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J. Earth Syst. Sci. (2019) 128:86 c Indian Academy of Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-019-1106-9 Geological and geotechnical characterisation of the Khotila landslide in the Dharchula region, NE Kumaun Himalaya Ambar Solanki1,VikramGupta1,*, S S Bhakuni1, Pratap Ram1 and Mallickarjun Joshi2 1Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 General Mahadeo Singh Road, Dehradun 248 001, Uttarakhand, India. 2Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. *Corresponding author. e-mail: vgupta [email protected] MS received 18 April 2018; revised 6 August 2018; accepted 21 August 2018; published online 22 March 2019 On 04 October 2016, a severe landslide had occurred in the vicinity of Khotila village in Dharchula, region of NE Kumaun Himalaya. This landslide may be classified as typical rockslide, involving thin veneer of debris on the slope as well as the highly shattered rockmass. The slide has been divided into three morpho-dynamic zones, viz., (i) Zone of detachment between elevation 1000 and 960 m, (ii) Zone of transportation between elevation 960 and 910 m, and (iii) Zone of accumulation between elevation 910 and 870 m. The landslide had occurred at the end of the monsoon season when the slope was completely saturated. It has been noted that the area received ∼88% rainfall during the monsoon months which is about two times more rainfall during 2016 monsoon than during 2015 monsoon. Geotechnical testing of the soil overlying the rockmass, corroborate the soil as ‘soft soil’ with compressive strength of 42 kPa and friction angle of 27.4◦. Granulometry confirms the soil as having >97% sand and silt size particles and <3% clay size particles, indicating higher permeability. Mineralogically, the soil dominantly constitutes quartz, muscovite and clinochore. Though no swelling clay minerals has been observed, the higher permeability and low strength of the soil, and concentrated higher rainfall during 2016 are the main causes for the landslide to occur. This landslide has partially blocked the flow of Kali river that serve as a boundary between India and Nepal and is endangering the habitants of the Khotila and Bangabagar villages, situated downstream in the Indian and Nepalese side of the Himalaya. In order to understand the stability of the slope, finite element modelling of the landslide has been carried out that points towards higher concentration of stresses in the landslide zone, indicating that there is further probability for the failure of landslide mass. It is therefore suggested that the landslide must be monitored continuously, particularly during the rainy season and also the risk posed by this landslide must be evaluated so as to avoid any further loss to life and infrastructure in the region. Keywords. Khotila Landslide; Kali river; rainfall; geotechnical test; finite element method; slope stability. 1. Introduction Thrust belt due to its rugged and complex topography, active tectonics and a wide range of Landslides and other related mass movement climatic conditions along with heavy and con- activities are common in the Himalayan Fold- centrated rainfall during the monsoon periods. 1 0123456789().,--: vol V 86 Page 2 of 14 J. Earth Syst. Sci. (2019) 128:86 These may primarily be caused by geological, in the Tibetan Plateau has caused huge loss of lives geomorphical, anthropogenical and geotechnical and property in the Kinnaur and Shimla districts characteristics of the hill slopes and are defined of Himachal Pradesh and again in 2003, a small as the movement of a mass of material en masse landslide along the path of the Pareechu Nala, a down a slope (Cruden 1991). These occur every tributary of river Spiti in the Tibetan Plateau has year during the later part of the monsoon season caused huge devastation in the Kinnaur district or immediately after the rainy season and pose of Himachal Pradesh (Gupta and Sah 2008). Both a serious threat to the lives and property in the these events have caused a loss in terms of crores of region. A large number of mass movements, e.g., Indian rupees, besides the hardship to the locals, 1998 Malpa rockfall in the Kali valley (Kumar as the area was entirely cut-off from the rest of the and Satyal 1999; Paul et al. 2000), 1998 Okhimath country for more than 4 months (Gupta and Sah landslide in the Mandakini valley (Bist and Sah 2008). 1999), 1998 Surabhi Resort landslide in Mussoorie The Kumaun Himalaya located in the eastern township (Gupta and Ahmed 2007), 2001 Budha part of Uttarakhand state shares its borders with Kedar landslide in the Balganga valley (Sah et al. Nepal having Kali river as the international bound- 2003), 2003 Varunavat Parvat landslide in the Bha- ary. Numerous landslides have known to occur in girathi valley (Gupta and Bist 2004; Sarkar et al. the upper part of the Kali river posing a serious 2011), Kaliasaur landslide in district Rudraprayag threat to the villages and infrastructures of both (Kimothi et al. 2010; Bisht and Pandey 2016), the countries located along both the sides of the 2015 Balia Nala landslide in Nainital township river. Many of these landslides go unnoticed and (Gupta et al. 2016b) and numerous landslides in unreported and only landslides posing a threat to the Uttarakhand Himalaya during 2013 Kedarnath the human habitation are being reported and stud- disaster (Martha et al. 2015; Allen et al. 2016) ied. One example of such catastrophic landslide are some of the examples of recent landslides that that occurred in the area is the Malpa landslide struck in the Garhwal and Kumaun Himalaya caus- that occurred in the upper part of the Kali river in ing huge loss of lives and property in the region. It August 1998, has killed about 220 people includ- is estimated that after every 2 km, there is a chronic ing 60 pilgrims en route to Kailash–Mansarovar in landslide in the Himalayan terrain (Valdiya 1980). Tibet (Paul et al. 2000). Although triggered mainly by earthquakes or During October 2016, a severe landslide had immense rainfall, the landslides in the Himalayan occurred on the SE facing slope on the right flank of terrain are mainly caused by varying propor- the Kali river near Khotila village. It is endanger- tions of geological, geomorphological and geotech- ing the local habitants of the village and also the nical characteristics of slope, including the anthro- habitants of Bangabagar village located in Nepal pogenic activities (Hewitt 1988; Bartarya and opposite to the landslide face. The exact causes Valdiya 1989; Choubey et al. 1992; Pachauri and for the occurrence of this landslide are unknown. Pant 1992; Gerrard 1994; Bartarya et al. 1996; Although the total annual rainfall during the year Panikkar and Subramanyan 1996; Sah and Mazari 2016 was normal, the area received higher and 1998; Sati et al. 1998; Gupta et al. 1999, 2016b; concentrated rainfall during the preceding months Rautela and Thakur 1999; Naithani et al. 2002; of the occurrence of the landslide. In order to Saha et al. 2002; Gupta and Bist 2004; Neau- understand the causes and the triggering factors pane and Achet 2004; Pant and Khayingshing for this landslide, detailed surface geological, min- 2005; Owen et al. 2008; Anbalagan et al. 2008; eralogical and geotechnical characteristics of the Dahal et al. 2009; Anbarasu et al. 2010; Kanungo slope along with the analysis of daily rainfall data et al. 2013; Sharma and Singh 2013; Kumar et al. have been carried out. Further, modelling of the 2014; Jamir et al. 2017). As no two landslides are slope exhibiting the landslide has also been done identical in their causes and triggering factors, it to understand its possible failure conditions in the is therefore imperative to study each and every future. landslide to plan for its mitigation measures and strategies for the further development of the area. It has been reported in the past that land- 2. Study area slides across the international borders have caused enormous loss to the Indian sub-continent, e.g., a The study area is located at longitude 80◦3300E landslide in 2000 along the path of the Satluj river and latitude 29◦5100Nandliesinthe J. Earth Syst. Sci. (2019) 128:86 Page 3 of 14 86 3. Physiographic setting Geologically, the study area and its environs con- stitute the rocks belonging to the Mandhali For- mation of the Lesser Himalaya (Valdiya 1980). The dominant country rocks are dolomitic lime- stone, calcareous slates with subordinate varie- gated shales and pyritic phyllites. These rocks are highly folded, faulted, jointed and fractured. These rocks are overlain by the rocks of the Berinag For- mation along Berinag Thrust having quartzites as the dominant rock type, and the Chipplakote Crys- tallines along the Chipplakote Thrust consisting dominantly of schist and gneiss. The rocks of the Mandhali Formation are underlain by the Deoban Formation consisting dominantly of limestone and carbonaceous slates. Further, to the south of the Deoban Formation lies the Rautgara Formation consisting dominantly of fine- to medium-grained muddy quartzite and slates (figure 2). In the vicinity of the crown of the landslide, the Mandhali Formation consisting of thinly foliated slate with thin bands of black shales along with thin laminated carbonaceous silty layers trending E–W and dipping 32◦ towards north are exposed (figure 3a). Whereas, near Dharchula, in the Kali river section, E–W trending slates dipping steeply at an angle of 80–85◦ towards the south are exposed Figure 1. Location map of the Khotila landslide. (figure 3b). This sudden change in the attitude of beds, along with highly crushed rocks along the Lasku Gad (figure 3c) might be due to E–W trend- ing fault hereafter called ‘Lasku Gad Fault’. The Pithoragarh district of the Kumaun Himalaya. rocks along the Lasku Gad in Nepal Himalaya, It is located on the right bank of the Kali opposite the Khotila landslide, are characterised river that flows at an elevation of ∼870 m by the presence of a large number of outcrop- above msl in the study area.

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