Contribution of digital photogrammetry in spatio-temporal knowledge of unstable slopes: the example of the Super-Saute landslide (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France)

Recent developments in image processing and digital photogrammetry offer to the geomorphologists increasingly accessible and effective tools for the spatio-temporal knowledge of landslides. These techniques were used to reconstitute the historical evolution of a complex flow slide occurring in the "Terres Noires" of the Barcelonnette basin. The lithological and morphological environment of the studied site is characteristic of the whole southern French Prealps where are largely present Jurassic marry formations. Six digital elevation models (D.E.M.) generated from stereoscopic couples of aerial photography, but also various ortho-images and perspective views, allow to follow the morphological evolution of the unstable slope since the years 1950's - before the releasing of the landslide - until our days. Besides multitemporal descriptions of the landscape and of the morphological processes occurred on this site, the implemented method appears particularly usefull for the quantitative analysis of the instabilities. It appears notably as a powerful tool for the 3-D reconstruction of the landslide geometry and by the same occasion for the calculation of its volume.