Module 16

Mass Movement
 MASS MOVEMENT
Mass movements
 Rock material may move under the influence of
gravity either as a movement of weathering
products down a slope, or as a movement of rock
bodies along joint planes, bedding planes, etc.
 Mass movement occurs on slopes
 Slopes are dynamic evolving features
 Slope evolution is influenced by topography,
rock type, climate, vegetation, water and
geologic time
 It occurs naturally and/or are influenced by human
activities
 It has caused substantial damage and loss of life
 Synonymous: gravity transport, mass wasting,
mass-wasting movement, landslide
MASS MOVEMENT
MASS MOVEMENT
 MASS MOVEMENT
Slow or rapid slope failure?

 The rate of slope failure depends upon

 Gradient, how steep the slope is
 Materials composing the slope
 Amount of water present in those materials
 Rate of movement of those materials
 The rate of movement varies from
 imperceptible creep
 to thundering avalanches
 MASS MOVEMENT
What Controls and Triggers Mass Movement?

 Gravity
 Gravity is the main driving force of
mass wasting
 Water
 Excessive rains weaken rock, loosen
soils, promote fluid flow
 Removal of vegetation
 Destroys root systems which bind
soil and regolith together
 Earthquakes
 Earthquakes dislodge huge volumes
of rock and unconsolidated material
 MASS MOVEMENT
What Controls and Triggers Mass Movement?

Relationship of shear
force and normal force
to gravity, the main
driving force for mass
wasting
 MASS MOVEMENT
What Controls and Triggers Mass Movement?
The effect of water on stability

Unsaturated grains are held Saturated grains are forced

together by surface tension apart by water, are less
of water, are more stable stable, able to flow easily.
MASS MOVEMENT

Why earthquake followed by

mass movement should be
happened in my place?

Mass movements after Yogyakarta

Earthquake May 27th, 2006
 MASS MOVEMENT
Classification of Mass Movement Processes

Mass movements processes are classified on the

basis of slow rapid
 Rate of Movement
 Fall
 Type of Movement  Slide
 Slump
 Creep
 Type of Material  Block  Flow
 Rock  Complex movement
 Sand (sliding and flow)
 Debris
 Soil
 Earth
 Mud
Type of movements
FALL
Type of movements
SLIDE
Type of movements
SLUMP
Type of movements
CREEP
Type of movements
FLOW
Classification of Mass Movements
Classification of Mass Movements
Mass Movement Cases
Air photo of the 1970
Peru debris avalanche

The avalanche buried

the villages of Yungay
and Ranrahirca and
killed 19,000 people

Cause: An earthquake
dislodged a slab of
glacier ice, which
rapidly avalanched
down the steep slope
at 125 to 270 mph
Mass Movement Cases

A few people at Yungay

managed to survive the
avalanche by running to
high ground at the
cemetery
Mass Movement Cases

Top of a church buried under 5 m of debris at Yungay

Mass Movement Cases

Creep
 Creep is very slow down-slope movement (< 1
cm/yr) of soil or unconsolidated debris
 The two factors that contribute most significantly
to creep are
 water in the soil
 daily cycles of freezing and thawing
Mass Movement Cases
Common Indicators of Creep
Mass Movement Cases

The effect of alternate

cycles of freezing and
thawing on down slope
creep of soil grains
Mass Movement Cases
Debris Flows and Earthflows

 The general term debris flow is used for mass

wasting in which motion takes place throughout
the moving mass (flow)
 In an earthflow, the debris moves downslope as a
viscous fluid, sometimes slowly, sometimes
rapidly
 Earthflows generally occur on steep debris-
covered hillsides after heavy rains have saturated
the soil
Mass Movement Cases

Earthflow Slump (rotational slide)

Mass Movement Cases

La Conchita, CA, Prior to the

1995 Slump and Earthflow
Mass Movement Cases
La Conchita, CA, after
the
1995 Slump and
Earthflow
Mass Movement Cases
Déjà vu!

La Conchita, CA, after a

Slump and Earthflow in
2005

Allen photo
Mass Movement Cases

Mudflow caused by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens

Mass Movement Cases

Effects of the 2006 Philippine Mudslide

www.chinadaily.com.cn www.china.org.cn

thestar.com.my
Mass Movement Cases
Rockfalls and Rockslides
 When a block of bedrock breaks off and falls
freely or bounces down a steep cliff, it is called a
rockfall
 Commonly, an apron of fallen bedrock blocks,
called talus, accumulates at the base of the cliff
 A rockslide involves the rapid sliding of a mass of
bedrock along an inclined plane or weakness
 Rockfalls and rockslides can be caused by the
undercutting of the base of a slope by erosion or
construction
Mass Movement Cases
Rockfalls
Mass Movement Cases
Rockfalls
Talus at the base
of a cliff

The product of
numerous rock
falls
Mass Movement Cases
The 1996 Yosemite National Park Rockfall

Notice movement of slide debris up the opposite side

of the valley
Mass Movement Cases

The 1925 Gros Ventre Slide, WY

In 1925, a massive slide dammed the Gros Ventre River, WY, creating Lower
Slide Lake. Two years later, the water breached the natural dam, wiping out
the town of Kelly. Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum
Mass Movement Cases

Slide scarp

Slide debris
deposited on the
opposite side of the
valley

The Gros Ventre Slide

Slide debris, opposite side of the
valley
Mass Movement Cases

The cause of the 1925 rockslide in the Gros Ventre

Mountains, Wyoming
Preventing Mass Movements

• Construction and watering can cause a hillside to

become vulnerable to mass wasting

• Do not
– cut down hillsides
– remove vegetation from hillsides
– over water terraces that are built up on steep
hillsides
Preventing Mass Movements
• Proper use of French drains can prevent mass wasting

• How to install a French drain

– Dump well sorted gravel against the wall on the upslope side
– Install perforated drain pipes or punch holes through the wall
– Cover gravel with a fine mesh to prevent small clasts from the overlying soil from filling pore spaces in the gravel
– Put soil on top of the mesh
Preventing Mass Movements
• Build safe road cuts

Cross section of a hill The hazardous road

showing a safe road cut on cut after removal of
the left and a hazardous rock that may slide
road cut on the right
Preventing Mass Movements

“Stitching” is
one method used to
stabilize bedrock
to prevent a
rockslide along a
hazardous road cut
Preventing Mass Movements

“Stitched” bedrock along a hazardous road cut near Valdese, Alaska

Summary of Controls of Mass Movements