20 January 2022

A large rock slab topple from India

Posted by Dave Petley

A large rock slab topple from India

The video below, posted to Youtube, occurred at about 4:10 pm on 7 January 2022.  It shows a slab topple in a coherent slice of rock:-

 

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The location is reportedly the Ban Toll Plaza in Jammu and Kashmir in India, which is situated on the NH-44 road between Samba and Kunjwani.  The location is 32.838, 74.940.  It appears clearly on Google Earth.

There is little further information about this landslide, but it was associated with heavy rainfall.  The slab topple appears to be a single, surprisingly coherent, slab of rock:-

The slab rock topple at Ban Toll Plaza in Jammu and Kahsmir, India.

The slab rock topple at Ban Toll Plaza in Jammu and Kahsmir, India. Still from a video posted to Youtube.

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It is likely that the release plane was a pre-existing, near vertical joint.  It is extremely fortunate there was empty space in the impact zone.

The presence of this joint should have been picked up in the geotechnical investigations when the road was constructed.  However, sub-vertical rock joints can be difficult to detect in rock joint surveys as they do not appear on the vertical face of the outcrop.