This first lecture is an introduction to the Slope Course which covers 15 topics. In this first topic we will discuss how to classify landslip types: circular failure, mud and debris flow, shallow failures and rate of displacements.  Different types of rockfall: wedge, planar failure and toppling.  We will then present and discuss some examples from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro.  The history of Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro leads to The Slope Tale of Two Cities, in which we will discuss the effect of severe rainfall and the creation of the Geotechnical Engineering Office in Hong Kong and the GeoRio, both intended to reduce landslip risk. The second topic will show how rock joints and weathering influence the type of failure.  We will then discuss the Soberbo slide in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most complex geology and how it led to a creeping failure that took years to be understood and solved.

Learning Objectives

• How to classify a landslide according to:
  • the type of soil/rock,
  • rate of displacement,
  • the geometry of the slip surface.
• The effect of severe rainfall and the risk reduction program used in Hong Kong, China, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil