A walkover survey of the Oxwich Bay landslide

A walk over survey was carried out on the 1st January 2010 on a landslide that occurred within a disused quarry at Oxwich Bay on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales. The landslide was classified as a rock fall, approximately 50 metres in length and 30 metres in width. The slide material consisted of large (up to 6 metres x 6 metres) blocks of limestone from the Oxwich Head Limestone Formation. The cause of the slope failure was probably due to water penetrating fractures in the limestone cliff. During periods of cold weather, this water has frozen and then thawed and expanded, increasing the in situ stress acting in the fracture and causing the rock to fail.