A super-large landslide in Tibet in 2000: background, occurrence, disaster, and origin

Shang, Yanjun; Yang, Zhifa; Li, Lihui; Liu, Da'an; Liao, Qiulin; Wang, Yangchun

doi:10.1016/s0169-555x(02)00358-6

Cited by 225 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…2) from remote sensing data and during field visits. Dozens of the dams mapped are the combined results of glacier fluctuations, supraglacial landslides, and debris flows (19,20). Objectively distinguishing individual moraines from landslide dams remains a challenge (6, 17, 21), although sediments exposed in dissected dams usually offer clear distinction.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many of the formerly river-blocking tributary fans ubiquitous to the Tsangpo, but not mapped here, may be of catastrophic origin. Indeed, the two largest historic landslides (>10 8 m 3 each) in the Yigong Tsangpo have formed deposits that, on aerial photos, are indistinguishable from tributary fans (19). Moreover, remnants of large landslide dams have also been discovered on tributaries of the Yangtze, all within knickzones along the edge of the eastern Tibetan Plateau where these dams have significantly slowed bedrock incision rates there (16) (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Glacier and landslide feedbacks to topographic relief in the Himalayan syntaxes

Korup

Montgomery²,

Hewitt³

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

163

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Despite longstanding research on the age and formation of the Tibetan Plateau, the controls on the erosional decay of its margins remain controversial. Pronounced aridity and highly localized rock uplift have traditionally been viewed as limits to the dissection of the plateau by bedrock rivers. Recently, however, glacier dynamics and landsliding have been argued to retard headward fluvial erosion into the plateau interior by forming dams and protective alluvial fill. Here, we report a conspicuous clustering of hundreds of natural dams along the Indus and the Tsangpo Rivers where these cross the Himalayan syntaxes. The Indus is riddled by hundreds of dams composed of debris from catastrophic rock avalanches, forming the largest concentration of giant landslide dams known worldwide, whereas the Tsangpo seems devoid of comparable landslide dams. In contrast, glacial dams such as river-blocking moraines in the headwaters of both rivers are limited to where isolated mountain ranges intersect the regional snowline. We find that to first-order, high local topographic relief along both rivers corresponds to conspicuously different knickzones and differences in the type and potential longevity of these dams. In both syntaxes, glacier and landslide dams act as a negative feedback in response to fluvial dissection of the plateau margins. Natural damming protects bedrock from river incision and delays headward knickpoint migration, thereby helping stabilize the southwestern and southeastern margins of the Tibetan Plateau in concert with the effects of upstream aridity and localized rock uplift.erosion | tectonic geomorphology T he Tibetan Plateau is one of Earth's most significant continental-scale landforms with large contiguous areas with elevation ≥5 km that have largely escaped significant erosional decay over geological (>10 6 yr) timescales (1-6) ( Fig. 1). To maintain plateau topography over geologic time-as shown by the observation that headward erosion of bedrock rivers into the Tibetan Plateau interior is limited (2, 3, 7)-requires significant dampening of fluvial erosion unless there are mechanisms by which knickpoint migration and associated dissection is delayed or arrested. Traditional explanations for the abrupt edge to the Tibetan Plateau focus on either "from below" in terms of tectonics or "from above." The latter invokes dynamic feedbacks between tectonics, climate, surface processes (2), highly focused rock uplift (4), aridity-controlled defeat of river incision, and concomitant formation of internally drained basins (1, 3), particularly along the dry northern Tibetan Plateau margin. Although localized rock uplift is known to affect river longitudinal profile shape and, hence, erosion potential, mechanistic models for defeating or reversing bedrock rivers subject to substantial sediment flux remain largely unexplored (8).This shortcoming applies especially to the southern margins of the Tibetan Plateau and more specifically the Himalayan syntaxes that are unique regions for investigating extreme river i...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Glacier and landslide feedbacks to topographic relief in the Himalayan syntaxes

Korup

Montgomery²,

Hewitt³

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

163

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“…Located in the Himalayan plate region, the north of the area is the Yalung Tsangpo suture zone and the south is the main boundary fault zone of Xiwalike. Controlled by the tectonics of the Himalayan block and the Yalung Tsangpo suture zone, it belongs to the Kangma-Takako fold and thrust belt [37][38][39].…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of a GIS-Based Slope Unit Method for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping along the Longzi River, Southeastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Wang

et al. 2017

IJGI

102

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Abstract:The Longzi River Basin in Tibet is located along the edge of the Himalaya Mountains and is characterized by complex geological conditions and numerous landslides. To evaluate the susceptibility of landslide disasters in this area, eight basic factors were analyzed comprehensively in order to obtain a final susceptibility map. The eight factors are the slope angle, slope aspect, plan curvature, distance-to-fault, distance-to-river, topographic relief, annual precipitation, and lithology. Except for the rainfall factor, which was extracted from the grid cell, all the factors were extracted and classified by the slope unit, which is the basic unit in geological disaster development. The eight factors were superimposed using the information content method (ICM), and the weight of each factor was acquired through an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The sensitivities of the landslides were divided into four categories: low, moderate, high, and very high, respectively, accounting for 22.76%, 38.64%, 27.51%, and 11.09% of the study area. The accuracies of the area under AUC using slope units and grid cells are 82.6% and 84.2%, respectively, and it means that the two methods are accurate in predicting landslide occurrence. The results show that the high and very high susceptibility areas are distributed throughout the vicinity of the river, with a large component in the north as well as a small portion in the middle and the south. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct landslide warnings in these areas, where the rivers are vast and the population is dense. The susceptibility map can reflect the comprehensive risk of each slope unit, which provides an important reference for later detailed investigations, including research and warning studies.

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“…Landslide dams are often generated during earthquakes and/or heavy rainfall in storm-prone mountain areas, and may fail by overtopping and/or piping (Baker et al, 1993;Chen et al, 1992;Costa and Schuster, 1988;Cruden et al, 1997;Dai et al, 2005;Korup, 2002;Shang et al, 2003). The phenomenon occurs worldwide and flooding due to landslide dam failure can be catastrophic, leading to loss of life and property damage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coupled modelling of flood due to natural landslide dam breach

Huang¹,

Cao²,

Yue³

et al. 2012

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Water Manag

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A coupled two-dimensional mathematical model is presented for a flood due to natural landslide dam breach. A new numerical algorithm is developed, preserving the well-balanced property between the flux and source terms of the momentum conservation equations over a mobile bed. It allows for the wetting-drying transition to be properly resolved. Equally importantly, the spatially variable size of the sediments of natural landslide dams is taken into account in estimating bed sediment entrainment flux. The model is first tested against flume experiments and then applied to a case study of the Tangjiashan landslide dam, the largest of its kind generated by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. Compared with field observations, the widening and deepening of the breach along with the flood hydrographs are reproduced fairly well by the present model as the heterogeneity of the dam material is incorporated. In contrast, when the heterogeneous composition of the natural landslide dam is ignored using a fixed sediment size, the model fails even if the parameters related to roughness, entrainment flux and mass collapse are largely tuned. An appropriate account of the heterogeneous composition of natural dams is therefore significant.

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A super-large landslide in Tibet in 2000: background, occurrence, disaster, and origin

Cited by 225 publications

References 9 publications

Glacier and landslide feedbacks to topographic relief in the Himalayan syntaxes

Glacier and landslide feedbacks to topographic relief in the Himalayan syntaxes

Application of a GIS-Based Slope Unit Method for Landslide Susceptibility Mapping along the Longzi River, Southeastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Coupled modelling of flood due to natural landslide dam breach

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