This glossary has been established by the he International Geotechnical Societies= UNESCO Working Party on World Landslide Inventory (abbreviated WP/WLI) and it was initiated at the 5^th International Symposium on Landslides (Lausanne, 1988) to assist the establishment of a detailed list of the World=s landslides. The Working Party has informally defined a landslide (Cruden, 1991) as, AA movement of a mass of rock, earth or debris down a slope@. Ground subsidence and snow avalanches are beyond its scope but debris flows, for instance, interest the Party.

To ensure adequate communication between Groups working in different languages, the Working Party has drawn on its membership to translate the basic terms used in its Report and Suggested Methods into Chinese, French, German, Spanish, and Russian from agreed English texts (see WWPWLI 1993). This document contains the English and French versions of the glossary. It has been modified and adapted from the Multilingual Landslide Glossary (WWPWLI, 1993). The user, at this time, is referred to this publication for details on the morphology and the related terms. The English version was produced by D.M. Cruden and the French one by G. Lefebvre (WWPWLI 1993)

1. Crown: The practically undisplaced material still in place and adjacent to the highest parts of the main scarp (2).
2. Main scarp: A steep surface on the undisturbed ground at the upper edge of the landslide, caused by movement of the displaced material (13) away from the undisturbed ground. It is the visible part of the surface of rupture (10).

3. Top: The highest point of contact between the displaced material (13) and the main scarp (2).
4. Head: The upper parts of the landslide along the contact between the displaced material and the main scarp (2).
5. Minor scarp: A steep surface on the displaced material of the landslide produced by differential movements within the displaced material.
6. Main body: The part of the displaced material of the landslide that overlies the surface of rupture (10) between the main scarp (2) and the toe of the surface of rupture (11).
7. Foot: The portion of the landslide that has moved beyond the toe of the surface of rupture (11) and overlies the original ground surface (20).
8. Tip: The point of the toe (9) farthest from the top (3) of the landslide.
9. Toe: The lower, usually curved margin of the displaced material of a landslide, it is the most distant from the main scarp (2).
10. Surface of rupture: The surface which forms (or which has formed) the lower boundary of the displaced material (13) below the original ground surface (20).
11. Toe of surface of rupture: The intersection (usually buried) between the lower part of the surface of rupture (10) of a landslide and the original ground surface (20).
12. Surface of separation: The part of the original ground surface (20) overlain by the foot (7) of the landslide.
13. Displaced material: Material displaced from its original position on the slope by movement in the landslide. It forms both the depleted mass (17) and the accumulation (18).
14. Zone of depletion: The area of the landslide within wich the displaced material lies below the original ground surface (20).
15. Zone of accumulation: The area of the landslide within which the displaced material lies above the original ground surface (20).
16. Depletion: The volume bounded by the main scarp (2), the depleted mass (17) and the original ground surface (20).
17. Depleted mass: The volume of the displaced material which overlies the rupture surface (10) but underlies the original ground surface (20).
18. Accumulation: The volume of the displaced material (13) which lies above the original ground surface (20).
19. Flank: The undisplaced material adjacent to the sides of the rupture surface. Compass directions are preferable in describing the flanks but if left and right are used, they refer to the flanks as viewed from the crown (1).
20. Original ground surface: The surface of the slope that existed before the landslide took place.

1. Couronne: Zone pratiquement intacte située au-dessus de l=escarpement principal (2).
2. Escarpement principal: Surface abrupte limitant le glissement à son extrémité supérieure. C=est la partie visible de la surface de rupture (10).
3. Sommet: Limite supérieure du glissement, point le plus élevé où le matériau déplacé (13) est en contact avec l=escarpement principal (2).
4. Tête: Parties supérieures du glissement où la masse déplacée est en contact avec l=escarpement principal (2).
5. Escarpement secondaire: Escarpement dans la masse déplacée causé par les mouvements différentiels à l=intérieur du matériau déplacé.
6. Corps: Partie du matériau déplacé (13) au-dessus de la surface de rupture (10) siltuée entre l=escarpement principal (2) et le pied de la surface de rupture (11).
7. Pied: Partie de la masse déplacée (13) recouvrant la surface topographique originale (20) en aval du pied de la surface de rupture (11).
8. Extrémité aval: Point le plus aval du matériau déplacé (13).
9. Front: Partie la plus aval, par rapport à l=escarpement principal (2), généralement de forme convexe.
10. Surface de rupture: Prolongation en profondeur de l=escarpement principal (2) au-dessous de la masse déplacée (13) et de la surface topographique originale (20).
11. Pied de la surface de rupture: Point d=intersection aval (généralement enterré) de la surface de rupture (10) et la surface topographique originale (20).
12. Surface de séparation: Portion de la surface topographique originale recouverte par le pied du glissement (7).
13. Matériau déplacé: Matériau qui a subi un déplacement suite au glissement. Il forme la masse affaissée (17) et l=accumulation (18).
14. Zone d=affaissement: Zone d=un glissement de terrain où la masse déplacée se retrouve au-dessous de la surface topographique originale (20).
15. Zone d=accumulation: Zone d=un glissement de terrain où la masse déplacée se retrouve au-dessus de la surface topographique originale (20).
16. Dépression: Volume délimité par l=escarpement principal (2), la masse affaissée (17) et la surface topographique originale (20).
17. Masse affaissée: Partie de la masse déplacée délimitée par la surface de rupture (10) et située sous la surface topographique originale (20).
18. Accumulation: Partie de la masse déplacée située au-dessus de la surface topographique originale (20).
19. Flanc: Limite latérale du glissement joignant l=escarpement principal. Les points cardinaux sont préférablement utilisés dans la description des flancs. Si les termes droit et gauche sont utilisés, ceux-ci sont localisés tels que vu de la couronne (1).
20. Surface topographique originale: Surface du terrain avant l=occurrence du glissement.