English-Ukrainian landslide terminology

The interaction between scientific schools in different countries should begin with revision of terminology in the specified science branch and correlation of interpretation, meaning of terms, such as, in Ukrainian and in English. The causes of difficulties of English-Ukrainian landslide terminology are considered in the article, in particular, the different traditions of defining a landslide as a phenomenon, the different degrees of detailing if we talk about the morphological elements and mechanisms of their movement, and the different approaches to criteria of landslides and other hillslope processes classification in regulatory documents (in Ukraine there are ДБН DBN – The State Norms of Construction, and ДСТУ DSTU – The State [Technical] Standards of Ukraine), especially the restricted quantity of suggested terms among them. However, the authors should use the broader terminology to adequately reflection of the Ukrainian researches results in English. For this purpose, a short glossary about six dozen of English terms divided into five thematic blocks (material, movement, surfaces, parts of a landslide, and other structures and smaller forms) is compiled. Several neologisms have been proposed: боковина [bokovyna] – a flank (as a flank of landslide according to D. M. Cruden’s definition (1993): the undisplaced material next to the sides of the rupture surface), маргінальна межа [marhinalʹna mezha] – a toe (by D. M. Cruden’s definition (1993), the lower, usually curved margin of the displaced material of a landslide). It is also suggested using the word верхів’я [verkhivya] as a term, and it means the crown – the practically undisplaced material still in place and adjacent to the highest parts of the main scarp of the landslide. We did not find any English matching to some elements of the landslide, such as брівка головного уступу [brivka holovnoho ustupu] – the contact line between the crown surface and the main scarp surface; зсувні тераси [zsuvni terasy] – terrace-like upper surfaces of the slump blocks; підошва зсуву [pidoshva zsuvu] – the undisturbed or slightly disturbed areas adjacent to the toe of the landslide; ложе зсуву [lozhe zsuvu] – the surface of undisturbed soils and rocks (although there are different meanings of this term). Sometimes a right or left side of the rupture surface is included to the meaning of flank, but in Ukrainian tradition, the term борт зсуву [bort zsuvu] does not contain the undisplaced material adjacent to the sides of the rupture surface. In general, many questions remain, first, a correlation between the landslide classification in the Ukrainian and foreign traditions, so we invite you to continue the discussion about terminology and difference in the meaning or interpretation of terms.Key words: landslides, terminology, Ukrainian, English.