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Abstract
Chandmari Hill lies in Gangtok City in the Himalayan Mountain Ranges of Northeast
India. The Himalayas are particularly prone to landslides due to complex geology
combined with high tectonic activity, steep slopes, and heavy rainfall. Chandmari Hill has
experienced a significant number of landslides, both rainfall and earthquake triggered,
during the past several decades. Recently, the Government of India commissioned Amrita
University to develop and deploy a landslide early warning system at Chandmari Hill.
During the initial phase of the deployment, we conducted walkover surveys at Chandmari
Locality, which comprises a large portion of Chandmari Hill. We also extracted and tested
soil samples, drilled a 33.5 m borehole, and analyzed rock cores from the borehole. We
present the results of laboratory soil tests and use these results in mathematical models. We
examine all landslides (rainfall-triggered and earthquake-induced) recorded at Chandmari
Locality during the past five decades. Simple calculations demonstrate that when the input
parameters of the models mimic the field conditions precursory to an actual landslide, the
factor of safety of the slope is less than unity. Gangtok City lies close to the Main Central
Thrust, MCT2, which separates the gneissic rocks of the Paro/Lingtse Formation from the
mica schists of the Daling Formation. Our field investigations revealed that at Chandmari
Locality, gneissic rock overlies highly weathered mica schist. We postulate that surface
runoff infiltrates through fractures in the overlying gneiss and results in an extrusion of the
finer micaceous material, leading to subsidence which is routinely observed during the
monsoon season. During torrential rains, rainwater infiltration causes the sliding of the soft
micaceous bands underlying the gneissic rock, leading to rockslides at the hill. We suggest
that similar processes are responsible for the frequent and widespread occurrences of
landslides and subsidence observed throughout the region.
N. Vasudevan (&)
Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications,
Amrita School of Engineering,
Department of Physics, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University,
Amritapuri-690 525, India
e-mail: nirmalav@am.amrita.edu
K. Ramanathan
Department of Civil Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University,
Coimbatore-641 112, India
A. Sridharan
Deparment of Physics, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University,
Amritapuri-690 525, India
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 199
M. Mikoš et al. (eds.), Advancing Culture of Living with Landslides,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53483-1_23
200 N. Vasudevan et al.
Keywords
Landslide Subsidence Chandmari Himalayas Sikkim Gangtok Main Central
Thr ust (MCT) Slope stability
Fig. 1 The Chandmari Hill with the scarp of the 1997 landslide Fig. 2 India (in light yellow), Sikkim State (in coral orange), Gangtok
photographed on 2 June 2015 City (in blue), Chandmari Hill (location indicated by the arrow)
Understanding the Chandmari Landslides 201
Gangtok
Fig. 3 General geology and tectonics of the Indian arc with the pushed up and over the rocks on the other side. Chandmari Hill lies
mountain chains and the various thrust faults: MFT, MBT, and MCT in Gangtok City, and Chandmari Locality (the focus of this paper)
(Gupta and Gahalaut 2014). In the above figure, the black triangles constitutes a large portion of Chandmari Hill. Inset: The subduction of
indicate thrust faults; the rocks at the base of the triangles have been the Indian Plate under the Eurasian Plate
Chandmari
Landslide History
Gangtok
Subsidence was first observed at Chandmari Locality in
Roro Chu
1966 and recurred during subsequent monsoon seasons
Ranikhola (Rawat 2005). The phenomenon was particularly noticeable
Tathangchen during the period 1975–1976, but the hill then stabilized for
a while until its reactivation as a subsidence zone in 1984
0 1720
(Basu and De 2003).
meters
Some years later, on the night/early morning hours of 8/9
June 1997, rainfall of 211 mm in 4 h triggered at least 9
landslides in and around Gangtok City, resulting in 38
Fig. 5 Gangtok City, Chandmari and Tathangchen localities, Rani- fatalities and over 50 injuries. This rainfall caused a rock and
khola and Roro Chu streams debris slide at Chandmari Locality, killing 8 people and
damaging several buildings and vehicles (Dubey et al. 2005;
schists intercalated with quartzites (Roy et al. 2015). The Reuters 1997; Basu and De 2003).
Lingtse gneisses are biotite-bearing orthogneisses with A few years after the 1997 landslide, Bhasin et al. (2002)
prominent feldspar augen, while the Paro gneisses are gar- reported creep movement at Chandmari Locality. Subse-
netiferous biotite-staurolite-muscovite-bearing paragneisses quently, on 12 July 2007, incessant rain triggered yet another
(Bhattacharyya 2010; Anbarasu et al. 2010). rock and debris slide that destroyed a house in its wake
Gangtok City is flanked by two streams: the Roro Chu (Sharma 2008). ). Next, on 6/ 7 June 2011, heavy rains
to its east bordering Chandmari Hill, and the Ranikhola to its triggered two small debris slides at different locations on
west (Fig. 5). The two streams meet at Ranipul in Gangtok the hill (The Sikkim Times 2011).
City and flow south as the main Ranikhola River. Gangtok A 6.9 MW strike-slip earthquake, with a focal depth of
receives an annual rainfall of 3500 mm (Table 1) with 10 km, struck the region on 18 September 2011, and
torrential rains during the monsoon season; the city has triggered over 1196 landslides. The earthquake occur red
witnessed several rainfall-triggered landslides. The mean at (27°42’ N, 88°12’ E), 68 km away from Gangtok City.
temperature ranges from around 4 °C in the winter to Gangtok received moderate rain before, during, and after the
Table 1 Gangtok rainfall (mm) averaged over a 50-year period (1966–2015), India Meteorological Department (IMD)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
1966–2015 25.1 63.4 125.3 310.4 494.3 645.6 649.2 570.3 441.2 167.5 39.4 17.3 3549.1
Table 2 Landslide history of Chandmari Locality. Column 3 reports the rain on the day of each of the landslide events; columns 4 and 5 report
the rain 1 and 2 days before each event; columns 6, 7, and 8 report the cumulative rain during the week (wk), month (mo), and 3-month period
preceding each event. Source: India Meteorological Department (IMD)
Date (dd-mm-yyyy) Landslide type Total rainfall (mm) before the landslide event Trigger/Primary cause
0 day 1 day 2 day 1 wk 1 mo 3 mo
1966–1975 Subsidence Rainfall
1975–1976 Increased subsidence Rainfall
1984 Subsidence Rainfall
09/06/1997 Rock & debris slide 211, 4 h Rainfall
12/07/2007 Rock & debris slide 72.8 21.2 10.7 155.9 500.1 1313.0 Rainfall
06/06/2011 Debris slides (2) 118.0 34.3 11.2 186.4 490.6 797.8 Rainfall
18/09/2011 Debris slide 39.3 4.1 52.1 124.8 390.3 1894.5 Earthquake-induced
Understanding the Chandmari Landslides 203
earthquake (Table 2), and around 13 landslides took place Soil Tests
in and around the city (Chakraborty et al. 2011).
SikkimNow (2011) reported a small, shallow debris slide We extracted undisturbed soil samples from depths of
at Chandmari Hill. Pertinent information is summarized in approximately 0.6 m from two locations at Chandmari
Table 2. Locality (elevations: 1749 and 1851 m, Fig. 6). The loca-
tions were some distance away from the Chandmari Locality
landslides.
Field Investigations and Laboratory The Casagrande apparatus was used to determine the
Experiments—Methods and Results liquid limit (Table 3). Since neither the liquid limit nor the
plastic limit could be determined, we concluded that
Walkover Surveys the soil was non-plastic. Reconstituted samples with bulk
density and moisture content matching field conditions
We conducted walkover surveys at Chandmari Locality were used to determine the consolidation properties, the
(Vasudevan and Ramanathan 2016). The rock formation saturated hydraulic conductivities under different loads, and
comprised Paro gneisses (discussed in greater detail later in the shear strength parameters under saturated conditions.
this paper) interbedded with micaceous material. The scarp The rate of shear in the consolidated drained (CD) tests was
of the 1997 landslide was visible (Fig. 1, also marked on the 0.125 mm/min.
topographic map in Fig. 6) with debris consisting of peb-
bles, cobbles, and gneissic boulders (maximum observed
boulder size: 9 m) embedded in a biotite-muscovite Rock Samples
mica-rich silty-sand matrix.
The area to the west of the 1997 landslide scarp was During the pilot deployment, we drilled a 33.5 m borehole
covered with forests of Uttis trees (scientific name: Alnus for the installation of the first batch of piezometers and
nepalensis). The trees leaned downslope indicating ongoing inclinometers. The borehole yielded negligible amount of
landslide activity. Further visual evidence of the threat of topsoil (less than 10 cm) and several meters of
landslides was the tilting of a television tower located farther staurolite-garnet-biotite-muscovite gneiss occasionally inter-
away from the forest at approximately the same elevation. calated with quartzite. The quartzite intercalations varied
That part of the hill was quite populated and housed some in thickness from 5–20 cm. Rock samples extracted from
important government offices. depths of 33.0–33.5 m were darker in color and displayed
As we walked down the hill, we saw more indications of marked schistosity, possibly due to increased biotite content.
landslide activity, such as large cracks on the ground and rock Both intact rock samples and fractured rock were obtained
fragments that had broken away from the bedrock. Gabion with high core recovery.
walls and wire-mesh fences had been constructed but were
slightly damaged by landslide activity. At one location, we An Interesting Observation
observed strata of permeable, coarse-grained soil confined We extracted largely intact samples; some of these rock
between layers of low-permeability, fine-grained soil; this pieces were longer than 1.0 m (barrel length: 1.0 m). How-
contrast in permeability might be one of the causes ever, samples extracted from depths of 3.5 –5.0, 6.0 –9.0,
contributing to land subsidence and landslides. and 14.4–15.0 m were weathered to a uniform fine sand/
During surveys conducted in May 2015 just before the silt grain size. In Table 4, we present the results of dry
onset of the monsoons, we encountered a water spring near sieve analysis of the weathered rock material extracted
the crest of the hill (elevation: 1975 m) and also observed from a depth of 3.5–5.0 m (Vasudevan et al. 2016).
and photographed thin water channels near the toe of the With the help of experienced geologists, we identified
1997 scarp. The soil was moist even some distance away the rock pieces as gneisses of the Paro Formation and the
from the channels. At a slightly lower elevation of 1840 m parent rocks of the highly weathered strata as mica schists.
in the forest of Uttis trees, we observed a thin water stream These observations are consistent with the fact that gneiss is
during an earlier visit in January 2015. Drainage canals have relatively more resistant to weathering than schist. We
been constructed in the lower regions of the hill; these canals submit that gneissic rock is interbedded with highly
collect surface water and divert it to a nearby stream, the weathered mica schist at Chandmari Locality. As elaborated
Lokchu Khola. The canals contained a sizable volume of in the Discussion Section, our initial observation of highly
water both during the dry season in January 2015, and just weathered strata underlying intact rock and subsequent
before the rains in May 2015. inferences may have implications not only for the Chand-
–
204 N. Vasudevan et al.
UTM coordinates
E-661060, N-3025510
Contrast in permeability
(refer text)
Soil sampling
Television tower (Location 2)
Soil sampling
(Location 1)
Road
Stream/Canal
Culvert
Lokchu Khola Tree
Bamboo
Bush
Rock
UTM coordinates (zone 45R) Stair
E-660160, N-3024410 Buildings
Traditional houses with
bamboo-reinforced walls
Fig. 6 Topographic map of the study area. Contour interval: 5 m, surveyed area: 0.53 sq. km
mari landslides but also for many of the rockslides and sample extracted from a depth of 3.5–5.0 m using the
occurrences of subsidence common to the region. CD direct shear test and obtained c ¼ 0 Pa and u ¼ 35
We measured the shear strength parameters of weathered under saturated conditions:
Understanding the Chandmari Landslides 205
Table 4 Grain size distribution Class Diameter limits (Indian Standard classification IS 2720<Part 4>) Percentage
from dry sieve analysis of
weathered rock material obtained Gravel >4.75 mm 0
from 3.5–5.0 m Coarse sand 4.75–2 mm 1
Medium sand 2 mm–425 lm 24
Fine sand 425–75 lm 68
Silt and clay <75 lm 7
Preliminary Analyses of the Chandmari 1. The pore pressure, wðZ; tÞ; which develops at a depth Z
Landslides and time t in response to a rainfall of intensity I Z and
duration T, can be expressed as
We modeled rainwater infiltration and the subsequent
changes in soil pore water pressure using the method pro- IZ
wðZ; tÞ ¼ ðZ dZ Þb þ Z ½Rðt Þ for times t T ð1Þ
posed by Iverson (2000). The method assesses both the KZ
pore water pressures that develop in response to individual
rainstorms, and the quasi-steady background water pressures
dZ : Steady state water table depth
that develop in response to rainfall averaged over a much
longer time period, such as the entire monsoon season. b ¼ cos2 a ðIZ =KZ Þsteady
In our analysis of the September 2011 earthquake-
induced landslide at Chandmari, we computed the peak a : Slope angle
horizontal acceleration at the ground surface and applied
KZ : Hydraulic conductivity in the Z direction
Newmark’s (1965) sliding block procedure to evaluate
seismic slope stability. Finally, for each of the Chandmari pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffi
Locality landslides, infinite slope stability analyses were Rðt Þ ¼ t =p expð1=t Þ erfcð1= t Þ
used to evaluate the factor of safety (FS) at the time and
4D0 cos2 a
location of the landslide. Our analyses used soil properties t ¼ t
presented in Table 3 and landslide details provided in Z2
the subsection Landslide History. where D0 : Hydraulic diffusivity
2. We assumed that dZ ¼ 2 m:
Notation
The following definitions were used adopting the termi- 3. From Tables 1 and 3, ðIZ =KZ Þsteady 0:02:
nology and notation of Iverson (2000): 4. Computed from Table 3, D0 ¼ 2:5 106 m2=s:
206 N. Vasudevan et al.
5. An expression for the factor of safety (Iverson 2000): Regression coefficients b1; b2; b3; b4; b5; and b6 corres-
ponding to the shortest period T ¼ 0:04 s were used. As
tan u wðZ ; tÞ cw tan u c recorded earlier in this paper, MW ¼ 6:9; Joyner-Boore
FS ¼ þ þ ð2Þ
tan a cs Z sin a cos a cs Z sin a cos a distance (the shortest distance from the site to the surface
projection of the rupture surface) RJB ¼ 68 km, H ¼ 1 be-
cause it is a strike-slip fault, and S ¼ 1 because it is a rock site.
c : Cohesion
The peak horizontal acceleration at ground surface
u : Angle of internal friction
cs : Unit weight of soil Ygs ¼ F Ybr; where logðFÞ ¼ a1 Ybr þ a2 þ logðdsÞ
cw : Unit weight of water, cw ¼ 9800 N=m3 .
a1 ¼ 0; a2 ¼ 0:49; ds ¼ 0:08 (Kanth and Iyengar 2007 ,
James and Sitharam 2015).
The 6/ 7 June 2011 Rainfall-Triggered Computing the critical factor of safety (Newmark 1965;
Debris Slides James and Sitharam 2015),
FScritical ¼ Ygs =g sin a þ 1
Based on the description of the slides (The Sikkim Times
2011) and our 2015 topographic map of the study area, we We obtained FScritical ¼ 5:5: The static factor of safety ðFS
estimated the following: ¼ 1:3Þ was lesser than the critical factor of safety; thus, the
For Slide 1 at the final turning to Chandmari Locality, slope was unstable.
a ¼ 41.6 ; Z
2 m
For Slide 2 near the Forest Checkpost, The 1997 and 2007 Rainfall-Triggered
Rock and Debris Slides
a ¼ 43:0 ; Z
2 m
Our borehole observations indicated that gneissic rock
Computing FS using Eqs. (1) and (2), we find that at the
overlies highly weathered mica schist. Moreover, fractures
time of the slides, FS ¼ 0:97 for Slide 1 and FS ¼ 0:93 for
were observed in some of the gneissic rock samples. We
Slide 2.
suggest that during the 1997 and 2007 rock and debris
slides (Table 2), rainwater infiltrated through fractures in the
overlying gneiss and caused the sliding of the mica schist.
The 18 September 2011 Earthquake-Induced
We applied an infinite slope stability equation (Duncan
Debris Slide
et al. 1987) to the mica schist layers:
Based on a photograph of the September 2011 slide tan u c
(SikkimNow 2011), we estimated that FS ¼ A þB
tan a cs Z
a
55 ; Z
1.5 m
where A and B are dimensionless coefficients.
The static factor of safety (James and Sitharam 2015) was We assumed that Z ¼ 5 m, the depth of the first mica schist
calculated using Eqs. (1) and (2). Table 3 reports the layer. We measured the bulk density of the mica schist layers
results of direct shear tests on fully saturated soil. However, to be 1300 kg/m 3. However, there was high core loss and it
the landslide occurred towards the end of the monsoons, was not possible to determine the bulk density of the mica
and therefore, we used c ¼ 7 600 Pa and u ¼ 28 ; values schist accurately. To account for the presence of 3.5 m of
obtained from direct shear tests on partially saturated soil gneissic rock overlying the mica schist layer, a weighted
(degree of saturation S ¼ 0.8). We obtained FS ¼ 1:3. average was used to compute cs (bulk density of our gneissic
rock samples: 2 600 kg/m 3).
Seismic Factor of Safety For the 1997 slide, a ¼ 31 (Bhasin et al. 2002),
The attenuation relationship proposed by Sharma et al. and FS ¼ 0:7 ( c ¼ 0 Pa , u ¼ 35 ; Section: Rock Samples).
(2009) was used to evaluate the peak horizontal acceler- For the 2007 slide, a ¼ 50:5 (our topographic map), and
ation at bedrock level, Ybr : FS ¼ 0:3 ( c ¼ 0 Pa , u ¼ 35 ).
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi We realize that the factors of safety are unrealistically
low, but they lend credence to our hypothesis that in the rare
logðYbr Þ ¼ b1 þ b2 MW b3 log R2JB þ b24 þ b5 S þ b6 H
circumstances in which water infiltrates through several
S
Understanding the Chandmari Landslides 207
meters of the overlying gneissic rock and saturates the under- rainfall measured 72.8 mm; on the day of the 2011 debris
lying mica schist, a landslide is highly likely. slides, rainfall measured 118 mm; and on the day of the
1997 rock and debris slide, rainfall measured over 211 mm.
However, there also have been days when the total rainfall
Increased Subsidence During the 1975 and 1984 exceeded 100 mm (not shown in Tables 1 and 2) with no
Monsoons slide occurring.