EVALUATION OF LANDSLIDE OCCURRENCES ALONG THE SLIP PRONE

CLAYEY SOIL AREAS OF BUKIDNON-DAVAO CITY HIGHWAY

Einstine M. Opiso¹, Jim Loui P. Alburo1, George R. Puno2 and Alnar L. Detalla3

¹ Civil Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Central Mindanao University, Musuan, Bukidnon
2
Forest Biological Science Department, College of Forestry and Environmental Science, Central
Midnanao University, Musuan, Bukidnon
3
Mathematics Department, College of Arts and Sciences, Central Mindanao University, Musuan,
Bukidnon

Abstract : The Bukidnon-Davao City route corridor plays a vital role in the movement of commerce and trade in the region
by linking the two major economic centers of Mindanao, the Cagayan de Oro and Davao Cities. However, this national
highway traverses the mountainous ranges of Bukidnon which is prone to rainfall-induced landslides which resulted to loss of
life, damage to infrastructures and loss of industrial, agricultural and forest productivity. Hence, this study mainly
aims to characterize the engineering soil properties particularly the grain size distribution (GSD) and soil consistency
(Atterberg Limits) in correlation with the frequency of landslide occurrences at the Bukidnon-Davao City road path.
The Bukidnon-Davao City highway was also characterized in terms of its slope, annual precipitation, elevation, land
use/vegetative cover and soil type using geographical information system (GIS). Based from the results of this study,
the factors that mainly influence the occurrence of landslides along the section from Kitaotao, Bukidnon to Marilog
District of Davao City were steep slopes and high clay content (> 90%) particularly the areas with slope of greater
than 40%, elevations ranging between 800 to 1000 m and 200 to 650 m above sea level and annual rainfall of greater than
2,500 mm. The influence of vegetative cover was also a key factor that contributes to landslide particularly the slope with
cultivated areas. Moreover, majority of the landslide prone areas are dominated with undifferentiated mountain soil with high
plasticity and high potential to swell (PI > 23 and LL > 50). Other soils properties such as particle size can also influence slope
instability since these properties influence the rate of water movement and the capacity of soil to hold water. Hence, the
overall results of this study suggest that the engineering soil properties such as the GSD and soil consistency, slope, elevation,
soil type and texture, vegetative cover and type of geology are causative factors in the occurrence of landslides along the
Bukidnon-Davao City highway.

Key words : Bukidnon-Davao Highway, Atterberg Limits, clayey soil, rainfall-induced landslide

1 INTRODUCTION maintenance of infrastructure, and loss of industrial,

Landslides are one of the major geologic hazards in the
Philippines which resulted to thousands of lives lost and
millions of pesos of economic damage over the years. Most
landslides in the Philippines are associated in the areas with
steep slopes and relatively moist condition of soils due to
abundant rainfall.
Landslides is also the main reason for the frequent closure
every year of the Bukidnon-Davao route corridor. This route
corridor which connects the two major economic centers of
Mindanao, the Cagayan de Oro and Davao Cities, played a
vital role in the movement of commerce and trade in the
region by linking the provinces of Misamis Oriental,
Bukidnon and Davao to other provinces in Mindanao. This
is evident by the large volume of traffic passing along this
national highway. However, this national highway traverses
the mountain ranges of Bukidnon which is prone to rainfall-
induced landslides.
Over the last decade, the flow of traffic has been disrupted
many times due to landslides which resulted to loss of life.
In addition to loss of human life, the direct and indirect costs
from landslides, such as repair, replacement and
agricultural and forest productivity and natural environment,
are also high (Lepore et al., 2011). Hence, the evaluation of
landslide prone areas along the Bukidnon-Davao road path
could provide necessary baseline information in mitigating
the risks associated to landslides along the Bukidnon-Davao
City road path in order to prevent further loss life and
economic damages in the future. Moreover, understanding
the interplay of various factors such as geomorphologic,
climatic and engineering soil properties would enable the
DPWH to conduct proper design and construction of
highways and roads along the critical areas where the
landslides would likely to occur. The results of this study
could also be replicated to other parts of the country with
high probability of rainfall-induced landslides. In this
context, this study mainly aims to characterize the
engineering soil properties particularly the grain size dis
tribution (GSD) and soil consistency (Atterberg Limits)
in correlation with the frequency of landslide occurrence
s at the Bukidnon-Davao City road path. The Bukidnon
-Davao City highway was also characterized in terms of
its slope, annual precipitation, elevation, land use/vegetat
ive cover and soil type using geographical information
system (GIS).

1
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Characterization of slip prone clayey soil areas along
the Bukidnon-Davao City highway
A landslide occurrence database generated from DPWH and
actual site survey was employed in order obtain the landslide
inventory of the study area. Fig. 1 shows the locations of the
recorded landslide areas. The type of primary failure
mechanism of landslide shall was also considered. A global
positioning system (GPS) receiver device was used to
validate the information on the ground regarding the
geological, geomorphological and vegetative features of the
surface, occurrence and location of landslides.
Surface analysis tool within the GIS environment was used
to derive the different geomorphologic characteristics of the
Bukidnon-Davao route corridor such as elevation, slope, and
among others which will be visualized in a form of digital
maps. The derived geomorphologic parameters were then
used in addition to other factors such climate, geology, soil
type and vegetation in characterizing the slip prone areas of
the Bukidnon-Davao City Highway.
Fig. 1 Landslide inventory map
2.2 Soil sampling, collection and preparation
Six sampling sites were selected along the slip prone clayey
soil areas of Bukidnon-Davao City Highway namely;
Maloos, Cabalansihan, Lorega, Datu Salomay, Balite and
Kibalang. Fig. 2 shows the sampling locations along the slip
prone clayey soil areas of Bukidnon-Davao City Highway.
The soil samples were taken from about one (1) meter below
the ground surface in order to minimize the organic matter
content. From each sampling site, disturbed and undisturbed
samples were collected following the standard procedure
and were analyzed for grain size distribution analysis and
Atterberg Limit Test; and unit weight determination,
respectively. Prior to analysis, the disturbed soil samples
were oven-dried at 80ºC for 24 hours and were pounded to a
finer grain size. It was then sieved to make sure that the
samples were more or less of the same size.
2.3 Grain size analysis of soil samples
ASTDM 422 – test method for particle size analysis of soils
was the basis for this test. The grain size analysis of the soil
samples was conducted by sieve analysis. The retained mass
of the soil per sieve was determined by weighing the
retained soil. The equivalent percent passing per sieve was
calculated by subtracting cumulative mass of the sieve
considered to the total mass of the soil samples and were
divided by the total mass.
2.4 Atterberg Limit test of soil samples
Soil samples from six sampling sites along the slip prone
clayey soil areas of Bukidnon-Davao City highway were
analysed for Liquid Limit (LL) using Casagrande cup device
and Plastic Limit based on ASTM D4318-10. The Plastic
limit was obtained based from the moisture content of a
rolled soil samples of about 3 mm in diameter. The plasticity
index (PI) of the soil samples were then obtained from the
difference of LL and PL or PI = LL-PL. For soil samples that
it cannot be rolled into 3 mm thread, the fall cone method
was applied. It is usually considered to be more scientific
approach because it was based less upon human judgment.
In this method, a sample was placed in 55 mm diameter, 40
mm deep metal cup. A stainless steel cone that weighed to
80 g (including the shaft) and a 30o angle was positioned
that its tip just touched the sample. The cone was released
for 5 seconds so that it might penetrate the soil. The liquid
limit was defined as the water content of the soil which
allows the cone to penetrate exactly 20 mm during the
period of time. Because it was difficult to obtain a test with
exactly 20 mm penetration, the procedure was performed
multiple times with a range of water contents and the results
were interpolated.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Characterization of slip prone clayey soil areas along
the Bukidnon- Davao City highway
A total of more than forty (40) landslide occurrences along
the slip prone clayey soil areas along the Bukidnon-Davao
City Highway were recorded based from the DPWH
database ranging from year 2000 to present. The slope,
elevation, geology, soil type and land cover of the study
areas were characterized.
2

Fig. 2 Location of the six sampling sites
Fig. 3 Slope map of the Bukidnon-Davao city highway
Slope
Fig. 3 shows the degree of slope along the Bukidnon-Davao
City route corridor. It can be seen from the figure that most
of the landslide occurrences along the slip prone clayey soil
areas are concentrated along the slope percent greater than
45%. These areas belong to Barangay Sinuda and Lorega of
Kitaotao, Bukidnon and Barangay Dato Salomay and
Barangay Marilog proper of Davao City. This is expected
since the higher the degree of slope, the slope stability
decreases
Elevation
The elevations along the Bukidnon-Davao City route
corridor is shown in Fig.4. The highly elevated areas which
are above 1000 m above sea level are located along the
sections from Barangay Lorega of Kitaotao to Barangay
Ladayon of Davao City. However, the areas of Brgy.
Palacapao and nearby barangays showed the highest
occurrences of slip and landslide events. These areas are
located at intermediate elevation ranging 600-1000m above
sea level. At intermediate elevations, slopes tend to be
covered by a thin colluvium, which is more prone to
landslides (Dai and Lee, 2002).
Geology
As shown in Fig. 5, majority of landslide and slip occurrence
(Brgy. Palacapao and nearby barangays) occurred in
Pliocene-Quaternary geologic material. This material is in
depositional contact with older formation. The formation of
this material is widespread within the region
Fig. 4 Elevation map of the Bukidnon-Davao city
highway
3
Fig. 5 Geology map of Bukidnon-Davao City Highway Fig. 7 Land cover map of Bukidnon-Davao City Highway

and occupies mostly the elevated areas (as aforementioned

in elevation section). Moreover, landslide occurrences in
Brgy. Baganihan were also recorded wherein these areas
contained upper Miocene-Pliocene. These rocks are
represented by dacite and/or andesite flows generally with
pyroclastics.

Soil Type
Figure 6 shows the map of soil type. Frequent landslide
occurrences are located in the mountain soils which are still
undifferentiated.

Figure 4. Soil Type Map

Land Cover
In terms of land cover along the Bukidnon-Davao City
highway (see Fig. 7), majority of the land cover wherein the
landslide occurrences are located are covered by mixed
crops and bushlands or grasses particularly the section of the
road from Brgy. Sinuda to Datu Salumay and in Brgy.
Baganihan to Brgy. Marilog Proper. Some slope portions
also were cleared with vegetation through slash and burn.
Most of the cultivated areas were planted with corn and
vegetable crops (e.g. squash) particularly in the areas with
higher elevations (>1000 m above sea level). This condition
will lead to increasing slope instability due to shallow root
system of the cover crops which are present in the area.

Fig. 6 Soil type map of Bukidnon-Davao City Highway

4
 Table 1 Analyzed engineering properties of soil samples obtained from the slip prone areas.
Sample Silt and Unit Weight
Location Sand % LL PL PI
Name Clay % (KN/m3)
S1 Malo-os 13.41 86.59 14.87 62.06 29.16 27.40
S2 Cabalansihan 13.93 86.07 16.13 49.55 26.37 23.19
S3 Lorega 13.62 86.38 15.56 68.02 35.49 32.90
S4 Datu Salomay 9.70 90.04 14.92 87.89 40.24 32.54
S5 Balite 19.47 80.53 16.81 60.31 27.38 32.90
S6 Kibalang 30.72 69.28 16.66 50.73 23.37 47.66

3.2 Influence of Engineering properties on landslide
occurrences along the Bukidnon-Davao City highway
Table 1 shows the Atterberg Limits, grain size analysis, unit
weight and specific location of the sampling sites where slip
prone clayey soil areas are located. Based on IS 1498, the
degree of expansion of soil in the study areas ranged from
high to very high. Depending on the water content soil may
behave as a solid, semi-solid, plastic or liquid. The amount
of water needed to change the behavior depends on the
species of clay mineral present (Selby, 1993). On the other
hand, the results of grain size analysis which showed a
passing percentage of more than 10% for sieve No. 200 also
support the high degree of expansiveness of the soils along
the slip prone clayey soil areas along the Bukidnon-Davao
City highway. Thus, the expected high clay content of the
landslide areas with high degree of expansion suggest that
the type of clays in the study area can absorb large amount
of water causing the infiltrated rainwater to be accumulated.
This will eventually result to slope instability particularly in
areas with slope percent of greater than 45 % due to the
large amount of water retained by the soil which can result
to the increase of the unit weight of the soil. Moreover, the
influence of soil texture, land cover, slope, geology, amount
of rainfall and elevation are all contributing factors that can
influence the amount of water that the highly expansive clay
found in the study area can absorb. The high clay content
with high degree of expansiveness, steep slopes, lack of
deep rooted vegetation, high moisture content due to its high
elevations and type of geologic materials characterized the
slip prone clayey soil areas along the Bukidnon-Davao City
highway
the identification and characterization of areas along the
Bukidnon-Davao road path susceptible to landslides could
be used as baseline information that would enable the
DPWH to conduct proper design, construction and
maintenance of these critical areas.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The researchers would like to express their sincerest
gratitude to DOST-PCIEERD for funding this project.
Personal thanks are also due to Mr. Ryan Christopher Viado
from DOST-PCIEERD for his assistance, to the CMU
administration for their support and DPWH District
Engineering Offices at Manolo, Don Carlos and Tugbok for
providing us the slip and landslide inventory. The
researchers would like also to acknowledge the labor aides,
enumerators, barangay officials of on the sites for helping us
in the data collection..
REFERENCES
Dai, F.C. and Lee, C.F.. (2002). Landslide characteristics and
slope instability modeling using GIS, Lantau Island,
Hong Kong. www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph
Lepore, C., Kamal, S., Shanahan, P., Bras, R., (2012).
Rainfall-induced landslide susceptibility zonation of
Puerto Rico. Environmental Earth Science, Vol. 66, No. 6,
pp. 1667-1681.
Selby MG (1993). Hillslope materials and processes, Oxford
Univ. Press. New York.
Sidle RC, Pearce AJ, Loughlin CLO (1985). Hillslope
stability and landuse. American geophysical union,
Washington DC, USA, pp. 125.

4. CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results of this study, the slip prone clayey soil
areas along the Bukidnon-Davao City highway are
characterized with high clay content with high degree of
expansiveness which can absorb large amount of water. This
property of the soil along the study area combined with the
effect of high steep slopes of greater than 45%, high
elevation, soil type and geology and lack of deep rooted
vegetation were contributory factors in the occurrence of
landslides along the Bukidnon-Davao City highway. Hence,