Developmental characteristics of rainfall-induced landslides from 1999 to 2016 in Wenzhou City of China

Abstract

Many landslides are triggered by excess precipitation. In the eastern part of China, landslides caused by extreme rainfall from typhoons in the monsoon season are the main geomorphological process with catastrophic impacts on society and the environment. In this study, Wenzhou City in eastern China was taken as the study area, and we compiled a detailed inventory of rainfall-triggered landslides between 1999 and 2016. The developmental characteristics of these landslides were determined with an emphasis on temporo-spatial distribution. The results showed that most of the landslides were located in the mountainous area of the western part of Wenzhou City. Landslides triggered by typhoon rainfall were commonly concentrated in a short period from July to September, when more than 70% of the landslides occurred. The landslides in this region were mainly of the debris-flow type, most of which were on a small scale, but had severe effects because of large elevation differences and long runout distances. Because the precipitation in typhoon events was commonly extreme, the initiation area of most landslides coincided with the region of highest hourly precipitation. Our results can provide reference data and guidelines for developing an early warning system for landslides and risk reduction in the study area.

Field and Numerical Investigation of Taihu Resort Cut Slope Failure in Suzhou, China

“…Landslides triggered by human excavation or rainfall are among the most common geological disasters and are the core issue of slope engineering research around the world. During the period 2004-2016, the total cases of landslide events show that there were 4862 landslides around the world [1][2][3], of which 409 occurred only during the monsoon rainfall. In China, from 1994 to 2018, 126 landslides were recorded after construction under rainfall, which represents 74.1% of all failure cases, and 22.4% of failures after 8 days of heavy rainfall intensity [4].…”