The goal of this article is to revise several aspects of the well-known classification of landslides, developed by Varnes (1978). The primary recommendation is to modify the definition of landslide-forming materials, to provide compatibility with accepted geotechnical and geological terminology of rocks and soils. Other, less important modifications of the classification system are suggested, resulting from recent developments of the landslide science. The modified Varnes classification of landslides has 32 landslide types, each of which is backed by a formal definition. The definitions should facilitate backward compatibility of the system as well as possible translation to other languages. Complex landslides are not included as a separate category type, but composite types can be constructed by the user of the classification by combining two or more type names, if advantageous.

The Varnes classification of landslide types, an update

A new numerical model for the dynamic analysis of rapid flow slides, debris flows, and avalanches has been developed. The model is an extension of an earlier algorithm and is implemented using a nu...

A model for the analysis of rapid landslide motion across three-dimensional terrain

Two numerical models for landslide dynamic analysis

One of the ultimate goals in landslide hazard assessment is to predict maximum landslide extension and velocity. Despite much work, the physical processes governing energy dissipation during these natural granular flows remain uncertain. Field observations show that large landslides travel over unexpectedly long distances, suggesting low dissipation. Numerical simulations of landslides require a small friction coefficient to reproduce the extension of their deposits. Here, based on analytical and numerical solutions for granular flows constrained by remote-sensing observations, we develop a consistent method to estimate the effective friction coefficient of landslides. This method uses a constant basal friction coefficient that reproduces the first-order landslide properties. We show that friction decreases with increasing volume or, more fundamentally, with increasing sliding velocity. Inspired by frictional weakening mechanisms thought to operate during earthquakes, we propose an empirical velocity-weakening friction law under a unifying phenomenological framework applicable to small and large landslides observed on Earth and beyond.

/pdf/frictional-velocity-weakening-in-landslides-on-earth-and-on-578cr1d17g.pdf

Frictional velocity-weakening in landslides on Earth and on other planetary bodies

[1] Grain size data from the deposit of the 1987 Val Pola rock avalanche (central Italian Alps) are compared with data concerning rock avalanching, rock fragmentation, and comminution. The Weibull distribution fits a small part of the entire particle-size distribution of debris samples, with a mean value of the curve shape factor of 0.54 ± 0.28. This is typical of multiple comminution, or fragmentation with much shearing. A fractal distribution fits over a greater size range. Computed fractal dimensions range between 1.3 and 3.2 within the deposit, with average values of about 2.6–2.7. These values cover the range between the theoretical values of the plane-of-weakness model (1.97) and the pillar-of-strength model (2.84) and are close to the theoretical value for the constrained comminution model (2.58). These suggest that both texturally mature and immature deposits are present and that more than a single comminution process acted during the rock avalanche motion. Variation of the grain size distribution within the deposit and grain size segregation show as trends in the fractal dimension and arise from variation in the fragmentation process. A variety of different physical and empirical laws suggest that 1–30% of the energy expended in the rock avalanche was consumed in fragmentation.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2005JF000455

Fragmentation in the Val Pola rock avalanche, Italian Alps

Rapid flow slides of coal-mine waste in British Columbia, Canada

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Rapid flow slides of coal-mine waste in British Columbia, Canada