When a catastrophic landslide occurred in a small river basin on the left bank of the Tamega valley, in the Northeast of Portugal, which involved the sudden sliding of several tons of arable land and rocks and caused the destruction of a house and the death of fifteen people, the authors decided to carry out a careful investigation of this geomorphological phenomenon. After having formulated a number of hypotheses, they did a lot of field workin the area and carried out measurements to determine, as accurately as possible, both the real extension and the causes of the occurrence of such a phenomenon in that particular place and at that particular time of the year. A series of studies enabled the authors to come the conclusion that the natural and human-induced causes had been responsible for the disaster. Disasters like this don't unfortunately constitute isolated incidents. Therefore, the authors think it is very important to study the local geomorphology carefully before any houses or the setting up of any human activity within the territory it is responsible for.
Man's action and slope erosion. A case study in Tâmega basin (1981)