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DOI 10.1007/s00254-008-1236-x
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Received: 12 September 2007 / Accepted: 3 February 2008 / Published online: 19 February 2008
Ó Springer-Verlag 2008
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1418 Environ Geol (2009) 56:1417–1426
nearby residential area. However, by quick intervention layers of firm matter, but also the risk of a deeper landslide
with machinery from the construction site, the material was surface because marls, as well as shales or mudstones, are
removed from the road, and temporary reclamation mea- liable to a significant loss of shear strength due to
sures were undertaken with the gabion walls. In all, the weathering.
landslide caused more than €10,000,000 of direct damages
to surrounding structures, but fortunately without loss of
human life. Geological overview
A geological engineering investigation of the ‘‘Bol’’
landslide was performed immediately after its occurrence. The rock mass in the Bol area mainly consists of flysch
This paper presents the results of that study, which include layers of the middle and upper Eocene. The upper zone of
mapping, field investigations and an analysis of the main this mass is covered by Quaternary alluvial layers in the
processes and mechanisms that contributed to the forma- form of weathered flysch. In the zone of the analysed
tion of the landslide. The aim of the paper is to analyse landslide, the surface is covered with deposits of silt with a
slope instability mechanism occurred not in the superficial heterogeneous content of gravel and blocks of limestone,
material but in the weathered parent material. which have the form of weakly bounded conglomerates
Slides in this area occur in a zone of a flysch formation (Šestanović 1998).
covered with weakly bounded conglomerates on the sur- Figure 4 shows a geomorphological cross-section
face. The slope of contact between conglomerates and the through the central zone of the landslide with the disposi-
flysch approximately corresponds to the hillside slope. tion of layers determined from field investigations after the
However, in fact, landslides appear only in the upper zone landslide. The position of the cross-section is designated on
of weathered flysch lying beneath conglomerates, meaning the map in Fig. 2. Reconstruction of the previous terrain
that landslides do not appear only over the contact between according to previous surveying records is also presented.
conglomerates and flysch, or only in zone of weakly The Eocene flysch is constituted of layers of brown-grey
bounded conglomerates. marl, with interlayers of disintegrated clayey marl, and
Similar problems of landslide in mudstone, marl and/or with some thin layers of sandstone. In addition, a folded
shale have been reported in other areas (Hutchinson et al. flysch zone has been found in the landslide area. These
1973; Christaras 1997; Bogaard et al. 2000; Gibo et al. folded zones were discovered mainly in the landslide zone,
2002; Maquaire et al. 2003; Mugnozza et al. 2003; Eber- and in close vicinity, while outside the landslide zone the
hardt et al. 2005; Cevik and Ulusay 2005). Many of them flysch have a more regular thinly layered structure.
are characterized by slope-layering and/or weathering, In the folded flysch the interlayer joints within the marl
which are key factors in causing landslides in this type of are mainly closed, or occasionally they have an aperture of
materials. These types of landslides do not imply only the 1–5 mm, filled with clay marls. The layers dip irregularly,
risk caused by weakly structured material found above suggesting that similar landslides, as it is described in the
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Environ Geol (2009) 56:1417–1426 1419
introduction section for whole area, might have already stream beds, with gradients corresponding almost exactly to
occurred even at the location under consideration. hill slopes, meaning that the runoff water flows along the
In the zone of thin-layered flysch of a regular structure, shortest path towards the sea. These torrent flows are peri-
interlayer joints are mainly closed and are slightly rough. odical flows. After rainfall their outflow increases for a short
The flysch layers dip approximately 40° northward, time, while during other periods they are dry. Due to the
whereas the hill’s slope dips southward. steep slope of the torrent beds and the abundant outflow after
rainfall, water energy is sufficient to transport material down
the slopes. Two consequences of this process are the gravel
Site hydrogeology deposits along the seashore, and the pebble beaches along
the seacoast.
The area of Dalmatia, which includes island Brač where Bol In the landslide area, the upper layer is formed of
is located, is characterized by rainfalls of short duration and weakly bounded conglomerates with a relatively high
high intensity. On the island there are no permanent surface permeability (coefficient of hydraulic conductivity is
streams, but on the Bol area can be found some torrent about k = 10-2 cm/s measured on a laboratory sample).
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Fig. 4 Geomorphological cross-section through the central zone of bounded conglomerate (M1), above the upper weathered zone of
the landslide with the disposition of layers determined from field flysch (M2). The major layer is unweathered flysch (M3)
investigations after the landslide. The upper layer is a weakly
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Environ Geol (2009) 56:1417–1426 1421
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the night, so the snow cower has survived. The diagram in includes degradation of the material strength during wet-
Fig. 6 also shows an increase in the temperature for the ting–drying cycles, freezing–thawing cycles, swelling, etc.
days preceding the day of the slide. An increase in tem- Swelling is a consequence of swelling of clay minerals in
perature resulted in a thawing of snow on the slope surface. the marl, as well as the chemical processes resulting for
The water from rainfall and thawed snow infiltrated in the example in the creation of gypsum inside the joints and
conglomerate layer and increased the pore pressure in the fissures in the marl (see Miščević 1998). The most com-
upper degraded zone of marls. monly found clay minerals in analysed Eocene flysch are
illite, chlorite and smectite.
The effect of the drying–wetting process is particularly
Upper weathered zone of flysch emphasised at the upper part of flysch layer. As it is
described in the ‘‘Site hydrogeology’’ section as a conse-
The flysch weathering includes both physical and chemical quence of the layers characteristics and characteristics of
degradation. This process is investigated in many resear- the climate, thought the time there is significant change in
ches (Maekawa et al. 1991; Chandler 1969; Hoek et al. moisture of upper part of flysch. Wetting and drying cycles
2005; Miščević 1997, 1998). The physical degradation are the main cause of weathering in marly deposits (in this
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Environ Geol (2009) 56:1417–1426 1423
case layers of the marl are the main part of flysch). As a Table 1 Material properties for the numerical model used for back
consequence of the alternation of dry and wet conditions, analysis with a focus on failure mechanisms involving degradation of
flysch due to weathering
the marl is slowly but continuously weathered in the upper
section of the flysch. Parameter Conglomerate Flysch
The influence of freezing on an island in the Mediter-
Density (kg/m3) 2,350 2,300
ranean is generally limited to only a shallow depth under
Young’s modulus (MPa) 40 75
the surface. In the analysed case flysch is relatively deep
Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.30
undersurface (about 2.5–9 m), so frost action may be
Cohesion (kPa) 4 51a
excluded as the cause of marl weathering in this particular
Internal friction (°) 35 40a
case.
a
Chemical weathering can be considered together with Samples of undegraded flysch of naturally occurring moisture levels
swelling, since calcium–sulphate compounds in reaction
with water form gypsum (analysed with chemical tests, see 2005). Other values presented in Table 1 are based on
Miščević 1998). Gypsum has about 95% larger volume representative properties for similar materials taken from
than its input components. Therefore joints and fissures are academic literature (Gerecek 2007; Palmstrom and Singh
expanded and extended with the creation of gypsum, 2001; Hoek et al. 1998; Marinos and Hoek 2001). The
resulting in mechanical breakdown. The result of described reason why these values were taken from a literature is
process in a form of a white powder, is observed on all problem with the sample preparation. Marl cannot be
samples taken from the upper degraded zone of the flysch. drilled without use of water. In contact with water sample
At the same time the dissolution of calcium compounds of marl deteriorate and so in many cases sample cannot be
from marls increases pore volume, which also leads to prepared for a testing.
deeper water infiltration (Eberhardt et al. 2005). In order to confirm that the slide surface occurred along
The result of the overall process is acceleration of marl an upper weathered zone of flysch, and not only through
disintegration. Due to weathering marl degrade, and result conglomerate or on contact between the conglomerate and
is a significant loss of shear strength (Miščević 1997, 1998; underlying flysch, analysis with the focus on failure
Eberhardt et al. 2005). mechanisms involving degradation of flysch due to
weathering was performed.
The first step in the modelling was an analysis made
Back analysis assuming sliding along the upper without including the degraded surface zone of the flysch.
degraded zone of flysch Since we do not have the groundwater level data monitored
for a long time period, the analysis was performed by
Back analysis of the Bol landslide was performed with the considering several alternatives: dry conditions on the
commercial programme Z_SOIL 2001 (ZACE Services slope, the groundwater level at 1.0 m below the ground
Ltd, Switzerland), using the two-dimensional finite element surface and the water level at the surface. A coupled
method for computation. analysis of the deformations and the groundwater’s
Figure 7 presents the geometry applied in the numerical hydraulic flow was performed. Parameter analysis of the
model of the distribution of layers. The upper layer is a weakly bounded conglomerate’s shear strength demon-
weakly bounded conglomerate (M1) above an upper strated that the shape of the failure surface recorded after
weathered zone of flysch (M2). The major layer is the landslide could not be obtained. Even with the lowest
unweathered flysch (M3). values of friction angle, when the slip surface is in fact
The properties of the materials used in the model for the in contact with conglomerate and flysch, the shape of the
back analysis are presented in Table 1. Materials were
modelled with the Mohr–Coulomb failure criteria. Density
is determined according to laboratory tests of samples from
boreholes. Cohesion and internal friction of undegraded
flysch are measured on two samples from boreholes.
Samples with four specimens each were tested with por-
table shear apparatus (with procedure from ISRM
Suggested methods for determining shear strength). The
results of the test for one sample are presented in Fig. 8.
The friction angle of the weakly bounded conglomerate is
determined with correlations from the SPT results, where
material was treated as well graded gravel (Varghese Fig. 8 Shear test results for one sample of undegraded flysch
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failure does not correspond to observations. Therefore the 2005). His test results show that a range of friction angles
possibility of the landslide occurring only through the between 23° and 29° can be accepted, and values less than
conglomerate layer was excluded. 25° require high degrees of weathering.
In the analysed flysch, the weathering process develops
along this engineering time scale (Chandler 1969; Maek-
Modelling of strength degradation of flysch promoting awa et al. 1991; Miščević 1997, 1998; Hoek et al. 2005),
observed shape of failure meaning over periods of approximately 10–50 years. When
the shear strength of upper zone of flysch in a particular
The next step in the modelling was a back analysis of the area is decreased due to weathering, landslides are acti-
slope failure with a parametric analysis of the shear vated. The weathering degree controls the development of
strength in the upper degraded zone of flysch. The reduc- the slide surface along the sections of the landslide profile.
tion of the flysch strength as a result of weathering was The rate of weathering over time depends on the alternation
modelled by gradually decreasing the shear strength from and intensity of dry and wet periods, as well as on pre-
the initial values of undegraded flysch (Table 1). For every cipitation levels.
decreasing step, calculations were performed, with the Figure 9 presents model results, showing the evolution
thickness of the weathered zone set at 1.0 and 2.0 m. These of flysch damage (shear yielding) as a function of strength
values were selected on the basis of field results. Also, a degradation of the upper flysch zone. Yielding points in the
coupled analysis of the deformations and groundwater model are denoted with stars. With the decrease of shear
hydraulic flow was performed using the same approach as parameters in the weathered zone, the yield zone expands.
is described for the model without a degraded zone (con- The advantage of this model is that it does not state that the
sidering the slide as taking place along the contact zone). failure mechanism is determined by the contact surface
For the upper layer of weakly bounded conglomerates zone between the flysch and conglomerate, that is to say it
the tensile strength was modelled as zero. This introduced shows that the failure surface passes through the weathered
the assumption that previous events had destroyed the flysch zone. This agrees with in situ observations, which
tensile strength of that layer. As is described in the pre- indicated that the degradation and yielding of flysch were
ceding text, previous landslides have been recorded on the causes of the failure mechanism.
slope. The model assumes that weathering occurs uniformly
The applied modelling included the following phases: with depth, while weathering near the surface of the flysch
(1) the model was brought to the initial equilibrium state, would occur much more quickly than at depth. Such an
(2) cohesion was decreased, as well as internal friction, and assumption leads to the prediction of the failure surface at a
the model was brought again to an approximate equilib- somewhat greater depth than the actual one, specifically in
rium state, (3) the steps were repeated until failure the upper sections of the landslide.
occurred. Practically, then, this practise involved searching Analysis of the model results presented in Fig. 9 shows
for those parameters of shear strength of the degraded layer that development of failure begins in the upper part of the
where the safety factor for landslide is FS = 1. A landslide landslide. This could be expected, since the configuration
surface which corresponded to the shape of the slide sur- of the surface of flysch formation is at its steepest in that
face recorded by investigations was obtained with a friction area.
angle of 23°, cohesion of 3 kPa, the thickness of the
weathered zone at 2.0 m and for the groundwater level at
1.0 m below the ground surface. Discussion and conclusion
If the results of shear strength parameters obtained by
back analysis are compared with the values obtained by The results of field investigations and back analysis show
laboratory tests reported in academic literature, then the that the instability of the slope in Bol is a consequence of
degree of weathering of the flysch upper zone should several causes. These are: structure of rock mass, the ori-
correspond to the completely weathered marl. The results entation of layers and weathering. But, the main cause of
of back analysis and the laboratory tests of Eocene marls the mass movement was the degradation of the upper zone
from the Dalmatia region in Croatia (Miščević 1997; Roje of the flysch caused by weathering and saturation during
Bonacci 1998) demonstrate, for completely weathered periods of precipitation.
marl, a friction angle range between 18° and 25°, with a Numerical models were used to better understand pro-
cohesion value range between 0.3 and 3 kPa. Depending on cess of failure by means of the finite element method.
the degree of weathering, Chandler (1969) found labora- Models focusing on a failure mechanism restricted to
tory friction angles between 25° and 42°. Similar results plane failure along the contact between the conglomerate
were obtained by Reißmüller (taken from Eberhardt et al. layer and flysch, due to increased pore pressures, failed to
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