07-12-2023

Landslides
University of Allahabad

Weathering and its influence on rocks

• As a consequence of weathering, rocks generally become weaker,
more porous and in places more fractured than the original rock.
• Within any particular climatic zone, the intensity and style of
weathering, and therefore the geotechnical characteristics, will
largely be dependent on the mineralogy of the rock and the type and
spacing of discontinuities.
• For example, quartz-rich rocks (e.g. quartz sandstones, welded ash-
flow tuffs) and massive rocks with few discontinuities weather more
slowly and to a shallower depths than those rocks rich in feldspar or
carbonate minerals (e.g. granite, limestone) and intensely jointed or
foliated rocks.

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• In general, the intensity of weathering decreases with depth;

however, the transition from rock to soil may be abrupt or
gradational dependent largely on the hydrology of the site.
• The hydrogeology of weathered rocks can be highly significant in
certain weathered profiles where the water flow can be channelled
along pipes within the soil or above the soil/rock interface.
• These allow rapid transfer of rainwater from ground surface to deep
within the soil mass, thereby reducing the stability of hillsides.

Key engineering factors which should be considered in any

project where weathered rocks are present are as follows

• In general, weathered rocks are weaker and more friable than fresh rocks.
• The distribution of soil and rock is very variable and controlled by
geological features.
• The depth of weathering can range from less than a cm to over a hundred
metres.
• The development of kaolin in the soil profile can reduce the shear
strength of the soil mass, and where concentrated into seams may
influence the hydrology of the site.
• Carbonate-rich rocks dissolve during the weathering process to form a
complex terrain termed karst

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Weathering profiles
• In tropical areas, the weathering profiles from fresh rock to completely
decomposed material range from gradational to sharp.
• In relatively homogeneous rocks, such as granite, the most common
gradational profile displays:
• an upward passage from minor discolouration of the fresh rock along
joints,
• through selective decomposition of the rock adjacent to the joints,
• then into completely decomposed material in which textures and
structures of the fresh rock can be recognized and
• finally into residual soil close to the ground surface, which is devoid of any
original textures of the rock

• In more temperate climates, the weathering profiles are much thinner and
staining and fracturing of the rock are the dominant characteristics,
although at the ground surface, organic influences allow residual soils to
develop.

Thin temperate soil profile in bedded sandstone and foliated

tropical soil profile above jointed granites mudstone
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Weathering grades
• The progressive weathering of rocks results in a change of the engineering
geological properties of the materials from strong fresh rock to weak soil.
• This change has been assessed for different rock types under different
weathering conditions, and different grades are identified.
• Weathering grades are used to describe materials from site investigation
boreholes and characterizes the engineering properties of the rocks and soils
within the weathering profile.
• It divides the rock and soil into six grades, Grades I–VI which may be readily
recognized in outcrop.
• The grades are identified by several distinguishing features: the strength of the
material as defined by the ease of breaking the sample by hammer, hand or
crumbling by finger pressure, the discolouration of the material (particularly
iron staining) in comparison to the colour of the fresh rock and whether the
sample slakes in water.

Weathering grades of granite and volcanic rocks and their distinguishing features
Descriptive term Grade Distinguishing features in granitic and volcanic rocks

Residual Soil VI No original rock texture preserved

Crumbles by finger pressure
Completely V Original rock texture preserved
Decomposed Crumbles by finger pressure
Slakes in water
Completely discoloured relative to fresh rock
Highly Decomposed IV Original rock texture preserved
Brakes into smaller pieces by hand
Does not slake in water
boundary
Completely discoloured relative to fresh rock between rock
Moderately III Rock completely stained and soil
Decomposed Cannot be broken onto smaller pieces by hand
Easily broken by geological hammer
Slightly Decomposed II Stained close to joints
Not easily broken by geological hammer
Fresh I No staining
Not easily broken by geological hammer
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Slope Processes
• Slopes: The most common landforms
• Consists of cliff face (“free face”) and talus slope or upper convex slope, a
straight slope, and a lower concave slope
• Dynamic evolving feature, depending upon topography, rock types,
climate, vegetation, water, and time
• Materials constantly moving down the slope at varied rates

Slopes

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• The term “landslide” describes a wide variety of processes that result

in the downward and outward movement of slope-forming materials
including rock, soil, artificial fill, or a combination of these.
• The materials may move by falling, toppling, sliding, spreading, or
flowing.

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Landslide classification
• Landslides are classified in different ways depending on the various essential
factors involved in the slide mechanism such as
• the nature of materials,
• depths of sliding,
• speed of mass movement, and
• nature of the failure plane.
• The most obvious factor is the nature of the masses or materials such as rock,
debris, and earth that are displaced from the parent body due to the
landslide.
• The mechanism of material movement, which includes falling, toppling,
sliding, or flowing, is also a very important factor in the landslide process.
• The various types of landslides can be differentiated by the kinds of material
involved and the mode of movement.

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Landslide classification by Varnes, 1978

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Falls
• Falls are abrupt movement of masses of geological
materials (rocks, soils, and debris) that become
separated from the parent body in steep slopes and
fall freely or bounce and roll down under gravity
• Separation occurs along discontinuities such as
fractures, joints, and bedding planes, and movement
occurs by free-fall, bouncing, and rolling.
• Falls are strongly influenced by gravity, mechanical
weathering, and the presence of interstitial water.
• In general, hill slopes steeper than 45° are generally
involved in falls.

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Toppling
• Toppling of the rock blocks takes place along planes of
discontinuities by forward rotation with respect to the
point below the sliding mass.
• The toppling failure is characterized by end over- end
motion of rocks.
• The rocks involved in a topple move by action of
gravity or forces exerted by adjacent blocks.
• When the centre of gravity (CG) of rock blocks fall
outside the rock mass, then there is a possibility of
toppling.
• The forces for topple of blocks may be created by
water or ice in cracks in the mass. The initial failure
surface may be single or multiple

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Slides
• The slide type of failure may take place in varied types of materials
including rock, soil, and debris.
• Slides in rock always occur along well-defined surfaces with down
slope movements.
• Faults, shear zones, joints, and bedding or foliation planes of rock are
usually the planes of weaknesses along which the masses slide.
• The two main types of slides are
• rotational slide and
• translational slide.

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Rotational slide
• In this type of slide, which basically occurs in soil
zone, the surface of rupture is curved concave
upwards, and the movement is caused by
rotation of the slid material about an axis parallel
to the ground slope and transverse across the
slide direction.
• Rotational slide usually shows steep scarp at the
upslope end and bulging of toe of the slid material
at the bottom.
• The materials may creep slowly, or there may be a
sudden collapse or avalanche of large quantities
of materials that move over long distances.

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Translational slide
• In this type of slide, the landslide mass moves along a
roughly planar surface with little rotation or backward
tilting.
• The surfaces of ruptures are usually the contact planes
between firm rock and overlying loose earth, bedding
planes of layered rock, and other weak planes in rock or
earth deposit.
• A translational slide may be a block slide involving
down slope movement of the sliding mass as a single
unit or few closely related units as a coherent mass.
• Block slides are usually seen in bedded rocks in which
large blocks of rock move along the dipping surfaces of
beds or along divisional planes such as faults and joints.

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Lateral Spreads
• Lateral spreads are distinctive because they usually
occur on very gentle slopes or flat terrain.
• The dominant mode of movement is lateral extension
accompanied by shear or tensile fractures.
• 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.
• Failure is usually triggered by rapid ground motion, such
as that experienced during an earthquake, but can also
be artificially induced.
• When coherent material, either bedrock or soil, rests on
materials that liquefy, the upper units may undergo
fracturing and extension and may then subside,
translate, rotate, disintegrate, or liquefy and flow.
• The failure starts suddenly in a small area and spreads
rapidly.

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Flows
• The movement of masses is like the flow of fluid plastic in viscous
state.
• The movement may be a complete run out of the source materials of
catastrophic nature.
• Depending upon the material involved and the rate of movement,
There maybe five basic categories of flows that differ from one
another in fundamental ways., namely
• rock flow, debris flow, earth or mudflow, and creep.

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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.
• It is the most destructive type of landslide and results
after heavy rains or extensive melting of snow in the
source area due to supersaturation of the ground with
water.
• Debris flows include <50% fines.
• The debris flow is commonly initiated at the steeper part
of the hill slope, and with the flow continuing downhill,
the volume of materials increases by addition of water,
earth, boulders, and vegetation including trees.
• As it enters flat ground, the materials of debris flow
spreads up as a fan encompassing a large track of land.

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Debris avalanche
• The variety of debris flow in which the
movement of the material is sudden and very
rapid (> 5 m/s) is called debris avalanche.
• Debris avalanche is common in hilly terrain
with slopes having thick deposit of loose
overburden materials and inclination of 20°
to 45°

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Earthflow
• Earthflows have a characteristic “hourglass” shape.
• Heavy rainfall in the hilly terrain of a moderate slope
constituted of soil or earth deposit is the immediate cause
of earthflow.
• The fissures developed by the movement of earth
materials help infiltration of water into the ground.
• The ingress of large quantity of water increases the pore
water pressure and reduces the shear strength of the soil
deposit, resulting in sliding of the slope materials as slurry
of earth or mud with water.
• The flow itself is elongate and usually occurs in fine-
grained materials or clay-bearing rocks on moderate
slopes and under saturated conditions.
• However, dry flows of granular material are also possible.

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Creep
• Creep is the imperceptibly slow, steady, downward
movement of slope-forming soil or rock.
• Movement is caused by shear stress sufficient to produce
permanent deformation, but too small to produce shear
failure. There are generally three types of creep:
• (1) seasonal, where movement is within the depth of soil
affected by seasonal changes in soil moisture and soil
temperature;
• (2) continuous, where shear stress continuously exceeds
the strength of the material; and
• (3) progressive, where slopes are reaching the point of
failure as other types of mass movements.
• Creep is indicated by curved tree trunks, bent fences or
retaining walls, tilted poles or fences, and small soil ripples
or ridges

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LANDSLIDE CAUSES
• Geological causes
• a. Weak or sensitive materials
• b. Weathered materials
• c. Sheared, jointed, or fissured materials
• d. Adversely oriented discontinuity (bedding, schistosity, fault,
unconformity, contact, and so forth)
• e. Contrast in permeability and/or
• stiffness of materials

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Morphological causes
• a. Tectonic or volcanic uplift
• b. Glacial rebound
• c. Fluvial, wave, or glacial erosion of slope toe or lateral margins
• d. Subterranean erosion (solution, piping)
• e. Deposition loading slope or its crest
• f. Vegetation removal (by fire, drought)
• g. Thawing
• h. Freeze-and-thaw weathering
• i. Shrink-and-swell weathering

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Human Causes
• a. Excavation of slope or its toe
• b. Loading of slope or its crest
• c. Drawdown (of reservoirs)
• d. Deforestation
• e. Irrigation
• f. Mining
• g. Artificial vibration
• h. Water leakage from utilities

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Landslide remedial measures

• Improving surface and subsurface • Retention nets for rock slope face
drainage • Vegetation on slope face
• Surface drains to divert water from • Internal slope reinforcements
flowing onto the slide area
• Rock bolts
• Subhorizontal or subvertical boreholes
• Micropiles
• Shallow or deep trench drains filled with
free-draining geomaterials • Soil nailing
• Anchors (prestressed or not)
• Modification of slope geometry • Grouting
• Removing material from the area driving
the landslide • Buttressing the toe
• Adding material to the area maintaining • Rock fall protection: Rock falls are
stability contained by
• Reducing general slope angle • ditches at the base of the rock exposure,
• Retaining structures • heavy-duty fences, and
• Gravity retaining walls • concrete catch walls
• Gabion wall

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