Caoling Geopark

Caoling Dabenshan is also a flat ground slide. The gray rock formation on the right in the photo is the exposed sliding surface. This gray rock layer is often shale or mudstone. Because of its poor water permeability, the interface with the upper rock layer forms a water film due to the impermeable nature of the shale or mudstone. If there is a gap (free end) on the lower slope, once it is impacted by sudden force or continuous rainfall, it will easily cause the upper rock mass to slide and cause ground slip.

This photo is a panoramic view of the grassy landslide, taken from downstream to upstream. The relative grass ridge is a very large-scale ground slip. It can be seen from the air that there are three clear free ends, that is, the material on the lower slope of the sloping rock layer has collapsed and lost its support, which is where the ground sliding may continue in the future.

Cao Ling slip is the main phenomenon, but the surrounding rock fall phenomenon is also very common. The collapsed bamboo forest also shows that in addition to the ground slide, many rock formations have slipped. At the same time, there are collapses that are different from the direction of the slip.

In fact, there are other collapse phenomena in Caoling, which are distributed around the ground slide area, and the phenomenon of rock chipping and collapse is more obvious. These rock cuttings also cause damage to the vegetation of the lower slope. Therefore, the appearance of the strips shows strips extending toward the lower slope. These strips are mostly the collapse of surface weathered soil or rock blocks, and there are a few larger earth moving. However, compared with the whole ground sliding area, it seems very small.