Mam tor landslide case study

The landslide is easy to access and exhibits classic text-book landslide features so is a good landslide for geologists, geomorphologists, geographers and engineers to study. It is National Landslide Database ID 5481/1.

The landslide (Figure 7) itself is over 4000 years old and is a rotational landslide which has developed into a large debris flow at its toe (Waltham and Dixon, 2000). It is over 1000 m from backscarp to toe, has a maximum thickness of 30-40 m and the backscarp is over 70 m high.

The summit of Mam Tor is ringed by the remains of a great ditch and rampart of a once great Iron Age hillfort but it is also famous for its large landslide (Figure 1). The landslide is easy to access and exhibits classic text-book landslide features so is a good landslide for geologists, geomorphologists, geographers and engineers to study.

Both the main upper mass of landslide blocks and the debris toe move more slowly over basal shears at lower angles of dip. Deep drainage of the central part of the landslide would be the most effective means of stabilization, but may not totally eliminate movement.