The classification of landslides by the BGS follows the scheme based on Varnes (1978) and Cruden & Varnes(1996). The scheme terminology is also that suggested by the Unesco Working Party on the 'World Landslide Inventory' (WP/WLI 1990, 1993).
The main classification criteria are:
type of movement (falls, topples, slides spreads, flows), and
type of material involved in the movement (rock, debris, earth)
Combining movement and material type terms enables an appropriately descriptive landslide name to be formulated. Naming can become more detailed with the addition of other descriptive details related to activity state, water content , rate of movement, etc., if known (e.g. active, complex, extremely rapid, dry rock fall-debris flow).
Only a small selection of the wide spectrum of landslide types that may develop in nature are shown here.
Vedi anche: Anatomy of a Landslide