Understanding the Chandmari Landslides

Nirmala Vasudevan, Kaushik Ramanathan, and Aadityan Sridharan

Abstract
Chandmari Hill lies in Gangtok City in the Himalayan Mountain Ranges of Northeast
India. The Himalayas are particularly prone to landslides due to complex geology
combined with high tectonic activity, steep slopes, and heavy rainfall. Chandmari Hill has
experienced a significant number of landslides, both rainfall and earthquake triggered,
during the past several decades. Recently, the Government of India commissioned Amrita
University to develop and deploy a landslide early warning system at Chandmari Hill.
During the initial phase of the deployment, we conducted walkover surveys at Chandmari
Locality, which comprises a large portion of Chandmari Hill. We also extracted and tested
soil samples, drilled a 33.5 m borehole, and analyzed rock cores from the borehole. We
present the results of laboratory soil tests and use these results in mathematical models. We
examine all landslides (rainfall-triggered and earthquake-induced) recorded at Chandmari
Locality during the past five decades. Simple calculations demonstrate that when the input
parameters of the models mimic the field conditions precursory to an actual landslide, the
factor of safety of the slope is less than unity. Gangtok City lies close to the Main Central
Thrust, MCT2, which separates the gneissic rocks of the Paro/Lingtse Formation from the
mica schists of the Daling Formation. Our field investigations revealed that at Chandmari
Locality, gneissic rock overlies highly weathered mica schist. We postulate that surface
runoff infiltrates through fractures in the overlying gneiss and results in an extrusion of the
finer micaceous material, leading to subsidence which is routinely observed during the
monsoon season. During torrential rains, rainwater infiltration causes the sliding of the soft
micaceous bands underlying the gneissic rock, leading to rockslides at the hill. We suggest
that similar processes are responsible for the frequent and widespread occurrences of
landslides and subsidence observed throughout the region.

N. Vasudevan (&)
Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications,
Amrita School of Engineering,
Department of Physics, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University,
Amritapuri-690 525, India
e-mail: nirmalav@am.amrita.edu
K. Ramanathan
Department of Civil Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University,
Coimbatore-641 112, India
A. Sridharan
Deparment of Physics, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences,
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amrita University,
Amritapuri-690 525, India
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 199
M. Mikoš et al. (eds.), Advancing Culture of Living with Landslides,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-53483-1_23
200



Keywords


Landslide Subsidence Chandmari
Thr ust (MCT) Slope stability
Introduction
Chandmari Hill (27°20’ N, 88°37’ E, elevation 2200 m,
Fig. 1) is located in Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim State
in Northeast India (Fig. 2), and is part of the Inner
Himalayan Mountain Ranges. The Himalayas are
particularly prone to landslides due to complex geology
combined with high tectonic activity, steep slopes, heavy
rainfall, and poorly planned and executed human activities.
Chandmari Hill has experienced a significant number of
landslides, both rainfall and earthquake induced, during the
past several decades. The most disastrous landslide occurred
on 8/9 June 1997, and was triggered by 211 mm of
rainfall in 4 h (Dubey et al. 2005). Water infiltrated through
fractured rock and caused the sliding of soft micaceous
bands underlying hard gneissic rock. The rock slide led to
the removal of the rocky toe support and resulted in a debris
slide of the supersaturated soil overburden. Eight people
were killed in the landslide, and a school complex, a temple,
a government vehicle workshop, and a large number of
parked vehicles were damaged (Ghoshal et al. 1998;
Basu and De 2003).
We had earlier developed and deployed a wireless sensor
network-based early warning system to monitor the
Anthoniar Colony Landslide in South India (Ramesh
and Vasudevan 2012). The system has been in successful
operation since 2009. Recently, the Government of India
sanctioned the deployment of a similar system at Chandmari
Hill aimed at providing early warnings of potential
landslides to the local inhabitants.
Fig. 1 The Chandmari Hill with the scarp of the 1997 landslide
photographed on 2 June 2015
N. Vasudevan et al.





Himalayas Sikkim Gangtok Main Central
We have phased the deployment at Chandmari Hill in two
stages: a pilot deployment that has been completed, and a
full-scale deployment that shall commence shortly. During
the pilot deployment, walkover surveys were conducted, and
a 1:1000 scale topographic map and a longitudinal profile of
the landslide area were prepared. Soil samples were
collected, and geotechnical tests were later performed at
our university laboratories. Geophones and a weather
station were installed on the hill. A 33.5 m borehole was
drilled into rock, samples were extracted and analyzed, and
piezometers and inclinometers were installed at different
depths. In the full-scale deployment, we will similarly
instrument several other areas of Chandmari Hill so that
the region can be adequately monitored.
In the interim, we are using information obtained during
the pilot deployment to deepen our understanding of the
landslide processes at Chandmari Hill (Vasudevan et al.
2016). In this paper, we examine all of the landslides and
occurrences of subsidence recorded during the past fifty
years at Chandmari Locality, which forms a large portion of
Chandmari Hill. Rainwater infiltration and subsequent
build-up of pore pressure are modelled after the method
proposed by Iverson (2000). The factors of safety are
estimated using infinite slope stability analyses. For the
earthquake-induced landslide, attenuation relations specific
to the Himalayan Region provide the peak ground acceler-
ation, while Newmark’s (1965) sliding block procedure is
used to compute the seismic factor of safety. Additionally,
the rock slides and occurrences of subsidence are explained
based on our field studies and borehole investigations.
Fig. 2 India (in light yellow), Sikkim State (in coral orange), Gangtok
City (in blue), Chandmari Hill (location indicated by the arrow)
Understanding the Chandmari Landslides 201

Gangtok

Fig. 3 General geology and tectonics of the Indian arc with the pushed up and over the rocks on the other side. Chandmari Hill lies
mountain chains and the various thrust faults: MFT, MBT, and MCT in Gangtok City, and Chandmari Locality (the focus of this paper)
(Gupta and Gahalaut 2014). In the above figure, the black triangles constitutes a large portion of Chandmari Hill. Inset: The subduction of
indicate thrust faults; the rocks at the base of the triangles have been the Indian Plate under the Eurasian Plate

The Chandmari Landslides

Geologic Setting Paro Gneiss

Chandmari Hill lies in the Inner Himalayas. The

Lingtse
Himalayas arise from the subduction of the Indian Gneiss
Tectonic Plate under the Eurasian Plate (Fig. 3, inset), and
comprise several parallel mountain chains stretching
Daling Group
along 2400 km-long arcs.
Gangtok
Moving north from the Indo-Gangetic plains (Fig. 3), we
first encounter the Main Frontal Thrust, MFT, which sepa- Darjeeling/
Kanchenjunga
rates the plains from the Siwaliks, or Outer Himalayas. Gneiss
Further north, the Main Boundary Thrust, MBT, separates
the Siwaliks from the Inner Himalayas, which are also
Gondwana/
known as the Lesser, Lower, Middle, or Mahabharata Buxa
Himalayas. Next in sequence is the Main Central Thrust Formation
(MCT) zone comprising the MCT3, or Ramgarh Thrust
(RT), the MCT2, and the MCT1, followed by the Greater, Siwalik
Higher, or Himadri Himalayas. These thrust zones and Formation
mountain chains are depicted in Fig. 3.
Chandmari Hill in northeast Gangtok City lies close to
the MCT2 (Fig. 4), which separates the lower (greenschist)
grade Daling Formation from the higher (amphibolite) grade
Lingtse and Paro gneisses. The Daling Group consists of Fig. 4 Sikkim Himalayas (Bhattacharyya 2010); Gangtok City is
highly foliated metamorphic rocks such as phyllites and colored in light blue
202 N. Vasudevan et al.

around 22 °C in the summer; snowfall is extremely rare.

The region is seismically active with several thrust and
strike-slip faults, and earthquake-induced landslides have
occurred in the past.

Chandmari
Gangtok
Roro Chu
Ranikhola
Tathangchen
0 1720
meters
Fig. 5 Gangtok City, Chandmari and Tathangchen localities, Rani-
khola and Roro Chu streams
schists intercalated with quartzites (Roy et al. 2015). The
Lingtse gneisses are biotite-bearing orthogneisses with
prominent feldspar augen, while the Paro gneisses are gar-
netiferous biotite-staurolite-muscovite-bearing paragneisses
(Bhattacharyya 2010; Anbarasu et al. 2010).
Gangtok City is flanked by two streams: the Roro Chu
to its east bordering Chandmari Hill, and the Ranikhola to its
west (Fig. 5). The two streams meet at Ranipul in Gangtok
City and flow south as the main Ranikhola River. Gangtok
receives an annual rainfall of 3500 mm (Table 1) with
torrential rains during the monsoon season; the city has
witnessed several rainfall-triggered landslides. The mean
temperature ranges from around 4 °C in the winter to
Landslide History
Subsidence was first observed at Chandmari Locality in
1966 and recurred during subsequent monsoon seasons
(Rawat 2005). The phenomenon was particularly noticeable
during the period 1975–1976, but the hill then stabilized for
a while until its reactivation as a subsidence zone in 1984
(Basu and De 2003).
Some years later, on the night/early morning hours of 8/9
June 1997, rainfall of 211 mm in 4 h triggered at least 9
landslides in and around Gangtok City, resulting in 38
fatalities and over 50 injuries. This rainfall caused a rock and
debris slide at Chandmari Locality, killing 8 people and
damaging several buildings and vehicles (Dubey et al. 2005;
Reuters 1997; Basu and De 2003).
A few years after the 1997 landslide, Bhasin et al. (2002)
reported creep movement at Chandmari Locality. Subse-
quently, on 12 July 2007, incessant rain triggered yet another
rock and debris slide that destroyed a house in its wake
(Sharma 2008). ). Next, on 6/ 7 June 2011, heavy rains
triggered two small debris slides at different locations on
the hill (The Sikkim Times 2011).
A 6.9 MW strike-slip earthquake, with a focal depth of
10 km, struck the region on 18 September 2011, and
triggered over 1196 landslides. The earthquake occur red
at (27°42’ N, 88°12’ E), 68 km away from Gangtok City.
Gangtok received moderate rain before, during, and after the

Table 1 Gangtok rainfall (mm) averaged over a 50-year period (1966–2015), India Meteorological Department (IMD)
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
1966–2015 25.1 63.4 125.3 310.4 494.3 645.6 649.2 570.3 441.2 167.5 39.4 17.3 3549.1

Table 2 Landslide history of Chandmari Locality. Column 3 reports the rain on the day of each of the landslide events; columns 4 and 5 report
the rain 1 and 2 days before each event; columns 6, 7, and 8 report the cumulative rain during the week (wk), month (mo), and 3-month period
preceding each event. Source: India Meteorological Department (IMD)
Date (dd-mm-yyyy) Landslide type Total rainfall (mm) before the landslide event Trigger/Primary cause
0 day 1 day 2 day 1 wk 1 mo 3 mo
1966–1975 Subsidence Rainfall
1975–1976 Increased subsidence Rainfall
1984 Subsidence Rainfall
09/06/1997 Rock & debris slide 211, 4 h Rainfall
12/07/2007 Rock & debris slide 72.8 21.2 10.7 155.9 500.1 1313.0 Rainfall
06/06/2011 Debris slides (2) 118.0 34.3 11.2 186.4 490.6 797.8 Rainfall
18/09/2011 Debris slide 39.3 4.1 52.1 124.8 390.3 1894.5 Earthquake-induced
 Understanding the Chandmari Landslides
earthquake (Table 2), and around 13 landslides took place
in and around the city (Chakraborty et al. 2011).
SikkimNow (2011) reported a small, shallow debris slide
at Chandmari Hill. Pertinent information is summarized in
Table 2.
Field Investigations and Laboratory
Experiments—Methods and Results
Walkover Surveys
We conducted walkover surveys at Chandmari Locality
(Vasudevan and Ramanathan 2016). The rock formation
comprised Paro gneisses (discussed in greater detail later in
this paper) interbedded with micaceous material. The scarp
of the 1997 landslide was visible (Fig. 1, also marked on the
topographic map in Fig. 6) with debris consisting of peb-
bles, cobbles, and gneissic boulders (maximum observed
boulder size: 9 m) embedded in a biotite-muscovite
mica-rich silty-sand matrix.
The area to the west of the 1997 landslide scarp was
covered with forests of Uttis trees (scientific name: Alnus
nepalensis). The trees leaned downslope indicating ongoing
landslide activity. Further visual evidence of the threat of
landslides was the tilting of a television tower located farther
away from the forest at approximately the same elevation.
That part of the hill was quite populated and housed some
important government offices.
As we walked down the hill, we saw more indications of
landslide activity, such as large cracks on the ground and rock
fragments that had broken away from the bedrock. Gabion
walls and wire-mesh fences had been constructed but were
slightly damaged by landslide activity. At one location, we
observed strata of permeable, coarse-grained soil confined
between layers of low-permeability, fine-grained soil; this
contrast in permeability might be one of the causes
contributing to land subsidence and landslides.
During surveys conducted in May 2015 just before the
onset of the monsoons, we encountered a water spring near
the crest of the hill (elevation: 1975 m) and also observed
and photographed thin water channels near the toe of the
1997 scarp. The soil was moist even some distance away
from the channels. At a slightly lower elevation of 1840 m
in the forest of Uttis trees, we observed a thin water stream
during an earlier visit in January 2015. Drainage canals have
been constructed in the lower regions of the hill; these canals
collect surface water and divert it to a nearby stream, the
Lokchu Khola. The canals contained a sizable volume of
water both during the dry season in January 2015, and just
before the rains in May 2015.
–
203
Soil Tests
We extracted undisturbed soil samples from depths of
approximately 0.6 m from two locations at Chandmari
Locality (elevations: 1749 and 1851 m, Fig. 6). The loca-
tions were some distance away from the Chandmari Locality
landslides.
The Casagrande apparatus was used to determine the
liquid limit (Table 3). Since neither the liquid limit nor the
plastic limit could be determined, we concluded that
the soil was non-plastic. Reconstituted samples with bulk
density and moisture content matching field conditions
were used to determine the consolidation properties, the
saturated hydraulic conductivities under different loads, and
the shear strength parameters under saturated conditions.
The rate of shear in the consolidated drained (CD) tests was
0.125 mm/min.
Rock Samples
During the pilot deployment, we drilled a 33.5 m borehole
for the installation of the first batch of piezometers and
inclinometers. The borehole yielded negligible amount of
topsoil (less than 10 cm) and several meters of
staurolite-garnet-biotite-muscovite gneiss occasionally inter-
calated with quartzite. The quartzite intercalations varied
in thickness from 5–20 cm. Rock samples extracted from
depths of 33.0–33.5 m were darker in color and displayed
marked schistosity, possibly due to increased biotite content.
Both intact rock samples and fractured rock were obtained
with high core recovery.
An Interesting Observation
We extracted largely intact samples; some of these rock
pieces were longer than 1.0 m (barrel length: 1.0 m). How-
ever, samples extracted from depths of 3.5 –5.0, 6.0 –9.0,
and 14.4–15.0 m were weathered to a uniform fine sand/
silt grain size. In Table 4, we present the results of dry
sieve analysis of the weathered rock material extracted
from a depth of 3.5–5.0 m (Vasudevan et al. 2016).
With the help of experienced geologists, we identified
the rock pieces as gneisses of the Paro Formation and the
parent rocks of the highly weathered strata as mica schists.
These observations are consistent with the fact that gneiss is
relatively more resistant to weathering than schist. We
submit that gneissic rock is interbedded with highly
weathered mica schist at Chandmari Locality. As elaborated
in the Discussion Section, our initial observation of highly
weathered strata underlying intact rock and subsequent
inferences may have implications not only for the Chand-
204 N. Vasudevan et al.

UTM coordinates
E-661060, N-3025510

Water spring (refer text)

Forest of Uttis trees

Scarp of 1997 landslide

Scarp of 2007 landslide

Borehole location
(red square)
Forest Checkpost

Contrast in permeability
(refer text)

Soil sampling
Television tower (Location 2)

Soil sampling
(Location 1)

Road
Stream/Canal
Culvert
Lokchu Khola Tree
Bamboo
Bush
Rock
UTM coordinates (zone 45R) Stair
E-660160, N-3024410 Buildings
Traditional houses with
bamboo-reinforced walls

Fig. 6 Topographic map of the study area. Contour interval: 5 m, surveyed area: 0.53 sq. km

mari landslides but also for many of the rockslides and sample extracted from a depth of 3.5–5.0 m using the
occurrences of subsidence common to the region. CD direct shear test and obtained c ¼ 0 Pa and u ¼ 35 
We measured the shear strength parameters of weathered under saturated conditions:
Understanding the Chandmari Landslides 205

Table 3 Results of geotechnical Elevation Elevation

tests performed in accordance 1749 m 1851 m
with the Indian Standard (Arora
2003) Bulk density (kg/m3) measured at the time of extraction 1310 1450
Natural moisture content (%) using the oven-drying method 21.3 12.7
Grain size distribution (gravel, sand, silt, clay %) 2, 58, 33, 7
from wet sieve and hydrometer analysis
Plasticity index Non-plastic Non-plastic
Specific gravity 2.46
Hydraulic conductivity (m/s) under a load of 29.43 kPa (3000 kg/m2) 1.6  10−5 1.0  10−5
using a fixed ring consolidometer
Coefficient of compressibility (m2/kN) under a load of 29.43 kPa 4.8  10−4 5.9  10−4
using a fixed ring consolidometer
Consolidated drained (CD) direct shear test
Cohesion (Pa) 0 2800
Angle of internal friction (°) 39 36

Table 4 Grain size distribution Class Diameter limits (Indian Standard classification IS 2720
<Part 4>) Percentage
from dry sieve analysis of
weathered rock material obtained Gravel >4.75 mm 0
from 3.5–5.0 m Coarse sand 4.75–2 mm 1
Medium sand 2 mm–425 lm 24
Fine sand 425–75 lm 68
Silt and clay <75 lm 7

Preliminary Analyses of the Chandmari 1. The pore pressure, wðZ; tÞ; which develops at a depth Z
Landslides and time t in response to a rainfall of intensity I Z and
duration T, can be expressed as
We modeled rainwater infiltration and the subsequent
changes in soil pore water pressure using the method pro- IZ
wðZ; tÞ ¼ ðZ  dZ Þb þ Z

½Rðt Þ for times t  T ð1Þ
posed by Iverson (2000). The method assesses both the KZ
pore water pressures that develop in response to individual
rainstorms, and the quasi-steady background water pressures
dZ : Steady state water table depth
that develop in response to rainfall averaged over a much
longer time period, such as the entire monsoon season. b ¼ cos2 a  ðIZ =KZ Þsteady
In our analysis of the September 2011 earthquake-
induced landslide at Chandmari, we computed the peak a : Slope angle
horizontal acceleration at the ground surface and applied
KZ : Hydraulic conductivity in the Z direction
Newmark’s (1965) sliding block procedure to evaluate
seismic slope stability. Finally, for each of the Chandmari pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pffiffiffi
Locality landslides, infinite slope stability analyses were Rðt Þ ¼ t =p expð1=t Þ  erfcð1= t Þ
used to evaluate the factor of safety (FS) at the time and
4D0 cos2 a
location of the landslide. Our analyses used soil properties t ¼ t
presented in Table 3 and landslide details provided in Z2
the subsection Landslide History. where D0 : Hydraulic diffusivity
2. We assumed that dZ ¼ 2 m:
Notation
The following definitions were used adopting the termi- 3. From Tables 1 and 3, ðIZ =KZ Þsteady 0:02:
nology and notation of Iverson (2000): 4. Computed from Table 3, D0 ¼ 2:5  106 m2=s:
 206 N. Vasudevan et al.

5. An expression for the factor of safety (Iverson 2000): Regression coefficients b1; b2; b3; b4; b5; and b6 corres-
ponding to the shortest period T ¼ 0:04 s were used. As
tan u wðZ ; tÞ cw tan u c recorded earlier in this paper, MW ¼ 6:9; Joyner-Boore
FS ¼ þ þ ð2Þ
tan a cs Z sin a cos a cs Z sin a cos a distance (the shortest distance from the site to the surface
projection of the rupture surface) RJB ¼ 68 km, H ¼ 1 be-
cause it is a strike-slip fault, and S ¼ 1 because it is a rock site.
c : Cohesion
The peak horizontal acceleration at ground surface
u : Angle of internal friction
cs : Unit weight of soil Ygs ¼ F
Ybr; where logðFÞ ¼ a1
Ybr þ a2 þ logðdsÞ
cw : Unit weight of water, cw ¼ 9800 N=m3 .
a1 ¼ 0; a2 ¼ 0:49; ds ¼ 0:08 (Kanth and Iyengar 2007 ,
James and Sitharam 2015).
The 6/ 7 June 2011 Rainfall-Triggered Computing the critical factor of safety (Newmark 1965;
Debris Slides James and Sitharam 2015),
 
FScritical ¼ Ygs =g sin a þ 1
Based on the description of the slides (The Sikkim Times
2011) and our 2015 topographic map of the study area, we We obtained FScritical ¼ 5:5: The static factor of safety ðFS
estimated the following: ¼ 1:3Þ was lesser than the critical factor of safety; thus, the
For Slide 1 at the final turning to Chandmari Locality, slope was unstable.
a ¼ 41.6 ; Z
2 m
For Slide 2 near the Forest Checkpost, The 1997 and 2007 Rainfall-Triggered
Rock and Debris Slides
a ¼ 43:0 ; Z
2 m
Our borehole observations indicated that gneissic rock
Computing FS using Eqs. (1) and (2), we find that at the
overlies highly weathered mica schist. Moreover, fractures
time of the slides, FS ¼ 0:97 for Slide 1 and FS ¼ 0:93 for
were observed in some of the gneissic rock samples. We
Slide 2.
suggest that during the 1997 and 2007 rock and debris
slides (Table 2), rainwater infiltrated through fractures in the
overlying gneiss and caused the sliding of the mica schist.
The 18 September 2011 Earthquake-Induced
We applied an infinite slope stability equation (Duncan
Debris Slide
et al. 1987) to the mica schist layers:
Based on a photograph of the September 2011 slide tan u c
(SikkimNow 2011), we estimated that FS ¼ A þB
tan a cs Z
a
55 ; Z
1.5 m
where A and B are dimensionless coefficients.
The static factor of safety (James and Sitharam 2015) was We assumed that Z ¼ 5 m, the depth of the first mica schist
calculated using Eqs. (1) and (2). Table 3 reports the layer. We measured the bulk density of the mica schist layers
results of direct shear tests on fully saturated soil. However, to be 1300 kg/m 3. However, there was high core loss and it
the landslide occurred towards the end of the monsoons, was not possible to determine the bulk density of the mica
and therefore, we used c ¼ 7 600 Pa and u ¼ 28 ; values schist accurately. To account for the presence of 3.5 m of
obtained from direct shear tests on partially saturated soil gneissic rock overlying the mica schist layer, a weighted
(degree of saturation S ¼ 0.8). We obtained FS ¼ 1:3. average was used to compute cs (bulk density of our gneissic
rock samples: 2 600 kg/m 3).
Seismic Factor of Safety For the 1997 slide, a ¼ 31 (Bhasin et al. 2002),
The attenuation relationship proposed by Sharma et al. and FS ¼ 0:7 ( c ¼ 0 Pa , u ¼ 35 ; Section: Rock Samples).
(2009) was used to evaluate the peak horizontal acceler- For the 2007 slide, a ¼ 50:5 (our topographic map), and
ation at bedrock level, Ybr : FS ¼ 0:3 ( c ¼ 0 Pa , u ¼ 35 ).
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi We realize that the factors of safety are unrealistically
low, but they lend credence to our hypothesis that in the rare
logðYbr Þ ¼ b1 þ b2 MW  b3 log R2JB þ b24 þ b5 S þ b6 H
circumstances in which water infiltrates through several
S
 Understanding the Chandmari Landslides
meters of the overlying gneissic rock and saturates the under-
lying mica schist, a landslide is highly likely.
Increased Subsidence During the 1975 and 1984
Monsoons
Basu and De (2003) recorded two landslides at Tathangchen
(a locality on a lower portion of Chandmari Hill, Fig. 5);
the landslides occurred during the 1975 and 1984 monsoons
respectively. We suggest that these landslides in the lower
regions of the hill caused increased subsidence at Chandmari
Locality.
Discussion
Subsidence During the Annual Monsoons
Examination of the rock samples from the borehole revealed
strata of fine sand/silt-sized material underlying gneissic
rock. We postulate that during the monsoons, surface run-
off infiltrates through fractures in the overlying rock, causes
removal of the fines, and leads to subsidence.
Further, the sand/silt-sized material was identified as
highly weathered mica schist. Since the Paro/Lingtse
gneisses thrust southward over mica schists along the Main
Central Thrust, MCT2, it is reasonable to surmise that in
many hills and mountains of this region (near the MCT2),
gneissic rock overlies highly weathered mica schist, as it
does on Chandmari Hill. We propose that leaching of the
highly weathered mica schist by surface runoff accounts for
subsidence in these hills.
Rockslides in the Region
We submit that many of the rockslides in this region occur
when rainwater infiltrates through fractures and causes slid-
ing of the soft micaceous bands underlying the hard gneissic
rock.
Rainfall and Landslides
An examination of each rainfall entry in Tables 1 and 2
leads us to believe that the daily rainfall in Gangtok City
rarely exceeds 35 mm, but on the days on which a slide
occurred, the rainfall greatly exceeded this amount. On the
day of the earthquake-induced landslide, rainfall measured
39.3 mm; on the day of the 2007 rock and debris slide,
exceeded100mm(notshownin
207
rainfall measured 72.8 mm; on the day of the 2011 debris
slides, rainfall measured 118 mm; and on the day of the
1997 rock and debris slide, rainfall measured over 211 mm.
However, there also have been days when the total rainfall
exceeded 100 mm (not shown in Tables 1 and 2) with no
slide occurring.
Modeling Landslides
This paper presents work in progress; we continue our efforts
to (1) update our information on the landslides, rainfall
patterns, and soil and rock properties of Chandmari, and
(2) refine the mathematical models used to study the Chand-
mari landslides. During the full-scale deployment, we will
drill several boreholes for the installation of sub-surface
instruments. We hope to obtain undisturbed soil and rock
samples from different depths and locations on the hill,
further our knowledge of the sub-surface conditions, and find
answers to questions that arise during interim studies.
Summary and Conclusion
We examined all recorded landslides and occurrences of
subsidence at Chandmari Locality. We conclude that
1. Surface runoff infiltrates through fractures in overlying
gneissic rock and causes extrusion of finer micaceous
material, leading to subsidence.
2. During torrential rains, rainwater infiltration causes
sliding of the soft micaceous bands underlying gneissic
rock, leading to debris and rock slides.
3. Processes similar to those described in (1) and (2) are
responsible, at least in part, for the frequent and wide-
spread occurrences of rockslides and subsidence
observed throughout the region.
Acknowledgments We thank Mr. Ranjith N. Sasidharan for helping
us prepare the figures for this paper, Dr. H. M. Iyer, Dr. R. Dhandapani,
Dr. Sreevalsa Kolathayar, Dr. P. Thambidurai, Dr. Malay Mukul, Dr.
Ganesh Khanal, and Mr. Keshar Kumar Luitel for technical discussions,
Mr. Kevin Degnan for help with technical writing and painstakingly
proofreading the entire manuscript, and Sri P. P. Shrivastav for his
support of this work. We thank the session editor, Dr. Jan Klimeš, for
reading our original submission with great care and providing insightful
comments. The Amrita University landslide projects, aimed at develop-
ing wireless sensor network-based landslide early warning systems, are
vast, multi-disciplinary efforts. The team is too large for us to name
every member; we gratefully acknowledge their help and support.
Above all, we express our heartfelt gratitude for the immense guidance
and motivation provided by the Chancellor of our University, Sri
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma). This work was funded by the
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India.
208
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