Abstract
The effects of geological factors such as uneven topography and geological structures on the configuration and scale of landslides are discussed by use of case study for several active landslides. It is then shown that the length (L), depth (D) and width (W) of landslides have the following relationship: L/W=0.5-2.9, L/D=2.8-19.2, W/D=3.0-10.7
This suggests that the configuration and scale of landslides are greatly influenced by uneven surface, geological structures and heterogeneous strength of soils. In fact, the maximum scale of landslides increases with decreasing slope angle. Consequently, it is rare to have larger scale landslides in steep slopes. This is thought to be due to that a thick layer of unstable soils, which is necessary for a larger scale landslide, is unexpected to be remained for a long period of time as small collapse is frequently cased in such slopes.
