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Geotechnical Investigation of a Rain Triggered

Sonapur Landslide, Meghalaya

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Geotechnical Investigation of a Rain Triggered Sonapur

Landslide, Meghalaya

Ravi Kumar Umrao1*, Rajesh Singh2, L.K. Sharma3, T.N. Singh3

1
Geological Survey of India, North Eastern Region, Shillong-793003, Meghalaya
2
Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow-226007, Uttar Pradesh
3
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400076, Maharashtra
*Corresponding author email: georavigsi@gmail.com

Abstract
The Sonapur landslide is an old, active rock cum debris slide along the National Highway-44
(NH-44) located near Sonapur village, East Jaintia Hills District, Meghalaya. The slide
caused loss of lives and blockade of the highway, which is disrupting road communication
between the states of Tripura, Mizoram and southern Assam and Meghalaya. This vulnerable
slide zone is made of sandstone, siltstone, and shale sequence of Barail Group deposited
during Oligocene age. The poor rockmass strength, unfavourable orientation of joints and
triggering effect of descending stream through landslide zone during rainy season leads to
mass movement in effected area. Shale and clay being soft and incompetent in nature are
easily carried away from its place leading to destabilization of overlying sandstone units
which eventually are removed and brought down the slope in form of debris flow causes
blockade of the NH-44, disrupting road communication and loss of lives. The kinematic
analysis reveals the formation of planar and wedge type of failure in sandstone with
propagation of cracks along line of intersection in upper part of slide. The slope stability
analysis was carried out using two dimensional limit equilibrium technique and the obtained
factor of safety (FoS) below unity clearly indicate unstable slope conditions. Based on the
present study, the mitigation measures to minimize the sliding activity has been suggested to
avoid the interruptions in the traffic as well as damage to civil structure.
Keywords: Sonapur landslide, rainfall, factor of safety, NH-44, Meghalaya.

1. Introduction
Generally, a slope failure initiates from one or combination of factors like slope geometry,
strength of slope forming material (SFM), geo-hydrological condition, structural
discontinuity, degree of weathering, development of weak zones, lithological adversities,
seismic activity and heavy rainfall [1-7]. Moreover, anthropogenic interferences due to large

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scale developments and ignorance towards hill slope management make hill slopes on the
verge of instability [8]. Highways and road networks are lifeline of North Eastern part of
country due to poor rail connectivity in the region. NH-44 is a strategic road corridor of
North Eastern India, connects Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram and Barak Valley of Assam
from Shillong and Guwahati through NH-40.

Figure 1: Location map of Sonapur landslide in East Jaintia Hills district, Meghalaya.

The Sonapur landslide is located at 142km from Shillong and about 45km from Khliehriat,
district headquarter of East Jaintia Hills along NH-44 in East Jaintia Hills district of
Meghalaya State (Figure 1). The slide is located near Sonapur village and lies at latitude 25
°6’30” N and 92°21’51” E in SOI Toposheet no. 83C/8. The area is occupied by undulating
topography characterized by presence on hills and valleys. The area is dissected by number of
streams and network of their tributaries.

Figure 2: Month-wise rainfall statistics of Jaintia Hills displaying average, maximum and minimum
rainfall for period from 1901 to 2005 (Source: http://imd.gov.in), 1-12 in x-axis indicate January to
December month respectively.

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The climate of the area is moderate. The rainfall occur during monsoon period which extends
from May to September. The month of June and July experiences maximum precipitation.
The annual precipitation varies from 3000 mm to 8000 mm as recorded during the years 1901
to 2005 with maximum precipitation of 1500mm recorded in month of June and July (Figure
2).
The Sonapur landslide is one of the most slide prone areas in this highway which became
active in 1988 after 1987 Cachar earthquake [9]. Since then, the road gets blocked every year
during monsoon period due to heavy flow of debris. The flow is so rapid that it pushes
everything on its way down to a hilly stream, namely the river Lubha. It causes blockade of
the NH-44 and loss of lives due debris flow, disrupting road communication. Besides,
proximity of Bangladesh border makes it strategically important. Several preventive
measures like, geotextile treatment, wire crate wall, ground anchorage to the slope, flattening
of the slope with proper benching etc. were under taken to stabilise the slide but were
ineffective. The cut and cover tunnel was constructed in 2009 for safe passage and to avoid
road blockade during monsoon period. Though, there are a few reports of road blockade due
to debris accumulation due to heavy rainfall in the area. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate
the Sonapur landslide to understand the problem and characterize the slope mass behaviour
and to calculate factor of safety.

2. Geological Setup

The Meghalaya plateau is encompassed by the rocks of gneissic complex, meta-sediments,

granitoids, ultramafic-alkaline-carbonatite complexes and overlying thick pile of Mesozoic to
Tertiary sediments [10-12]. The study area exposes the litho-units of Barail Group of Eocene-
Oligocene age. The shelf facies rocks of Barail Group which overlie the Kopili Formation
covers a large area with a gross thickness of about 1000m [10]. Lithologically, it consist of
fairly coarse sandstone, shale and carbonaceous shale with streaks of minor seams of coal
[10].
The slide zone exposes sandstone, siltstone, and shale sequence belonging to Barail Group.
Different litho-units of the area can be studied along the southern flank where all the units are
well exposed from lower level to the crown portion of the slide. The slide zone mainly
consists of medium grained sandstone with interbedded siltstone and shale. Sandstone is
medium grained, grey and hard. Thick units of sandstone show cross bedding and
herringbone structures. Shale is grey, splintery, friable and swelling properties. Thin siltstone
& clay occur alternating with sandstone and shale. Siltstone is grey to reddish in colour, hard

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and compact. Siltstone show slight pinching and swelling structure at places and is devoid of
internal layering/bedding. The strike of the beds varies between N80°E – S80°W & N75°W –
S75°E dipping moderately towards south.

3. Site Characterisation of Sonapur Landslide

The Sonapur landslide is an old and active huge rock cum debris slide on NH-44 near
Sonapur village of Jaintia Hills District, Meghalaya. The slide zone is drained by the NW
flowing perennial course of a spring channel with a natural drainage network developed over
the years in this zone on the left bank of Lubha river. The spring channel is almost a straight
course with deep undercutting. In upper part of slide zone which covers major portion of
slope, the exposed sandstone is dissected by joint planes of varied orientations thus form
small blocks of sandstone even upto 5cm x 5cm (Figure 3a, b and c). In the middle part,
intercalated shale-sandstone and siltstone with thin clay is exposed. Shale is soft and friable
nature and easily removed during the stream flow in monsoon. Thus, the exposed rocks
represent weak rockmass in the slide zone. The lower part is mainly covered by debris
material with small to large size blocks of sandstone, shale and siltstone with composition of
debris as 60% earth and 40% boulders. The soil in dry condition is quite stable and possesses
both cohesion and angle of internal friction but in water, it is very soft and behaves like a
thick fluid without any shear strength.
The main causes of Sonapur landslide are weak lithology, adversely oriented discontinuity,
fracture and faults, steep and high hill slope, heavy precipitation in the area [13, 14]. The
Sonapur landslide first triggered in 1988 monsoon after 1987 Cachar earthquake which got
aggravated in subsequent years due to prolonged heavy rainfall. The intermittent friable shale
flows like liquid in immersed water condition during monsoon period. Also, heavy rainfall
induces rockslide along fault and fractures coupled with sliding of overlying soil. Thus,
rainfall is most influencing factor accountable for landslide problem in Sonapur. A study
revealed that rainfall in excess of 1000 mm in a particular month triggers the landslide [13].
Till now, almost every year during rainy season, the road NH-44 get blocked due to heavy
slide. The notorious Sonapur landslide events in past are recorded in Table 1.

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Table 1: Brief history of Sonapur landslide [modified after 14].

S. No. Occurrence Historical brief

1 25th June, A massive landslide occurred at this location almost half a kilometer
1988 length of this vital link collapsed and debris as high as 13 to 15m on
the road with about 50,000 cu. m in quantity accumulated. The road
remained closed for more than two months.
2 September, The debris flow continued but the quantum was very less as such the
1989 road was kept through.
3 1990-1998 The slide did not cause major problems except for a few hours of
blockade occasionally.
4 June, 1999 Landslide measuring size of 55m x 18m x 4.5m occurred.
5 August- Landslide occurred on three occasions i.e. 3rd Aug, 4th Sept. and 17th
September, Sept. 2000 of approx. size 325mx30mx8m, 300mx2mx8m and
2000 210mx25mx8m respectively. The total period of road blockade was 22
days.
6 4th June, Landslide occurred of size 275mx25mx8.8m resulting road blockade
2001 for 10days i.e. up to 13th June, 2001.
7 June- Landslide occurred nine occasions i.e. 15th June, 17th June, 29th June,
September, 8th July, 18th August, 20th August, 29th September and 30th September
2002 (twice) of approximate size 70m x 30m x 3.5m, 65m x 22m x 3m, 28m
x 12m x 2.5m, 20m x 8m x 2m, 60m x 1m x 2.55m, 68m x 12m x 2m,
8m x 12.5 x 2.5m, 8.5m x 12.5m x 3.1m and 100m x 12m x 2m
respectively.
8 July- During the monsoon period, landslide occurred with full slush, huge
October, boulders and trees occurred on 12 occasions i.e. 10th July, 11th July,
2004 17th July, 23rd and 24th July, 26th July, 21st August, 26th August, 1st
September, 6th September, 19th September and 5th October, 2004 of
approximate size 200m x 20m x 3.5m, 250m x 24m x 4m, 100m x 20m
x 3m, 55m x 12m x 1.5m, 60m x 10m x 5m, 100m x 50m x 6m, 60m x
10m x 2m, 80m x 10m x 2.5m,100m x 10m x 3m, 60m x 10m x 3.5m,
25m x 10m x 1.5m, 150m x 10m x 4m and 60m x 10m x 4m
respectively. The road was blocked for more than 11days.

9 19th Due to heavy rainfall at night, slush and boulders occurred at nala road
February, approximate size 10m x 8m x 1m size and the traffic was blocked for 6
2005 hours.
10 26th August, A massive landslide occurred with a portion of the hill coming down
2007 along with big trees, boulders, and mud that sliced 50 metres of the
road downhill.
11 11th May, A massive landslide at the site triggered by heavy rainfall blocked NH-
2010 44 for more than two days. Thousands of vehicles were left stranded
for a long stretch of NH-44 and the Sonapur section of the National
Highway remained affected by landslides for several years now despite
government efforts like construction of tunnel to control the menace.
12 16th July, The National Highway No 44 at Sonapur blocked after heavy rains
2012 triggered landslides, huge boulders covering the road. Hundreds of
passenger vehicles and trucks carrying essentials have been stranded
on both ends of the landslide-hit road.

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Figure 3: (a) Google Earth view of Sonapur landslide. The upper part is mainly comprise of sandstone,
intercalated shale-sandstone in middle part and accumulated debris material in lower part. Also, the
course of Lubha river narrowed due to accumulation of debris on the river bed. A distant (b) lateral view,
(c) front view of Sonapur landslide marked by dashed yellow lines.

4. Kinematic Analysis
The exposed litho-units at Sonapur landslide site are traversed by various joint planes and due
to their varied orientation, rock units form small blocks. Joint spacing varies from a few cm
to more than 50cm with high persistency. The jointed sandstone and underlying intercalated
sandstone-shale-siltstone unit are exposed at the wall of slide zone near the road level (Figure
4a). The discontinuity dataset was collected from Sonapur landslide site and plotted in
stereographic projection to identify the mode of failure which is known as the kinematic
analysis. The measured attitude of discontinuity with respect to slopes is presented in Table 2.
The mode of failure viz. planar, wedge and toppling failures can be defined based on the
attitude of discontinuity and slope face [1, 6].

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Table 2: Attitude of discontinuities at Sonapur landslide site.

Orientation of discontinuity
S. No.
Strike Dip Dip Direction
1 Bedding (S0) 105° 30° SW
2 Joint (J1) 60° 70° NW
3 Joint (J2) 115° 70° SW
4 Joint (J3) 110° 70° NE
5 Joint (J4) 145° 66° NE
6 Joint (J5) 90° 70° N
7 Slope 65° 75° NW
The rock slope stability depends on the orientation of the plunge of the line of intersection of
joints with respect to slope and friction angle. Here in kinematic analysis, the angle of
internal friction was considered as 30°. Line of intersection of two or more discontinuities
was determined to find out the wedge failure directions (Figure 4a and b). Figure 4b
illustrates the possible planar and wedge type failures. The plunge direction of wedges were
marked by arrow. The southern part of slide where slope are northern direction, wedges with
NW and NE plunge directions may lead to slope failure. The crown portion slopes are
westerly direction therefore wedges plunging NW and SW may cause slope instability. It will
be characteristic that those wedges with line of intersection sloping towards SW or NW will
fail if their amount is lower than the slope. A planar type of failure formed due to Joint set J1.
Near the crown, widening of the cracks were observed along the line of intersection of two
joints. During the monsoon, these wedge planes are highly saturated and widened due to pore
water pressure, and triggering the wedge failure with very huge blocks.

Figure 4: (a) Jointed overlying sandstone unit and underlying intercalated sandstone-shale-siltstone unit
at landslide site, (b) Kinematic analysis of joints behavior with respect to slope face of landslide.

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5. Slope Stability Analysis using Limit Equilibrium Method

The limit equilibrium method has been used for slope stability analysis (FoS) based on Mohr-
Coulomb failure criteria [15]. The material above the slip surface is divided into different
vertical slices. The stability of the material above the slip surface is analyzed by considering
the static equilibrium of the individual slices and the entire equilibrium of the failing slope.
Static equilibrium of the slices can be achieved by either removing or considering the
interslice forces and the moment equilibrium of the slices. The simplified Bishop’s method
based on method of slices has been used in limit equilibrium analysis to calculate the FoS
[16]. Limit equilibrium analysis of the slope in this work was performed using Bishop’s
simplified, Janbu simplified, Spencer and GLE/Morgenstern Price methods as implemented
by the Slide v.6 software [17]. Since, the slope comprise of weak blocky rockmass hence the
slip circle has been selected as non-circular.

The total height affected by slide along the slope from base to crown as observed is about 440
meters [18]. The representative samples were collected from the slide zone for required
geomechanical strength parameters of the intact rock samples and the discontinuities in the
exposed rockmass were included in Roclab software, based on the Hoek–Brown failure
criterion [19], to obtain accurate rockmass properties. The essential properties of slope
forming material for saturated condition as input parameter were described in Table 3 along
with debris material (Figure 5a). The debris material dumped on lower and toe parts of
landslide and the input parameters were assumed for purpose of slope analysis. The slope
angle at upper part is about 15°-30° and bedding plane is exposed (Figure 3a), middle part is
very steep slope with slope angle 50°-75° and lower part slope is gentle with slope angle of
20°-30°.
Table 3: Input parameter (saturated condition) used in numerical simulation of slope.

S. No. Property Material 1 Material 2

1 Material model Mohr–Coulomb Mohr–Coulomb
2 Unit weight (kN/m3) 21.6 20.2
3 Cohesion (kN/m2) 8550 3800
4 Friction angle (deg) 30 26
5 Slope angle (deg) 30 50-70

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Figure 5: (a) Slope indicating geometry of Sonapur slide with major litho-units, (b) signifying slip
surfaces, safety factor contours with FoS, and global minimum safety factors of Bishop Simplified
method.
The factor of safety (FoS) was calculated using Bishop’s simplified, Janbu simplified,
Spencer and GLE/Morgenstern Price methods using Slide v.6 software. The variation in the
color of the slip surface indicates the FoS along the slip surface. The global minimum slip
surface is used in Bishop’s simplified method during the analysis with emphasis was placed
on the slip surface with the lowest FoS in the analysis (Figure 5b). The global minimum slip
surface indicate that FoS is lowest in material 2 i.e. shale rich zone with steeper slope angle.
The FoS obtained from various methods is described in Table 4 indicate the average FoS as
0.54 which is less than unity i.e. unstable slope. An active force of 1.30x107 kN has been
calculated for FoS= 0.54 at an elevation of 200m from base by back analysis.

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Table 4: Deterministic factor of safety obtained from various methods

S. No. Method Factor of safety

1 Bishop simplified 0.54
2 Janbu simplified 0.52
3 Spencer 0.55
4 GLE/Morgenstern Price 0.54

6. Conclusion and Recommendations

The Sonapur landslide is an old, huge rock cum debris slide, activated every year during
monsoon period which severely affects road communication. The poor rockmass strength,
unfavourable orientation of joint planes, descending stream through slide zone combined with
the triggering effect of water during rainy season leads to sliding activity in the area. Shale
and clay being soft and incompetent in nature are easily carried away from its place leading
to destabilization of overlying sandstone units which eventually are removed and brought
down the slope. This process has been in operation since long and is responsible for removal
of huge quantity of material down the slope caused loss of lives and blockade of NH-44 with
vehicular traffic remain stranded for several days. The river channel of Lubha has been
considerably narrowed by the accumulation of slide debris. Also, southern part is steep and is
more susceptible to rockfall/rockslide along wedges formed by intersection of joints in north-
west facing slopes. The slope stability analysis reveals that slope is unstable during monsoon
period with average FoS is 0.54. As a part of remedial measure, the BRO constructed
reinforced cement concrete (RCC) cut and cover tunnel (120m) and allied works including
construction of retaining wall, diversion of drainage, construction of check dams across
perennial stream along slope on the left bank of the Lubha river for smoothening the traffic.
The tunnel ensured safe passage from Sonapur landslide since 2009, though there were few
incidences of road blockage in news reports during monsoon of 2010 and 2012. Thus, it is
essential to monitor this notorious landslide site during the monsoon period to avoid damage
of civil structure as well as commuters. Also, barriers may be constructed with firm support
from basement at different levels of landslide to obstruct the rockslide at higher level with
proper drainage flow. To minimize the sliding activity in the affected area, avoid the
interruptions in the traffic as well as damage to civil structure, the following mitigation
measures are suggested.
i. Removal of unstable large blocks from upper part of slide along stream course,
ii. Construction of gabion walls with proper drainage system across the slope of the slide, iii.
Provision of rock collecting trenches or covering of slope with coir netting or geogrid,
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iv. Rock bolting in sandstone near crown at southern part of slide to avoid detachment of
large size blocks.

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