Landslides Along the North-West Coast of the Island of Malta Stefano Devoto, Sara Biolchi, Viola Maria Bruschi, Alberto Gonza ´lez Dı ´ez, Matteo Mantovani, Alessandro Pasuto, Daniela Piacentini, John A. Schembri, and Mauro Soldati Abstract The paper shows the results of geomorphological and engineering-geological investigations carried out along the north-western coast of the Island of Malta, with special emphasis on landslides. Field surveys and aerial-photo interpretation allowed the recognition, identifica- tion and mapping of a series of landslides of different type and size, some of which showing evidence of activity. Coastal instability in the studied area is deeply controlled by structural factors, such as tectonic and stratigraphic ones. The research envisaged a multidisciplinary approach, which also included landslide monitoring in specific sites which were selected for detailed investigations, owing to the peculiarity of the instability processes occurring and for the related hazard and risk conditions. The paper outlines the research phases and the results achieved which proved to be fruitful thanks to the application of different methodologies for the study of coastal landslides. Particular attention has been paid to rock spreading phenomena, which are widespread along the north-western coast of Malta due to the superimposition of limestones over clayey terrains. Keywords Coastal geomorphology  Landslides  Rock spreading  Malta Introduction This paper presents the outputs of field surveys and aerial- photo interpretation carried out along the north-western coast of the Island of Malta, which is located in the central Medi- terranean Sea between Africa and Sicily. The investigations were focused on landslides along a coastal stretch of 15 km 2 comprised between Marfa Ridge to the north and Il-Pelegrin promontory to the south (Fig. 1). Previous literature describes in detail the geological features and evolution of the Island of Malta (cf. Pedley et al. 1978; Illies 1981; Pedley et al. 2002), whereas geomorphological features have only rarely been investigated (Alexander 1988). However, a series of papers has recently highlighted the most interesting geomorphological features of the north-western coast of the Island of Malta, with particular reference to mass movements (Dykes 2002; Farrugia 2008; Magri et al. 2007, 2008; Magri 2009; Soldati et al. 2010; Coratza et al. 2011). S. Devoto (*)  S. Biolchi  D. Piacentini  M. Soldati Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita ` di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Largo S. Eufemia 19, 41121 Modena, Italy e-mail: stefano.devoto@unimore.it V.M. Bruschi  A.G. Dı ´ez Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Fı ´sica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad de Cantabria, Avenida Los Castros s/n, 39005 Santander, Spain M. Mantovani  A. Pasuto Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica (IRPI), Corso Stati Uniti 4, 35127 Padova, Italy J.A. Schembri Geography Division, University of Malta, Mediterranean Institute, MSD2080 Msida, Malta C. Margottini et al. (eds.), Landslide Science and Practice, Vol. 1, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-31325-7_7, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 57