“Overburden stability of rock slopes in quarries”

Many ornamental and industrila stone quarries are located along steep slopes or within particular geostructural domains in the Italian Alpine range. The stability of the overburden formations, such as detritic or cohesionless materials, blocky and altered elements or morainic formations, can be compromised by exploitation activities. In other cases there is a natural evolution of the slope, due to singular but diffused phenomena such as block falls, or due to global movements caused by gravity and water interaction. All these facts involve safety aspects not only for the quarrying activities but also because of the possible interference with other nearby structures such as roads, electric power lines and railroads. On the basis of examples some suggestions are given in order to obtain an operative scheme taht is easily adaptable to monitoring and protection of civil excavations of slopes.