Geologic Publications for Mount Rainier

Rain induced landslides in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, India

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Author(s): V B. Maji, S S. Chandrasekaran, V Senthilkumar

Category: PUBLICATION
Document Type: Proceedings of the 2nd JTC1 Workshop on Triggering and Propagation of Rapid Flow-like Landslides, 3-5 December 2018, Hong Kong, China
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Published Year: 2018
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Pages: 42 to 45
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Abstract:
Rain induced landslides are most common problem worldwide and usually triggered when there is continuous and intense rainfall in the area of steep slopes with less permeable fine grained soils. Nilgiris is one such district in the state of Tamil Nadu (TN), India which encounters frequent landslides specially during monsoon season (October - November). This paper aimed to discuss the study related to the detailed geotechnical investigation carried out in the Nilgiris slopes. Study revealed that the soil characteristics, rainfall intensity and duration playing a crucial role in triggering these landslides in the region. One of the critical location is Marappalam, where detailed geotechnical investigation are carried out and the failure mechanism was identified based on the numerical analysis. It was found that, continuous low intensity rain for days followed by large intensity rain is the main triggering factor for the large landslides in the Nilgiris. There is a reduction in matric suction resulting in the development of positive pore pressure. This in turn reduces the shear strength of the soil triggering a progressive failure. Based on the study, it is found that, low permeable loose and soft soil possibly the main reason for large scale slope failures. Mechanism of the 2009 Marappalam landslide is investigated using landslide simulation program LS-RAPID. The failure mechanism observed in the numerical simulation conform well with the observed motion.

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In Text Citation:
Maji and others (2018) or (Maji et al., 2018)

References Citation:
Maji, V.B., S.S. Chandrasekaran, and V. Senthilkumar, 2018, Rain induced landslides in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, India: Proceedings of the 2nd JTC1 Workshop on Triggering and Propagation of Rapid Flow-like Landslides, 3-5 December 2018, Hong Kong, China, pp. 42-45.