Landslide Introduction  | Landslide Types | Landslide Distribution  | Landslide Classification | Causes & Triggers | Rock Fall | Rock Topple | Rock Slide | Block Slide | Rock Flow | Rock Avalanche | Sturzstrom | Debris Fall | Debris Topple | Debris Slide | Block Slide | Debris Spread | Debris Flow | Soil Fall | Soil Topple | Soil Slide | Slab Slide | Soil Spread | Soil Flow |

There are five kinematically distinct types of landslide identified by Varnes (1978):

a) Falls: A fall starts with the detachment of soil or rock from a steep slope along a surface on which little or no shear displacement takes place. The material then descends largely by falling, bouncing or rolling.

 
b) Topples: A topple is the forward rotation, out of the slope, of a mass of soil and rock about a point or axis below the centre of gravity of the displaced mass.

 
c) Slides: A slide is the downslope movement of a soil or rock mass occurring dominantly on the surface of rupture or relatively thin zones of intense shear strain.

 
d) Flows: A flow is a spatially continuous movement in which shear surfaces are short lived, closely spaced and usually not preserved after the event. The distribution of velocities in the displacing mass resembles that in a viscous fluid.

e) Spreads: A spread is an extension of a cohesive soil or rock mass combined with a general subsidence of the fractured mass of cohesive material into softer underlying material. The rupture surface is not a surface of intense shear. Spreads may result from liquefaction or flow (and extrusion) of the softer material.

However, Varnes (1978) also presented a sixth mode of movement, Complex Failures. These are failures in which one of the five types of movement is followed by another type (or even types). For such cases the name of the initial type of movement should be followed by an "en dash" and then the next type of movement: e.g. rock fall-debris flow ( WP/ WLI, 1990).

Types of landslides: (1) a fall; (2) a topple; (3) a slide; (4) a spread; (5) a flow. After WP/WLI (1993):

(Image Source: Cooper, R.G. (2007) Mass Movements in Great Britain, Geological Conservation Review Series, No. 33, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, 348 pp.)

The EPOCH (1993) project (The Temporal Occurrence and Forecasting of Landslides in the European Community) produced a European classification based on Varnes (1978).

This section has been subdivided on the basis of the EPOCH Classification System - Please Select a Button For Further Information:

Movement	Rock	Debris	Soil
Fall
Topple
Slide Rotational
Slide Translational
Spread
Flow

 

Landslides: References Cited

Landslide Introduction  | Landslide Types | Landslide Distribution  | Landslide Classification | Causes & Triggers | Rock Fall | Rock Topple | Rock Slide | Block Slide | Rock Flow | Rock Avalanche | Sturzstrom | Debris Fall | Debris Topple | Debris Slide | Block Slide | Debris Spread | Debris Flow | Soil Fall | Soil Topple | Soil Slide | Slab Slide | Soil Spread | Soil Flow |