Natural as well as Anthropogenic Disaster

 A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon

which includes a wide range of ground movements,
such as
• rockfalls
• deep failure of slopes
• shallow debris flows
 which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore
environments.
 Although the action of gravity is the primary driving
force for a landslide to occur, there are other
contributing factors affecting the original slope
stability.
 Typically, pre-conditional factors build up specific sub-
surface conditions that make the area/slope prone to
failure, whereas the actual landslide often requires a
trigger before being released.
 Scarp - a scar of exposed soil on the landslide
 Crown - stable top soil at the head of the landslide.
Sometimes the crown will fall and form a new scarp.
 Slip Plane - failure surface of a landslide
 Toe - material pushed out at the base of the landslide
beyond the slip plane, supports the landslide.
 Rubble - debris from the landslide
 Bedrock - solid rock beneath the soil. The most common
bedrock for a landslide to occur on is shale.
 Head - used to be part of the original ground surface
 Soil - loose upper layer of earth, clay soil often leads to
landslides.
 NATURAL
Landslides are not individual events, they occur in
conjunction with other factors Landslides occur when
the hill or mountain side is unstable. Factors that can
allow gravity to overcome the resistance of earth
material are:
 Erosion-
(the natural wearing away of rocks and soil) by rivers,
glaciers or oceans can overly steepen slopes.
 Addition of moisture
Moisture equals weight and water from heavy rainfall,
flooding, rapid snow melting, glacier melting, and an
increased water table can all saturate the hillside and
cause a landslide.
Shocks and Vibrations
Earthquakes, typically those of 4.0 magnitude and
above, can create stresses that weaken slopes.
Earthquakes tend to produce the largest and most
destructive landslides.
The earthquake-induced Alaskan landslide of
1964 happened when the vibrations disrupted the clay
soil particles and the water contained in them rose to
the surface. The picture below shows one of the 1964
landslides that struck an elementary school.
(Landslides Triggered by Earthquakes)
 Volcanic eruptions can produce loose ash deposits,
heavy rain, and debris flows. The eruption of Mount St.
Helens on May 18, 1980 triggered massive landslides,
including the largest landslide in the world, which
moved 2.8 km3 of earth material.
Overdevelopment
Human activities such as construction, building,
transportation, building dams and canals, and mining
can disturb large volumes of earth materials. In fact,
landslide damage is increasing every year as our
population expands further into hilly regions.
2.Deforestation
As the human population grows the demand for clear
land for crops and housing grows too. So forests, with
trees that hold the soil in place, are logged, burned,
and developed. And while this alone will usually not
cause a landslide, the land becomes much more
susceptible to heavy rains and floods and landslides
can occur with much less rain than if a forest was still
there.
 Topples
 These type of landslides are characterized by the
tilting of rock without collapse, or distinguished by the
forward rotation of rocks about a pivot point.

 Topples have a very fast rate of movement due to the

failure of the fracture or joint patterns in the rock
masses .

 Such movements of rock strata are also strongly

influenced by gravity.
 2. Falls
 A fall is composed of all types of geological materials like
rock debris, boulders, soil masses etc and usually occurs
abruptly.

 Such landslides occur when rock mass and debris detached

from steep slopes or main bedrock .

 Such detachments of rock masses occurs along diff.

geological structures and the movement occurs by free-fall.
The falls are strongly influenced by gravity and mechanical
weathering.
 Slides
 Slides are one of the most common forms of soil or
rock strata failure that causes mass movements and
can be subdivided into translational and rotational
types of slides.

 A slide occurs in a distinct zone of weakness that

separates the slide material from more stable
underlying material
 Lateral spreading can be defined as the gradual
lateral movement of large to very large volumes of
distributed material over very gentle slope or flat
terrain.

 Such failures are triggered by rapid ground motion,

caused by natural seismic movements and artificial
movements. Lateral spreading in fine-grained
materials on shallow slopes is usually progressive.
Block slide is a translational slide in which the moving
mass consists of a single unit or a few closely related
units that move down slope as a relatively coherent
mass.
Flows: Flows are the most destructive and turbulent
form of landslide. Usually flows are composed of fine
to coarse grained soil mass and weathered rock
materials along with high water content that causes
movement of flowing mass in slopes and turn it into
slurry .
a) Debris flow
A debris flow is a form of
rapid mass movement in which
a combination of loose soil,
rock, organic matter, air, and
water mobilize as a slurry that
flows downslope.
b) Earthflow
Such flows are characterized by a “hourglass” shape.
Usually earth flows the loose slope material liquefies
and runs out, forming a elongated bowl or depression
at the head.
c)Mudflow
A mudflow is an earthflow consisting of material that is
highly wet enough to flow rapidly under the influence
of gravity and that contains at least 50 percent sand-,
silt-, and clay-sized particles.
d)Creep flow
Such flows cause the slow, steady, downward
movement of very large area along the slope. Creep
flows are caused by escalation of shear stress along a
weak plane within the landmass.
Here are some features that might be noticed prior to a
landslide:
1.Wetness or water springs in an area that hadn't been wet
before.
2.New cracks or bulges in the ground.
3.Soil moving away from the foundation.
4.Leaning telephone poles, trees, or fences.
5.A sudden decrease in creek levels when it is still raining
 Landslide zonation can be defined as the division of
the land surface into areas and the ranking of these
areas according to degrees of actual or potential
hazards from landslide and mass movements on hilly
terrain or slopes.
For developing an effective landslide hazard zonation map
consideration of following factors are important:

 Study of the landslide incidents of the past and present of the area
and their nature. It is essential because the landslides in future are
more likely to occur under similar geological, geomorphological,
hydrogeologic and climatic conditions, which were and are
responsible for the occurrence of past and present landslides.
Therefore study of existing landslides will be more helpful for
landslide hazard zonation.

 All the landslides with distinct geomorphological features are to be

identified, classified and mapped both through field surveys and
remote sensing visual image interpretations .These studies will be
helpful in the identification of distinct geomorphological features
responsible for landslides.
 In majority of the cases landslides are controlled by identifiable
internal factors (i.e., inherent attributes of the ground) known as
causative factors, which can also be mapped from field surveys
and remote sensing image interpretations .

 The selection of the landslide mapping scale affects the

selection of the approach . Therefore the selection of the scale
for generating landslide hazard zonation map should be carried
out on the basis of following factors

i) the purpose of the study .

(ii) the extent of the study area .
(iii) availability of data.
 Majority of the landslide incidents have caused
extensive loss of life and destruction of property.
Sometimes landslides occur due to the impacts of
natural disasters and therefore difficult to predict or
prevent.
 Areas and locations that are prone to landslides
activities can be regularly monitored and any type of
ground movement related with landslide can be
timely predicted and prevented with the help of
effective landslide monitoring equipments.
1.Landslide monitoring equipment
 USGS has developed landslide hazards monitoring system
effective in the monitoring of landslide and the physical
processes that trigger landslides or control their movements.
 This real-time landslide monitoring technique measures
precipitation, groundwater pressure, slope movement, ground
vibration, and overall system power (battery). Most of the
sensors of this system are installed in and on the landslide and
the data is then transmitted to USGS computers.
 The process of installing real-time monitors begins with the
installation of solar-powered radio telemetry systems that are
designed to transmit all data collected to corresponding USGS
computers
 Different other sensors like inclinometers, strain meter, tiltmeters,
pressure transducers and rain gauges, can also provide valuable
information related with landslides.
 Usually continuous, real-time landslide monitoring is required for
very prone sites and periodic monitoring is sufficient at less
sensitive sites.

2. Remote sensing and GIS

 The prevailing methods of mapping and monitoring of landslides
can benefit from the application of remote sensing techniques
coupled with GIS analysis.
 The use of new remote sensing technologies and geophysical
methods like GPR, SAR interferometry and availability of very high
resolution satellite data allows a rapid acquisition of quantitative
data of inaccessible sub-surface and surface that covers wide areas
without excessive field work and cost.

Each station focuses on detecting:
1) precipitation and ground water levels which can
destabalize a slope.
2) acceleration of slide movement.
3) ground vibrations associated with movement.
 The hazard from landslides can be reduced by avoiding
construction on steep slopes and existing landslides, or
by stabilizing the slopes. Stability increases when ground
water is prevented from rising in the landslide mass by
1. Covering the landslide with an impermeable membrane.
2. Minimizing surface irrigation. Slope stability is also
increased when a retaining structure and/ or the weight
of a soil/rock berm are placed at the toe of the landslide
or when mass is removed from the top of the slope.
3. Don't water slopes.
4.Site and drainage management:

Management of site movements is essential to control the

landslide activities. Such site management is carried out by
interdisciplinary approach. Further surface drainage control
are also essential at the landslide site. The surface drainage
control works includes collection of drainage and arranging
safe passage for collected drainage. The rate of infiltration is
minimized and channel works are designed to remove the
collected water out of the landslide zone as soon as possible.

5. Construction of Retaining Walls: Construction of retaining

walls can effectively prevent a smaller sized landslide that
often occurs and trigger the larger landslides. Such retaining
walls are usually conventional reinforced concrete retaining
walls
6.Risk Avoidance and reduction: Risk avoidance and
reduction can be achieved by avoiding any type of
construction and activity in landslide zones. Construction
work increases the load on soil masses and makes it
more sensitive to landslides.

5. Construction of Piles: Construction of piles is costly but

most effective technique in controlling the landslide
activities in any area. The pile works consist of driving
piles as keys to tie together the moving landslide and the
stable ground to restrain the movement. Usually a thick
walled steel pipe filled with concrete or concrete piles
are constructed to control landslide activities.
THE END