The Pleistocene ice cap in the Alps was 150–200 km wide and had an average thickness of 500 m. Greater thicknesses over inner-alpine valleys caused irregular crustal depression and postglacial uplift along parallel vertical faults with throw of a few meters. The faults, although related to old tectonic lines, are thus glacio-isostatic rather than orogenic.

Abstract A number of landslide types in Canada are concentrated in physiographic regions and are associated with certain kinds of soil and rock materials, geologic structures, and topographic settings. They include (1) mountain slopes in the Cordilleran region of western Canada, chiefly steeply dipping bedded and foliated rocks; (2) valley sides in Upper Cretaceous argillaceous bedrock, mostly bentonitic marine clay shale, silty shale, and mudstone; (3) river banks and terrace bluffs in the St. Lawrence Lowland region and lower coastal regions of eastern Canada, where postglacial marine submergence and postglacial uplift formed sensitive fine-grained marine deposits; and (4) valley walls, escarpments, and deep thaw basins in the Lower Mackenzie Valley region and adjoining plains of northwestern Canada, where ice-rich permafrost occurs in fine-grained soil and weathered shale materials. Rock avalanches, massive retrogressive slope failures in argillaceous bedrock, and major retrogressive flow slides and earthflows in quick clays are discussed under six headings: (1) morphologic features, (2) stratigraphy and lithology, (3) geologic conditions affecting failure, (4) character and rate of movement, (5) engineering and environmental implications, and (6) case histories. A few other landslide types are discussed but are not presented under these headings.