.This paper provides insights into the dynamics of the landslide, helping to discover possible triggering factors of mass movement and periodic changes in the landslide morphology.