Nature and timing of large landslides within an active orogen, eastern Pamir, China

Yuan, Zhaode; Chen, Jie; Owen, Lewis A.; Hedrick, Kathryn A.; Caffee, Marc W.; Li, Wenqiao; Schoenbohm, Lindsay M.; Robinson, Alexander C.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.10.028

Cited by 45 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The lag‐time or prefailure endurance between RSFs responsible for valley impoundment and floodplain aggradation is approximately 12 ka, suggesting that glacier‐induced changes in the hillslopes have constituted key preparatory factors for all RSFs but have not necessarily acted as triggering factors. At a first glance, the high spatial density of RSFs in the San Isidro valley could be compatible with a seismic origin as it has been previously documented in other regions such as China or India (Xu, Zhang, & Li, ; Yuan et al, ). Historic earthquakes recorded in northwest Iberia mostly occurred in an area known as the Becerreá Swarm, located far west (approximately 140 km) from San Isidro valley and showed M w < 5.1 (Llana‐Fúnez & López‐Fernández, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Timing of paraglacial rock‐slope failures and denudation signatures in the Cantabrian Mountains (North Iberian Peninsula)

et al. 2018

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Glacial erosion of hillslopes and stress changes induced by the transition from glacial to nonglacial conditions exert a strong influence on slope instability and are considered among the scope of paraglacial geomorphology. Failure mechanisms and coupling between paraglacial rock-slope failures (RSFs) and fluvial erosion are difficult to define. Here we show a preliminary spatio-temporal framework of paraglacial RSFs in a small catchment of the central Cantabrian Mountains, the San Isidro valley, with a dense concentration of RSFs. Preliminary radiocarbon dates obtained from two floodplain sequences deposited upstream from RSFs indicate that their sedimentation started as consequence of valley impoundment by RSFs after glacier retreat (after approximately 16.1 ka), consistent with the deglaciation pattern of nearby valleys. RSFs continued during the Holocene. Glacier erosion, debuttressing, and stressrelease conditions played an important role in slope destabilization as preparatory factors in all cases and probably triggered the oldest events. However, the long prefailure endurance (approximately 12 ka) between RSFs points to other factors such as rainfall and fluvial down-cutting of hillslopes as triggers for Holocene events.Postglacial fluvial incision rates of 2.2-2.5 mm a −1 were estimated along gullies carved into bedrock areas nonaffected by RSFs. These values are one order of magnitude higher than previous rates based on other geomorphological proxies (~0.2 mm a −1 ), suggesting accelerated fluvial incision following the last deglaciation. Local RSFs contributed to increase in fluvial incision rates by a factor of three. This study provides a quantitative perspective of postglacial land degradation relevant for understanding postorogenic landscape evolution.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 63%

Timing of paraglacial rock‐slope failures and denudation signatures in the Cantabrian Mountains (North Iberian Peninsula)

et al. 2018

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“…Just north of site 2, a large (~2.6 × 10 8 m 3 , Yuan et al ., ) landslide has been dated at ~7 ka ( 10 Be) by Yuan et al . () and likely covers the NW part of the strike‐slip fault and possible offset channels (Fig. A,D).…”

Section: Site Descriptions Interpretation and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of both normal and right‐lateral late Quaternary activity along the Kongur Shan extensional system, Chinese Pamir

Chevalier

2015

Terra Nova

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The Kongur Shan Extensional System (KES) is a ~250 km long normal fault system that bounds the Muji–Tashkorgan basin of the Chinese Pamir. It accommodates E–W extension due to the northward indentation of the Pamir salient, and its late Miocene activity has been the focus of tectonic studies. While the KES has a main normal component, ~WNW–ESE‐striking segments have an additional right‐lateral strike‐slip component. Here, we quantify late Quaternary horizontal and vertical slip rates at three locations along the KES, where active faults cut and offset abandoned geomorphic features. We find rates of >3–4 mm a−1 (horizontal) along the western Muji fault in the north and of ~1.7 mm a−1 (vertical) and ~1 mm a−1 (horizontal) along the Kongur Shan fault in the south during the late Pleistocene. These rates are consistent with GPS and late Miocene rates, and imply that E–W extension in the Muji–Tashkorgan basin is faster in the north than in the south.

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“…The valley floor contains many landslide and glacial erratic boulders whose chronology can provide valuable information about the driving mechanisms such as enhanced earthquake activity and climate change (Owen et al, 2012;Yuan et al, 2013). As a result, the area has been subject to extensive research in recent years, mostly based on CN surface exposure dating of boulders.…”

Section: Study Area and Sampling Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Centennial- to millennial-scale hard rock erosion rates deduced from luminescence-depth profiles

Sohbati

Liu

Jain

et al. 2018

Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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The measurement of erosion and weathering rates in different geomorphic settings and over diverse temporal and spatial scales is fundamental to the quantification of rates and patterns of earth surface processes. A knowledge of the rates of these surface processes helps one to decipher their relative contribution to landscape evolutioninformation that is crucial to understanding the interaction between climate, tectonics and landscape. Consequently, a wide range of techniques has been *Manuscript Click here to view linked References 2 developed to determine short-(<10 2 a) and long-term (> 4 a) erosion rates. However, no method is available to quantify hard rock erosion rates at centennial to millennial timescales. Here we propose a novel technique, based on the solar bleaching of luminescence signals with depth into rock surfaces, to bridge this analytical gap. We apply our technique to glacial and landslide boulders in the Eastern Pamirs, China. The calculated erosion rates from the smooth varnished surfaces of 7 out of the 8 boulders sampled in this study vary between < 0.038±0.002 and 1.72±0.04 mm ka-1 (the eighth boulder gave an anomalously high erosion rate, possibly due to a recent chipping/cracking loss of surface). Given this preferential sampling of smooth surfaces, assumed to arise from grain-by-grain surface loss, we consider these rates as minimum estimates of rock surface denudation rates in the Eastern Pamirs, China.

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Nature and timing of large landslides within an active orogen, eastern Pamir, China

Cited by 45 publications

References 49 publications

Timing of paraglacial rock‐slope failures and denudation signatures in the Cantabrian Mountains (North Iberian Peninsula)

Timing of paraglacial rock‐slope failures and denudation signatures in the Cantabrian Mountains (North Iberian Peninsula)

Quantification of both normal and right‐lateral late Quaternary activity along the Kongur Shan extensional system, Chinese Pamir

Centennial- to millennial-scale hard rock erosion rates deduced from luminescence-depth profiles

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