Excursion of the Swiss Young Geomorphologists (SGmS)

In May, the Young Geomorphologists’ excursion will take place in the northern part of the Ticino Canton. In this two-day excursion, we will cycle through the Valle Leventina to discover the landscapes and historical natural events which have occurred in this region.

Through several stops between Airolo and Biasca, and accompanied by Prof. Dr. Cristian Scapozza and PhD student Alessandro De Pedrini from the Institute of Earth Sciences of SUPSI, we will explore and discuss the geomorphological landscapes of the Valle Leventina. Special attention will be given to natural events, with discussions spanning from geomorphological processes to socio-economic and landscape consequences. In particular, for the oldest rock slope failures, we will discuss about their ages of collapse and the trigger factors of the slope instabilities. For more recent natural events, we will focus on their morphogenesis, on the impact they had on society (damages and victims), landscape, land-use planning (danger zones), and their monitoring.

This excursion will be entirely by bicycle following bicycle paths. It starts from Airolo (1’175 m asl) and ends in Biasca (301 m asl), so most of the route will be downhill. Only short uphill sections are planned: the most challenging climbs will be from Morasco (952 m asl) to Dalpe (1240 m asl), which takes about 35 minutes, and from Nivo (629 m asl) to Chironico (791 m asl), which takes about 25 minutes.

Please bring your own bicycle and helmet. If you are unable to arrange a bicycle for the excursion, kindly indicate this on the registration form, and we will get in touch to find a solution.

Please also note that the picnic for the second day is not included, so bring your own!

Programme