MASS

MOVEMENTS
What are landslides?
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Preventing Landslides
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Types of Mass Movement

FALL

SLIDE

SLUMP

FLOW

Nevado del Ruiz Mudflow 1985

Causes of Mass Movements

Shear stress

Gravity

slide component

Shear strength
stick component

Causes of Mass Movements

In this example what has happened to the balance between shear
stress and the shear strength ?
Mass movements
occur when the shear
stress increases or
the shear strength
decreases.

Shear stress has

Shear
strength

Shear
stress

Slope
stability

Slope
failure

Shear strength has

Shear
strength

Shear
stress

Causes of Mass Movements

Think of factors that could either reduce the shear strength or increase
shear stress.

Shear Strength

Shear Stress

Increase in water content

of slope
Removal of overlying
material
Weathering

Increase in slope angle

Alternating layers of
varying rock
types/lithology
Burrowing animals

Undercutting the slope

Shocks & vibrations

Loading the slope with
additional weight

Removal of vegetation

Explain how each of these either reduces shear strength or increases

shear stress.

Water

Max angle = angle

of repose

Internal cohesion

2. Water

Pore water pressure =

liquefaction

Causes of Mass Movements

Shear Strength

Shear Stress

Increase in water content of

slope

Increase in slope angle

Removal of overlying material

Shocks & vibrations

(Aberfan, Vaiont Dam & Nevado del Ruiz)

(Mt St Helens & Elm)

(Nevados de Huascaran & Mt St Helens)

Weathering
(Mam Tor, & Avon Gorge)

Alternating layers of varying

rock types/lithology
(Mam Tor, Vaiont Dam & Holbeck Hall Hotel)

Burrowing animals
Removal of vegetation
(Sarno)

Loading the slope with additional

weight
(Vaiont Dam)

Undercutting the slope

Vaiont Dam, North Italy, 1963

Vaiont Dam, North Italy, 1963

Syncline structure

Vaiont Dam, North Italy, 1963

limestones inter-bedded with sands and clays.
bedding planes that parallel the syncline structure, dipping steeply into
the valley from both sides.
Some of the limestone beds had caverns, due to chemical weathering by
groundwater
During August & September, 1963, heavy rains drenched the area adding
weight to the rocks above the dam & increasing pore water pressure
Oct 9, 1963 at 10:41 P.M. the south wall of the valley
failed and slid into the reservoir behind the dam.
The landslide had moved along the clay layers that
parallel the bedding planes in the northern wall of
the valley
Filling of the reservoir had also increased fluid
pressure in the pore spaces of the rock.

Aberfan, South Wales 1966

Nevados de Huascaran, Peru, 1970

Nevados de Huascaran, Peru, 1970

magnitude 7.7 earthquake

shaking lasted for 45 seconds,
large block fell from the 6 000m peak
became a debris avalanche sliding across the snow covered glacier at velocities
up to 335 km/hr.
hit a small hill and was launched into the air as an airborne debris avalanche.
blocks the size of large houses fell on real houses for another 4 km.
recombined and continued as a debris flow, burying the town of Yungay

Mt St Helens, USA 1980

Magma moved high into the cone of Mount St. Helens
and inflated the volcano's north side outward by at
least 150 m. This dramatic deformation was called the
"bulge. This increased the shear stress.

Within minutes of a magnitude 5.1 earthquake at 8:32

a.m., a huge landslide completely removed the bulge,
the summit, and inner core of Mount St. Helens, and
triggered a series of massive explosions.

As the landslide moved down the volcano at a velocity

of nearly 300 km/hr, the explosions grew in size and
speed and a low eruption cloud began to form above the
summit area

Holbeck Hall Hotel, Scarborough, 1993

Holbeck Hall Hotel, Scarborough, 1993

Boulder clay
Dry & cracked due to 4 years
of drought
Above average rainfall in
spring & early summer of 1993
Cracked clay increased its
permeability allowing water in
Saturated clay is unstable
Increase in weight
Increase in pore water pressure
Dissolves cement

Sarno, Italy, 1998

Sarno

Figure 1a shows the site of the former

Aberfan coal-waste tips (South Wales),
one of which (tip No.7) suffered a major
landslide and associated debris flow in
1966.

Figure 1b is a geological
section through tip No.7
and the underlying geology
prior to the
landslide.

(a) On the geological section (Figure 1b), mark with a labelled arrow ( S)
the location of the spring beneath tip No.7. Account for the presence of
a spring at this location. [2]
(b) Draw a line on Figure 1b to show the probable surface of failure
associated with the landslide. [1]

(c) (i) State two geological factors that may have been responsible for
causing tip No.7 to fail. [2]

(ii) Give an explanation of the possible role played by one of the

geological factors you have identified in (c) (i). [2]

(d) Explain how appropriate action could have reduced the risk of mass
movement prior to the failure of tip No.7. [3]

(e) Explain one environmental problem (other than waste tipping)

associated with the extraction of rock or minerals from a mine you have
studied. [2]

Controlling Mass Movements

Stabilisation by retaining wall and anchoring

Terracing (benches) and drainage

Toe stabilisation and hazard-resistant design

Loading the toe and retaining walls

Drainage

Material deposited at the slope

foot (toe) reduces the shear
stress. Retaining walls are used to
stabilise the upper slope. In this
case a steel-mesh curtain is used.
The toe is stabilised by gabions.
The railway line is protected by
hazard-resistant design structure.

This increases the shear strength

of the materials by reducing the
pore-water pressure
The toe is stabilised by retaining
wall which reduces the shear
stress. The upper slope has rock
anchors and mesh curtains. Drains
improve water movement and
shotcrete is used to reduce
infiltration into the hillside.
Regrading the slope to produce
more stable angles to reduce shear
stress

Mass Movement Stabilisation

1.Drainage

This increases the shear strength

of the materials by reducing the
pore-water pressure

2.Terracing (benches)
and drainage
Re-grading the slope to produce
more stable angles

Mass Movement Stabilisation

3.Loading the toe and retaining walls

Material deposited at the slope

foot (toe) reduces the shear
stress. Retaining walls are used to
stabilise the upper slope. In this
case a steel-mesh curtain is used.

Mass Movement Stabilisation

4.Stabilisation by retaining wall and anchoring

The toe is stabilised by retaining

wall. The upper slope has rock
anchors and mesh curtains. Drains
improve water movement and
shotcrete is used to reduce
infiltration into the hillside.

Mass Movement Stabilisation

5.Toe stabilisation and hazard-resistant design

The toe is stabilised by gabions.

The railway line is protected by
hazard-resistant design structure.

Portway, Avon Gorge

Limestone interbedded
with mudstones

Well jointed limestone

Loose rock
causes rockfall

Frost shattering
weathering

Steep cliff
Portway (main road at
base of Avon Gorge)

Portway, Avon Gorge

Extensive network of
steel nets

Bolts to hold frost-shattered

rock together

Alpine canopy covered

with soil & vegetation

Mechanisms/Causes

Management/Control

1.

1. Slope Stabilisation

Shear strength

benching

pore water pressure

rock anchors

removal of overlying material

mesh curtains

weathering

dental masonry

lithology differences
burrowing animals
removal of vegetation

2. Shear stress

shotcrete

Mass Movements of
Soil & Rock

2. Retaining Structures
earth embankments
gabions
retaining walls

slope angle
vibrations & shocks
loading slopes
undercutting of slope

Prediction/Monitoring

3. Drainage Control

hazard mapping

underground drains

surveying/site investigations

gravel-filled trenching

measurement of creep/strain

shotcrete

measurement of groundwater
pressures