A procedure to locate slip surfaces beneath active landslides using surface monitoring data

Accurate determination of the slip surface profile beneath a landslip is difficult and costly using traditional methods, yet such knowledge is essential for stability analysis and for the design of remedial works. The technique presented here utilises measurements of surface displacements to predict the position and shape of the underlying slip surface. The proposed method has been tested in model studies of all major classes of landslip and on three large landslips. Results indicate that, from a knowledge of ground surface displacements alone, the position of the slip surface can be predicted to within 2% of the distance between movement monitoring stations on the ground surface.