Mineralogical composition of the Kostanjek landslide sediments and

its possible influence on the sliding and swelling processes

Jasmina Martinevi(1), Snjeana Mihali Arbanas(2), Sanja Bernat(2), Martin Krka(2), eljko
Miklin(1), Laszlo Podolszki(1)
1) Croatian Geological Survey, Croatia, 10 000 Zagreb, Sachsova 2, +385 1 6160 727
2) Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, Croatia, 10 000 Zagreb, Pierrotijeva 6, +385 1 553 5765

Abstract One of a key point in the investigation and

interpretation of landslides is the role of mineralogical
and geochemical characteristics of sediment in physical
and mechanical properties, as well as in sensitivity of
landslide sediments to swelling and sliding. The aim of
this paper was to represent a mineralogical composition
of sediments from Kostanjek landslide area, to see
whether or not a mineralogical composition and
geochemical characteristics of these sediments has an
influence to sliding and swelling occurrences, especially
regarding to clay minerals species like smectite clays. The
analyses were performed on 17 samples collected from
Kostanjek 100 m deep borehole (B-1) in which the four
groups of material types differ; engineering soil
(Quaternary); massive marls, (Upper Pannonian); marls
intercalated with limestone, (Lower Pannonian); varved
clay also known as Tripoli sediments (L. Pannonian
Sarmatian). Samples K1 K3 represent engineering soil,
coarse to fine grained. Samples K4 K11 represent
massive marls while sample K12 represent the marls
intercalated with limestone. Samples K13 K17 represent
thin laminated varved clays (Tripoli) recognized in two
forms: flat laminated and wavy laminated. The analytical
part were obtained by X-ray powder diffraction method
on random and oriented mounts of air dried material,
after glycol treatment and heating to 400C and 550C.
The results of x-ray diffraction analyses represent a bulk
composition of each sediment group. Predominant are
sheet silicates, followed by carbonates and quartz.
Dolomite and pyrite occur in some samples at trace
levels. Among clay minerals the most abundant is
smectite component (5070 w %) which is susceptible to
swelling. Namely, because of its characteristic structure,
in interaction with circulating solution in soil, smectite
clays increase the volume of crystal lattice and thus have
a negative impact on shear strength parameters, which
can result in the appearance of swelling or sliding.
Keywords: landslides, swelling, sliding, clay mineralogy,
smectite, x-ray diffraction, Kostanjek landslide

Introduction
The Kostanjek landslide is the largest landslide on
south western hilly zone of Medvednica Mt. and
belongs to residential area of the City of Zagreb. It is
activated in 1963. due to massive uncontrolled blasting
for mining purposes and excavation in a marl quarry at
the foot of the hills.
Geological model of Kostanjek was developed by
Ortolan (1996) and it is in use even today as a base for
design of remedial measures. According to this model,
Kostanjek is a complex landslide with three sliding
surfaces: (1) sliding surface with maximum depth of 50
meters on lithological contact between thickly (massive
marls) and thinly (marls intercalated with limestone)
bedded marls, (2) sliding surface with maximum depth of
65 meters along thin layer of clay in thinly bedded marls,
and (3) sliding surface with maximum depth of 90 meters
on the contact between thinly laminated clayey marls and
coarse grained rocks of Sarmatian. That model was based
on the correlation of data from four boreholes. The main
criteria which he used to define that model were
lithostratigraphical identification of sediments and
plasticity index of marls.
One of a key point in the investigation and
interpretation of landslides is the role of mineralogical
composition in physical and mechanical properties, and
sensitivity of landslide sediments to swelling and sliding.
Therefore, the aim of this paper was to investigate
mineralogical composition of sediments from Kostanjek
landslide area which is one of the pilot areas in the frame
of CroatianJapanese joint research project on Risk
Identification and Land Use Planning for Disaster
Mitigation of Landslides and Floods in Croatia.
Whole investigation will encompasses the following;
(a) review of existing data, (b) mineralogical analyses, (c)
chemical analyses, (d) interpretation of analytical results,
and their (e) comparison with results obtained in
engineering geological laboratory. In this paper it will be
represented the existing data carried out by Balen (1975)
and Slovenec (1989) with a new mineralogical data
obtained from 17 samples from Kostanjek borehole (B-1).

J. Martinevi, S. Mihali Arbanas, S. Bernat, M. Krka, . Miklin, L. Podolszki Mineralogical composition of the Kostanjek landslide sediments and
its possible influence on the sliding and swelling processes

Geological background
From geological point of view the landslide body is
developed within Miocen sediments. They are
characterized by great vertical and lateral lithological
diversity, mostly of marls and sandstones, as well as
gravels, clays and limestones (clasticcarbonate
succession).
Miocen sediments are covered by Plioquaternary,
gravely silty and clayey sediments with variable thickness
in the top part (0-10 m).

Miocene clasticcarbonate succession lies

transgressively on Triassic carbonate sediments
(limestone, dolomites).
In the frame of Croatian - Japanese project, in
2012. at Kostanjek area was drilled a new 100 m deep
borehole. In the borehole core the following groups of
material types differ: engineering soil (0 - 10 meters),
Quaternary; massive marl (10 - 45 meters), Upper
Pannonian; marl intercalated with limestone (45 - 60
meters), Lower Pannonian; varved clay also known as
Tripoli sediments (60 - 100 meters), Sarmatian.

Figure 1. Lithostratigraphical map of south - western part of Medvednica Mt.

The Miocene deposits of Medvednica hilly zone

belong to the south western marginal belt of the
Pannonian Basin System (PBS) which belongs to the
central Paratethys (Kovai, 2004), thereby mineralogical
composition of Kostanjek sediments is a result of their
sedimentary history within PBS. Relative geological ages
are defined on the basis of zonal fossils, among them the
most frequent are molluscs, foraminifera and ostracods
(Vrsaljko et al., 2011).
Sedimentation of Upper Miocene deposits
usually started by deposition of Lower Pannonian
Croatica Beds, alternation of thinbedded clayey
limestones and calcite rich marls, on the Sarmatian beds
in a littoral zone of the low-salinity lake (Grizelj, 2007).
The Upper Pannonian Banatica Beds, represented
by massive marls, were continuously deposited on the
Croatica Beds within the deep sedimentation basin
(Kovai, 2004; Grizelj, 2007). These deposits are covered
by Plioquaternary siliciclastic sediments deposited in
small fresh-water lakes, swamps or rivers (Paveli, 2003;
Grizelj, 2007).

Review of existing data

According to results of first geotechnical investigations,
swelling of the unloaded marl layers exposed by the
excavation was identified as a possible cause of the
damage. Several years later, in 1976, Nonveiller analysed
the incurred movements and concluded that the
displacements could not be caused by swelling (Stani &
Nonveiller, 1996). Excavation in the quarry was stopped
in 1988 after mining activities, and was identified as the
main triggering factors of the landslide.
The Ortolans Kostanjek landslide model,
mentioned above, was developed on the basis of existing
geotechnical investigations which can be summarised as
follows: engineering geological mapping from 1984;
exploratory drilling from 1931, 1972 and 1988; geophysical
investigations in boreholes from 1988 and seismic
reflection survey performed in 1989. During these
investigations some mineralogical analyses were done.
The main mineralogical analyses were performed by
Balen et. all (1975) and Slovenec (1989). They both
analysed samples from marl quarry in the toe of landslide
body. Trough many geological and paleontological

Proceedings of the 1st Regional Symposium on Landslides, Zagreb, 2013

investigations it was estimated that these marly deposits

belongs to L. Pannoninan and Sarmatian age, in which
Ortolan recognized the deepest sliding surface.
Through the microscopic observations of thin
sections Balen et. all (1975) recorded two kinds of sample
texture; (1) marl with homogenous texture and (2) marls
with visible alternation of white and gray thin layers.
White layers are enriched on carbonate component,
while gray layers are enriched on clay minerals. First type
of marl is equivalent to L. Pannonian marls (type 3),
while second one is equivalent to Sarmatian varved clays
(type 4). The marl samples consists 57 83 w% of calcite
component and 17 43 w% of insoluble residue.
According to Slovenec (1989) x-ray diffraction
pattern of insoluble residue revealed the presence of clay
minerals as main component and feldspar, pyrite,
muscovite, garnet, hematite as minor constituents.

clay also known as Tripoli sediments of Sarmatian age

(60-100 m).
Table 1. Quantitative mineral composition (w %) of whole rock
made by X-ray powder diffraction of samples from each
sediment unit according to the procedure of sample preparation
described by Schultz (1964).
sample
K1
K2
K3
K4
K5
K6
K7
K8
K9
K10
K11
K12
K13
K14
K15
K16
K17

clay
78,8
65,5
61,8
57,0
62,0
49,4
51,6
64,6
48,5
56,1
51,9
49,3
43,2
52,6
35,9
81,7
55,3

calcite

4,0
33,1
24,7
44,6
42,9
31,2
43,6
41,7
44,8
49,0
55,4
44,0
63,5
11,1
40,0

quartz
12,9
22,0
19,6
9,9
8,3
2,9
1,8
4,2
7,0
2,2
3,3
1,8
1,4
3,3
0,5
4,7
4,8

feldspar
8,3
12,4
14,5

dolomite

5,0
3,1
3,5

3,1

6,5

Table 2. Semi quantitative content of clay minerals in the < 2

m fraction of insoluble residue. The analyses were made by Xray powder diffraction according to the procedure of sample
preparation described by Schultz (1964). **** - dominant (60100%), *** - abundant (30-60%), ** - considerable (10-30%), * subordinate, ~ - traces (< 1%)
sample

Figure 2.

New mineralogical analyses (2012)

In the frame of Croatian Japanese joint research, in 2012
was drilled a new borehole (B-1) with total depth of 100
m. On the basis of lithological and stratigraphical
characteristics, core sediments were divided in to four
recognizable units: (1) engineering soil of quaternary age
(0-10 m), (2) massive marls of Upper Pannonian age (10
45 m), (3) marl intercalated with limestone of Lower
Pannonian age (45-60 m) and (4) thin laminated varved

K1
K2
K3
K4
K5
K6
K7
K8
K9
K10
K11
K12
K13
K14
K15
K16
K17

Illite and/or
muscovite
**
**
**
**
**
**
*
**
**
*
*
*
*
**
*
***
**

chlorite
~
~
~
~
~
~
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
~
*
*

kaolinite
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

smectite
***
***
***
***
**
***
***
***
***
***
***
***
***
**
**
***
**

Seventeen samples were collected from each unit in

the order represented in schematic review shown in Fig.
2. Samples K1 K3 represent engineering soil, coarse to
fine grained. Samples K4 K11 represent massive marls
while sample K12 represent the marls intercalated with
limestone. Samples K13 K17 represent thin laminated
varved clays (Tripoli) recognized in two forms: flat
laminated and wavy laminated. From third unit we

J. Martinevi, S. Mihali Arbanas, S. Bernat, M. Krka, . Miklin, L. Podolszki Mineralogical composition of the Kostanjek landslide sediments and
its possible influence on the sliding and swelling processes

collect only one sample, but it is well studied by Balen

(1975) and Slovenec (1989).
Mineralogical analyses were performed in Croatian
Geological Survey laboratory by Xray powder diffraction
method on random and oriented mounts of air dried
material, after glycol treatment, heating to 400C and
550C using a PANalytical X-ray diffractometer XPert
PRO equipped with Cu tube with the following
conditions: 40 kV, 40 mA, primary beam divergence 1/4
and continuous step scan (0.022/s).
Based on interpretation of X-ray diffraction
patterns and data processing in RockJock quantification
program (Eberl, 2003) we got quantitative mineral
composition (w %) of whole rock (Tab. 1) and semiquantitative content of clay minerals in a < 2 m fraction
of insoluble residue (Tab. 3).

Results and future activities

According to data obtained in laboratory we can
conclude that almost all samples contain the same
mineral species, but in significantly different quantities.

Figure 4. Schematic sketch of the structure of smectite

according to Grim (1968). It is composed of layers made up of
two silica tetrahedral sheets and one central alumina octahedral
sheet. Between two layers is a large space in which can enter a
large molecules (H2O, organic molecules).

Except calcite, the most common mineral

components in the silty fraction are quartz and feldspar.
Dolomite is present only in samples K11 and K16.
Among clay minerals predominant is smectite
component and its content is almost constant with a
depth. Except smectite clays in samples are present also
kaolinite, chlorite, illite and muscovite. Their content
varies with a depth.

Figure 5. Proportion of clay minerals in each sedimentary unit.

Figure 3. Distribution of main mineral components in each

sediment unit trough the depth (in w %).

We calculated average mass fraction of main

mineral components in each sediment unit.
Trough the all samples clay minerals are
predominant component, except in marls intercalated
with limestone where is equal with calcite component. In
engineering soil a content of calcite is very low because it
is dissolved during the processes of weathering, but it
shows an increasing trend with depth.

Because of the characteristic structure of smectite

clays, in the interaction with circulating solution in soil,
they incorporate the large cations, even entire molecules
that increase a volume of crystal lattice. This property of
smectite clays can have a negative impact on shear
strength parameters which can result in the appearance
of swelling and sliding events.
As next step in research we planned to see in what
extent the smectite is active. Therefore, the plan is to do
some chemical analyses, including the cation exchange
capacity (CEC) of above mentioned sediments. The
obtained chemical and mineralogical data will be
compared with data results from engineering geological
laboratory. We hope that we will be able to get some new
insights on how the certain clay mineralogy influence on
engineering geological parameters of above mentioned
sediments.

Proceedings of the 1st Regional Symposium on Landslides, Zagreb, 2013

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