This book provides a variety of case histories; methods to identify, quantify, and mitigate landslides; and recent legal cases affecting engineering geology.

Ten papers address both empirical and analytical aspects of clay and shale slope instability. Among the topics discussed in detail are: limit equilibrium stability analysis, shear strength of clay and clayey colluvium, use of triaxial test data to evaluate viscoplastic slope movements, numerical modeling of pore pressure distribution in heterogeneous soils, rational analysis of rainfall and landslide movement patterns, the effects of hydrothermal alteration on slope stability, mudrock durability and stability considerations, and regional clay and shale slope stability problems in Italy.

This book explores these and many other related subjects. This book will be of great value to expert witnesses in liability suits resulting from flood, erosion, landslide, mudslide, or other types of natural hazard-related damage. It clearly explains the needs of an expert, the relationship of the expert to the client and the attorney, the challenges to face, and the proper orientation as an expert. Through a variety of case studies, the book illustrates investigative techniques, case and data presentation to prove "reasonableness" or "unreasonableness" of conduct and "causation." Adequacy of emergency procedures for evacuation and street closures in an area designed for and designated as a retention basin Necessity of the purchase or condemnation of flood-threatened properties due to partial blockage of a canyon by a previous landslide Widsom of providing qualified and objective engineering and geologic input to the land use planning in environmentally hazardous areas