Landslide dams triggered by the Wenchuan Earthquake, Sichuan Province, south west China

Xu, Qiang; Fan, Xuanmei; Huang, Runqiu; Westen, Cee Van

doi:10.1007/s10064-009-0214-1

Cited by 214 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…As such, it has the potential to be integrated into a framework for managing sediment disturbance in mountain rivers systems such as those affected by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, China. Over 200 landslide dams formed during that event (Xu et al, 2009;Fu et al, 2011). A similar potential application is the case of drastic sediment supply to, and evacuation from, rivers in Taiwan due to typhoon-induced or earthquake-induced landsliding (e.g., Yanites et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macro-roughness model of bedrock–alluvial river morphodynamics

et al. 2015

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Abstract. The 1-D saltation-abrasion model of channel bedrock incision of Sklar and Dietrich (2004), in which the erosion rate is buffered by the surface area fraction of bedrock covered by alluvium, was a major advance over models that treat river erosion as a function of bed slope and drainage area. Their model is, however, limited because it calculates bed cover in terms of bedload sediment supply rather than local bedload transport. It implicitly assumes that as sediment supply from upstream changes, the transport rate adjusts instantaneously everywhere downstream to match. This assumption is not valid in general, and thus can give rise to unphysical consequences. Here we present a unified morphodynamic formulation of both channel incision and alluviation that specifically tracks the spatiotemporal variation in both bedload transport and alluvial thickness. It does so by relating the bedrock cover fraction to the ratio of alluvium thickness to bedrock macro-roughness, rather than to the ratio of bedload supply rate to capacity bedload transport. The new formulation (MRSAA) predicts waves of alluviation and rarification, in addition to bedrock erosion. Embedded in it are three physical processes: alluvial diffusion, fast downstream advection of alluvial disturbances, and slow upstream migration of incisional disturbances. Solutions of this formulation over a fixed bed are used to demonstrate the stripping of an initial alluvial cover, the emplacement of alluvial cover over an initially bare bed and the advection-diffusion of a sediment pulse over an alluvial bed. A solution for alluvial-incisional interaction in a channel with a basement undergoing net rock uplift shows how an impulsive increase in sediment supply can quickly and completely bury the bedrock under thick alluvium, thus blocking bedrock erosion. As the river responds to rock uplift or base level fall, the transition point separating an alluvial reach upstream from an alluvial-bedrock reach downstream migrates upstream in the form of a "hidden knickpoint". A tectonically more complex case of rock uplift subject to a localized zone of subsidence (graben) yields a steady-state solution that is not attainable with the original saltation-abrasion model. A solution for the case of bedrock-alluvial coevolution upstream of an alluviated river mouth illustrates how the bedrock surface can be progressively buried not far below the alluvium. Because the model tracks the spatiotemporal variation in both bedload transport and alluvial thickness, it is applicable to the study of the incisional response of a river subject to temporally varying sediment supply. It thus has the potential to capture the response of an alluvial-bedrock river to massive impulsive sediment inputs associated with landslides or debris flows.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Macro-roughness model of bedrock–alluvial river morphodynamics

et al. 2015

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“…There have been many huge landslide dam failure events worldwide, including the failure of landslide dams in Southwestern China in 1786 (Chanson 2005;Dai et al 2005;Liu et al 2010;Xu et al 2009). It has been claimed that at least 5,500 deaths have occurred due to landslide dam failure events in China since 1900.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation, failure, and consequences of the Xiaolin landslide dam, triggered by extreme rainfall from Typhoon Morakot, Taiwan

Wu¹,

Chen²,

Zhang³

2013

Landslides

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An extreme rainfall event on August 9, 2009, which was close to setting a world record for 48-h accumulated rainfall, induced the Xiaolin deep-seated landslide, which was located in southwestern Taiwan and had volume of 27.6×10 6 m 3 , and caused the formation of a landslide dam. The landslide dam burst in a very short time, and little information remained afterward. We reconstructed the process of formation and failure of the Xiaolin landslide dam and also inferred the area of the impoundment and topographic changes. A 5 × 5-m digital elevation model, the recorded water stage of the Qishan River, and data from field investigation were used for analysis. The spectral magnitude of the seismic signals induced by the Xiaolin landslide and flooding due to failure of the landslide dam were analyzed to estimate the timing of the dam breach and the peak discharge of the subsequent flood. The Xiaolin landslide dam failure resulted from overtopping. We verified the longevity of the Xiaolin landslide dam at about 2h relying on seismic signals and water level records. In addition, the inundated area, volume of the impoundment behind the Xiaolin landslide dam, and peak discharge of the flood were estimated at 92.3ha, 19.5×10 6 m 3 , and 17×10 3 m 3 /s, respectively. The mean velocity of the flood-recession wave front due to the dam blockage was estimated at 28km/h, and the peak flooding velocity after failure of the dam was estimated at 23km/h. The Xiaolin landslide provides an invaluable opportunity for understanding the mechanism of deep-seated landslides and flooding processes following a landslide dam failure.

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“…The movement of the fault belt caused a rupture in central faults and created a zone of disturbance of over 300 km in length (Huang and Li 2009a, b). There were about 56,000 rockfalls and landslides triggered directly by the Wenchuan Earthquake, forming 256 barrier lakes (Huang and Li 2009a, b;Xu et al 2009;Yin et al 2009;Qi et al 2010;Wasowski et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of an anti-dip landslide triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

Huang

Zhao

et al. 2013

Nat Hazards

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The Guantan landslide, with a total displaced mass of about 468 9 10 4 m 3 , was triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and succeeding rainfall in Jushui Town, Sichuan Province, China. The landslide occurred on an anti-dip hard rock slope with a weak rock founding stratum of 200 m in thickness. To investigate the failure mechanism of the Guantan landslide, dynamic behaviors of hard and soft rock slopes were investigated by means of large scale shaking table tests. The laboratory models attempted to simulate the field geological conditions of the Guantan landslide. Sinusoidal waves and actual seismic waves measured from the Wenchuan Earthquake were applied on the slope models under 37 loading configurations. The experimental results indicated that deformation mainly developed at a shallow depth in the upper part of the hard rock slope and in the upper (near the crest) and lower (near the toe) parts of the soft rock slope. An equation for predicting the depth of sliding plane was proposed based on the location of the maximum horizontal acceleration. Finally, it was concluded that the failure process of the Guantan landslide occurred in three stages: (1) toppling failure caused by compression of the underlying soft rock strata, (2) formation of crushed hard rock and sliding surface in soft rock as the result of seismic shocks, particularly in the horizontal direction, and (3) aftershock rainfall accelerates the process of mass movement along the sliding plane.

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Landslide dams triggered by the Wenchuan Earthquake, Sichuan Province, south west China

Cited by 214 publications

References 15 publications

Macro-roughness model of bedrock–alluvial river morphodynamics

Macro-roughness model of bedrock–alluvial river morphodynamics

Formation, failure, and consequences of the Xiaolin landslide dam, triggered by extreme rainfall from Typhoon Morakot, Taiwan

Analysis of an anti-dip landslide triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China

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