Surface Processes

Photograph: Chris Cheadle /

Getty Images
 What Are The Relationships Between Surficial
Processes?

Weathering

Groundwater Mass wasting

processes
Stream Glacial processes
processes

Coastal processes

→ LANDSCAPE DEVELOPMENT
MASS WASTING - Landslides
• Why slopes fail
• Types of slope failures
• Slope hazards
• Engineering and mitigation
 Learning Goals

Students should be able to:

– Discuss factors that control slope stability
– Classify types of mass movements
– Describe positive and negative ways in which
humans influence slope stability
– Indicate appropriate methods to stabilize slopes
 Mass Wasting

Mass wasting:
downslope
movement of rock
and debris under the
influence of gravity

Landslide: a general
term for all types of
mass movement

La Conchita landslide, CA
 Mass Wasting Mechanics
• Physical and chemical weathering processes weaken
the surface of the landscape and make it more
susceptible to the pull of gravity.
• Mass movement (or mass wasting) is the process
involved in mass movement and erosion of the
landscape.
Global Landslide Occurrence

Stanley & Kirschbaum 2017

Tectonic plates Topography

 BC Landslides
Erik Eberhardt
BC ministry of transportation

Hwy 97 (2019)
Sea to sky hwy (2008)
BC ministry of transportation

Hwy 7 (2021)
Mt. Meager (2010)
 BC Landslides
August 2010, Mt Meager, north of Pemberton

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-as-climate-
change-shrinks-glaciers-on-bcs-mount-meager-the-risk-of/
 1990s, nr. Chilliwack
BC Landslides

July 2008 Porteau Cove

 Largest Landslide in Modern History

MSH 1980 Eruption

 BC Landslides
1990s, nr. Chilliwack

Small landslides on steep

slopes cut by logging roads

2021 hwy 99
 What Factors Control Slope Failure?
Causes are contributing factors that make the slope vulnerable to
failure, there can be many causes

Contributing Factors
• Slope angle Cause
• Local relief (topography)
• Thickness of soil over bedrock
• Orientation of geological Vs.
structures / planes of
weakness in bedrock Trigger
• Climatic factors
water in soil, precipitation,
ice
• Vegetation
 What Factors Control Slope Failure?
Discuss the following contributing factors – what are the most and
least stable situations?
Contributing Factor Most stable Least stable

Slope angle

Local relief

Thickness of soil over

bedrock
Orientation of geological
structures
Climatic factors:
Water in soil
Ice
Precipitation
Vegetation
 What Factors Control Slope Failure?
Triggers are the event or action that initiates the movement –
there can only be one trigger

Triggers
• Overloading (adding mass) Cause
• Undercutting (removing
support)
(natural or human related) Vs.
• Heavy rainfall
• Earthquakes Trigger
• Volcanic activity
 Mass
MassMovement Triggers
Movement Triggers
• The cause of landslides are mostly slopes that have
built up high angles of repose overtime
• Common triggers are earthquakes and heavy rain
Relationship Between Gravity and Slope
Stability
A. Shear stress <
shear resistance →
stable

Friction!

B. Shear stress >

shear resistance →
unstable, will fail

Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.2
 Relationship Between Gravity and Slope
Stability

C. Shear stress < shear

resistance → stable

Even with a high slope angle, if friction (shear

resistance) is strong the slope may still be stable
Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.2
 Relationship Between Gravity and Slope
Stability
In unconsolidated materials like soil, we consider the strength
of the material (shear strength)

D. Shear stress <

shear strength of
solid → stable

Understanding the materials involved and the forces

involved is key to predicting slope stability Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.2
 Angle of Repose
Loose materials rest at a natural
angle of repose, which is different
depending on the material. They
are unstable at angles > their angle
of repose

Talus slope

Gravel pile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIkRUv39SoI
 Effect of Rock Structure on Slope Stability

Porteau Cove, BC

Keep a look out for this if you drive up the Sea-to-Sky

 BC Landslides

July 2008 Porteau Cove

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/amazing-no-one-hurt-during-b-c-rock-slide-minister-1.312301
 Effect of Rock Structure on Slope Stability

Bedding or fractures act

as planes of weakness
 Effect of Rock Type on Slope Stability
Low porosity rocks in a sequence
can prevent groundwater from
seeping away – providing a plane
of weakness

Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.18
 Effect of Water on Slope Stability
Unsaturated soil or debris vs. saturated soil or debris
Surface tension is an Grains are forced apart and
important force the material flows

Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.3
 Effect of Water on Slope Stability

For unconsolidated materials instability

is the result of too little or too much
water occupying pore space

http://globalnews.ca/news/1583095/body-found-buried-in-a-
landslide-at-wreck-beach/
 Classes of Mass Movements

In any mass movement, gravity pulls on a mass until the

critical shear-failure point is reached.
The material
can fall,
slide, or flow.
 How Are Slope Failures Classified?
1. Slides: failure plane along a definite slip surface -
mass stays intact

• translational
(glide block)

• rotational
(slump)

Plummer et al.,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li7khmyDD0w (2012) Figure 9.1
 Translational Slide

Movement along planar surface roughly parallel to

slope angle without rotation
 Rotational Slide

• Also known as slumps

• Surface material moves along a concave
surface
Slumps
(rotational
slides)
Slumps (rotational slides)
 How Are Slope Failures Classified?
2. Flows: material moves as a viscous fluid
• Debris flows – earthflow or mudflow

Debris Avalanche – fast fluidized rubble of debris

Debris – a term for a mix of

things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsh5E9m3PrM
 How Are Slope Failures Classified?

Debris avalanche, earthflow, debris flow, mud

flow are all fluid like with varying amounts of
water involved

Wyoming 1925
The moisture content
was great enough
to classify it as an
earthflow
 Mudflows

Given the high amount of water content, mudflows can travel

incredibly fast over great distances
 Debris Avalanche
Mass of tumbling rock, debris, and soil travelling at
high velocity
Water and/or ice fluidize the debris giving it a high
speed
debris flow, Colorado

lahar (volcanic mud/debris

flow), Columbia
 How Are Slope Failures Classified?
Creep - an imperceptibly
slow type of flow
 Soil Creep
• Movement not noticeable on short time scales
• Shear stress is sufficient to cause deformation
but not failure of the slope
• Soil ripples often result

Soil ripples Fences/poles lean

 How Are Slope Failures Classified?
3. Falls: mass falls through the air
• rock fall

Plummer et al.,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOJfcTZME0U (2012) Figure 9.15
 Rock Fall

• Volume of rock which falls through the air and hits a

surface
• When small individual pieces fall they characteristically
form a talus slope with a steep incline

Talus slope
Rockville, Utah
(Zion National Park)

Cindy Hansen
Mass Movement Classes
 Clicker Question?

What type of slope failure is this?

A) translational slide D) creep

B) rotational slide E) rock fall
C) debris flow
 How Are Slope Failures Classified?

La Conchita landslide – a
slump-earth flow
complex in thick soils
and soft sedimentary
rocks

- It is common in this
situation for a slump to
break up into smaller
blocks as it travels down
slope, and eventually
begin to flow
 How Do We Decrease Slope Hazards?
– Identify unstable and potentially unstable slopes by geologic
mapping
– Legislate appropriate zoning laws - and enforce them
– Control or stop existing landslides
– Design slopes or engineer structures to prevent new landslides

< 10o landslide

10 - 20o
> 20o

NRCAN
Strouth and McDougall 2021
List adverse ways that the slope in the diagram below
is affected by humans

Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.20
List adverse ways that the slope in the diagram below
is affected by humans

Textbook Figure 9.20

 What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

• Build retaining walls

What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

Increase surface or subsurface drainage

Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.21
What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

Revegetate slopes
– “hydroseeding”
– applying jute netting

Before

Jute netting protects from

wind/water erosion

Jackson Hole Ski Area, WY

 UBC Wreck Beach / Point Grey Bluffs

After major
mass
wasting
events,
revegetation
has
increased
cliff stability
What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

Regrade
slopes
Cover slopes

Covered and regraded slope

What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

Use of chicken wire

Does not prevent

landslides, just prevents
damage

Trans-Canada Hwy nr. Kamloops

 What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

• Use of shotcrete
What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

• Use of rock bolts

Anchored in
cement
Plummer et al.,
(2012) Figure 9.24
What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?
 What Techniques Are Used To Stabilize Landslides?

Contain/redirect the
hazard
Charles Creek debris flow containment
dam, Sea-to-Sky Highway, BC
Summary – Human Influences on
Slope Stability

Many ways to stabilize slopes

Complicated interplay between
natural hazards, geoscience, society
(politics, property rights, economics)
Keep a look out for slope
management on the Sea-to-Sky!!