Landslide

Landslide is a general term used to describe a variety of geologic processes involving the movement of fine-grained earth, coarse-grained debris, or rock down a slope under the influence of gravity. This broad definition of downslope movements includes falling, toppling, sliding, spreading, and flowing. Landslides can also occur under water (submarine landslides) and trigger tsunamis.

Commonly used landslide classification systems rely on separate terms to describe the type of movement (falling, toppling, sliding, spreading, or flowing) and the type of material involved. Unlithified material is classified as debris if it is predominantly coarse-grained (sand, gravel, cobbles, or boulders) and earth if it is primarily fine-grained (silt or clay). Thus, a debris flow would involve the down slope flow of predominantly coarse-grained material, whereas a debris slide would involve the sliding of the same kind of material along a well-defined slip surface. Additional detail can be included by specifying the rate of movement (which can range from several millimeters per year to tens of meters per second) and the water content of the moving mass (which can range from dry to very wet). Landslides moving at velocities faster than a few meters per minute, particularly when they are large, have the potential to cause catastrophic damage and loss of life. The volume of material involved in a landslide, however, is irrelevant to its classification and can range from a few cubic centimeters to several cubic kilometers. Landslides can also change modes as they move. For example, a debris slide may mobilize into a debris flow as the debris begins to move down slope.

The term mudslide, which is often used in news reports, does not exist within the classification systems used

by most geologists and engineers. It is an imprecise term that is best avoided.

Landslides occur when the forces tending to keep a soil or rock mass in place (resisting forces) are exceeded by those promoting movement (driving forces). Resisting forces most commonly arise due to the shear strength of the material acting over an area, such as the slip surface beneath a landslide, or as a consequence of engineered works such as retaining walls. The primary driving force—the component of the weight of the earth, debris, or rock mass acting parallel to the slope—and the force occurring when the potential landslide mass is accelerated during an earthquake can also trigger landsliding. Changing the geometry of a slope, for example by excavating some areas and placing fill in others during construction, can alter the balance of resisting and driving forces enough to trigger a landslide.

It is a widely held misconception that landslides occur because slopes are lubricated by water. Water does not act as a lubricant in landslides, but instead decreases the shear strength of the earth, debris, or rock by decreasing the normal force acting across a potential slip surface. It is well known from basic physics that the sliding of a block down an inclined plane is resisted by the product of the normal force acting on the plane and a coefficient of friction. Similarly, a decrease in the normal force acting across a potential slip surface will decrease the resistance to sliding. Sources of water leading to landsliding can include infiltrating rain and melted snow, leaking water pipes, and irrigation.

It is difficult to estimate the monetary costs of landslides because they can include both direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include damage to structures and roads, whereas indirect costs include items such as decreased property values, lost productivity, and the expense of driving longer distances when roads are blocked. Difficulties aside, in 1985 the National Research Council estimated that landslides cost between $1 billion and $2 billion per year in the United States alone. Estimates for other countries range from tens of millions to billions of dollars per year.

Catastrophic Mass Movements; Debris Flow; Lahar; Mass Movement; Mass Wasting; Mud Flow; Rockfall; Slump; Talus Pile or Talus Slope

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