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Effects of bedrock anisotropy on hillslope failure in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya: an insight from physical and numerical models

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Abstract

This study investigates the role of bed-material anisotropy in triggering landslides in metamorphic terrains of the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya. The initial disposition of foliation (planar anisotropy) with respect to the hillslopes is found to be a crucial parameter in controlling the scale of landslides. Hillslopes with foliation dipping into the surface slope are mostly affected by deeper-seated larger-scale landslides, as compared with those occurring on hills with down slope-dipping foliations. To verify our field observations, we performed scaled slope–failure experiments in a tilted sandbox, simulating the foliation anisotropy in analogue models. Sand–mica beds with the anisotropy planes dipping into the surface slope developed shear localisation along deep-penetrating listric zones, leading to slope failure in the form of down-sliding blocks of large dimensions. In contrast, models with anisotropic planes dipping down slope produced failure zones restricted to the shallow level. The narrow failure zones in the latter case had little tendency to grow in depth but propagated up the hillslope direction. Using Drucker–Prager’s failure criterion, we also ran experiments with finite element models to substantiate the contrasting effects of bed anisotropy on hillslope failure processes.

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Acknowledgements

CSIR, India, is gratefully acknowledged for providing a research fellowship to SR. AB thanks DST, India, for awarding the INSPIRE AORC fellowship. A part of this study has been supported by the SERB project, and J. C. Bose Fellowship of DST, India, awarded to NM. SM acknowledges an SDF grant from GNS Science. The manuscript benefited from critical comments by Mauri and Eileen McSavney. We thank the two anonymous reviewers and the Editor for their insightful, thought-provoking and thorough reviews.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geotechnical Engineering Division, SRK Mining Services (India) Pvt Ltd, CE 106, Kolkata-64, India

    Sujit Roy

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavapur University, Kolkata-32, India

    Amiya Baruah & Nibir Mandal

  3. Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS), 1 Fairway Drive Avalon, 5010, Wellington, New Zealand

    Santanu Misra

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  1. Sujit Roy
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Correspondence to Santanu Misra.

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Roy, S., Baruah, A., Misra, S. et al. Effects of bedrock anisotropy on hillslope failure in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya: an insight from physical and numerical models. Landslides 12, 927–941 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-014-0513-x

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