Quantification and analysis of geomorphic processes on a recultivated iron ore mine on the Italian island of Elba using long-term ground-based lidar and photogrammetric SfM data by a UAV

Abstract

This study focuses on the quantification and analysis of geomorphic processes on the barely vegetated slopes of a recultivated iron ore mine on the Italian island of Elba using photographs from terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and digital photogrammetry by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over a period of 5 1/2 years. Beside this, the study tried to work out the potential and the limitations of both methods to detect surface changes by geomorphic process dynamics within a natural environment. Both UAV and TLS show the pattern of the erosion and accumulation processes on the investigated slope quite well, but the calculated amounts differ clearly between the methods. The reasons for these differences could be found in the different accuracies (variable level of detections) of the methods and the different viewing geometries. Both effects have an impact on the detectable process dynamics over different timescales on the slope and their calculated amounts, which in both cases can lead to an underestimation of erosion and accumulation by fluvial processes.