Saeen Slope

Landslide
Ardabil – Sarab Road, East Azarbaijan Province, Iran

Saba Mirzahosseini
Engineering Geology
Professor Lisa Borgatti
Class 2020/21
1
Main Event

2
Landslide Features

3
Landslide Triggers
Location of The Saeen Landslide

NW of IRAN
Landslide Area

Ardabil-Sarab Road

Landslide Area

Balikhli Chai River

Figure 1: Location of Saeen Landslide.(1)

Video: Latitude and Longitude of Saeen Landslide.(2)
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 The Main Event
• On 10 June 2005, a massive
landslide happened in Ardabil-Sarab
Road (Saeen Slope), and seriously
damaged 350 m of the road.
• Site investigation indicated the slide
as 300m long, 150m wide, with a
volume of 150,000 cubic meters.

• Eyewitness suggests that the motion

of the slide continued for 20 min. (4)

Figure 2:Destructed Road.(3)

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 Damages Made by The Landslide
• During this landslide, 6 vehicles fell into the Landslide Crown

valley and one person died.

• Damages made by this landslide, was more
Road
than 200,000 $. (6)

Collapsed Road

Fallen Vehicles

Figures 3 and 4: Fallen Vehciles.(1,5)

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 Landslide Type
Cracked
Rocks
• The Saeen Landslide, is a
composite landslide, with both Translational Zone Rotational Zone
Translational and Rotational
Zones. (5) Road

• The state of activity is Dormant,

which can be reactivated by the
original trigger (Precipitation).

Landslide Toe

Figure 5: Translational and Rotational Zones of The Landslide.(5)

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 Landslide Features
• The main rupture surface of the Saeen Landslide is in the form of a complex
landslide, which the type of movement in the upper part is in the form of
earth slump with spoon shape failure surface, and the downside is in the form
of earth flow. (1)
soil p
n Scar Zo
Mai ne of Depletion

Zone of Accumulatio
n
Road
e r
Cracks Riv

Depression
Surface of
Rupture Toe

Figure 7: Zone of Depletion.(7) Figure 6: Scheme of The Rotational Part of The Saeen Landslide.
(1)

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 Landslide Features

Figure 11: Top of Slope Cracks.(3)

Figure 9: Scarp.(3)

Figure 12: Fallen Vehcles.(5)

Figure 8: Hand-drown scheme of the landslide.(3)

Figure 10: Destructed Road.(4)

Figure 13: Toe.(1)

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 Tensile and Shear Cracks

• Two types of cracks are shown:

1- Tensile Fractures, which are parallel to

the road.

2- Shear Fractures, perpendicular to the

road, due to the difference in the amount
of movement between the two sides of the
fracture. (8)

Figure 14: Shear and Tension Cracks along the road.(3)

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 Geomorphological
Factors

Precipitation Landslide Geological

and
Groundwater Level Triggers Factors

Human
Causes

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 Geomorphological Causes:
• The area is located on the West Slope of
Sabalan Volcanic Mountain and classified
within the Alborz-Azerbaijan Geological Zone.
• Sabalan is a volcanic mountain with elevation
of 4800m, located on the crest of the
Azarbaijan Plateau.
• On the slopes of Sabalan, there are many hot
sulfur springs, whose water is about 40 degrees
Celsius and is the only evidence of the activity of
Sabalan volcano.
• The presence of significant hydrothermal
conditions in volcanic areas and clay
mineralization in the area creates condition for
landslide happening. (9)
Figures 15,16: Google Earth Photo of The Sabalan Mount.
(2,10)
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 Streams and Rivers:
• The highest altitude of the landslide area is 1898
meters and the lowest point is 1793 meters.
• slopes are usually very steep and the valleys are
narrow. (4)
• The slope is on the western margin of the
Balikhlichay River cutting through the slope toe.
The primary direction of the landslide was toward
the river.

• Due to the high permeability of volcanoes and

through fractures, water penetrate to the depths.
• There are numerous streams running through the
toe location, which are responsible for saturating
the slope and erosion of the toe. (9)
Figures 17,18: Cross Section of Toppgraphy. (4,3)

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 Lithology
•  The lithology of the area is composed by pyroclastic
rocks such as andesite and pyroxene and the major
portion of the road consists of alluvial river deposit
with high water absorption characteristics.
• Rocks have been highly weathered to a depth of
approximately 5 m. The eroded alluvial soils and
cracks in the andesite rocks that were increased by
glacial erosion have formed permeable layers. (4)

• All faults are NE-SW Reverse type.

• Balikhlichay River is located along a fault line. (9)

Figure 19: Geological map of Saeen Region.(4)

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 Eroded Tuff and Pumice Rocks in the Area
•  Pumice rocks cover the central and eastern parts
of the area.
• These rocks are naturally loose and are more
affected by erosion than adjacent rocks (andesite
and basalt). The reason for their weakness is also
related to cavitation and weathering
• The eroded tuff layer is visible on both sides of the road. (5) Figure 20: Pumice.(11)

Figure 22: Tuff. (12)

Figure 21: Eroded Tuff Layers Along The Road. (5)
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 Site Investigations
•   Tuff layer has less fragmentation
compared to adjacent rocks, therefore it
has prevented the penetration of water
and has created a saturation zone.(9)

• There is a weak layer of clay with high

plasticity at a depth of 55 meters below
the current surface. (9)

Figures 23,24: Lithology Index.(Emphasis on alteration of Tuff

Layer), (9)
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 Main Trigger: Precipitation
• Increased rainfall during the spring months of
2005, especially in May, compared to previous
years, was the main trigger of this landslide. (7)

• The Saeen Landslide, was a deep landslide.

Obviously, a deeper rupture surface means that
the precipitation infiltrates into a deeper layer,
where it encounters the clay layer in a depth of
55m.(9)

Figure 25: 2005 was an exceptional year.(1)

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 Road Construction
• The road was built on an alluvial terrace along the
river, and its high ability to absorb water has
caused the underlying material of the road to flow
towards the valley during landslide.(13)

• Due to the hillside cut and fill operations, the

upper part of the slopes may become cracked
and facilitate absorption of water. (13)
• Passing heavy trucks, facilitated penetration of
water inside the clay soil layers. Also because of
steep slope of the area, combined with heavy
precipitation in 2005, this landslide happened.(6) Figure 26: Effect of Road Construction on Alluvial Terrace.
(7)

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 Morphologic Changes After Landslide

• Two small natural lakes have been created

as a result of landslide toe touching the
river. (4)

Figure 27: Natural Lakes created near landslide toe. (4)

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 Thank You!

Figure 27: Permanent crater lake at Summit of Sabalan Mountain, Ardabil Province, Iran.(14)

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 References:

1. Slope instability: one of the causes of road accidents. Case Study: Saeen Landslide; Dr. Davood Mokhtari
(Article in Persian)
2. https://earth.google.com/web/@
37.97894562,47.89473953,1865.17161968a,1193.63329486d,35y,0.00000001h,10.50241746t,0r
3. Photo credit: Dr. Yousef Vasigh. (Photos Sent by request, Not downloaded from any source)
4. Estimation of rainfall-induced landslides using ANN and fuzzy clustering methods: A case study in Saeen
Slope, Azerbaijan Province, Iran; Y. Alimohammadloou, A. Najafi, C. Gokceoglu
5. Investigation on the mechanism of Saein Strait Landslide (Nir-Sarab Road) in regard to the hydrological and
geomorphological conditions; Farhad Shahidi, Gholamreza Shoaei, Mostafa Mohammadi Vavsari
6. Mass Movement Landslide (Jun 10, 2005) Along Sarab- Ardebil Main Road ( Main Road (West Slope Savalan
Volcanic Mountain)- Azerbaijan- Iran; E. Ghanbari, M. Noutash
7. Safety Assesment of landslides by electrical tomography: A case study from Ardebil, NW Iran; Hafizi,
Abbassi, Ashtari
8. Investigation on landslide of Ardabil-Sarab road; Yousef Vasigh
9. The effect of paleontological geomorphology on the probability of deep landslides happening in volcanic
deposits, a case study: Saeen Strait Landslide; Farhad Shahidi, Gholamreza Shoaei, Mostafa Mohammadi
Vavsari
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabalan
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 References:

11. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/pumice-facts-geology-of-the-world.html
12. http://www.worldofstones.com/blog/detail-information-tuff-rock/
13. Geomorphological hazards caused by the construction and development of rural roads with emphasis on
mass movements and ditches (Case study of Sarab villages), Fariba Karami
14. https://irmantravel.com/blog/sabalan%20mountain
15. Investigation of geomorphological instability of Saein pass (between Nir and Sarab cities, Azerbaijan region)
using Anbalagan method; Aghil Madadi

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