4 November 2009

The basic physics of landslides is the same everywhere

Posted by Dave Petley

Whilst landslides come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the fundamental physics that controls material deformation on slopes is the same everywhere. I was reminded of this truism this week when Andrew Giles pointed out a large rockslide that occurred a few days ago, blocking Interstate 40 at Pigeon Gorge in North Carolina, USA. The Citizen-times.com website has a nice report and images of the slide:



The images reminded me very strongly of the 2003 Bukit Lanjan landslide, thousands of kilometres away in Malaysia (image from CKC Malaysia):