24. The History of Slope Evolution – Primary Cause of its Modern Instability (by Example of the “Vorobyovy Gory” Landslide, Moscow)

Landslide processes on the Moscow city territory have been studied more than a hundred years. The study area is located in the central part of the Vorobyovy Gory, covering the area from the Moscow observation deck to the Moscow metro bridge. The length of the visually defined landslides is up to several hundred meters, and the visible width along the axial part of the landslide is more than 300 m. The volume of soil involved in the landslide deformation is estimated as 2 million m³. The surface slope, the elevation of which reaches 60–70 m, has a typical landslide terrain. The deposits of Carboniferous, Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Quaternary systems are presented in structure section.

This paper deals with the nature, mechanism, and spatial distribution of landslide processes on the Vorobyovy Gory in Moscow, based on new factual data with the consideration of the regional geological history.

This material made it possible to draw the following conclusions. Firstly, the area involved in landslide processes on the Vorobyovy Gory is characterized by larger values in terms of area and depth than it previously assumed. In the head part, where the displacement zone is located at the depths of 80–100 m, the deformations, confined to the lower part of the Jurassic deposits, have a block character. Secondly, we can talk about a combined mechanism of the development of large-scale landslide massif “Vorobyovy Gory”, including plastic flow with the forming of shaft bulging, crash with throwing, block offsets, and other types of deformations. Both primary and secondary displacements can be distinguished in this landslide massif.