Disaster Readiness

and Risk Reduction

QUARTER 4 WEEK 1 – Module 1:
Landslide and Sinkholes
Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

Welcome to the Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction 11 Alternative Delivery Mode
(ADM) Module on Landslide and Sinkholes!

This module was collaboratively designed, developed and reviewed by educators both
from public and private institutions to assist you, the teacher or facilitator, in helping
the learners meet the standards set by the K to 12 Curriculum while overcoming
their personal, social, and economic constraints in schooling.

This learning resource hopes to engage the learners into guided and independent
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learners acquire the needed 21st century skills while taking into consideration their
needs and circumstances.

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the module:

Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies
that will help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this module.
You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them to manage
their own learning. Furthermore, you are expected to encourage and assist the
learners as they do the tasks included in the module.

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For the learner:

Welcome to the Disaster Readiness and Risk Reduction 11 Alternative Delivery Mode
(ADM) Module on Landslide and Sinkholes!

The hand is one of the most symbolized parts of the human body. It is often used to
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 What I Can Do This section provides an activity which will
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to you to enrich your knowledge or skill of the
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module.

At the end of this module you will also find:

References This is a list of all sources used in developing

this module.

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the module. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises.
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 What I Need to Know

Landslide and sinkholes are common geologic processes that can cause hazards. One
of it is Naga, Cebu Landslide happened last September 2018 and spotted sinkholes
in Batangas last 2020 disturbed many civilians and cause a lot of casualties.

This module is intended to equip you with knowledge on various potential landslides
and sinkholes hazards, causes and its impending signs

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Categorize causes of landslides and sinkholes
2. Analyze the effects of the landslides and sinkholes
3. Identify impending signs of landslide and sinkholes
4. Discuss ways to prevent casualties based on the impending signs of
landslide and sinkholes
5. Appreciate the importance of knowing the causes of different
geological hazards.
 What I Know
Choose the letter of the best answer. Write the chosen letter on a separate sheet of paper.

1. What do you call the movement of earthy materials from higher region to lower
region due to gravitational pull?
A. Earthquake B. Soil Erosion C. Landslide D. Cyclone

2. Which of the following is the main cause of downhill movement?

A. Moonsoon B. Rain C. Gravity D. Pollution

3. Which of the following is a natural procedure of rock deterioration that weakens

the landslide-susceptible materials?
A. climate B. erosion C. sunlight D. weathering

4. Which of the following mass movements is the fastest?

A. mudflows B. debris avalanche C. soil creep D. earthflow

5. What is the dominant force that causes mass movement?

A. tidal forces B. seismic energy release C. gravity D. wind

6. Which of the following can cause dissolution sinkholes?

A. exposed carbonate rock B. dissolved igneous rock
C. narrowing wetlands D. wilted vegetation

7. Ground water pumping is an artificial cause of sinkholes, how does it contribute

to the formation of a sinkhole?
A. It transfers the water upward.
B. It dissolves acidic water to the soil.
C. It creates new water diversion systems.
D. It carries the water further downstream.

8. When there is a significant upsurge in precipitation it would cause a/an ______

in the level of ground water.
A. decrease B. increase C. insignificant D. stable

9. Which of the following is a natural cause of landslide?

A. clear cutting B. mining C. cultivation D. liquefaction

10. Which of the following is not an effect of landslides?

A. earthquake B. tsunami C. death D. depopulation

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 Lesson GEOLOGICAL HAZARDS:
1 LANDSLIDES AND SINKHOLES

Before we talk about the definition of geological hazards, let us first give the definition
of the two words “geology” and “hazards”. Geology is an Earth science concerned with
the solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they
change over time. A hazard is a source or a situation with the potential for harm in
terms of human injury or ill-health, damage to property, damage to the environment,
or a combination of these. Thus, geological hazards are natural events from the
Earth’s crust (landforms, rocks and its composed) that can damage and harm
property, environment and living beings.

In this module we will only focus to two geological processes that can cause hazards:
landslide and sinkholes. A basic definition of landslide is the mass movement of
materials due to the influence of gravity and sinkholes are collapse area of ground
due to drought. But knowing its definition only cannot guarantee how we deeply
know these phenomena.

In this module you will be introduced to the different hazards brought about by an
landslide and sinkholes, types, causes and its warning signs.

What’s In

Geological hazards are extreme natural events in the crust of the earth that pose a
threat to life and property, for example but not limited to landslide and sinkholes.
Landslides are a downward movement of geological materials such as soil and rock.
Landslides occur when the sum of downward driving forces (gravity, seepage,
earthquake forces, etc.) is greater than the sum of the resisting forces (strength of
the material, lateral confining forces due to a retaining wall). Sinkholes typically
develop slowly but can also form suddenly when a collapse occurs.

Sinkholes naturally occur in areas underlain by soluble carbonate or evaporite rocks

like limestone, dolomite, gypsum, and salt. The three types of sinkholes are:
Dissolution sinkholes; Cover-subsidence sinkholes; and Cover-collapse sinkholes.

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 What’s New

Direction: Observe the two pictures below and answer the following questions below.

1 2

1. Name the kind of geological hazards shown in Picture 1 and 2.

2. What are the common features of the two pictures?
3. How can these phenomena be destructive to living beings?
4. Can these phenomena be preventive? How?

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 What is It

LANDSLIDE
Landslides are a downward movement of geological materials such as soil and rock.
Landslides occur when the sum of downward driving forces (gravity, seepage,
earthquake forces, etc.) is greater than the sum of the resisting forces (strength of
the material, lateral confining forces due to a retaining wall).

TYPES OF LANDSLIDE
Soil Creep Landslide
Creep is the imperceptibly slow, steady, downward
movement of slope-forming soil or rock. Movement
is caused by shear stress sufficient to produce
permanent deformation, but too small to produce
shear failure. There are generally three types of
creep: (1) seasonal, where movement is within the
depth of soil affected by seasonal changes in soil
moisture and soil temperature; (2) continuous,
where shear stress continuously exceeds the
strength of the material; and (3) progressive, where
slopes are reaching the point of failure as other http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3072/
types of mass movements. Creep is indicated by SOIL CREEP LANDSLIDE
curved tree trunks, bent fences or retaining walls,
tilted poles or fences, and small soil ripples or
ridges (Landslide Types and Processes 2016).

Slumping Landslide is downward intermittent

https://www.internetgeography.net/topics/what-is-mass-movement/
SLUMPING LANDSLIDE
movement of rock debris, usually the
consequence of removal of buttressing earth
at the foot of a slope of unconsolidated
material. It commonly involves a shear plane
on which a back-tilting of the top of the
slumped mass occurs. The plane is slightly
concave upward and outward and separates
the slump block from unslumped material of
the same character. In sedimentary strata the
slumping material generally bends elastically
until the rock strength is exceeded, when it
breaks and moves rapidly (Britannica n.d.).

Debris flows are fast-moving landslides that are particularly dangerous to life and
property because they move quickly, destroy objects in their paths, and often strike
without warning.

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 Debris flows can travel at speeds up to and
exceeding 35 mph and can carry large items such
as boulders, trees, and cars. If a debris flows
enters a steep stream channel, they can travel for
several miles, impacting areas unaware of the
hazard. Areas recently burned by a forest fire are
especially susceptible to debris flows, including
the areas downslope and outside of the burned
area. Debris flows are a type of landslide and are
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/geology/chapter/reading-landslide-
types-and-processes/
sometimes referred to as mudslides, mudflows,
DEBRIS FLOW lahars, or debris avalanche (USGS n.d.).

Rock Flow Landslides are sudden slides caused in heavy

rain the rock on the slope loosens and then slides down
the slope.

Volcanic landslides, also called lahars, are among the

most devastating type of landslides. composed of a slurry
of pyroclastic material, rocky debris and water. The
material flows down from a volcano, typically along a
river valley.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3072/
ROCK FLOW LANDSLIDES

CAUSES OF LANDSLIDE
Landslides have three major causes: geology, morphology, and human activity.

Geological Causes Morphological Causes Human Causes

a. Weak or sensitive a. Tectonic or volcanic a. Excavation of slope or
materials uplift its toe
b. Weathered materials b. Glacial rebound b. Loading of slope or its
c. Sheared, jointed, or c. Fluvial, wave, or glacial crest
fissured materials erosion of slope toe or c. Drawdown (of
d. Adversely oriented lateral margins reservoirs)
discontinuity (bedding, d. Subterranean erosion d. Deforestation
schistosity, fault, (solution, piping) e. Irrigation
unconformity, contact, e. Deposition loading f. Mining
and so forth) slope or its crest g. Artificial vibration
e. Contrast in f. Vegetation removal (by h. Water leakage from
permeability and/or fire, drought) utilities
stiffness of materials g. Thawing
h. Freeze-and-thaw
weathering
i. Shrink-and-swell
weathering
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3072/fs-2004-3072.html

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IMPENDING SIGNS OF LANDSLIDE

Watch for debris flows and other fastmoving landslides that pose threats to life:
• If you are near a wildfire burn area, sign up for emergency alerts and pay
attention to weather forecasts for the burn area. The weather in the burn area
could be very different from where you are.
• Listen and watch for rushing water, mud, unusual sounds.
• Unusual sounds, such as trees cracking or boulders knocking together,
might indicate moving debris.
• A faint rumbling sound that increases in volume is noticeable as the
landslide nears.
• Fences, retaining walls, utility poles, k-rails, boulders, or trees move.
• Huge boulders in the landscape can be signs of past debris flows.

Watch for slow-moving landslides that pose threats to property

• Changes occur in your landscape such as patterns of storm-water drainage
on slopes (especially the places where runoff water converges) land movement,
small slides, flows, or progressively leaning trees.
• Doors or windows stick or jam for the first time.
• New cracks appear in plaster, tile, brick, or foundations.
• Outside walls, walks, or stairs begin pulling away from the building.
• Slowly developing, widening cracks appear on the ground or on paved areas
such as streets or driveways.
• Underground utility lines break.
• Bulging ground appears at the base of a slope.
• Water breaks through the ground surface in new locations.
• Fences, retaining walls, utility poles, or trees tilt or move.
• The ground slopes downward in one direction and may begin shifting in that
direction under your feet.
What areas are at risk
Some areas are more likely to experience landslides or mudflows, including:
• Areas where wildfires or human modification of the land have destroyed
vegetation;
• Areas where landslides have occurred before;
• Steep slopes and areas at the bottom of slopes or canyons;
• Slopes that have been altered for construction of buildings and roads;
• Channels along a stream or river; and
• Areas where surface runoff is directed.
https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/landslides.html#:~:text=Landslides%20are%20caused%20by%20disturbances,rock%2C%20earth%2C%20and%20debris.

SINKHOLES
They are generally formed as the result of a collapse in the ceiling of an underground
cavity or cavern. Sinkholes typically develop slowly but can also form suddenly when
a collapse occurs. Sinkholes naturally occur in areas underlain by soluble carbonate
or evaporite rocks like limestone, dolomite, gypsum, and salt.

CAUSE OF SINKHOLES

Sinkholes are all about water.

Water dissolved minerals in the rock, leaving residue and open spaces within
the rock. (This is called "weathering".) Water washes away the soil and residue from
the voids in the rock. Lowering of groundwater levels can cause a loss of support for
the soft material in the rock spaces that can lead to collapse.

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 Changing groundwater gradients (due to removing or introducing water to the
system) can cause loose material to flush out quicker from the voids and the surface
to collapse in response.
Any change to the hydrologic system (putting more water in or taking it out)
causes the system to become at least temporarily unstable and can lead to sinkholes.
Sinkholes can result from seasonal changes in the groundwater table, freeze and
thaw of the ground, and extremes in precipitation (drought vs heavy rain).

Induced Earthquakes
Earthquakes are a natural occurrence, which might result in sinkholes,
assuming they hit areas with a weak rock below the surface. However, there are
increased induced earthquakes, which are as a result of both industrial and human
activities, which also causes sinkholes. Careless mining and hydraulic fracking can
impact an area especially its stability as well as water quality, resulting in
earthquakes that result in a sinkhole (What are sinkholes? n.d.).

Sinkholes can be human induced

New sinkholes have been correlated to land-use practices, especially from
groundwater pumping and from construction and development practices. Sinkholes
can also form when natural water-drainage patterns are changed and new water-
diversion systems are developed. Some sinkholes form when the land surface is
changed, such as when industrial and runoff-storage ponds are created. The
substantial weight of the new material can trigger an underground collapse of
supporting material, thus causing a sinkhole (USGS: Sinkholes n.d.).

TYPES OF SINKHOLES

Cover-collapse sinkholes may develop abruptly (over a period of hours) and

thus cause catastrophic damages. They occur where the covering sediments contain
a significant amount of clay. Over time, surface drainage, erosion, and deposition of
sinkhole into a shallower bowl-shaped depression.

https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/cover-collapse-sinkholes-can-open-suddenly
PROCESS OF COVER_COLLAPSE SINKHOLES

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 https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/cover-subsidence-type-sinkholes
PROCESS OF COVER_SUBSIDENCE SINKHOLES

Cover-subsidence sinkholes tend to develop gradually where the covering

sediments are permeable and contain sand. In areas where cover material is thicker
or sediments contain more clay, cover-subsidence sinkholes are relatively uncommon
and therefore may not be seen frequently. They are smaller and thus may go
undetected for long periods.

Solution sinkholes occur in areas where

limestone is exposed at land surface or
also is covered by thin layers of soil and
permeable sand. Dissolution of the
limestone or dolomite is most intensive
where the water first contacts the rock
surface. Aggressive dissolution also
occurs where flow is focused in
preexisting openings in the rock, such as
along joints, fractures, and bedding
planes, and in the zone of water-table
fluctuation where groundwater is in
contact with the atmosphere. Solution
https://www.vippng.com/preview/hThRxxx_solution-sinkhole-graphic-types-of-sinkholes-dissolution/ sinkholes are generally small in size and
PROCESS OF SOLUTION SINKHOLES also slow to develop (Randazzo 2015).

IMPENDING SIGNS OF SINKHOLES

• Fresh cracks in the foundations of houses and buildings

• Cracks in interior walls
• Cracks in the ground outside
• Depressions in the ground
• Trees or fence posts that tilt or fall
• Doors or windows become difficult to open or close
• Rapid appearance of a hole in the ground

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 What’s More

A. Directions: Write N if it is a natural factor causing landslide and M if it is man-made factor

causing landslide.
__1. Excavation __6. Deforestation
__2. Heavy and prolonged rainfall __7. Earthquakes
__3. Mining __8. Quarrying
__4. Wildfire __9. Addition of moisture
__5. Land pollution __10. Gravity

B. Directions: Match the type of sinkholes to its cause.

CAUSES:
A. occur where there is little soil or vegetation over the soluble rock
B. develop gradually where the covering sediments are permeable and contain sand
C. occur where the covering sediments contain significant amounts of clay

TYPE OF SINKHOLES CAUSES

Cover – Subsidence

Dissolution sinkhole

Cover collapse

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C. Directions: The picture below shows 11 warning signs on an impending landslide and sinkhole.
Identify the given signs if:
A. Unique to landslides
B. Unique to sinkholes
C. Identical signs in both landslides and sinkholes

SIGNS TO OBSERVE IMPENDING HAZARD

(Letter only)

Cracks in interior joints areas, windows, and doors

Cracks in exterior masonry walls and plaster finishing

Tension cracks form in slope

Deep cracks and separation of paved concrete walks and drives

Outside walls, walks or stairs being pulling away from the

building
Bulging at the base/toe of a slope

Neighbors have had or confirmed possible sinkhole or landslide

Activity
Observation of an actual cavity beginning to open

Land movements and small landslides

Sediments/minerals in water

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 What I Have Learned

Fill in the blanks with word/s that will complete the concepts you have
learned in this module.

I have learned that landslides have different kinds these are _________________.
The cause of landslide may come from ______________ and ____________. There
are many impending signs of landslides few to mentions are
___________________and ___________________.

I have learned that sinkholes have different kinds these are _________________.
The cause of landslide may come from ______________ and ____________. There
are many impending signs of landslides few to mentions are
___________________and ___________________.

What I Can Do

SITUATIONAL ESSAY:

1. You are living in a mountainous area where kaingin and mining are
rampant. You have found out that these can cause landslide. As a concern
student what should you do to mitigate landslide hazards? Explain.

2. There was a magnitude 6 earthquake happened in your locality. You have

found out that there is a visible big crack beneath the house of your neighbor.
What should your advice to your neighbor on this situation? Explain.

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 Assessment
Directions: Choose and encircle the letter of your answer.

1. What is the downward and outward movement of slope forming materials, soils,
artificial fills or combination of all these materials along surfaces of separation by
falling, sliding and flowing, either slowly or quickly from one place to another?
A. earthquake B. lahar C. flood D. landslide

2. Which choice is a man-made trigger of landslides?

A. earthquakes B. quarrying C. volcanic eruption D. erosion

3. What is the dominant force that causes mass movement?

A. tidal forces B. seismic energy release C. gravity D. wind

4. Which of the following factors does not trigger landslide?

A. volcanic activity C. steepness of the slope
B. thick vegetation D. ground shaking due to earthquake

5. Water can encourage mass flow by:

A. reducing friction between grains C. undercutting a steep slope
B. weathering bedrock to clay minerals D. A, B and C

6. How many basic types of sinkholes are there?

A. One B. Two C. Three D. Five
7. Which of the following cause cover-subsidence sinkholes to happen?
A. develop gradually where the covering sediments are permeable and contain
sand.
B. They occur where the covering sediments contain significant amounts of
clay.
C. occur where there is little soil or vegetation over the soluble rock.
D. where flow is focused in pre-existing openings in the rock

8. What is formed when the land surface above collapses or sinks into the cavities or
when surface material is carried downward into the voids?
A. earthquake B. sinkhole C. flood D. landslide

9. Which of the following is a man-made factor causing sinkhole?

A. excavation B. wildfire C. Kaingin D. Riprap

10. Which of the following cause dissolution sinkholes to happen?

A. develop gradually where the covering sediments are permeable and contain
sand.
B. They occur where the covering sediments contain significant amounts of
clay.
C. occur where there is little soil or vegetation over the soluble rock.
D. where flow is focused in pre-existing openings in the rock

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References

n.d. Britannica. Accessed February 9, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/science/slump.

2016. Landslide Types and Processes. November. Accessed February 2021, 2021.
https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3072/fs-2004-3072.html.
Randazzo, Anthony F. 2015. ARE THERE DIFFERENT TYPES OF SINKHOLES? October 15.
Accessed February 09, 2021. https://geohazards.com/are-there-different-types-of-sinkholes/.
n.d. USGS. Accessed February 09, 2021. https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-debris-flow?qt-
news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products.
n.d. USGS: Sinkholes. Accessed February 09, 2021. https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-
school/science/sinkholes?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects.
n.d. What are sinkholes? Accessed February 09, 2021. https://www.conserve-energy-
future.com/causes-effects-and-types-of-sinkholes.php.

I do not own or license any copyright rights in the texts, images, photographs,
graphics and other content provided in this module. I created this module solely
for non-commercial, informational and educational purposes. There is no
intention on my part to claim ownership as to the contents or make profit out of
this module.

Prepared by: Florevil S. Basay

SHS Faculty
Don Gerardo Ll. Ouano Memorial National High School
July 08, 2020

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