G. M. Bhat

Investigation of landslide at Sangaldan near tunnel-47, on Katra- Qazigund railway track, Jammu and Kashmir

Landslides are the most established geological hazards in the Siwalik and Murree strata of Jammu region. The prolonged rainfall in the area frequently trigger landslides and has become a common phenomenon in hilly areas of Jammu region due to over saturation of slope forming material and cause considerable damage to life and property. The landslide that occurred on the Katra-Qazigund railway track alongside of portal (P2) of tunnel-47 on 25th September 2010 at village Dharam in Sangaldan area of Ramban district caused extensive damage to buildings. The water sensitive lithology (alteration of sandstone and mudstone beds) within the Murree thrust zone has made the area more vulnerable to landslides. Most of the landslides in the area are activated mainly during prolonged rainfall due to increase in pore water pressure as a result of seepage. The present paper is an attempt to study various geological factors along with physio-mechanical properties of slope forming materials to understand their role in failure mechanism.

Geotechnical investigation on slopes failures along the Mughal road from Bafliaz to Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir, India

In this paper, the results of geotechnical investigations on the slope stability condition carried along the historical Mughal road (an important economic corridor of the state) from Bafliaz (Jammu province) to Shopian (Kashmir province) linking NH144 and NH444 respectively is presented. The basic rock mass rating (RMRb), slope mass rating (SMR) techniques (both discrete and continuous functions) with kinematics analysis was applied to analyse the rock mass and slope conditions at 20 selected sites. The RMRb results obtained reveal the slopes can be categorized into very good (5%), good (55%) and fair (40%) whereas SMR results reveal that the slopes are partially stable (50%), unstable (30%) and completely unstable (20%) with probable planar failure mode (20%), toppling failure mode (27%) and wedge failure mode (53%). The discrete and continuous SMR index reveals maximum variation in the end results within an average difference of 4.7 ±6. The kinematic analysis results support inter dependency of RMRb, SMR and critical joint-slope orientation relationships.

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping along the National Highway-1D, between Kargil and Lamayuru, Ladakh Region, Jammu and Kashmir

Landslides commonly occurs in hilly areas and causes an enormous loss iof life and property every year. National highway-1D (NH-1D) is the only road link between the two districts (Kargil and Leh) of Ladakh region that connects these districts with Kashmir valley. The landslide failure record of the recent past along this sector of the highway is not available. The present study documents landslide susceptible zones and records occurrence of 60 landslides during the last 4 years showing an increasing trend in the occurrence of landslides over these years in this sector. The landslide susceptibility zonation map has been prepared based on the numerical rating of ten major factors viz. slope morphometry, lithology, structure, relative relief, land cover, landuse, rainfall, hydrological conditions, landslide incidences and Slope Erosion, categorised the area in different zones of instability based on the intensity of susceptibility. The landslide susceptibility map of the area encompassing 73.03 km2 is divided into 150 facets. Out of the total of 150 facets, 85 facets fall in low susceptibility zone covering 43.56 km2 which constitute about 59.65% of the total area under investigation with a record of 5 landslides; 40 facets fall in the moderate susceptibility zone covering 16.94km2 which constitutes about 23.19% of the study area with a record of 20 landslides; and 25 facets fall in the high susceptibility zone covering 12.53 km2 which constitute about 17.15% of the study area with a record of 35 landslides. Most of the facets which fall in HSZ are attributed to slope modification for road widening.