Landslides and Sinkholes
slides and flow, creep. Creep are generally
FOR RAIN-INDUCED LANDSLIDE
PRONE AREAS, THERE ARE THREE
COLORS:
Yellow: low susceptibility-less likely to be
experience landslide; Be prepared.
Green: moderately susceptible; be
cautiouns.
Red: highly susceptible; Be alert and ready
to evacuate.
FOR FLOOD-PRONE AREAS:
Pink: Low to moderately susceptible. Be
cautions.
Violet: Highly susceptible; be alert and
ready to evacuate.
Impending Signs of Landslides and
Sinkholes
Landslides occur in response to a variety of
both natural and manmade triggering
events, such as earthquakes, heavy rainfall,
volcanic activity, or road and building
construction.
Landslides are a downward movement of geological
materials such as soil and rock. Landslides occur when the
sum of
downward driving forces (gravity, seepage,
earthquake forces, etc) is greater than the
sum of the resisting forces (strength of the
material, lateral confining forces due to a
retaining wall).
The general types of landslides are slumps,
rockfall and topples, mudslides, debris
slow, involve soil, and travel short distances;
Slumps can involve both soil and rock, travel
short distances and vary from slow to very
rapid.
Rockfall and topples involve rocks,
are very to extremely rapid and can travel
great distances; When debris from rockfalls
and slumps mix with water, they can
transform into debris slides that can travel
great distances.
Mudslides generally involve
saturated soils moving at very to extremely
rapid velocities and travel great distances.
Landslides can be triggered by saturation of
slope by extreme rainfall, or by vibration
caused by earthquakes by human activity.
Sinkholes are depressions or openings in
the ground surface. They are generally
formed as the result of a collapse in the
ceiling of an underground cavity or cavern.
Sinkholes typically develop slowly, but can
also form suddenly when a collapse occurs.
Sinkholes naturally occur in areas underlain
by soluable carbonate or evaporite rocks
like limestone, dolomite, gypsum, and salt.
The three types of sinkholes are: Dissolution
sinkholes; Cover-subsidence sinkholes; and
Cover-collapse sinkholes.
little soil or vegetation over the soluble
rock. Aggressive disssolution occurs where
flow is focused in pre-existing openings in
the rock , such as along joints, fractures, and
bedding planes, or in the zone of water –
table fluctuations where the ground water is
in contact with the atmosphere. They
typically develop gradually.
Cover-subsidence sinkholes tend to develop
gradually where the covering sediments are
permeable and contain sand.
Cover-collapse sinkholes tend to develop
abruptly and cause catastrophic damages.
They occur where the coverning sediments
contain significant amounts of clay.
Karst terrain is a type of topography that is
formed by dissolution of bedrock in areas
underlain by limestone, dolostone or, as in
some western states, gypsum. Such terrain
has underground drainage systems that are
reflected on the surface as sinkholes,
springs, disappearing streams or even
caves.

both natural and manmade triggering
events, such as earthquakes, heavy rainfall,
volcanic activity, or road and building
construction.
There are more variations in landslide
mechanisms and triggering events than can
be covered in an introductory course.
Therefore, the most important outcome of
any lesson on landslides is that learners
develop the curiosity and willingness to
critically evaluate what their surroundings
can tell them about landslides.
1. Bulging ground appearing at the base (toe) of a slope or
retaining wall.
2. Water breaks through the ground surface in new
location.
3. Fences, retaining walls, utility posts or trees tilt or
move.
4. Cracks appear on slope.
5. Water pipes break.
6. Cracks appear on the ground or in the foundation of
houses, buildings and other structures.
7. Doors and windows become stuck or jammed for the
first time.
8. Water appear at the base of the slope.
9. Slowly widening cracks appear on the ground or on
paved areas such as paved streets, driveways
and concreted path ways.
10. Land movements and debris downslope.
11. Outside walls, walks or stairs being pulling away from
the building.
1. As the landslide mass slowly moves
down, it pushes the ground at the
bottom or toe of the slope and causes
it to bulge.
2. Water seeping down a slope is one of
the most common sources of
landslides, and is manifested by water
collecting or emerging at the bottom or
toe of the slope.
3. Tilted vertical objects like trees, post,
and fences is evidence that a slope is
moving. A forward tilt into the prone
position indicates (as shown in the
pictures) indicates that the landslide is
shallow and translational. A back tilt
into the recumbent/reclining position
indicates that the landslide is rotational
and relatively deep seated.
4. Downward movement of the materials
near the surface of the slope results in
the formation of tension cracks on the
slope surface.
The following signs are normally caused by
ground surface movements which can result
either from geological hazards such as
landslides and formation of sinkholes.
1. Ground movements cause
underground pipes to break
2. Ground movements causes the
foundation of buildings and other
structures made from concrete to
break.
3. Ground movements result in tilting and
differential settlements in structures.
These cause hinges to be misaligned
and make doors difficult to open. These
can also cause auxiliary structures, such
as exterior stairways, to separate from
the main structure.
Precautionary and Safety Measures for
Landslides
for susceptibility
assessment of rainfall-induced landslides is
specifically for shallow landslides which
generally comprise a majority of the
landslides affecting most areas of the
Philippines.
Unlike many hazards like earthquakes,
typhoons which are regional in scale (i.e.
affect relatively wide areas), lanslides are
generally localized and site specific in scale
(i.e. the normally affect an area within the
close proximity of the affected slope). As
such, much of the responsibility for
mitigating and preparing for landslides falls
on the affected communities. The success
with which a community is able to protect
itself against the risk of a landslide hazard is
largely dependent on the resources and
capacities of the community.
Experience collected from all over the world
indicates that a general rainfall threshold of
landslides is 100 mm to 150 mm falling
within a 24-hour period preceded by 300
mm of rainfall falling over a period of 15
days. If the school or a nearby weather
station has a rain guage, this can be used
as a early warning system.
Most reference materials do not discuss
how long after a period of exceeding the
rainfall threshold is it safe to return to the
area. This is because landslides have been
known to occur several days after this
period. Tell learners about this fact and ask
them, given this situation, what would be a
Processes of the hydrologic cycle
1. Precipitation
I. Cloud formation and type
II. Rainfall
III. Associated hazards
prudent way of deciding when to return to
the area.
Different Types of Hydrometeorological
Hazards
Hydrometeorological phenomena are essential to life on
Earth. It can be both beneficial and
detrimental. Water is life and it is because of the Earth’s
hydrological cycle that we get the water we
use in everyday life, however, changes brought about by
this cycle can be hazardous as well.
Most people rely on past experiences in
their understanding and/or appreciation of
weather hazards.
Lecture
Hydrometeorology is the study of the atmospheric and
terrestrial phases of the hydrological cycle with
emphasis on the interrelationship between them. It deals
with the transfer of water and energy
between land surface and the lower atmosphere. Fig. 1
shows an illustration of the hydrological cycle.
Here, we will discuss how rain is generated, and what
happens to water when it reaches Earth’s surface.
The outline of the discussion is as follows.
2. Formation of snow covered mountain tops (not
applicable in the Philippines)
3. Melting of snow and ice (not applicable in the
Philippines)
4. Interception of precipitation by vegetation cover
5. Storage in land surface depressions
6. Infiltration of water into soil
7. Evapotranspiration
8. Recharge of groundwater
9. River runoff
Because the hydrological cycle is a cycle, it does not necessarily have a starting or ending point.

Clouds are so common that most of the time people do not pay attention to it. There are cloud appreciation societies worldwide that encourage people
to look at clouds. Cloud spotting is an activity that can be informative to the learners and teachers alike.

Clouds
Clouds are ubiquitous in our daily lives, so much so that most people don’t pay attention to them anymore. Clouds are
essential in the hydrologic cycle of Earth because their formation and movement initiates the transport of water.

A cloud is a visible aggregate of small water droplets and/or ice particles in the atmosphere above earth’s surface and they
form in the atmosphere as a result of condensation of water vapor rising from the surface.

There are 10 general cloud types and they are classified depending of their height (low, mid and high),
appearance and their corresponding precipitation (refer to Fig. 2).

The Hydrologic Cycle

 Signs of Hydrometeorological Hazards
Even though presentation of weather forecasts may appear different for various media (e.g. tv, radio, etc.), it is expected
that all media will use PAGASA as its source since PAGASA is the official weather forecast agency of the Philippines.
American Meteorological Society (AMS) definition of Hydrometeorological terminologies.
NOTE: the word ‘hurricane’ is used only in Eastern Pacific and Western Atlantic Ocean. Although it is essentially a typhoon,
this terminology is not applicable to the Philippines.