Engineering Geology

Group: C
Assignment 1: Critical Review of Journal about Engineering Geological Issues of
the Nepal
Himalaya
TITLE:
Review of Engineering geological issues of the Nepal Himalaya by Ranjan kumar Dahal
(Tribhuvan University), Shuichi Hasegawa (Kagawa University), Minoru Yamanaka (Kagawa
University)
ABSTRACT:
It has provided a concise overview of the research as it explains present conditions of
engineering geology in Nepal Himalaya and their impact on infrastructures
development.
It has identified the research problems focusing on construction of roads, hydropower
works, tunnels, dams, low cost rural roads construction and bioengineering.
But it lacks to provide necessary findings, methods to address the geological problems.
KEY WORDS:
MFT: Main Frontal Thrust
MBT: Main Boundary Thrust
MCT: Main Central Thrust
STDS: South Tibetan Detachment System
GLOF: Glacial Lake Outburst Flood
INTRODUCTION:
The introduction has clearly stated the aim of the journal which is better understanding
of geological nature of terrain is most for the development of safer infrastructures,
mitigation of natural hazards and environmental degradation.
BODY:
Overview of Body
Formation of Himalaya:
Collision of the Indian Plate with Tibetan Plate about 55 mya.
Total length= 2400 km
Northward movement of Indian Plate= (15-50)mm/year
Nepal Himalaya (Mahakali River Tista River)= 800km
Geology of Nepal Himalaya
Terai zone (Gangetic plain)
Extends from Nepal-India border to south & churia hills at south.
Separated with siwalik by MFT.
Made up of deposition of thick (1500m) alluvial sediments containing boulder,
gravel, silt & clay.
Terai is facing extreme problems of flood and river bank erosion. Debris flows
from churia hills rises bed 15-30 cm/year. Channel shifting are common. So
river management is must for road construction.

Sub Himalayan Zone (Siwaliks/Churia)

 Extends from northern part of terai to south part of Lesser Himalayan

region.
Separated by MFT in south & MBT at north.
Made up of geologically young sedimentary rocks such as mudstones,
shale, sandstones, siltstones and conglomerates. At the same time
receives rainfall of 2000-2500 mm/year. Hence susceptible for landslides.
Rock failures, Shallow slides and debris flows are common.

Lesser Himalayan Zone

Extends from north part of siwaliks to south part of Higher Himalayan zone.
Separated by MBT in south & MCT at north.
Made up of sedimentary and meta-sedimentary rocks such as slate,
phyllite, schist, quartzite, limestone, dolomite.
It is barrier of monsoon clouds and gets extensive rainfall. Thus these areas
are getting extensive problems of floods, debris flows and shallow
landslides.
Example: Disaster of the Mugling- Narayanghat road in 2003
Higher Himalayan zone
Extends from Lesser Himalayan zone at south to Tibetan- Tethys zone in
north.
Separated by MCT in south and STDS at north.
Made up of strong metamorphic rocks such as gneisses, schists, marbles,
quartzite.
Southern face receives high precipitation and northern face lies in leeward
direction.
Have very little soil cover on slopes and very large rock related failure
phenomena are common.
Example: Mega Landslide of Lete village in the Kaligandaki river is believed
to be responsible to dam the river for a long time.
GLOF is another geological issue of higher Himalaya.
Tibetan Tethys Zone
Lies northern side of higher Himalayan zone to Tibet.
Made up of sedimentary rocks such as shale, limestone and sandstone.
It lies in rain shadow zone.
Landslides are less frequent but debris flow in a snow fed stream is quite
common.
Rainfall and Landslide Relationship in Nepal
Considering rainfall as a main factor triggering landslides in Nepal, Dahal and
Hasegawa has provided empirical reationships of rainfall with landslides using
methods used by other researchers (i.e. Caine, Carsen & Simon, Guzzett)
Intensity Duration Threshold (Dahal & Hasegawa, 2008)
I=73.90 D-0.79
where I= Intensity of rainfall (mm/hr)
D= Duration in hours
Normalized Rainfall Intensity threshold
NI= 1.10 D-0.59
where NI= Normalized rainfall intensity
D= Duration in hours

 Critical Remarks
The body of journal lacks to provide sufficient findings and evidences which would have
strengthen the paper. In terai degrading river causes excessive scouring which results
in the sinking of piers and abutments. At the same time aggrading causes deposition of
sediments carried away by churia due to which many of the bridges of terai are under
risk due to excessive reduction in free board. Breaching of culverts is common during
monsoon.
It fails to provide the recommendations for the solution to various engineering problems
that has been discussed in the paper. It has focused more on pure geology rather than
engineering geology. It could have overcome this limitation by discussing more on the
various geological issues which a Civil engineer have to consider before the
construction.
It has focused on the explanation of co-relation between rainfall and landslides. It hasnt
mentioned about GLOF, Rock slope failure. As we know that our infrastructures are
proceeding towards Higher Himalayan zone (Jumla, Humla, Dolpa, Mugu , Manang,
Mustang etc) where rainfall is less and major failures are rock mass failures. Similarly
due to global warming effect , risk of GLOF is emerging.
In developing empirical relationships of rainfall with landslides it has given reference to
various foreign researchers. It hasnt told anything about tools and methodology used,
no and type of input parameter used in developing these relations. It may be possible
that such adopted foreign techniques may not be fit for analysis in our context. Hence
there arises question about the reliability of these relations.
There is no mention about base station with reference to which the formula has
been developed.
Since there is large topographical and climatic
variation in Nepal within a small area. So there is doubt about the applicability of the
formula.