596 CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL JOURNAL. VOL.

8, 1971

and sewer and water services were installed, the
groundwater level probably receded, permitting
the peat to decompose more rapidly. Rain,
snow melt, and frequent watering by the resi-
dents must have provided moisture movement
through the organic layer, and the organic acids
formed by the decomposing peats are thought
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founded on the underlying bedrock. Structures
such as garages and sheds which rest on the
organic or marl layers, however, are seriously
affected. Figs. 3 to 6 illustrate the effects of
subsidence.
This note describes one of the rare cases
where severe subsidence of the soil has de-

to have reacted with the carbonates in the marl
layer. Both the soluble portion of the organic
material and the dissolved salts were gradually
removed with the drainage water, slowly at first,
then more rapidly, when the fissures in the marl
enlarged into channels.
Deterioration of the marl and peat has re-
sulted in a general subsidence in the area, but
the houses are undamaged because they were
For personal use only.
veloped but houses are unaffected because they
are founded on bedrock. It illustrates the need
at the planning stage, for proper assessment of
the future behavior of foundation soils with
respect tb proposed structures and services.
This note is a contribution from the Division
of Building Research, National Research Coun-
cil of Canada, and is published with the ap-
proval of the Director of the Division.

Analysis of a Failed Slope

S. THOMSON
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Received June 21, 1971

In September 1963, a landslide occurred in Upper Cretaceous clay shales of Western Canada.
An analysis indicated that peak strengths were being mobilized on the steeply dipping portion
of the slip surface and that strengths less than peak but greater than residual were acting
along the lower part of the failure surface.
In March 1971, a stadia profile of the failed slope was obtained and analyzed. In the
7.5-year interval, movement increased the scarp height from 22 to 34 ft (7-10 m). The
results of the analysis indicate that the cohesion parameter has tended to zero and that the
friction angle has decreased toward a residual value, at least along a part of the failure surface.

En septembre 1963, un glissement de terrain s'est produit dans les schistes argileux du
crttact supCrieur dans I'ouest canadien. Une Ctude a montrC que les rtsistances de pic 6taient
mobilisCes sur les sections fortement inclinks de la surface de rupture alors que des r6sistances
infCrieures aux valeurs de pic mais supCrieures aux valeurs rbiduelles agissaient dans la partie
inf6rieure de la surface de rupture.
En mars 1971 un profil B la stadia de la pente rupturCe a kt6 obtenu et analyst. Pendant
l'intervale de 7.5 ans des mouvements additionnels ont augment6 la hauteur de l'escarpement
de 22 B 34 pieds (7-10 m ) . Les rtsultats de I'Ctude indiquent que le paramttre cohCsion tend
vers zCro et que l'angle de frottement a diminuC vers une valeur rCsiduelle, au moins dans une
section de la surface de rupture.

The Lesueur landslide is located on the out-
side of a bend of the North Saskatchewan
River, about 4 miles (-6 km) northeast of
the eastern outskirts of the City of Edmonton,
Alberta. The analysis of the original slide has
been presented in detail elsewhere (Thomson
1971).
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 8, 596 (1971)
Since the original failure some 7.5 years ago
there have been additional movements that
have increased the scarp height by 12 ft (4 m).
These movements, which are in the nature of a
creep phenomenon, have mobilized strengths
that are less than those mobilized at failure.
In order to investigate this apparent decrease
 TECHNICAL NOTES
C SEDIMENTS
LU
LU
LL TILL
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HORIZONTAL DISTANCE, FEET
FIG.1. Lesueur landslide, pre-failure conditions, 1963.
in soil strength, a post-slide analysis was car-
ried out. The purpose of this note is to discuss
the results of this post-slide analysis after a
brief review of the original failure.
On September 3, 1963 a major slide occurred
on the Lesueur property that left a scarp 22 ft
(7 m) high. The stratigraphic profile estab-
lished by site investigation consisted of fine
glacial lake sands, till, terrace sands and gravel
For personal use only.
overlying clay shales, and bentonitic clay shales
of Late Cretaceous age. The valley wall was
slightly more than 100 ft (27 m) high from
the river surface to the prairie level. Figure 1
shows the pre-failure stratigraphy as interpreted
from the site investigation.
A high proportion of the failure surface of
the original slide (Fig. 1 ) was defined by the
scarp face, the closed off probe wells, and by
observations in the toe area. Laboratory testing
provided the soil parameters given in Table 1.
These data combined with preliminary analyses
yielded the slip surface shown in Fig. 1. An
analysis of this slope using peak values of effec-
tive stress for all strata yielded a factor of
safety, F = 1.37. A second analysis assumed
all soil parameters at their residual values and
gave F = 0.54. Using all peak friction angles,
but zero cohesion for all soils, yielded F =
0.74. These analyses suggest that the soil
parameters that were being mobilized at in-
cipient failure were greater than residual, less
than peak at least on some portion of the
sliding surface, and that some cohesion must
have been acting. From field evidence it was
argued that the steeply dipping part of the slide
surface was a 'first time' failure and the soils
associated with it were mobilizing peak param-
eters. This concept in conjunction with the
LEGEND
---x---PIEZOMETRIC SURFACE
SLIP SURFACES
PROBE WELL CUT-OFF
preceding analyses required that the shear re-
sistance mobilized along the horizontal part of
the slip surface was less than peak, at least
along a portion of the slip surface.
It was postulated that this decrease in
strength was brought about by erosion of the
terrace at the toe of the slope due to lateral
migration of the river. The destruction of the
terrace generates deformation, which leads to
a strength decrease of the strain-softening soils
as well as reducing confining pressure of the
strata. As a consequence of this latter factor,
swelling occurs and moisture contents increase
which lead to a strength reduction.
A series of analyses were made using the
non-circular procedure of Morgenstern and
Price (1965), which simulated lower strengths
along the horizontal part of the slip surface.
The soils through which the steeply dipping
part of the slide surface passed were considered
to be mobilizing peak parameters. The horizon-
tal portion of the failure surface was divided
into three approximately equal sections.
Strengths varying from peak to residual were
assigned to these sections. The following re-
sults are typical of the many possible analyses
that were made. All soils were assigned peak
values of their parameters except along the
outer two thirds of the horizontal part of the
slide surface. These were assigned residual
strength values for the soil. The factor of safety
so determined was 1.03. The influence of re-
duced cohesion parameters for soils associated
with the steeply dipping part of the slide sur-
face was also investigated. In every case, very
low values of cohesion must act along the
horizontal part of the failure surface.
In late March, 1971, a simple profile of the
 CANADIAN GEOTECHMCAL JOURNAL. VOL. 8, 1971

TABLE1. Strength parameter in terms of effective stress

Peak parameters Residual parameters

soil CP' b' cr' h'
Silty sand 0 41 0 38
Till 600 24 0 22
Sand and gravel 0 38 0 36
Clay shale 1300 24 0 17
Bentonitic clav shale 865 14 0 10
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Bentonite
Coal
Angles in degrees, cohesion in Ib./sq. ft.

,* SEDIMENTS
LEGEND
---;---PIEZOMETRIC SURFACE
SLIP SURFACES
I PROBE WELL CUT-OFF

-
-
I

. BENTONlTlC SANDSTONE
For personal use only.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280 320
HORIZONTAL DISTANCE, FEET
FIG.2. Lesueur landslide, post-failure section, 1971.

failed slope was obtained by a stadia survey.
During the period of some 7.5 years, from the
initial large scale movement in September, 1963,
the scarp height has increased by about 12 ft
(-4 m) from the original 22 ft (7 m) to a
present height of 34 ft (10 m).
For the purpose of analysis, it was assumed
that the stratigraphy, piezometric levels and
strength parameters were unchanged from the
original analysis as shown on Fig. 1. On this
basis, the section as shown on Fig. 2 was drawn
and analyzed using the method of Morgenstern
and Price (1965). The failure plane used in
the analysis is also shown on Fig. 2, and
strength parameters are given in Table 1.
Lack of precise, original survey data make
it impossible to compare the immediate post-
failure slope of 1963 and present simple survey
with any degree of reliability. Thus no attempt
has been made to compare overall slopes.
The first analysis of the failed slope used
residual parameters throughout and yielded a
factor of safety, F = 0.76. In the second
analysis, peak angles of shearing resistance but
zero cohesion throughout gave F = 1.05. These
results suggested that all the soils were not at
residual strength and that the cohesion being
mobilized was essentially zero. The horizontal
part of the failure plane was divided into three
equal parts, and varying strength parameters
were assigned to each third. An analysis with
cohesion equal to zero everywhere, peak angles
of shearing resistance assigned along the steeply
dipping part of the slide surface and the inner
one third of the horizontal part of the failure
surface and the outer two thirds at residual,
yielded F = 0.98. On average, the soil strength
being mobilized along the horizontal portion of
the slip surface is greater than residual but less
than peak. However, using the concepts of
varying the strength along the slip surface, it
would appear that the soil is at its residual
angle along about 60% of the horizontal sec-
tion of the failure plane.
Considering the analyses of the original slope
and those of the failed slope, the following
points are of interest. The original failure oc-
curred because of a loss of cohesion along the
 TECHNICAL NOTES
horizontal part of the failure surface. The loss
was greatest near the toe and the strength in-
creased inward approaching the peak value as
the failure surface turned upwards. Originally,
the parameters associated with the steeply dip-
ping part of the failure surface were at or close
to peak values. The analyses of the failed slope,
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surveyed in 1971, indicate that the cohesion
everywhere has tended toward zero and that
the angle of shearing resistance along the hori-
zontal part of the slip plane is tending toward
a residual value.
If one extrapolates these tendencies sug-
gested in the previous paragraph it appears
that, over a long period of time, the strength
of the soils approaches a residual value. It also
suggests that slopes not 'geologically' old exist
at angles greater than their residual angle.
The clay shale and bentonitic clay shale are
Upper Cretaceous, flat-lying, sedimentary
rocks. The failure planes in such materials
parallel to the bedding are quite smooth as
For personal use only.
opposed to a failure plane oblique to bedding.
This factor may account for the angle of shear-
ing resistance for these materials in the slide
analysis being greater than the residual value
given in Table 1. In addition, from Table 1 it
will be noted that the difference in the tangents
of peak and residual angles for most of the
soils are not greatly different. It is, therefore,
difficult to discriminate clearly between the
599
peak and residual angles in the landslide anal-
ysis. The scarp at present is some 34 ft
(-10 m) high, hence there has been some
downward displacement of the beds. The angles
of shearing resistance derived from the analyses
of the failed slope, therefore, may reflect two
unlike soil types in contact with one another.
These factors indicate that the residual angle
of a particular soil may be difficult to assess
under field conditions.
In summary, for this particular slide it is
suggested that the general pattern of strength
loss begins with a decrease in cohesion along
a lower part of an incipient failure surface. At
a critical point a major slide movement occurs
during which most of the cohesion parameter is
lost, at least along the lower part of the slide sur-
face. In the ensuing decade, the cohesion tends
to zero everywhere. Subsequently, the angle of
shearing resistance decreases to, or close to, a
residual value over a long period. This latter
phase is probably accompanied by creep move-
ments.
MORGENSTERN,
N. R. and PRICE,V. E. 1965. The
analysis of the stability of general slip surfaces.
Geotechnique, 15, pp. 79-93.
THOMSON, S., 1971. The Lesueur landslide, a failure
in Upper Cretaceous clay shale. Proc. 9th An-
nual Syrnp. on Engineering Geol. and Soils
Engineering, Boise, Idaho (in press).