Abstract
Landslides pose serious hazards for mountainous communities. Therefore, slope stability and hazard assessments are imperative for Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction (LDRR). In this study, a progressive landslide, locally known as “Zero landslide” is investigated. This landslide was first initiated on July 16, 2014, and since then its repetitive recurrence has affected a total area of 1\(\times\)105 m2. Field investigation revealed that different risk elements including a school, residential buildings, and nearby roads are threatened by this landslide. Hence, an attempt has been made for LDRR by incorporating geospatial, engineering geological, and geotechnical approaches. Further, to evaluate the stability of the present slope, finite element modelling (FEM) is used. The multi-temporal satellite image analysis reveals the retrogressive progression of this landslide. Kinematic analysis, Rock Mass Rating (RMR), Geological Strength Index (GSI), and Slope Mass Rating (SMR) methods derived results (RMR = 45, GSI = 25, SMR = 38.2) indicate that the in-situ geological condition favors the sliding process and has weaker rock mass. In the static loading condition, the FEM based stability analysis predicted lower Factor of Safety (FoS) values i.e., marginally stable in the dry condition (FoS = 1.07) and unstable in the wet condition (FoS = 0.78). The findings of the present study highlight the need to design and implement landslide risk mitigation measures prior to any major event at this particular location.
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The datasets generated during and/or analysed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to the Director, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee for giving the permission to publish this work. The first author extends his thankfulness to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, for providing fellowship under the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) scheme (UGC-Ref. No. 3511/(NET-JULY 2018)) and the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad for providing an opportunity to carry out his doctoral research. The first author also acknowledges the guidance received from Mr. Ajay Dwivedi (Sr. Technical Officer, CSIR-CBRI) and Mr. Arpit Mittal (CSIR-CBRI) during the laboratory investigations of the collected samples.
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Field data collection: SD; Conceptualization: SD, KP, SS, DPK; Methodology: SD, KP, SS, DPK; Numerical analysis: SD, KP; Writing - original draft preparation: SD, KP; Writing - review and editing: SS, DPK; Resources: SS, DPK; Supervision: SS, DPK.
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Das, S., Pandit, K., Sarkar, S. et al. Stability and Hazard Assessment of the Progressive Zero Landslide in the Kalimpong Region of Darjeeling Himalaya, India. Geotech Geol Eng 42, 1693–1709 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02641-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-023-02641-z