Emplacement mechanisms of the Tagarma rock avalanche on the Pamir-western Himalayan syntaxis of the Tibetan Plateau, China

Wang, Yufeng; Cheng, Qiangong; Yuan, Yun-Qiang; Wang, Jie; Qiu, Yu-Heng; Yin, Bang-Min; Shi, An-Wen; Guo, Zaoyang

doi:10.1007/s10346-019-01298-1

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…In some cases, the magnitudes of landquakes even exceeded Ms4.0 , with extremely high fluctuating energy (Ekström & Stark, 2013). Furthermore, the intense fragmentations in the basal facies of rock avalanche deposits as well as the fragmented rock clasts in the substrate also provide robust evidences for the generation of high‐magnitude fluctuating stresses during the propagation (Dufresne et al., 2010; Wang et al., 2019). All these features indicate that the magnitude of the fluctuating stress is much higher than the overburden pressure during the propagation of rock avalanches, which is consistent with our experimental results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insight Into Granular Flow Dynamics Relying on Basal Stress Measurements: From Experimental Flume Tests

Wang

Cheng

et al. 2022

JGR Solid Earth

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Knowledge on the interactions between granular flows and their boundaries is essential for understanding granular flow dynamics. In this study, a series of experiments designed with different conditions were conducted using a flume configuration to investigate the granular flow behaviors and dynamics by particle image velocimetry analysis and basal normal stress measurements. The results demonstrate that the velocity profiles and depth‐averaged shear rates of the granular flows significantly vary with grain size, but display insignificant changes with flow volume. For granular flows with higher content of coarse particles, high magnitude fluctuating stresses with values much greater than the mean normal stress are observed. The particle agitation of the granular flow, which is quantified by the normalized standard deviation of the fluctuating stress from the mean normal stress, exhibits a positive correlation and a negative correlation with the solid inertial stress and the equivalent friction coefficient, respectively. This indicates that the enhanced particle agitation related to the high magnitude fluctuating stress should contribute to the mobility of the granular flows. The generation of the high magnitude fluctuating stress is attributed to the high‐frequency and intensive particle collisions in grain‐scale, which is mainly determined by grain size. In this study, the increase of flow volume mostly resulted in an increase in the fluctuating stress related to the mean normal stress, which exhibits a minor effect on particle agitation and has no contribution toward the mobility of the granular flows.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insight Into Granular Flow Dynamics Relying on Basal Stress Measurements: From Experimental Flume Tests

Wang

Cheng

et al. 2022

JGR Solid Earth

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“…Dip slopes are very common in mountainous regions and form from the monoclines and anticlines in sedimentary rock. Sliding along the bedding plane or a weak interlayer is a typical failure mode of bedrock slopes and occurred in the Flims rockslide (Poschinger et al, 2006), Heart Mountain landslide in North America (Aharonov & Anders, 2006; Goren et al, 2010), Avalanche Lake rockslides and Pink Mountain rockslide in Canada (Evans et al, 1994; Geertsema et al, 2006), Saidmarreh rock avalanche in Iran (Roberts & Evans, 2013), Tagarma rock avalanche in Pamir (Wang et al, 2019), and many rockslides in central Asia (Strom & Abdrakhmatov, 2018). According to our results, this type of failure mode enhances the travel distance of the front part of the rock mass and should receive more attention in attempts to analyze the risk area of potential dip slope failure.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of Rock Mass Structure to the Emplacement of Fragmenting Rockfalls and Rockslides: Insights From Laboratory Experiments

Lin

Cheng

et al. 2020

JGR Solid Earth

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Rockfalls and rockslides often occur in mountainous areas, and they may develop into rock avalanches because of fragmentation. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted to study the contributions of rock mass structure to the emplacement of fragmenting rockfalls and rockslides. In these experiments, we considered the process of breakable analog blocks with different structures sliding along an inclined plane, impacting at the kink point with a horizontal plane where deposition occurs. The results show that the initial geometrical subdivision (i.e., the rock mass structure) of the source rock can greatly influence the impact of the fragmentation process and total runout, while the degree of fragmentation controls the travel distance of the center of mass. The occurrence of transversal discontinuities enhances the momentum transfer efficiency from the rear to the front part of the rock mass. A negative correlation between the apparent friction coefficient (linked to the total runout) and equivalent friction coefficient (linked to the center of mass runout) was found, which appears to be induced by fragmentation. We proposed a new fragmentation-spreading model to describe this negative correlation. This simple physical model supports the importance of fragmentation in rock fragment trajectories and the runout of rockfalls and rockslides. Fragmentation is an energy-sinking process that will shorten the runout of the center of mass. Thus, we suggest that impact fragmentation does not fully account for the long runout of large rockfalls and rockslides.

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“…From young RADs, steeply inclined clast [a,b]‐planes and imbricate fabrics are documented. Along a RAD, however, the facing of tilting and of imbricate structures is not necessarily constantly downstream or upstream, but may change (Wang et al ., 2020). Thus, the steep‐tilted clasts in the RB do not indicate a specific transport direction (cf.…”

Section: Interpretation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Table 3, Fig. 4); in addition, cataclastic shear belts richer in fine‐grained matrix are typical; and (iii) a basal interval of relatively fine‐grained comminuted rock (Dufresne et al ., 2015, 2016; Wang et al ., 2018, 2019, 2020; Zeng et al ., 2019). Densely‐fragmented cobbles to blocks with crackle to mosaic fabric originate by fracture of previously larger clasts upon mutual high‐energy collisions during rock‐avalanche propagation (Davies & McSaveney, 2002, 2009; Imre et al ., 2010; Perinotto et al ., 2015; Dufresne et al ., 2016; Wang et al ., 2019).…”

Section: Interpretation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of a Quaternary rock avalanche deposit (Central Apennines, Italy): Significance for recognition of fossil catastrophic mass‐wasting

et al. 2022

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Whereas deposits of extremely‐rapid, ‘catastrophic’ mass wastings >105 m3 in volume (for example, the Marocche di Dro rock avalanche in the Southern Alps and the Flims rockslide in the Western Alps) are easily recognized by their sheer mass and blocky surface, the identification of fossil catastrophic mass wastings partly removed by erosion must be based on deposit characteristics. Herein, a ‘fossil’ (pre‐last glacial) rock avalanche, previously interpreted as either a till or debris flow, is described. The deposit, informally called ‘Rubble Breccia’, is located in the intramontane Campo Imperatore halfgraben that is bounded by a master fault with up to ca 900 m topographic throw. Based on documentation from field to thin section, and by comparative analysis with post‐glacial rock avalanches, tills and debris flows, the Rubble Breccia is reinterpreted as a rock avalanche. The Rubble Breccia consists of an extremely‐poorly sorted, disordered mixture of angular clasts from sand to block size. Many clasts show fitted subclast boundaries in crackle, jigsaw and mosaic fabrics, as diagnostic of catastrophic mass wasting deposits. Intercalated layers of angular to well‐rounded clasts of coarse sand to fine pebble size, and deformed into open to recumbent folds, may represent shear belts folded during terminal avalanche propagation. The clast spectrum of the Rubble Breccia – mainly shallow‐water bioclastic limestones, Saccocoma wackestones and other deep‐water limestones and dolostones – is derived from the front range along the northern margin of the basin. Calcite cement found within the Rubble Breccia was dated with the U/Th disequilibrium method to 124.25 ± 2.76 ka bp, providing an ante‐quam age constraint to the rock avalanche event. Because catastrophic mass wasting is a common erosional process, fossil deposits thereof should be more widespread than have been identified to date, although this may be a consequence of misidentification. The criteria outlined here provide a template to identify fossil catastrophic mass wasting deposits of any age.

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Emplacement mechanisms of the Tagarma rock avalanche on the Pamir-western Himalayan syntaxis of the Tibetan Plateau, China

Cited by 24 publications

References 72 publications

Insight Into Granular Flow Dynamics Relying on Basal Stress Measurements: From Experimental Flume Tests

Insight Into Granular Flow Dynamics Relying on Basal Stress Measurements: From Experimental Flume Tests

Contributions of Rock Mass Structure to the Emplacement of Fragmenting Rockfalls and Rockslides: Insights From Laboratory Experiments

Identification of a Quaternary rock avalanche deposit (Central Apennines, Italy): Significance for recognition of fossil catastrophic mass‐wasting

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