The first signs of subsoil movement were numerous cracks on the surface of the sloping slope and the slow sliding of the earth lumps. Cracks and slides occurred in different places and at certain distances from each other, Their intensity increased with the creation of new hydrogeological situations favoring the sliding movements. As shown by preliminary studies, the direct cause of the sliding movements were disturbances in the stability of the terrain caused by the removal of a part of the slope of the slope and the irrigation of soil masses as a result of increased precipitation and very unfavorable groundwater conditions.
The generated situation was very dangerous, therefore, at the behest of the state authorities, a team of outstanding specialists was appointed, whose task was to develop an appropriate concept, taking into account the use of all available measures, braking and stopping the element from sliding down and saving a valuable monument from its impending ruin.
The technical decisions of the team covered the following directions of action.
First of all, measures were taken to weaken destructive processes, and tests were started to check the kinetics of the slide. These works included: suspension of certain work favoring the slide, conducted along the W-Z route, setting up a benchmark grid and conducting situational and height measurements, especially horizontal and vertical slope shifts, commencement of geological surveys of the substrate by drilling, analysis of the collected soil samples in order to register its properties and changes. Parallel to these activities, a number of works were undertaken related to the initial securing of the object itself and the observation of damage and deformation activity..
Based on studies of available materials regarding the geological structure of the area covered by the chute, the drillings performed and the analysis of geological photographs were found, what follows:
At a depth of 12-16 m below the church floor there are thick loams of hard plastic consistency, plastic in places. There are moraine loams on the loam, often sandy, sometimes with sand inserts in the form of lenses of different ductility. The thickness of this layer is 6-9 m. The clays are covered with multi-grained sands with narrow inserts of silty loam with a very plastic consistency. The foundations of the church are based on these sands.
Research has also shown, that groundwater with relatively high mobility flows in the ceiling of clays and sands. These waters flow towards the slope of the slope in accordance with the inclination of the geological layers, therefore, they create particularly unfavorable conditions for the stability of soil masses and favor a slide.
After obtaining the necessary data regarding the geological structure of the area and the prevailing water conditions, and after determining the mechanical properties of soil based on laboratory tests, as well as as a result of specifying the course of sliding movements, the following slope stabilization methods were introduced.
Clay soils and soils containing clay admixtures were strengthened with the electroosmotic method, while pumping water. This method consists in passing an electric DC voltage of 50- 80 V between positive electrodes driven into the ground (anodami), which are made of aluminum rods, length. 4,0—8,0 m, and similarly driven negative electrodes (katodami), which are perforated steel pipes with an outer diameter 6 inches and l. 6,0—8,0 m. Under the influence of electric current, positively charged capillary and groundwater particles migrate from the side of the aluminum rods to the pipe, from where the collected water is pumped and discharged beyond the endangered area. Due to the use of electro-osmosis, certain chemical and physical processes take place in the ground, which, as the mass dries, increases its mechanical strength and thus reduces the phenomenon of slippage as a result of increasing internal friction. Electroosmosis was used in the entire slope subject to the slide.