4 March 2019

Thanpal, Kashmir: three videos of the same massive rock slope failure

Posted by Dave Petley

Thanpal, Kashmir: three videos of the same massive rock slope failure

Three different videos have been posted on Youtube showing a very large, very dramatic rockslope failure near to Thanpal Dam in the Indian controlled portion of Kashmir. The landslide, which occurred on 2nd March 2019, has been associated with a period of heavy rainfall across the region, which has led to substantial damage.  This first video gives a head on view of the landslide as it developed:-

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Interestingly, it shows two phases of movement of the landslide, with the second phase being a failure in the crown of the slope that triggered further sliding downhill:-

Thanpal landslide

The large rockslope failure near to Thanpal Dam in Kashmir. Still from a video uploaded to Youtube

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The second video shows the same landslide from a more oblique perspective:-

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It shows a longer sequence of the failure, and also captures the way in which the landslide mobilises the existing debris pile in the valley, causing it to shount across sthe channel and then inducing a displacement wave:-

Thanpal rockslide

The mobilisation of debris in the channel, and the development of a displacement wave, by the large rockslope failure near to Thanpal Dam in Kashmir. Still from a video uploaded to Youtube

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The third video gives a perspective that is similar to the second, but the orientation of the camera means that molre of the failure is seen.  This video captures the mobilisation of the valley floor debris even better, and also gives a nice perspective of the wave as it propagates down the channel:-

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Unsurprisingly the road is now blocked.  There must be a strong suspicion here that this rockslope failure has been caused by cutting of the slope  for the road. As such it is yet another example of inadequate highway engineering causing loss of infrastructure and serious, permanent environmental damage.  It is completely unnecessary.