B. Terms Used to Describe Other Characteristics of a Landslide
1. Movement terms
a. It may be necessary to describe the enlargement of a landslide from its beginning at a local area. Different terms are suggested depending on how the failure enlarged in relation to the direction it moved.
1) Retrogressive failure is enlargement of the landslide in the opposite direction in which it is moving.
2) Advancing failure is enlargement in the direction of movement.
3) Where enlargement involves enlargement in both directions relative of the direction of movement, it is termed progressive.

b. It may be useful to indicate whether a landslide involved one or more movements. A single movement is one in which a single mass involving either rotational or translational movement occurs along a particular surface or zone of surface rupture. A multiple movement is one in which one or more masses occurred involving the same mode of movement along two or more distinct surfaces of rupture. If multiple movement develops over time, it is termed successive movement.

2. Water Content terms
a. Dry - contains no visible moisture.
b. Moist - contains some water but no free water and may behave as a plastic solid but not as a liquid.
c. Wet - contains enough water to behave in part as a liquid, has water flowing from it, or supports significant bodies of standing water.
d. Very Wet - contains enough water to flow as a liquid under low gradients.

3. Terms for speed of movement
range from extremely slow (less than 1 ft/5 yrs - 0.06 m/yr) to extremely rapid (more than 10 ft/sec. - 3 m/sec).