In-situ stress measurements were carried out in the copper mine at Mitterberg at a height of 664 m above sea level under a vertical overburden of 750 m. The “doorstopper”-method was applied. The measurements were made on 12 cores from one borehole which was directed towards the East. Except for the first three measurements which lay in a small depth range of the borehole behind a zone where retrieval of the cores was impossible, the scattering of the measurement values was rather small. Thus, a computation of mean values was significant. The determination of theE-modulus was carried out by means of a Goodman jack. These determinations gave additional information about the fracture zone around the borehole. The extent of the fracture zone was in agreement with the theoretical expectations regarding the direction of the maximum normal stress determined by the “doorstopper” measurements. The closure of an adjacent drive can be explained either by the development of a fracture zone in accordance with the stresses that were measured or because of an anisotropy in the foliated rock.

It is shown that the following dynamical phenomena occur on a scree slope: Collapse because of lack of stability, rapid slides of debris material, slow sliding of large blocks, jumping and rolling of large stones, and particle-separation due to a sieving effect. The mechanisms of these phenomena are investigated in detail; it is shown that the stability and the slow sliding of blocks can be explained by soil mechanics methods, the debris slides by the law of dry friction, the rolling of stones by the laws or rolling of spheres, and the sieving effect by a theory analogous to that encountered in the filtration of suspensions through porous media.

The creep velocity and the state of stress prevailing at the beginning of the creeping motion (end of the last ice age) are fairly well known from the extrapolation of present day observations.