Introduction

The Government of Indonesia faced the situations where they

need to start limiting the construction of power plants that use fuel oil. To
resolve this issue, electric power development using geothermal energy is
one of the best solution considering the potential of geothermal energy in
Indonesia covers 40% of the world's geothermal potential.
Introduction
Kamojang area is the first Indonesian geothermal field that has been producing electricity since 1983. As many other
geothermal fields in Indonesia, Kamojang area is located in high relief volcanic terrain where landslides frequently occur.

Hydrothermal fluids passing through the host rock are changing its composition by adding, removing, or redistributing
components under certain temperature, pressure and chemical conditions and generate hydrothermal altered rocks. This
change from rock to soil-like material has a considerable impact on the slope stability.

In addition, weathering effects further reduce the strength properties of the slope and slope failure can occur, especially
during high precipitation events.

Hydrothermal alteration lead to the formation of clay minerals e.g kaolinite, halloysite, and smectite. Clays of the smectite
group are produced by the transformation of volcanic glass under the action of thermal fluids. Newly formed minerals from
the smectite group cause a significant decrease of the strength properties,especially at water saturated conditions.

The aim of this preliminary study is to compile pre-existing data and to acquire new data about the geological and
geomechanical situation of landslide events in Kamojang area and to increase the understanding of landslide mechanisms in
hydrothermal altered volcanic rocks.
Geological Situation 1

The Kamojang geothermal area lies in a 15 km long and 4,5 km wide in

volcanic chain.The volcanoes in this chain erupted sequentially from the WSW
to ENE. The volcanic chain is constituted by following succession of volcanic
complexes: Erosion stage of these volcanoes have progressively grown from
the WSW to ENE thus Gunung Rakutak is the oldest and G. Guntur is the
youngest.

The pre-Caldera units mainly consist lava basaltic-andesite and pyroclastic

rocks. These units can be divided into 9 lithological sub-units; Post-Caldera
lithology units are composed of 8 lithologies sub-units;
Geological Situation 2
This volcanic chain has been affected by a large NW-SE graben, 6 km wide
extending from Ciharus to Kamojang . The magmatic axis and the NW-SE
depression are affected by normal faults oriented approximately N-S. Two
structures have been distinguished: the first is a graben structures of 500 m
width which traces through the part of Ciharus, and the second is a fault
bundle which extent into the eastern part of Kamojang area where surface
manifestations e.g. fumarole, hot springs, mud pool occur. Most of the major
surface thermal manifestations occur at the edge of Citepus fault. Most of the
volcanic complexes exhibit circular structures.
Landslide Characteristics

Most of lithology in study area belongs to (Qvck) formation,

which consist of andesite-basaltic of Mt. Cakra products.
Another small part belongs to (Qvcbi) formation that
consists of hornblende andesite as a result of Mt.
Cibautipitis eruption. Most of landslide locations are near
faults and the rim structure.
Landslide Characteristics 2

On April 6th, 2013 a large landslide occurred on site 28, in the southeastern part of the study area within highly
weathered and hydrothermally altered hornblende andesite. Based on the landslide classification system
developed by Cruden and Varnes (1996), the movement type of the landslide in study area can be characterized
as a complex landslide.

Concerning the type of material, the landslide is an earth slump-earth flow. According to the more recent
classification system from Hungr et al. (2014) the landslide can be categorized as a rotational slide-earthflow
characterized by a circular failure plane and a transition into an earthflow.

Including both, the source and accumulation area the landslide has a total length of 330 m, a width of 90 m and a
maximum thickness of 20 m.

The basal shear zone was formed preliminary in the hydrothermal altered andesitic rock mass. Within the sliding
surface the clay-rich soil was sheared and the mineral grains were aligned along the plane in the direction of
shear. Thus distinct slickenside surfaces were formed. The sliding surface and the slickenside striations in the
main scarp area dip with 39 towards east.
Landslide Characteristics 3

This landslide was located in the upper part of one geothermal injection well
platform. The slope where the landslide occurred is close to the NE-SW
striking Pateungteng fault system. The occurrence of altered rocks and hot
springs as well as fumaroles near the fault trace indicate a hydrothermal
overprint of this area. Hydrothermal alteration led to the transformation of the
primary mineral composition into a clay-rich mineral composition.
Concerning the main scarp a width of 30 m, a length of 110 m, a mean
thickness of 10 m, and a failure volume of 33000 m3 is estimated. Between
the main scarp and the deposition area a runout and elevation distance of 330
m and 70 m was measured. Based on this a runout travel angle of 12 can be
determined.
Litology and mineralogy
Lithologically, the study area is characterized by intercalations of lava flows and pyroclastic
depositions. The basaltic andesite lava flow rocks show a dark grey color and a porphyro-
aphanitic texture. Phenocrysts of plagioclase, hornblende, pyroxene and other mafic minerals
are embedded within a microcrystalline groundmass.

The pyroclastic deposits are composed of andesitic rocks and show a porphyritic texture with
phenocrysts of plagioclase and pyroxene. Sometimes poikilitic intergrowth textures can be
observed. The groundmass consists of plagioclase, pyroxene, and small amounts of volcanic
glass. Magnetite was found as inclusions.

The andesitic rock is jointed and altered by hydrothermal processes. A transformation into
clayey, silty and sandy soil material took place. Based on XRD analyses the clay mineral
assemblage of the soil consists mainly of kaolinite, halloysite, smectite, and mixed layer clay
minerals.
Litology and mineralogy 2

According to Corbett and Leach (1998), those mineral

assemblages can be categorized as an argillic and
advanced argillic alteration type. Whereas kaolinite is
an alteration product of plagioclase, montmorillonite
(smectite) is formed by alteration of amphiboles and
plagioclases.
Conclusion
Intensive hydrothermal alteration along the Pateungteng fault and
interlinked discontinuities and weathering processes changed the
mineralogy of andesitic lava and pyroclastic breccia. The newly
formed clay minerals characterized by a high swelling indexes led to a
considerable change in the strength properties and slope stability. The
observed mineral assemblage based on kaolinite, halloysite,
trydimite, smectite and mixed layer minerals show an argillic and
advance argillic alteration type. Most probably, the high amount of
precipitation, especially during the period from December to April
may have favored the formation of the landslide. The low runout
travel angle of only 12 suggest a high water content of the landslide
material during the event.