Landslide

and
Its Classification
 What is Landslide?
A landslide is the outward movement of a mass of soil, rock
or debris down slope. In addition to this definition, it can
be stated that the movement occurs when the shear stress
exceeds the shear strength of the material
What is Mass Wasting ?
Mass wasting is the down slope movement of soil or rock
material under the influence of gravity without the direct
aid of other media such as water air or ice.
What is difference ?
According to Selby, The Mass Wasting is more inclusive
than Landslide because the latter does not include falls,
topples, creep as do not have distinct planes or zones of
sliding.
The factors contributing to an increase of the
shear stress are:
removal of lateral and underlying support
(erosion, previous slides, road cuts and
quarries)
increase of load (weight of rain/snow, fills,
vegetation)
increase of lateral pressures (hydraulic
pressures, roots, crystallization, swelling of
clay)
transitory stresses (earthquakes, vibrations
of trucks, machinery, blasting)
regional tilting (geological movements).
Factors related to the decrease of the
material strength are:
Decrease of material strength
(weathering, change in state of
consistency)
Changes in intergranular forces (pore
water pressure, solution)
Changes in structure (decrease
strength in failure plane, fracturing
due to unloading)
 Classification of Landslides
There are many classification
schemes for landslides proposed by
different authors like
Campbell (1951),
Hutchison (1968, 1969, 1977),
Crozier (1973),
Sharpe (1938) and
Varnes (1958, 1978).
 Classifications of slope movements by Hutchinson (1988)

I. CLASSIFICATION BY MORPHOLOGY WITH SOME CONSIDERATION

OF MECHANISM, MATERIAL, AND RATE OF MOVEMENT.
A. Rebound
Movement associated with:
1. Excavations, from human activity
2. Naturally eroded valleys

B. Creep
1. Superficial, predominantly seasonal creep; mantle creep:
(a) Soil creep, talus creep (non-periglacial)
(b) Frost creep and gelifluction of granular debris (periglacial)
2. Deep-seated, continuous creep; mass creep
3. Pre-failure creep; progressive creep
4. Post-failure creep
 Classifications of slope movements by Hutchinson (1988)

C. Sagging of Mountain Slopes

1. Single-sided sagging associated with the initial stages of
landsliding:
(a) of rotational (essentially circular) type (R-sagging)
(b) of compound (markedly non-circular) type (C-sagging):
(i) listric (CL);
(ii) bi-planar (CB)
2. Double-sided sagging associated with the initial stages of
double landsliding, leading to ridge spreading:
(a) of rotational (essentially circular) type (DR-sagging)
(b) of compound (markedly non-circular) type (DC-sagging):
(i) listric (DCL);
(ii) bi-planar (DCB)

3. Sagging associated with multiple toppling (T-sagging)

D. Landslides
1. Confined failures:
(a) in natural slopes
(b) in excavated slopes
2. Rotational slips:
(a) Single rotational slips
(b) Successive rotational slips
(c) Multiple rotational slips
3. Compound Slides (markedly non-circular with listric or bi-
planar slip surfaces):
(a) released by internal shearing toward rear:
(i) in slide mass of low to moderate brittleness
(ii) in slide mass of high brittleness
(b) progressive compound slides, involving rotational slip at
rear and fronted by subsequent translational slide
 4. Translational slides
(a) Sheet slides
(b) Slab slides; flake slides
(c) Peat slides
(d) Rock slides:
(i) Planar slides; block slides
(ii) Stepped slides
(iii) Wedge failures
(e) Slides of debris:
(i) Debris-slides; debris avalanches (nonperiglacial)
(ii) Active layer slides (periglacial)
(f) Sudden spreading failures

E. Debris Movements of Flow-Like Form

1. Mudslides (non-perig1aciaI):
(a) Sheets
(b) Lobes (lobate or elongate)
E. Debris Movements of Flow-Like Form
1. Mudslides (non-perig1aciaI):
(a) Sheets
(b) Lobes (lobate or elongate)
2. Periglacial mudslides (gelifluction of clays):
(a) Sheets
(b) Lobes (lobate or elongate, active and relict)
3. Flow slides:
(a) in loose, cohesionless materials
(b) in lightly cemented, high porosity silts
(c) in high porosity, weak rocks
4. Debris flows, very to extremely rapid flows of wet debris:
(a) involving weathered rock debris (except on volcanoes):
(i) Hill slope debris flows
(ii) Channellized debris flows; mud flows; mudrock flows
(b) involving peat; bog flows, bog bursts
(c) associated with volcanoes; lahars:
(i) Hot lahars;
(ii) Cold lahars
5. Sturzstroms, extremely rapid flows of dry debris
F. Topple
1. Topples bounded by pre-existing discontinuities:
(a) Single topples
(b) Multiple topples
2. Topples released by tension failure at rear of mass

G. Falls
1. Primary, involving fresh detachment of material; rock and
soil falls
2. Secondary, involving loose material, detached earlier;
stone falls
H. Complex Slope Movements
1. Cambering and valley bulging
2. Block-type slope movements
3. Abandoned clay cliffs
4. Landslides breaking down into mudslides or flows at
the toe:
(a) Slump-earth flows
(b) Multiple rotational quick-clay slides
(c) Thaw slumps
5. Slides caused by seepage erosion
6. Multi-tiered slides
7. Multi-storied slides
II. GEOTECHNICAL CLASSIFICATION OF SLOPE MOVEMENTS BY
SHEARING BASED ON SOIL FABRIC AND PORE-WATER PRESSURE
CONDITIONS

A. Soil Fabric (effects on c’, φ‘)

1. FIRST-TIME SLIDES IN PREVIOUSLY UNSHEARED
GROUND:

Soil fabric tends to be random (or partly orientated as a

result of depositional history) and shear strength
parameters are at peak or between peak and residual
values.
2. SLIDES ON PRE-EXISTING SHEARS associated with:
2.1 Re-activation of earlier landslides.
2.2 Initiation of landsliding on pre-existing shears produced
by processes other than earlier landsliding. i.e.:
(a) Tectonics
(b) Glacitectonics
(c) Gelifluction of clays
(d) Other periglacial processes
(e) Rebound
(f) Non-uniform swelling
In these eases the soil fabric at the slip surface is highly
orientated in the sup direction, and shear strength
parameters are at, or about, residual value.
 B. Pore-Water Pressure (conditions on shear surface, effects on u)

1. SHORT-TERM (undrained) — no equalization of excess pore-water

pressure set up by the chances in total stress.
2. INTERMEDIATE — partial equalization of excess pore-water
pressures. Delayed failures of cuttings in stiff clay are usually in
this category.
3. LONG-TERM (drained) — complete equalization of excess pore-
water pressures to steady seepage values.
Note that combinations of drainage conditions 1. 2.3 can occur at
different times in the same landslide. A particularly dangerous type of
slide is that in which long-term, steady seepage conditions (3) exist up
to failure but during failure undrained conditions (1) apply, i.e. a
drained/ undrained failure.
Sharpe Classification (1938)
 Landslide classification (Varnes, 1978)
Type of movement Type of material
Engineering soils Bedrock
Predominantly Predominantly
fine coarse
Falls Earth fall Debris fall Rock fall
Topples Earth topple Debris topple Rock topple
Slides Rotational Few Units Earth slump Debris slump Rock slump

Translational Few units Earth block Debris block Rock block

slide slide slide
Many units Earth slide Debris slide Rock slide
Lateral spreads Earth spread Debris spread Rock spread
Flows Earth flow Debris flow Rock flow
(Soil creep) (Deep creep)
Complex Combination of two or more principal types of
movement
1. Falls
Falls are abrupt movements of
the slope material that
becomes detached from steep
slopes or cliffs. Movement
occurs by free-fall, bouncing,
and rolling. Depending on the
type of materials involved, the
result is a rockfall, soil fall,
debris fall, earth fall, boulder
fall, and so on. Typical slope
angle of occurrence of falls is
from 45-90 degrees and all
types of falls are promoted by
undercutting, differential
weathering, excavation, or
stream erosion.
 Rock Topple 2. Topples
A topple is a block
or serial of block
that tilts or rotates
forward on a pivot
or hinge point and
then separates
Debris Topple
from the main
mass, falling to the
slope below, and
subsequently
bouncing or rolling
down the slope.
3. Slides
Although many types of A. Rotational slides
slope movement are
These slide involves
included in the general
term “landslide”, the sliding movement on a
more restrictive use of circular or near
the term refers to circular surface of
movements of soil or failure.
rock along a distinct
surface of rupture, B. Translational slides
which separates the These are non-rotational
slide material from more
block slides involving
stable underlying
material. The two major mass movements on
types of landslides are more or less planar
rotational slides and surfaces.
translational slides.
Rotational slides
They generally occur on slopes of homogeneous clay, deep weathered and
fractured rocks and soil. The movement is more or less rotational about an
axis that is parallel to the contour of the slope. Such slides are characterised
by a scarp at the head, which may be nearly vertical. These slides may be
single rotational, multiple rotational or successive rotational types,
accordingly they may have a single surface of rupture, multiple surface of
rupture. A “slump” is an example of a small rotational slide.

Rotational Rock Slide

Rotational Slide
Earth Slump or
Rotational Earth Slide
Translational slides
The translational slides are controlled by weak surface such as
beddings, joints, foliations, faults and shear zones. The slides
material involved may range from unconsolidated soils to extensive
slabs of the rock and debris. Block slides are transitional slides in
which the sliding mass consists of a single unit or a few closely
related units of rock block that moves down slope. Translational slide
may progress over great distance if conditions are right.

Translational Rock Slide

Debris Slide
Earth Block Slide
4. Lateral spreads
Lateral spreads are a result of the nearly horizontal movement of
unconsolidated materials and are distinctive because they usually
occur on very gentle slopes. The failure is caused by liquefaction, the
process whereby saturated, loose, cohesionless sediments (usually
sands and silts) are transformed from a solid into a liquefied state, or
plastic flow of subjacent material. Failure is usually triggered by rapid
ground motion such as that experienced during an earthquake, or by
slow chemical changes in the pore water and mineral constituents.
Rock Spread
Earth Spread Resulting from Liquefaction
5. Flows
There are several types of flows
Creep
Creep is the imperceptibly slow, steady downward movement of slope-
forming soil or rock. Creep is indicated by curved tree trunks, bent fences or
retaining walls, tilted poles or fences, and small ripples or terraces.

Debris flow
A debris flow is a form of rapid mass movement in which loose soils,
rocks, and organic matter combine with entrained air and water to form a
slurry that then flows downslope. Debris flow areas are usually associated
with steep ravines where there are some active landslides. In general, the
following conditions are important for formation of a debris flow:
Slopes with 20-45 degrees
Saturated loose rock and soil materials with high content of clay
minerals
High intensity and duration of rainfall
Debris avalanche
A debris avalanche is a variety of very rapid to extremely rapid
slide-debris flow process.

Earth flow
Earth flow has a characteristic “hourglass” shape. A bowl or
depression forms at the head where the unstable material collects
and flows out. The central area is narrow and usually becomes
wider as it reaches the valley floor. Earth flows generally occur in
fine-grained materials or clay-bearing rock on moderate slopes and
with saturated conditions. However, dry flows of granular material
are also possible.

Mudflow
A mudflow is an earth flow that consists of material that is wet
enough to flow rapidly and that contains at least 50 per cent
sand-, silt- and clay-sized particles.
Rock Flow
Debris Flow
Debris Avalanche
Earth Flow
Loess Flow

Dry Sand Flow

Complex Landslide
Landslide Features and Geometry
Various Features of Landslide
Plan

Landslide
Features

Section
Plan and profile of a Landslide
Landslide Dimensions
Figure 3-6

Figure 3-6
Varnes Landslide Movement Scale Landslide Velocity Scale
Parts of Landslides
Landslide scenario
Zones of Landslides

Cracking

Failure

Transport

Deposition
Examples of Landslide From
Nepal
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