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Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards pp 615–618Cite as

Landslide Types

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Synonyms

Landslide classification; Landslide description; Landslide names

Definition

Landslides, movements of masses of rock, earth, or debris down slopes, have observable characteristics (activity, rate of movement, moisture content, material, type of movement). Landslides with similar characteristics belong to the same landslide type.

Introduction

What can you usefully observe about a landslide? How can these observations be succinctly and unambiguously described? These are questions which have found answers in classifications of landslides. The International Union of Geological Sciences Working Group on Landslides has developed an international consensus on landslide classification which has been summarized in the Multilingual Landslide Glossary (WP/WLI, 1993b). This classification, the Working Classification, has been used in the latest edition of the Transportation Research Board’s Special Report (Turner and Schuster, 1996) to update Varnes’ (1978) widely used classification....

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Bibliography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 3-064 Markin/CNRL Natural, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    David Cruden Ph.D., FEIC

Authors
  1. David Cruden Ph.D., FEIC
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Cruden Ph.D., FEIC .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cruden, D. (2013). Landslide Types. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_344

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