Landslides

By Ginny Ruadh (P7)

WHAT CAUSES LANDSLIDES
Heavy rainfall is the most common trigger mechanism.

Scientists have recently found out that air

tides are responsible for causing landslides.
LANDSLIDES: Landslides move in different ways
HOW DO THEY MOVE ? Mudflows move very fast usually after
lots of rain,

Creeps move slowly,

Earth flows collapses and envelop

houses suddenly and

Rockslides detach from a steep cliff

like the one in the picture.

All landslides have one thing in common - they are unpredictable, can happen at any time and kill.
 A CATASTROPHE ?
• Could it happen, even where we live?

DID YOU KNOW…

There have already been fatal landslides
in Scotland in recent years.

Some landslides in Scotland

• 9 Sept 2009 - Landslide closes A83 as storms lash Scotland.

• 19 Aug 2004 - 57 motorists rescued - landslide at Lochearnhead.
• 26 Oct 2006 - On the Struie road near Alness, after a storm.
• 17 Jan 2010 - Landslide in Dumfries closes road.
Landslide threat hangs over many of Scotland's most important roads
 THE FACTS
• Landslides can occur on any slope given the right conditions
(Long, heavy rains)

• Landslides vary in size. They can be a small rockfall or cover km’

km’s
down a slope.

• Landslides are very quick. In Canada, one landslide caused a

riverbank to move 680 meters in less than an hour.

• Approx. 8000 are killed in landslides each year, all over the wo
world.
rld.

• Landslides occur without public warning. If you live in a landslide

landslide-
ide-
prone area, be alert.

• If you suspect that a landslide is about to occur or sees changes

changes in
your hillside surroundings, make an emergency report.
SOME LANDSLIDES
TERMINOLOGY
SOME LANDSLIDES
THE TRAGEDY OF THE VICTIMS & SURVIVORS
LANDSLIDE PHOTOS
THE HERO’
HERO’S (RESCUE WORKERS)
Images - British Geological Survey
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LANDSLIDES

• Creep – Extraordinarily slow, barely noticeable movement of earth along a slope,

caused mainly by alternating wet and dry periods.

• Fall – Rock mass that suddenly detaches and falls from the top of a steep slope, it
is caused by freeze-thaw action or by gravity.

• Flow – Sudden flow of mud along a slope; it occurs when torrential rains swiftly
drench the soil.

• Slump – complex movement of materials on a slope incl. rotation

• Topple - end over end motion of rock down a slope

• Slide – movement parallel to planes of weakness/slope

SIGNS OF EARTH MOVEMENT
ROAD
• Titled trees
AHEAD
• Displaced gutters
CLOSED
• Cracks in road
• Lumpy ground
• Rockfalls
 SASTER
DI
 IN THE NEWS TODAY…
TODAY…

Hundreds of homes buried in a Landslide in Mexico

- 29 Sept 2010

A rescue worker (Oaxaca) said that, “the mountain had collapsed

and a lot of people were in their homes because of the hour."

The town affected is Santa Maria (Tlahuitoltepec) where about

9000 people live. The Oaxaca state is very mountainous. That,
together with heavy rains caused a landslide to fall down on
sleeping homes in the early hours of Tuesday.

Early estimates are that 500 - 600 people may be dead, injured or
buried but a national newspaper (Excelsior) predicts that the
death toll could approx. 1000.
 IN THE NEWS TODAY..
Deadly Landslide Caught On Camera In Colombia
Wednesday September 29, 2010

buried
Witnesses could only watch on helplessly as 30 people were buried by a
landslide in Colombia.

A deadly landslide caught a group of bus passengers off guard between two
villages northwest of the capital Bogota.

Their fate was caught on video as they changed from one vehicle to another on
a mountain road.

Suddenly, tons of earth swept down the hillside - burying everything in its path.
DIAGRAMS
 WHAT CAUSES LANDSLIDES
Here is a list of some of the causes of landslides.

Natural causes: Human causes:

• height of water, • removal of vegetation.

• pressure (by saturation of slope material) • interference with natural drainage.

from either extreme or long-lasting
rainfall / seepage,
• vibrations caused by earthquakes;
• undercutting of cliffs and banks by waves
or river erosion; and
• volcanic eruptions.
• leaking pipes such as water and sewer
reticulation.
• Alteration of slopes by building of roads,
railways, buildings.
• overloading slopes;
• mining and quarrying activities;

• vibrations from heavy traffic, blasting, etc

• Excavation or displacement of rocks.

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE OF LIFE
 REFERENCES
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When_Mudslide_Buries_Mountain_Highway_And_Homes