Geological Survey of India

TreatmentandStabilisationofVarunavatParvatLandslide,Uttarkashi District,Uttarakhand
Uttarkashi town (Long.78 26E, Lat.3044N) is located at the toe of the hill slopes of the Varunavat Parvat (Photo1), on the right bank of Bhagirathi river, at an elevation of 1150m.s.l. It is located at a distance of 155km from Rishikesh on Rishikesh Gangotri National Highway (NH108). River Bhagirathi is passing through the centre of the town almost half of whichislocatedatthebaseofVarunavatParvat. A massive landslide on Varunavat Parvat started on 24 Sept. 2003 subsequent to the incessant rains in the area. The landslide activity progressed eastward from Ram Lila ground to Masjid Mohalla. The slide activity buried a number of civil structures like houses, govt. offices, hotels, etc. which were located by the side of NH108 at the toe of the hill. Almost 3000 people wereaffectedbytheVarunavatslidesandproperty worthRs50croreswasdamaged. However, it is worth mentioning that no loss of human life occurred during this disastrous slide activity because of timely proactive action taken by the district administration on the basis of early warning given by GSI. The National Highway (NH108) was completely blocked by debris flow. Due to blockade of this highway a 145m long alternate route was opened between Sanskrit MahavidyalayaMahisasurMardini temple areas. During sliding activity and blockade in TambakhaniareathetrafficwasdivertedviaJoshiyaraTilothCollectorateDurgatempleroute. GSI geologists while working in this area about one month before the landslide noticed some indications of slope movement on Varunavat Parvat on 2124 August 2003 and advised the district administration for immediate evacuation of the high risk zone at the toe of the hill, i.e. Varunavat Parvat. The prompt action taken by the district authorities on this advice from 24.09.03 onwards by warning / evacuating the residents from identified high risk zone saved humanlives whenthedisasterstruckthearea.Atotalof293buildingsincluding23government buildings were identified. The landslide damaged 81 buildings completely. 212 buildings prone todamagehavebeenidentifiedinbufferzone. As soon as the enormity of the hazard was realised by Uttarakhand Government an expert committee was formed by Chief Secretary, Uttarakhand in Sept.2003 to suggest immediate remedial measures with GSI as its member. Thereafter, a Central Composite team was formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, New Delhi vide letter No. D27 05/2003NDM1 dated 21.10.2003 with Director, GSI as coordinator of the team to assess the situation and to find out possibilities of the stabilisation of Varunavat Parvat as an interim

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measure and also to explore the feasibility of permanent stabilisation for habitation. Subsequently, a Task Force was set up under the chairpersonship of Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India. Under the aegis of this Task Force, a Technical Committee was formed for which Director, Geological Survey of India, Uttarakhand Unit, Dehradunwasmadethechairman. GeologyandTectonics Uttarkashi town is located in the Lesser Himalayan geotectonic block and it is bounded bytwomajorthrustfaultsMainCentralThrust(MCT)andSrinagarThrust(ST).TheMCTexists in the north east of Uttarkashi, separating rocks of Garhwal Group and Central Crystalline. The Srinagar Thrust lies in the southwest of Uttarkashi and along this tectonic plane rocks of Garhwal Group and Jaunsar Group are juxtaposed. The Garhwal Group (Proterozoic age) comprises quartzite, phyllite and metabasic rock and these dip 1545 in N1040E direction i.e. into the hill. The rocks forming Varunavat hill are composed of thinly bedded quartzite and phyllite which are highly weathered, destressed, decomposed, jointed and fractured. The hill slopes are of the order of 4560 except at the top of the hill where the slopes are gently sloping. The top portion of the Varunavat hill is occupied by loose, unconsolidated, overburden mass,exhibitinggentletopography.ThetopisatEl.1800mwhereasthetoepartofthehillisat El.1100abovemsl. The interface of overburden mass and underlying rocks is at El.1650m. Uttarkashi lies inZoneVofSeismicZoningMapofIndiaandithasarecordedseismichistory. CausesofLandslides The continuous heavy rains in the area led to saturation of the overburden/loose mass occupying the top of the hills above the El.1650m supporting luxuriant vegetative cover and resting on densely vegetated rocky slopes of weathered quartzite. The saturation by rainwater increased the increase in pore pressure in the overlying overburden mass and lubricated the underlying fractured weathered rock mass. This had in fact reduced shear resistance of the slopematerialsandthustriggeredtheslides.Oncetheslidesweretriggered,thefastmovement of debris flow carried along them uprooted pine trees down the slope and buried the human settlements located at the toe of the hill around Ram Lila ground, Horticulture colony and Masjid Mohalla. The slope movement continued for about a month with dust clouds and then

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Geological Survey of India

subsided.Pastanthropogenicactivitiesespeciallyinthetoeofthehillhavealsorenderedthehill slopesvulnerable. Immediateinitiativesundertaken/ActionPlanbyGSI Immediately after the slide activity an action plan was proposed and adopted for immediate implementation which included: i) creation of a buffer zone, close to the toe of the Varunavat. It was redemarcated by experts from GSI and CBRI as high risk zone; ii) removal of slidematerialaccumulatedclosetoRamLilagroundalongtheNHforresuming vehiculartraffic; iii) starting of geological mapping by GSI in the area as and when site conditions permitted amidst intermittent slide activity in the area. The mapping was confined to accessible slopes onlyandtherockconditionswereinterpretedfromnearbyexposedarea;andiv)constructionof an approach track to the crown of the slide for taking up initial stabilisation of overburden slopes. GeotechnicalInvestigations For suggesting permanent stabilisation measures in the slide area, the site specific geological /geotechnical studies proposed are : i) Surveying and contouring of the slide area on 1:1,000 scale using Total Station; ii)geological and structural mapping on 1:1,000 scale; iii)geophysicalsurveys;iv)geomechanicaltestingofoverburdenmass;v)slopestabilityanalysis numerical modeling (by NIRM); vi) monitoring of slope movement by Automatic Target Recognition (ATR); and vii) studies for biorestoration of overburden slopes (by Forest Research Institute,Dehradun). TreatmentsandStabilisationMeasures Following main treatments were decided for the Varunavat Parvat: i) removal of slide massandgradingoftheslopesaboveEl1670m;ii)treatmentoftheCrownPortionEl1895m El 1670m with the help of rock bolting and shotcreting in the rock and biorestoration in the overburden mass; iii) cable anchoring in two rows above El 1670m, iv) grading of slopes between El 1670m El 1550m and stabilisation by means of geosynthetics/geojute, rock boltingandshotcretinginareaswhererockisencountered;v)treatmentalongthethreechutes, viz. Ramlila Ground, Masjid Mohalla and Tambakhani chutes; vi) construction of geogrid wall at the toe of Tambakhani chute; vii) construction of a concrete wall at the toe of Ramlila Ground Chute so that a catch pit is created back of it; viii) construction of a main catch drain all along

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the toe of Varunavat Parvat to collect the drainage flowing down the three chutes and through theinterveningareas;andix)constructionofabyepasstunnelbelowTambakhanichute. CurrentStatusofLandslide The main treatment works of the Varunavat Parvat landslide area have been completed in 2008 and it is worth highlighting that there is no sliding from the treated parts for the last threeyears,despiteunusuallyhighrainfall (maximuminthelastthree decades)inUttarakhand in the year 2010. The contribution of GSI in the for warning of Varunavat Parvat landslide has been duly reflected in the Press Release of Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India dated 12.01.2005 (copy enclosed) which itself is the testimony to the importance of the role which GSI, UttarakhandUnit,DehradunhasplayedinthetreatmentofVarunavatParvatLandslide. GSI has recommended for posttreatment monitoring of the treated part of the Varunavat Parvat landslide through a comprehensive monitoring scheme with the help of instrumentsandanAutomatedRadarsystem,inordertoassesstheeffectivenessofthesupport measures.

Photo1:ViewofVarunavatParvatbeforeLandslide

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Geological Survey of India

Photo2:ViewofVarunavatParvatafterLandslideandDevelopmentofthreeChutes(GoogleEarth)

Photo3:StabilisationinrockbymeansofRockbolting,ChainlinkShotcretingandCableAnchoringin easedslope

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Geological Survey of India

Photo4SupportbymeansofConcretewallandWirecratewallintheCrownPortion

Photo5SlopeStabilisationinOverburdenMaterialbymeansofGeojute

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Geological Survey of India

Photo6ViewofCatchpitatRamlilaGroundattheRoadLevel

Photo7ViewofGeogridWallatMasjidMohalla

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