A landslide in clay shale in the north saskatchewan river valley, canada

A case study of a landslide in heavily overconsolidated clay shale is analyzed to determine shear strength by back analysis. The landslide apparently started during deglaciation about 11,000 years B.P. and is still active. The infilling North Saskatchewan River alluvium has altered the configuration of the shear zone of the landslide. The implications of errors in field data on the results were examined. The analysis was most sensitive to modelling the toe configuration and piezometric conditions. The effective angle of shearing resistance was estimated at 8.7 degrees assuming zero cohesion.