The working classification of landslides: material matters

David M. Cruden, Réjean Couture

In the proceedings of: GEO2011: 64th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, 14th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5th Pan-American Conference on Teaching and Learning of Geotechnical Engineering

Session: Landslides

ABSTRACT: The nomenclature established by the Working Party for World Landslide Inventory has become the basis for an emerging consensus on landslide classification. This Working Classification encompasses seven mutually exclusive descriptors of the state of activity of the landslide, seven of the distribution of movements and five to describe the style of activity. The velocity of the movements can be described from an open-ended, seven division scale, ranging from extremely slow to extremely rapid. The material displaced may be rock, debris or earth with a range of four qualitatively-estimated water contents. We suggest additions to the Classification, additional states of activity preceding displacements and inclusion of frozen water in the description of water content. An International Standard allows earth to be divided into sand, silt, and clay. Careful documentation of these additions would lead to more comprehensive landslide characterization and better management of landslide risk.

RÉSUMÉ: La terminologie établie par le Working Party for World Landslide Inventory est devenue le fondement d™un concensus émergeant sur la classification des glissements de terrain, la ‚Classification en évolution™. Cette classification comprend sept identificateurs mutuellement exclusifs sur l™état d™activité, sept sur la distribution de l™activité et cinq décrivant le style d™activité. La vitesse de déplacement peut être illustrée à l™aide d™une échelle ouverte à sept divisions, d™extrêmement lent à extrêmement rapide. Le matériau déplacé peut être du roc, des débris, ou du sol, et accompagné de quatre identificateurs qualitatifs de la teneur en eau. Nous suggérons l™ajout d™états d™activité additionnels précédents le mouvement d™un glissement de terrain et l™inclusion du terme gelé aux descripteurs de la teneur en eau. Une norme internationale permet de diviser le sol entre sable, silt et argile. Une documentation détaillée de ces additions pourrait mener à une caractérisation plus complète des glissements de terrain et à une meilleure gestion de leur risque.

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Cite this article:
David M. Cruden; Réjean Couture (2011) The working classification of landslides: material matters in GEO2011. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{GEO11Paper1106,author = David M. Cruden; Réjean Couture ,title = The working classification of landslides: material matters ,year = 2011}