LANDSLIDES
AND
SINKHOLES
WHAT ARE LANDSLIDES?
• Landslides are a downward movement of
geological materials such as soil and rock.
• Landslides occur in response to a variety of
both natural and manmade triggering
events, such as earthquakes, heavy
rainfall, volcanic activity, or road and
building construction.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT
TYPES OF LANDSLIDES?
• Slumps can involve both soil and rock, travel
short distances and vary from slow to very rapid.
• Rockfall and topples involve rocks, are very rapid
to extremely rapid and can travel great distances
When debris from rockfalls and slumps mix with
water, they can transform into debris slides that
can travel great distances.
Mudslides generally involve saturated soils
moving at very rapid to extremely rapid velocities
and travel great distances
Creep are generaly slow, involve soil, and travel
short distances;
MOVEMENT MATERIAL VELOCITY
Slump Soil Slow to very
rapid
Creep Soil Very slow to slow
Debris slide Rocks, soil, water Extremely rapid
Rock fall Rocks and dry soil Extremely rapid
Mudslide Soil Extremely rapid
SINKHOLES
• are depressions or openings in the ground surface.
They are generally formed as the result of a collapse
in the ceiling of an underground cavity or cavern.
• Sinkholes typically develop slowly, but can also form
suddenly when a collapse occurs.
• Sinkholes naturally occur in areas underlain by
soluble carbonate or evaporite rocks like limestone,
dolomite, gypsum, and salt.
THE THREE TYPES OF
SINKHOLES
• Dissolution sinkholes
• Cover-subsidence sinkholes
• Cover-collapse sinkholes.
Dissolution sinkholes occur where there
is little soil or vegetation over the soluble
rock. Aggressive dissolution occurs where
flow is focused in pre-existing openings in the
rock , such as along joints, fractures, and
bedding planes, or in the zone of water –
table fluctuations where the ground water is
in contact with the atmosphere. They
typically develop gradually.
DISSOLUTION SINKHOLE
Cover-subsidence sinkholes tend to
develop gradually where the covering
sediments are permeable and
contain sand.
Cover-collapse sinkholes
tend to develop abruptly
and cause catastrophic
damages. They occur where
the covering sediments
contain significant amounts
of clay.
COVER COLLAPSE
• Karst terrain is a type of topography that is
formed by dissolution of bedrock in areas
underlain by limestone, dolostone or, as in
some western states, gypsum. Such terrain
has underground drainage systems that are
reflected on the surface as sinkholes,
springs, disappearing streams or even
caves.
