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Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal

Sangrumba landslide is one of the largest and the most active landslides in Nepal Himalaya. Geologically the landslide belongs to the Higher Himalaya and consists of Pre-Cambrian biotite–garnet and sillimanite gneiss with some quartzite. The present paper aims at describing various degrees of rock w...

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Main Authors: Regmi, Amar Deep, Yoshida, Kohki, Dhital, Megh Raj, Pradhan, Biswajeet
Format: Article
Published: Springer Verlag 2014
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36011/
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12665-013-2649-8
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spelling my.upm.eprints.360112016-02-15T01:12:24Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36011/ Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal Regmi, Amar Deep Yoshida, Kohki Dhital, Megh Raj Pradhan, Biswajeet Sangrumba landslide is one of the largest and the most active landslides in Nepal Himalaya. Geologically the landslide belongs to the Higher Himalaya and consists of Pre-Cambrian biotite–garnet and sillimanite gneiss with some quartzite. The present paper aims at describing various degrees of rock weathering and their effect in Sangrumba landslide. Field study followed by mineralogical, geochemical and geotechnical analyses of the collected rock and soil samples from the landslide zone were used in characterizing weathering degree. The gneisses are intensely weathered while quartzite is unweathered. Petrographical and X-ray diffraction analyses showed that the rocks in the landslide zone had undergone weathering process with the formation of different types of clay minerals as kaolinite, vermiculite, smectite and chlorite. This was further confirmed by the Scan Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive X-ray analyses. These clay minerals drastically reduced the rock strength facilitating the extensive failure of the Sangrumba landslide. The major and trace element composition of the rock and soil samples was calculated from the XRF analyses. The geochemical analyses and weathering indexes of rocks showed that they are significantly weathered and had a major influence in the formation of the Sangrumba landslide. In addition, mechanical strength measurement of rock/soil showed that the strength drastically decreases as the weathering intensity increases. Rainfall followed by the rock type are the most dominant parameters influencing the weathering process which leads to the formation of large landslide as the present one. These findings can be used in other areas with similar geological and topographical conditions. Springer Verlag 2014-03 Article PeerReviewed Regmi, Amar Deep and Yoshida, Kohki and Dhital, Megh Raj and Pradhan, Biswajeet (2014) Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal. Environmental Earth Sciences, 71 (6). 2711-2727 . ISSN 1866-6280; ESSN: 1866-6299 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12665-013-2649-8 10.1007/s12665-013-2649-8
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
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collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
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description Sangrumba landslide is one of the largest and the most active landslides in Nepal Himalaya. Geologically the landslide belongs to the Higher Himalaya and consists of Pre-Cambrian biotite–garnet and sillimanite gneiss with some quartzite. The present paper aims at describing various degrees of rock weathering and their effect in Sangrumba landslide. Field study followed by mineralogical, geochemical and geotechnical analyses of the collected rock and soil samples from the landslide zone were used in characterizing weathering degree. The gneisses are intensely weathered while quartzite is unweathered. Petrographical and X-ray diffraction analyses showed that the rocks in the landslide zone had undergone weathering process with the formation of different types of clay minerals as kaolinite, vermiculite, smectite and chlorite. This was further confirmed by the Scan Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive X-ray analyses. These clay minerals drastically reduced the rock strength facilitating the extensive failure of the Sangrumba landslide. The major and trace element composition of the rock and soil samples was calculated from the XRF analyses. The geochemical analyses and weathering indexes of rocks showed that they are significantly weathered and had a major influence in the formation of the Sangrumba landslide. In addition, mechanical strength measurement of rock/soil showed that the strength drastically decreases as the weathering intensity increases. Rainfall followed by the rock type are the most dominant parameters influencing the weathering process which leads to the formation of large landslide as the present one. These findings can be used in other areas with similar geological and topographical conditions.
format Article
author Regmi, Amar Deep
Yoshida, Kohki
Dhital, Megh Raj
Pradhan, Biswajeet
spellingShingle Regmi, Amar Deep
Yoshida, Kohki
Dhital, Megh Raj
Pradhan, Biswajeet
Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal
author_facet Regmi, Amar Deep
Yoshida, Kohki
Dhital, Megh Raj
Pradhan, Biswajeet
author_sort Regmi, Amar Deep
title Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal
title_short Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal
title_full Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal
title_fullStr Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal
title_full_unstemmed Weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in Sangrumba Landslide, East Nepal
title_sort weathering and mineralogical variation in gneissic rocks and their effect in sangrumba landslide, east nepal
publisher Springer Verlag
publishDate 2014
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/36011/
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12665-013-2649-8
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score 13.211869

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