Failure Mechanism of Symbiotic Slope of Carbonaceous Phyllite and Graphite Schist
- Proceedings
- EUROCK 2026
- Pages
- 1181-1187
- Submitted
- 15 April 2026
- Accepted
- 15 June 2026
- Published
- 12 August 2026
Summary
Abstract
Along the Kičevo-Ohrid Highway in North Macedonia, completely to strongly weathered carbonaceous phyllite and strongly weathered graphitic schist are widely distributed. Under the disturbances of rainfall and engineering excavation, slope failures occur frequently, severely restricting the construction and operation safety of the project. Taking a typical landslide along this highway as the research object, this study systematically investigates the failure mechanism of the symbiotic slope of carbonaceous phyllite and graphitic schist by means of engineering geological survey, borehole exploration, deep displacement monitoring, and laboratory and field tests. The results show that the landslide exhibits a typical complex structure of "interbedded soft and hard layers with soil-rock coexistence". The completely to strongly weathered carbonaceous phyllite is soil-like and highly water-sensitive, while the graphitic schist has smooth foliation surfaces with extremely low friction angles. The landslide develops shallow and deep shear zones. The shallow shear zone is located at the lithological boundary between phyllite and graphitic schist. The deep deformation zone is located within the fractured zone of the graphitic schist, exhibiting evidence of distributed shear and bending deformation, and plays a dominant role in controlling the overall stability of the landslide. The failure mechanism is characterized as a progressive composite failure mode of "shallow sliding zone traction and deep sliding zone control", with rainfall infiltration and engineering excavation unloading being the main inducing factors.
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References
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