Universidade Federal do Ceará

Curso de Engenharia Civil

Disciplina: Mecânica dos Solos II

Professor: Marcio Avelino de Medeiros

Aluno: Rômulo Matheus de Araújo Saturnino

Matrícula: 554945

Turma: 01A

HUNGR, Oldrich; LEROUEIL, Serge; PICARELLI, Luciano. The Varnes classification

of landslide types, an update. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p. 167-194, 30 nov. 2013.

“Type of material is one of the most important factors influencing the behavior of
landslides. However, the threefold material division proposed by Varnes (1978),
including “rock, debris, and earth,” is compatible neither with geological terminology of
materials distinguished by origin, nor with geotechnical classifications based on
mechanical properties (e.g., Morgenstern 1992; Leroueil et al. 1996). Thus,
characterization of materials appears to be one aspect of Varnes’ classification that
warrants updating.” (p.167).

“The degree of strength loss during failure determines the postfailure velocity of the
landslide. The failure stage may involve a kinematic change from sliding to flow or fall,
which is also relevant to post-failure behavior and destructiveness of the landslide.”
(p.167)

“One practical statement illustrating the need for a typological classification was given
by Professor J.N. Hutchinson (personal communication, 2000, paraphrased): “To
provide labels for a filing system to store scientific paper reprints. A well-organized
system will help the user to rapidly locate articles dealing with a given phenomenon
and its typical characteristics.” A similar system of labels is needed also in one’s mind,
to organize facts and ideas relevant to a given class of phenomena and communicate
them to others. Of course, different individuals have different priorities and a
classification system should be flexible enough to accommodate their needs.” (p.167).

“To give an example: A landslide may begin with slow pre-failure deformation and
cracking of surficial soil on a steep hillside. Then a shallow sliding failure develops. The
landslide mass accelerates, disintegrates, enlarges through entrainment and becomes
a flowlike debris avalanche. The avalanche enters a drainage channel, entrains water
and more saturated soil and turns into a surging flow of debris. On entering a deposition
fan, the flow drops the coarsest fractions and continues as a sediment-laden flood.
This is a complex process. Yet, it is a common one and we should be able to apply the
simple traditional term “debris flow” to the whole scenario. Otherwise, an article about
such an event would need to be torn into fragments, before it can be filed. Several
such comprehensive terms have been established in the professional literature for
more than 100 years” (P.167).

“Detachment of rock fragments from cliffs occurs by a range of mechanisms described

under the sliding and toppling categories, occurring at limited scale. Tensile, bending,
and buckling failures also play a role. The important distinction of a “fragmental” rock
fall (Evans and Hungr 1993) is that individual fragments move as independent rigid
bodies interacting with the substrate by means of episodic impacts (Fig. 2). By contrast,
rock avalanches (type 18) move in a flow-like manner as masses of fragments.
Fragmental rock fall movement can be simulated by numerical models based on rigid
body ballistics (e.g., Turner and Schuster 2013). “(p.171)

“Soil-derived falls are an important source of hazards on artificial cut slopes along
highway cuts and other excavations, or on naturally eroded scarps. The source may
be a large clast detached from the soil deposits, or a coherent block of soil. A special
category of boulder falls involves the detachment of core stones separated from
saprolitic slopes or tors in deeply weathered terrain (ERM-Hong Kong 1998). Core
stones, being large and rounded by weathering, can form highly mobile projectiles.
They can be released from saprolite surfaces, as the finer material (grus) is eroded
around them.” (p.172)

“Some of the largest and most damaging landslides on Earth are translational
landslides, such as the prehistoric Seimareh slide in the Zagros Mountains of Iran
(Roberts and Evans 2013), or the Flims rock slide in the Alps (Heim 1932). However,
planar rock slides occur at all scales in layered, folded sedimentary rocks, metamorphic
rocks which fail along schistosity or fault planes and in intrusive rocks with stress relief
joints (exfoliation)” (p.174)

“Wedge slides are translational slides exploiting favourably oriented intersecting

discontinuities (Fig. 8). Mechanically, wedge slides are analogous to planar sliding,
except that the stabilizing forces are increased by a wedge factor, being a function of
the attitude of the controlling planes, as well as the strength properties of the
discontinuities and pore-pressures (Hoek and Bray 1981). They occur at a range of
scales, although most are small.” (p.175)

“Rock slides originating on steep slopes in strong rock often fail by a complex
mechanism, exploiting a number of discontinuities separated by segments of intact
rock mass. The existence of discontinuities is essential, because strong rock at shallow
depths is rarely stressed close to failure. However, the rock structure is not systematic,
so it is not possible to place the failure mechanism into any of the three preceding
categories (Fig. 10). The rupture surface forms by connecting many randomly oriented
and non-persistent discontinuities, separated by segments of intact rock (“rock
bridges”). The overall shape of the rupture surface is irregular and kinematically
complex to a varying degree. Parts of the sliding mass may simultaneously be toppling
“(p. 175)

“Shearing failure in cohesive materials prefers curved rotational or compound sliding

surfaces. If a planar slide occurs, it is likely controlled by a weak layer or a discontinuity,
inclined at an angle exceeding the friction angle (with an allowance for pore-pressure
and earthquake body forces). Some of the famous slides in clay shale of the Gaillard
Cut of the Panama Canal were of this type, being controlled by pre-sheared bentonitic
seams (Lutton et al. 1978). Figure 11 shows a spectacular case of a planar slide in a
Tertiary clay characteristic of the Piedmont region of northern Italy (Forlati et al. 1998).
As in many other slides in weak shales or overconsolidated clays, the failure surface
follows a bedding discontinuity, pre-sheared to residual friction.” (p.176)

“Compound slides are widespread in glacio-lacustrine deposits of Western Canada,

where clay interbeds in silty or sandy strata form the weak layers. West of the Rocky
Mountains, where Cretaceous shales underlie glacio-lacustrine deposits, one can often
find compound slides of very similar morphology both in bedrock and the Pleistocene
soils on multiple levels, often in a successive sequence. In some cases, the weak plane
is situated in bedrock, while the main scarp and the horst-and-graben structure form in
the overlying soil. In such cases, the user of the classification must decide whether to
place the landslide into types 9 or 14.” (p.177)

“Rock slope spreading, involving the displacement and rotation of rigid blocks of
stronger rock, because of severe plastic deformation of an underlying layer of weak
rock is very common in horizontally bedded, weak sedimentary sequences. A large
variety of such landslides has been detailed from the Czech and Slovak Republic in
classic books by Zaruba and Mencl (1969) and Nemčok (1982)—Fig. 14, as well as in
Southern England (Hutchinson 1991). “(p.178)

“Large rock slides disintegrate rapidly during motion down mountain slopes and travel
as extremely rapid flows of fragmented rock (Fig. 19). Heim (1932) coined the term
“sturzstrom” (rockslide stream) to describe these landslides. Beginning with Heim,
numerous authors pointed out that large rock avalanches achieve a degree of mobility
that far exceeds what would be expected from a frictional flow of dry, angular, broken
rock. Furthermore, the mobility increases systematically with volume of the event.”
(p.180)

“Loose, saturated granular soils can fully or partially liquefy during or after failure and
create extremely rapid flowslides. The earliest descriptions of liquefaction flowslides
relate to events occurring underwater and involving loose deltaic deposits, as well as
hydraulic fills (e.g., Bjerrum 1971; Casagrande 1940; Koppejan et al. 1948; Locat and
Lee 2002). The rapidity and long displacement of the underwater flows is often
evidenced only indirectly, by sudden removal of large volumes of sediment from the
sea floor and generation of surface waves.” (p.182)

“The term “debris flow” (murgang in German, coulée de débris in French, dõseki-ryu in
Japanese, and selevoii potok in Russian) is a wide-spread hazardous phenomenon in
mountainous terrain. It is distinct from other types of landslides in that it occurs
periodically on established paths, usually gullies and first- or secondorder drainage
channels. Thus, debris flow hazard is specific to a given path and deposition area
(“debris fan”). This, and the periodicity of occurrence at the same location, influences
the methodology of hazard studies and contrasts with related phenomena, such as
debris avalanches (type 25), whose occurrence is not bound to an established path.”
(p.184)

“In some regions, debris flows transport primarily coarse granular debris, containing
only a small proportion of silt and clay. In regions of sedimentary, volcanic and
metamorphic rocks and those with deep weathering, the material may contain
significant content of fines and be measurably plastic (Bull 1964). Such soil drains more
slowly and remains longer in a liquid condition, leading to longer travel and lower slope
angles in the deposition area (Fig. 29). “(p.185)

“During extreme flooding in steep channels, the stream bed may be destabilized
causing massive movement of sediment. Such sediment movement (sometimes
referred to as “live bed” or “carpet flow” by hydraulicians) can reach transport rates far
exceeding normal bed load movement through rolling and saltation. However, the
movement still relies on the tractive forces of water. Large quantity of sediment may
be transported to the debris fan, but the peak discharge remains in the same order as
that of a flood, even if magnified by a “bulking rate” of up to 2–3, approximately (Costa
1984).” (p. 185)

Earthflows occur in plastic, disturbed, and mixed soils, whose consistency lies close to
the Plastic Limit (Keefer and Johnson 1983). Such material deforms easily, but is
essentially ductile and does not significantly lose strength during deformation. As a
result, earthflows move slowly and intermittently. The intermittent character of earthflow
motion is especially pronounced in arid climates. The highest localized earthflow surge
speed documented in the literature is 0.13 m/s (Hutchinson et al. 1974), however,
typical movement velocities are measured in meters per hour during surges (Picarelli
et al. 2005) and meters per year in general (e.g., Bovis 1985).” (p.187)

“Peat is a light, organic material with varying degrees of fibrous texture. The presence
of organic fibres and mineral grains gives peat a fairly high drained friction angle, often
in excess of 30°. The extreme compressibility and high water content, however, make
the material susceptible to dramatic weakening during undrained loading. Once an
initial movement begins and peat layers are subjected to compression, extreme loss
of strength occurs, followed by flow. The initial movement is often caused by human
activity, especially rapid placement of artificial fill on organic substrates. However, there
is also a range of natural processes by which the margins of over-saturated peat
accumulations fail (“bog bursts”). Some of these have attained speeds sufficient to
cause fatalities. A detailed review and classification of landslides in peat has recently
been published by Dykes and Warburton (2007).” (p.188)

“Even relatively small slopes made of weak claystones and marls deform, especially if
capped by a massive layer of stronger rock. The widespread phenomenon of
“cambering,” “bulging,” and “gulls” along the crests of British river valleys has been
discussed in many publications. Hutchinson (1991) suggests that many of these
features may have formed due to the flow of icerich clayey rocks during the periglacial
conditions in Early Holocene.” (p.189).

“Slow deformations also occur in soils adjacent to steep slopes. On-going deformations
of the crests of excavated slopes are well known to geotechnical engineers and often
necessitate support measures to prevent damage to adjacent roadways and
structures. Even larger deformations occur at the crests of rapidly built fill slopes. For
example, large mine waste piles built by end dumping on foundations of steep terrain
can deform by several tens of metres. The deformation rates can reach more than 1
m/day and result from a combination of volumetric consolidation and plastic yielding of
the waste and foundation. They sometimes, but not always culminate in extremely
rapid flowslides (Hungr et al. 2002)” (p.190).

“Soil and weak rock layers within one metre, approximately, of the ground surface are
subject to cyclical volume changes due to swelling and shrinkage with moisture
changes, freezing and thawing, and plant and animal activity. As explained in textbooks
of geomorphology, volumetric expansion acts normal to the sloping ground surface
while, during shrinkage, the material moves vertically down under gravity “(p.191)

“Soil creep is intensified approximately tenfold by the presence of seasonal ground ice
in the surficial soil under alpine or periglacial conditions. One reason is that ice is
capable of true creep, i.e., deformation under constant stress. In addition, during the
thawing season, the active layer overlying the impervious permafrost table becomes
charged with water and normal movements due to volume changes are added to by
episodic sliding deformation.” (p.191).