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EVENT: Date
7/9/1717
- Date quality: |
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| Type: |
Ice avalanches |
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| Description |
An enormous collapse of rock and ice (16-20 mio m3, the biggest known in Mont Blanc massif) covered a distance of 7.2 km and a total difference in altitude of 1860 m in less than 4 minutes. The detaching occurred from Aiguille de l'Eboulement (the name is derived just from this event); the avalanche run on Triolet glacier and then stopped in the below Val Ferret (1740 m).
The slopes covered had an average inclination of 14°. |
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Effects: |
Sweeping away Ameiron and Trioley huts, the avalanche killed 7 (or 4, according to other sources) persons (herdsmen) and 120 cows.
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| Deaths(#) |
7 |
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Injuried (#) |
0 |
| Note |
Until the beginning of XX century the deposit of the avalanche was confused with glacial drift of the 16th to 19 th centuries (Sacco, 1918). Even in 1965 Zienert interpreted the deposit to be a late-Würm moraine.
The largest boulder found in the deposit was 4 x 12 x 20 m (about 960 m3).
Some documents report a different date of this event (13 rd September 1717). |
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DAMAGES |
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| Type: |
None |
Description: |
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BIBLIOGRAPHY |
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Barla G., Dutto F., Mortara G., 2000 - Brenva glacier rock avalanche of 18 January 1997 on the Mount Blanc range, Northwest Italy. Landslide News, n. 13, p. 2 - 5. |
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Dutto F., Mortara G., 1991 - Grandi frane storiche con eprcorso su ghiacciaio in Valle d'Aosta Rev. Valdôtaine d'Hist. Nat., 45, p. 21-35. |
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Funk M., 1999 - Eboulement de rochers et chutes de séracs sur le versant sud du massif du Mont Blanc. Mont Blanc e dintorni, 8 (16), 1999 |
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Porter S. C. & Orombelli G., 1980 - Catastrophic rockfall of September 12, 1717 on the Italian flank of the Mont Blanc Massif. Zeit. Geomorph., N.F. N.24, p.200-218 |
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