Chapter 11

Mass Wasting
Introduction

 Mass wasting - The downslope movement of

material resulting from the force of gravity
 Mass wasting results when the force of gravity
acting on a slope exceeds the strength of that
slope.
 Masswasting often results in the loss of life and
property.
 Landslides
are the most well-known examples of
mass wasting.
Introduction

 Deadly Landslides
 January 2011: Flooding and landslides in
southeast Brazil kill more than 800 people and
leave at least 14,000 homeless.

 Landslides
kill about 25-50 Americans per year
and cause more than $2 billion damage in the US
annually.
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 Shear strength - Forces that help maintain slope
stability

 Forces
 The material’s strength and
cohesion
 Internal friction between grains

 Any external support of the slope

Fig. 11.1a, p. 260
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 Opposing a slope’s shear strength is the
force of gravity.

 Whenever the gravitational force acting on a

slope exceeds the slope’s shear strength,
slope failure, and thus mass movement, occur.
Fig. 11.1a, p. 260
Fig. 11.1a, p. 260
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 Gravity
 Acts vertically
 Steeper slopes are generally less stable.
 Angle of repose is the steepest angle that a
slope can maintain without collapsing; dry
sand is ~30o

Fig. 11.1b, p. 260

Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 Slopes are in dynamic equilibrium.
 Slopes adjust to changing conditions.
 Ifa highway is built on a slope, the equilibrium
of the slope is affected.
 Slope may undergo mass wasting to reestablish
equilibrium.
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 What causes mass wasting?
 Usually more than one factor is involved
in the failure of a slope.

Fig. 11.2b, p. 261

Fig. 11.3, p. 262
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 What causes mass wasting?
 Factors affecting mass wasting include:
 Slope Angle: probably the major cause of slope failure
 Generally the steeper the slope the less stable it is, and
the more susceptible it is, to failure.

Fig. 11.2b, p. 261

Fig. 11.3, p. 262
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 What causes mass
wasting?

 Highway
excavation
disturbs the
equilibrium of a
slope and can
result in mass
wasting.

Fig. 11.4a-c, p. 262

Highway excavations disturb the equilibrium of a slope by

removing a portion of its support, as well as

oversteepening it at the point of excavation, which can
result in

Cutting into the hillside to construct this

portion of the Pan-American Highway in
Mexico resulted in a rockfall that completely
blocked the road.

Stepped Art
landslides along the highway. Fig. 11-3, p. 262
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 What causes mass wasting?
 Weathering and Climate
 Mass wasting is more likely to occur in loose
or poorly consolidated slope material than in
unweathered bedrock. Frequent storms and
extensive weathering can weaken slopes.

 Water Content
 Large quantities of water from melting snow
or heavy storms increase the likelihood of
slope instability. Water lubricates grains and
decreases grain cohesion.
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 What causes mass wasting?
 Water content is an important factor in slope
stability at Point Fermin, California.
 Whenfine-grained sediments become wet, they
become slippery and slopes fail.

Fig. 11.5, p. 263

Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 What causes mass wasting?
 Vegetation
 Vegetation can help absorb water from rains,
and its root network can help stabilize a
slope.
 Overloading
 Overloading, almost always from human
activity such as dumping, filling, or piling up of
material, can increase water pressure within
the slope material, which decreases its shear
strength and thus weakens the slope.
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 Geology and Slope Stability
 Generally, rocks
that are horizontal
or dipping in the
opposite direction
of a hillside’s slope
are more stable
than the rocks that
dip in the same
direction as the
slope.

Fig. 11.6, p. 264

Fig. 11.6, p. 264
 1

2
1. Water percolates
Through soil into
clay-rich layers
that become slippery,
and may swell, weakening 4
the overlying rock 3
2. The clay-rich layer dips in the same
direction as the even more steeply dipping
slope. Gravity can therefore turn it into a
skid surface, or potential landslide plane. 4. Layers on this side of the valley dip
in an opposite direction from the slope.
3. Undercutting by the stream at the foot of the Thus, gravity cannot easily act to
slopeexposes another watery, weak clay layer destabilize them, even if water
underlyinga heavy, strong limestone bed percolation is deep and undercutting
The heavy limestone is now prone to slide across the occurs.
clay, carrying the rest of the overlying slope with it. Stepped Art
Fig. 11-6, p. 264
Factors That Influence
Mass Wasting
 Triggering
Mechanisms
 The most common triggering
mechanisms are
earthquakes and excessive
amounts of water, although
anything that disturbs the
slope’s equilibrium can
result in mass wasting.

Geo-Focus, Fig. 1, p. 268

Types of Mass Wasting

 Mass movements are classified

according to:
 1. Rate of movement (rapid vs. slow)
 2. Type of movement (Rockfalls, Slides or Flows)

 3. Type of material (rock, soil, or debris)

 Rapid – sudden, visible movement

 Slow – recognized by their effects
Types of Mass Movement

Table 11.1, p. 266

Types of Mass Wasting

 Falls
 Rockfalls,
the free-fall of rocks, are a common
type of mass movement.

Fig. 11.7a, p. 265

Fig. 11.4d, p. 262
Rockfalls

Fig. 11.8, p. 266

Types of Mass Wasting
 Slides
 Slumps and rock slides are the two types of slides.
 Slumps are rotational slides in which material moves
along a curved surface, and usually involves poorly
consolidated or unconsolidated materials.

Fig. 11.9, p. 267

Slump on the coast of California

Fig. 11.10, p. 267

Types of Mass Wasting
 Slides
 Rock (or block) slides take place on a planar sloping
surface and usually involve solid pieces of rock.

Fig. 11.11, p. 270

Rock Slide
Laguna
Beach,
California

Fig. 11.12, p. 271

Turtle Mountain Rock
Slide
Alberta, Canada

Fig. 11.13, p. 272

Types of Mass Wasting

 Flows
 Mudflows,debris flows, and earth flows are the
three main types of flows.

 The different types of flows are recognized by

their:
 1. Rates of movement (rapid or slow)
 2. Water content
 3. Material composition (rock, sediment, or soil)
 Types of Mass Wasting

 Flows
 Mudflows

 Mudflows consist mostly

of clay- and silt-sized
particles, contain more
than 30% water, and
generally follow pre-
existing channels.

Fig. 11.14, p. 273

 Types of Mass Wasting
 Flows
 Mudflows

 Mudflows are common in

arid and semiarid climates
after severe storms.

 They also occur in

mountainous regions and
in areas covered with
volcanic ash.

Fig. 11.14, p. 273

Types of Mass Wasting

 Flows
 Debris Flows
 Debris flows contain less water than mudflows
and are composed of larger particles. They are
more viscous than mud flows and move more
slowly.

Fig. 11.15, p. 273

Types of Mass Wasting
 Flows
 Earthflows
 Earthflowsmove downslope as thick, viscous
masses of wet regolith that move more slowly than
debris flows or mudflows.

Fig. 11.16, p. 274

Types of Mass Wasting
 Flows
 Quick Clays
 Claysthat liquefy and
flow when disturbed are
known as quick clays.

 Earthquakes can cause

quick clays.
Quick-Clay Slide Quebec, Canada

Fig. 11.17, p. 274

Quick-clay activated
by ground shaking

Anchorage, Alaska
1964 Earthquake

Fig. 11.18, p. 275

Types of Mass Wasting
 Flows
 Solifluction
 Solifluction is the slow downslope movement of water-
saturated surface sediment and is most common in areas
with permafrost.

Fig. 11.19a, p. 275

Fig. 11.20, p. 276
 Types of Mass Wasting
 Flows
 Creep
 Creep
is the slowest and most widespread type of
mass wasting. Creep involves the imperceptible
downslope movement of soil and rock.

Fig. 11.21, p. 276

 Types of Mass Wasting
 Flows
 Creep
 Creep produces tilted trees and power poles, broken
streets and sidewalks, cracked foundations, and bent
rock layers.

Fig. 11.21, p. 276

Types of Mass Wasting
 Complex movements
 Combinations of different types of mass
movements, most involving sliding and flowing.

Fig. 11.22, p. 277 and Fig. 11.23, p. 278

Recognizing and Minimizing
the Effects of Mass Wasting
 A thorough geologic investigation of
an area is the first step in reducing and
eliminating hazards.
 Making slope stability
maps
 Recognizing former
landslides by observing
scarps, open fissures,
tilted objects
 Collecting bedrock and
soil samples
Fig. 11.24, p. 278
Recognizing and Minimizing the
Effects of Mass Movements
 Eliminating or
minimizing the effects of
mass wasting
 Buildingcodes
 Ways to stabilize slopes:
 Use retaining walls or rock
bolts
 Drain excess water
 Regrade slopes
 Plant vegetation

Fig. 11.25 p. 279

Recognizing and Minimizing the
Effects of Mass Movements
 Eliminating or minimizing the effects of
mass wasting
 Regrading (reducing)
slopes
 Cut-and-fill
 Benching

Fig. 11.26 p. 280

 This material has
been removed
Former
slope
Material from
upper slope
added here

Before After

Stepped Art
Fig. 11-26, p. 280
Regrading Slopes: Benching

Fig. 11.27, p. 280

Retaining walls and Rock Bolts

Fig. 11.28, p. 281

Fig. 11.29, p. 281
End of
Chapter 11