How Do Mountains Affect Precipitation?

When air reaches the mountains, it is forced to rise over this barrier. As the air moves up the windward
side of a mountain, it cools, and the volume decreases. As a result, humidity increases and orographic
clouds and precipitation can develop. When the air descends the leeward side, it warms and is drier
because the moisture in the air was wrung out during the ascent. This area with a lack of moisture is
known as a rain shadow.

Many times, these mountains can be snowcapped while just to

the east Death Valley can be hot and dry. Below is a look at
snow in the mountains (Sierra Nevadas) from satellite.
landslide - rainfall-induced
 Landslide & Slope Instability Geohazards: Velocity
Classification
The table below shows the velocity scale proposed by Cruden & Varnes (1996) which rationalises previous
scales
Destroys the slope/hill
Eliminates all vegetation
Buries houses and sometimes entire
villages
Weakens the slope and makes it more
susceptible to further landslides
Technological Tools for Evaluation of Landslides
• Mapping

• Remote Sensing

• Monitoring
Map Analysis
Map analysis is usually one of the first steps in a landslide
investigation.
• bedrock and surficial geology
• topography
• soils
• geomorphology
Using knowledge of geologic materials and processes, a
trained
person can obtain a general idea of landslide susceptibility from
 Aerial Reconnaissance
Analysis of aerial photography is a quick and valuable technique for identifying landslides, because it
provides a three-dimensional overview of the terrain and indicates human activities as well as much
geologic information to a trained person.
In addition, the availability of many types of aerial imagery (satellite, infrared, radar, etc., ) makes aerial
reconnaissance very versatile although cost- prohibitive in some cases.
InSAR Imaging
InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar. Both
InSAR and LIDAR)
active sensors emitting a pulse of energy (from a satellite) and recording its return, from the ground, at the
sensor.
Aerial Photos
Identification can be made of vegetation cover, topography, drainage pattern, soil drainage character, bedrock
geology, surficial geology, landslide type, and relationship to other factors.
LiDAR Imaging

LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), also known as ALSM or Airborne Laser Swath Mapping. Using a
narrow laser beam probe through dense ground cover, such as trees, LiDAR can produce accurate
terrain maps even where forest cover gets in the way of traditional
photography. The technique produces a very accurate Digital Elevation Model map (DEM)
 Field Reconnaissance

Many of the more subtle signs of slope movement cannot be identified on maps or photographs.
Indeed, if an area is heavily forested or has been urbanized, even major features may not be evident.
Furthermore, landslide features change over time on an active slide.

Thus, field reconnaissance is always mandatory to verify or detect landslide features, and to critically
evaluate the potential instability of vulnerable slopes. It identifies areas with past landslides (which
could indicate future likelihood of landslides) by using field mapping and laboratory testing of

terrain through the sampling of soil and rock.

Mapping and laboratory testing for example, may identify vulnerable clays or other susceptible soils
and show where they exist and their size and extent.
How to Minimize Landslide Hazards
Choose a safe location to build your home, away from steep slopes and places where landslides have occurred in
the past.
Prevent deforestation and vegetation removal
Avoid weakening the slope.
In mudflow areas, build channels or deflection walls to direct the flow around buildings.
Awareness generation: Educate the public about signs that a landslide is imminent so that personal safety
measures may be taken.
Plant ground cover on slopes and build retaining walls.
Financial Mechanisms: Support the establishment of landslide insurance.
Legal and Policy: legislation to direct a governmental or private program to reduce landslide losses should be
strengthened.
•How human activities increase the frequency of landslides?

•Logging

• Construction leads to over steepening of slopes - road

cuts, quarrying or open-pit mining operations
•Buildings and structures on a naturally unstable slope

•Irrigation, watering the lawn, using septic tank for sewage

disposal
Areas that are generally prone to landslide hazards

• On existing old landslides.

• On or at the base of slopes.
• In or at the base of minor drainage hollows.
• At the base or top of an old fill slope.
• At the base or top of a steep cut slope.
• Developed hillsides where leach field septic systems are used.

• Areas that are typically considered safe from landslides

• On hard, non-jointed bedrock that has not moved in the past.

• On relatively flat-lying areas away from sudden changes in slope angle.
 Drilling

-type of earth materials involved in the slide,

-depth to the slip surface,
-thickness and geometry of the landslide mass,
-water-table level,
-the degree of disruption of the landslide materials.

Finally, drilling is needed for installation of some monitoring

instruments and hydrologic observation wells.
LANDSLIDE EARLY WARNING
SYSTEM
 What is Liquefaction?

A phenomenon whereby a saturated or

partially saturated soil substantially loses
strength and stiffness in response to an
applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or
other sudden change in stress condition,
causing it to behave like a liquid.
When does it occurs??
-when the effective stress of soil is reduced to essentially zero, which
corresponds to a complete loss of shear strength
May be initiated by
– Monotonic Loading
– Cyclic loading
– Shock loadings(EQs)
How It Works??

•When the seismic waves pass through the soil, the

vibrations cause the individual grains in the soil to
– move around and
– re-adjust their positions
•This ultimately results in a decrease in volume of
the soil mass as
– the grains pack more tightly together
– a reduction in porosity
 Soil loose its strength because of loss of effective stress
 Saturated sand in ground vibration,
-it tends to compact and decrease in volume
-if no drainage, decrease in volume results
-increase in pore water pressure
IF
Pore water pressure=overburden pressure
THAN
effective stress = zero,
-sand looses strength completely and develops a liquefied
state.
 Methods of Reducing Soil Liquefaction
Hazards

1) By Avoiding Liquefaction Susceptible Soils

Construction on liquefaction susceptible soils is to be avoided. It is required to

characterize the soil at a particular building site according to the various criteria
available to determine the liquefaction potential of the soil in a site

2) Build Liquefaction Resistant Structures

The structure constructed should be liquefaction resistant i.e., designing the foundation elements
to resist the effects of liquefaction if at all it is necessary to construct the structure on
liquefiable soil because of favourable location, space restriction and other reasons.
3) Improve the Soil strength
This involves mitigation of the liquefaction hazards by improving the strength, density and
drainage characteristics of the soil. This can be done using variety of soil improvement
techniques.
Soil improvement techniques

Vibroflotation
Dynamic Compaction
Stone Columns
Compaction Piles
Compaction Grouting
Drainage techniques