Fluvial Geomorphology: Slope Stability Home Page (2004 – 2005)

Please note that this module last ran in 2004 – 05 but still contains information of relevance for some successor modules

This section also includes

data from consolidation experiments
critical dimensions for shear box experiment
possible alternative access to software other thna lab D/E - this is being investigated, but may not be available until the slope stability practical

Details of assignment for Slopes Section includes both Course Work Items 2 and 3
Class Data from Slope Stability Practical in Week 1 of Semester 2
Previous Examination Questions

Examples of Questions from Examinations prior to 1999 with selected solutions
Examples of Previous Exams 1999, 2001, and 2003 together with selected solutions.

Potential Disaster at Lake Sarez
Links to some additonal reading. Please NOTE: You must enter the userid and password indicated to you in class. Leave the Domain Name Blank
Frequently asked questions by 2005 class during revision

Lecture Notes

PLEASE NOTE: these handouts are being updated and will normally become available in the week in which they are issued.

Reading List
Introduction and Basic Defintions

Powerpoint Presentations of Lectures covering Sections 1 and 2 of Course

Please Note that not all animations work correctly if you try to run this within Explorer. It is suggested that you download these files and run them in the normal way from PowerPoint. Please also note that this was the first year Powerpoint was used and some sections – e.g. 3 and 5 were still give using Overhead Slides

Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Flow of Water in Soils
Section 4: Shear Strength of Soils
Section 6: Stability of River Banks Second Part only

Powerpoint Lectures from Weeks 3 and 4 - Semester 2

[You can run the presentations directly, but occasionally problems may occur, and if this does happen, it is suggested that you save the presentations to hard disk and run them directly].

Self Weight Consolidation of Soft Sediments: Some Implications for Climate Studies Tovey, Paul, Yap & Tovey [2.5 Mbytes]
Development of Hong Kong Landslide Warning System [1.4 Mbytes]
The Hong Kong Slope Catalogue and Landslip Preventative Measures [7.3 Mbytes]
The Hong Kong Slope Catalogue and Landslip Preventative Measures – part 2
Quantitative Image Analysis Methods for the study of Holocene Sediments with particular reference to Continental Shelves N. K. Tovey [12.5 Mbytes]

[You can run the presentations directly, but occasionally problems may occur, and if this does happen, it is suggested that you save the presentations to hard disk and run them directly].

Practical Notes

Full Practical Handout

for WEB Accessible Papers relating to Classification and Atterberg Limits click here

Data from Experiments - These data will be available about 1 week after the practical

Assessment Details

Details of Practical Assignment for Course Work Item 2 - [this is a summary of the details contained in the Practical Handout]
Details of Assignment 3 (Semester 2)

This item of assessment will involve a choice of one out of several possible options which will include topics from both the Rivers and Slopes Section. There will be a minimum of two options for each section of the course, and details of each will appear below as they are prepared

	Rivers Section: Options for Assignment 3 Note: You should choose just one of the options in either this section or the Slopes Section o Option 1:One of the tasks outlined by Richard
	Slopes Section: Options for Assignment 3 Note: You should choose just one of the options in either this section or the Rivers Section o Option 2: A Review of Papers on Rainfall Induced Landslides o Option 3: An assessment of the recently produced Slope Stability Information System of Hong Kong This is a WEB base exercise o Option 4: A Review of Papers on River Bank Stability
Option 2	o (1) Review the recent papers dicussing the impacts of rainfall on slopes stability. There are several examples of such papers, already accessible from the additional reading page. You should critically appraise the developments, particularly drawing on points of conflict between the papers, and/or similarities in approach. Your discussion should also include how these articles appraise slope failure in similar or different ways to the classical approaches to slope stability. Your discussion should not be more than 2000 words.
Option 3	o (2) Write a Review of the recently established Hong Kong Slope Stability suite of pages now available on the WEB at http://hkss.cedd.gov.hk/hkss/ After Entry to the system - select the Slope Information System and follow links (some pages have an "Acceptance Button" at the bottom of the page). You will also find various guided tours on how to use the system. The aim of this option is for you to write a review in 2000 words of the usefulness, ease of use etc of the system. There are several methods you can explore the system and the key methods are all provided with a TOUR to get you started. Reference inf the pages is made to the Slope Catalogue number The Slope Catalogue number is of the form 11 SW-A/xxYYYY where 11 SW-A represents the the map 11 (there are 16 in all), SW is the SW section of map 11, and A is a subdivision of SW into four sections. A copy of each of the basic Maps 1 - 16 is available in the Map Collection. xx is one of the following § C for cut slopes § F for Fill slopes § R for retaining Walls § FR for Fill Slope with Retaining Wall § CR for Cut slope with Retaining Wall the sequence yyyy represents a number from 1 - 9999 Things for you to explore § use the system by reference to the Slope Catalogue Number. There are 6 reference numbers in particular you might try:- 11 SW-A/R 188 (Peel Street), 11 SW-A/R 91 (Wind Ling Street - Bridges Street market), 11 SW-A/R 65 Kui In Fong, 11 SW-A/r 64, 11 SW-A R 1117 and 11 SW-A C 398 (all in Po Hing Fong). 11 SW-A/CR 175 (Po Shan Road). All but the last of these were retaining walls/slopes which N.K. Tovey designed special preventative measures for in 19983/1984. There should be a record to this work being done in 1985 in all the records. In the case of Peel Street, the trees on the wall (see photo), were the cause of the instability, and N.K.Tovey had considerable difficulty in persuading the power that be that they should be retained. You will see the boxes designed by him so that the trees could be retained. 11 SW-A/CR 175 was scene of the major Landslide Disaster in 1972 and this information was available in the report in 2003 (see the powerpoint presentation given in lectures, slides 10 -19) Some questions § Is reference to the preventative measures shown for all the above slopes? § Is reference made to the Landslide which occurred to the right hand end of R1117 included in the report (originally R1117 was 2 walls R53 and R56 ) § What happens if you enter the old slope number? § use the Street Name - e.g. PO Hing Fong Above - say number 50-56 § use the Building Name - e.g. Bridges Street Market, Baguio Villas, Scenic Villas etc § try using the system by selecting a building name (e.g. Bridges Street market, Po Shan Mansions etc)- is the map provided by this means more informative § try to identify the information by Street Name (e.g. Po Hing Fong (50 - 56), or Po Shan Road (16 - 18). § The Hong Kong Co-ordinate System is bounded by Easting 800000 Northing 800000 at the extreme South West of the Territory and Easting 860000 Northing 850000 at the extreme North East. However, a considerable part of the area is sea, and you will not get information if you try to position over the sea. § the Graphical Interface allows you to select a particular part of Hong Kong The Report Once you have experimented with the facilities, you should be in a position to write your assessment on aspect such as § how useful the system is § how easy is it to use § does it appear to give the information required § what improvements would you suggest to the system § etc.
Option 4	o (3) Review of Papers by Lawler and others on River Bank Stability The copies of a collection of papers on River Bank Stability are held in the office of the secretary Frances Randell on floor 2. You may borrow these for up to a week. Critically review (max 2000 words) the current state of knowledge with regards to river banks stability. You may wish to drawn on other papers (e.g. Thorne and Tovey (1981) in Earth Surface Processes, and credit will be give for references to papers outside the basic collection.

Lake Sarez

NOTE: Experience shows that the UN/IDNDR sites may not always load on first attempt - keep trying!

Links indicated by * were checked in Spring 2005 – most are no longer available and have been removed. Those indicated by [√] were checked in March 2012

[√] UN/IDNDR Interagency Risk Assessment Mission to Lake Sarez
[√] Satellite images of the Lake
[√] Lake Sarez and Usoi Dam
[√] U.S. Water News Online Article March 1998
[√] Details from Consultant appointed to monitor Lake Sarez - 2nd August 2000
[√] Report of 7th November 2002 suggests hazard may not be as severe as first thought.

This page is maintained by Keith Tovey (e-mail: k.tovey@uea.ac.uk).