Introduction To Landslides Part 1: Types and Causes

Introduction to landslides
Part 1: Types and causes
Cees van Westen

International Institute
for Aerospace Survey and Earth
Sciences
(ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands.
E-mail: westen@itc.nl
1
Landslide types and causes
Landslides
There is a wide variety of names for the denudational process
whereby soil or rock is displaced along the slope by mainly
gravitational forces.
mass movement
slope movement,
landslide
Landslide = the movement of a

mass of rock, debris or earth
down the slope (Cruden, 1991).
Landslides
The occurrence of slope movements is the consequence of a
complex field of forces (stress is a force per unit area) which
is active on a mass of rock or soil on the slope.
Movement occurs when the shear stress exceeds the shear
strength of the material. Difference with soil erosion.
The consequence of these
forces in conjunction to the
slope morphology and the
geotechnical parameters of
the material define together
the specific type of landslide
which might occur.
3
Landslide definition
Landslide is defined as the movement of a mass of rock, debris
or earth down the slope, when the shear stress exceeds the
shear strength of the material.
Landslide causes
The occurrence of landslides is the consequence of a complex
field of forces (stress is a force per unit area) which is active on
a mass of rock or soil on the slope. Basically, the two main
determinative parameters are:
An increase of shear stress
A decrease of material strength
Increase in shear strength

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,
crystallisation, swelling of clay)
Transitory stresses (earthquakes, vibrations of trucks,
machinery, blasting)
Regional tilting (geological movements).
Reduction of material strength

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)
Checklist of causes
Geological causes
Morphological causes
Physical causes
Human causes
Excavation
Weak
material
theProlonged
slopeuplift
or itsexceptional
toe
Tectonic
Intense
rainfall/
orofvolcanic
precipitation
Sensitive
Deposition
material
of melt/
load on
the slope
or its crest
Rapid
Glacialsnow
rebound
Thawing/
Freeze-and-thaw
weathering
Drawdown
Weathered (of
material
reservoirs)
Earthquake/
erosion of slope
Volcanic
toe eruption
Sheared
Deforestation
material
Erosion of lateral margins>
Jointed
Irrigation
or fissured material
Subterrenean
erosion
(solution,
piping)
Adversely
Mining
oriented
mass
discontinuity
(bedding, schistocity, etc)
Deposition
of loadstructural
on the slope
or its crest(fault, unconformity etc)
Adversely
Artificial
vibration
oriented
discontinuity
Contrast
Water
leakage
in permeability
from utilities
Vegetation
removal
Contrast in stiffness (stiff, dense material over plastic material)
Impact of landslides
Worldwide landslide activity is
increasing, due to:
Increased urbanization and development
in landslide-prone areas.
Continued deforestation of landslideprone areas
Increased regional precipitation caused
by changing climate patterns
Economic losses due to landslides

Direct costs:
Repair, replacement, or maintenance resulting from damage to
property or infrastructure due to landslides
Indirect costs:
Loss of productivity and revenues
Reduced land value
Loss of tax revenues
Landslide mitigation measures
Adverse effect on water quality/
sedimentation/ siltation of reservoirs
Loss of human or animal productivity
because of injury/ trauma
Secondary effects, such as landslidecaused flooding
10
Example: La Siria, Manizales, Colombia
Schuster (1978) : US $ 1.000 million per year (direct and indirect costs)
Brabb (1984): US $
250 million per year (direct only)
Schuster & Fleming: $ 1.800 million per year
11
Landslide losses
Country
Yearly losses
Million US $
Japan
4.700
Italy
United States
India
China
2.600
1.800
1.350
500
Spain
Canada
220
50
Hong Kong
New Zealand
Norway
12
25
12
6
Landslide casualties
Year
Location
Type
No. Of deaths
1786
Sichuan (China)
Earthquake, landslide dam
100.000
1786
Calabria (S. Italy)
Earthquake, malaria
1920
Gansu (China)
Earthquake, severe winter
100.000
1933
Sichuan (China)
Earthquake, landslide dam
6.800
1949
Tadzhikistan
Earthquake
1963
Vaiont (Italy)
Landslide in dammed lake
1970
Huascaran (Peru)
Earthquake, debris avalanche
18.000
1985
Armero (Colombia)
Volcanic lahar
20.000
50.000
20.000
2.000
Estimated casualties per year, world-wide: 600 - 1000 persons

In US: 25 - 50 per year.
13
Landslide classification
The following factors can be used and have been used to
classify landslides:
Material: Rock, Soil Lithology, structure, Geotechnical properties
Geomorphic attributes: Weathering, Slope form
Landslide geometry: Depth, Length, Height etc.
Type of movement: Fall, Slide, Flow etc
Climate: Tropical, Periglacial etc.
Water: Dry, wet, saturated
Speed of movement: Very slow, slow etc.
Triggering mechanism: Earthquake, rainfall etc.
14
Classification by Sharpe (1938)
15
Material
Movement
Velocity
Water/ice content
earth, rock
flow, slip
slow to very rapid
Varnes (1978)
Material
Movement
Secondary
16
bedrock, debris, earth

fall, topple, slide, flow, complex
water content (dry to wet)
velocity (slow to rapid)
Hutchinson (1988)
Rebound.
When ground is unloaded, either artificially by encavation or naturelly by erosion, the
unloaded area responds, initially elastically and subsequently by slow swelling (Peterson, 1958)
Creep.
Any extremely slow movements which are imperceptible except through long-period measurement
Sagging of mountain slopes.
A general term for these deep-seated deformations of mountain
slopes, which, in their present state of development, do not justify classification as landslides.
Landslide.
Relatively rapid downslope movements of soil and rock, which take place chararcteristically
on one or more discrete bounding slip surfaces which divine the moving mass.
Debris movement of flow like form.
Term covering five types of movement of flow-like form,

which differ markedly in mechanism: non-periglacial mudslides, periglacial mudslides, flow slides, debris
flows and sturzstroms.
Topple.
17
A movement that occurs when the vector of resultant applied forces falls through, or outside a
pivottypes
point
the base
Landslide
andin
causes
of the affected block.
Wieczorek:
Unified Landslide Classification System
YESF:
Y = Dormant-Young
E = Earth
S = Slide
F = Flow
18
Landslide features
Crown
Main scarp
Top
Head
Minor scarp
Main Body
Foot
Tip
Toe
19
Surface of rupture
Surface of separation
Zone of depletion
Zone of accumulation
Depletion
Depleted mass
Accumulation
Flank
Landslide dimensions
1. Width of displaced mass (Wd)
2. Width of surface of rupture (Wr)
3. Length of displaced mass (Ld)
4. Length of surface of rupture (Lr)
5. Depth of displaced mass (Dd)
6. Depth of surface of rupture (Dr)
7. Total Length (L)
8. Length of center line (Lcl)
20
Cruden and Varnes

(1996)
IAEG Commission
UNESCO Working
Party on World
Landslide Inventory
(WP/WLI).
21
Types of landslides
Fall
Spread
22
Topple
Slide
Flow
State of activity (1)

Active
Suspended
Active
Suspended
Reactivated
Inactive
Dormant
Abandoned
Reactivated
23
Inactive
Stabilized
Relict
State of activity (2)

Dormant
Abandoned
Active
Suspended
Reactivated
Inactive
Dormant
Abandoned
Stabilized
Stabilized
24
Relict
Relict
Distribution of activity
Advancing
Enlarging
Confined
25
Retrogressive
Diminishing
Moving
Widening
Styles of activity
Complex
Composite
Successive
Single
Multiple
26
Fall examples
27
Rockfall
28
Examples: fall
Debris fall
29
Typical rockfall deposits: talus slopes
Examples toppling
30
Translational slide
31
Rotational slide (Slump)
32
Rock slides
Planar failure
Wedge failure
Rotational
Toppling
Type of rockslide depends on discontinuities in the rock

mass
33
Sagging / Sackungen
34
Flow type movements: debris flow
35
Flow type movements: earthflow
36
Flow type movements: Debris avalanche
37
Creep
38
Solifluction & Rock glaciers
Solifluction
39
Rock glacier

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Introduction to landslides

Part 1: Types and causes

Cees van Westen

Landslide types and causes

Landslide = the movement of a

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Increase in shear strength

Landslide types and causes

Reduction of material strength

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Economic losses due to landslides

Landslide types and causes

Example: La Siria, Manizales, Colombia

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Earthquake, landslide dam

Calabria (S. Italy)

Earthquake, severe winter

Earthquake, landslide dam

Landslide in dammed lake

Earthquake, debris avalanche

Estimated casualties per year, world-wide: 600 - 1000 persons

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Classification by Sharpe (1938)

Landslide types and causes

bedrock, debris, earth

When ground is unloaded, either artificially by encavation or naturelly by erosion, the

Sagging of mountain slopes.

A general term for these deep-seated deformations of mountain

Debris movement of flow like form.

Term covering five types of movement of flow-like form,

of the affected block.

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Cruden and Varnes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

State of activity (1)

Landslide types and causes

State of activity (2)

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Typical rockfall deposits: talus slopes

Landslide types and causes

Landslide types and causes

Rotational slide (Slump)

Landslide types and causes