The compressibility and shear characteristics of soils associated with landslides in geologically different localities—case examples from Nigeria

Abstract

Field and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission data were used to create Digital Elevation Model and geologic maps to study the roles of geology, discontinuities, elevation, steep slopes, deep valleys, and drainage patterns on the frequent occurrence of long-travel landslides along the Nigeria–Cameroon border. The undrained shear behaviors of sandy specimens from two localities with different mode and magnitude of landslides were analyzed at different stress levels and related directly to their compressibility and permeability characteristics. The weathered granitic-sandy specimens from Kwande debris avalanche showed significant change in bulk permeability and sample height, and exhibited the greatest evidence of grain crushing. This behavior correlates well with their shear response which manifested in considerable increase in excess pore pressure and drastic reduction of shear resistance. Due to grain crushing, finer grains that lowered permeability were formed at the shear zone. It is likely that the decrease in permeability facilitated the generation of high excess pore pressures leading to significant reduction of shear resistance to low values at steady state. Contrastingly, the reduction in sample height and permeability of Iva valley sands was not as significant, which also correlates with the generation of low excess pore pressure and higher steady state strengths; conditions that may be responsible for the predominance of short-travel slides in the area. The behavior of silica sands, however, which suffered higher grain crushing and reduction in sample height and permeability, appeared closer to that of the samples from the avalanche site.