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Landslides triggered by slipping-fault-generated earthquake on a plateau: an example of the 14 April 2010, Ms 7.1, Yushu, China earthquake

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Abstract

On 14 April 2010 at 07:49 (Beijing time), a catastrophic earthquake with Ms 7.1 struck Yushu County, Qinghai Province, China. A total of 2,036 landslides were interpreted from aerial photographs and satellite images, verified by selected field checking. These landslides cover about a total area of 1.194 km2. The characteristics and failure mechanisms of these landslides are presented in this paper. The spatial distribution of the landslides is evidently strongly controlled by the locations of the main co-seismic surface fault ruptures. The landslides commonly occurred close together. Most of the landslides are small; there were only 275 individual landslide (13.5 % of the total number) surface areas larger than 1,000 m2. The landslides are of various types. They are mainly shallow, disrupted landslides, but also include rock falls, deep-seated landslides, liquefaction-induced landslides, and compound landslides. Four types of factors are identified as contributing to failure along with the strong ground shaking: natural excavation of the toes of slopes, which mean erosion of the base of the slope, surface water infiltration into slopes, co-seismic fault slipping at landslide sites, and delayed occurrence of landslides due to snow melt or rainfall infiltration at sites where slopes were weakened by the co-seismic ground shaking. To analyze the spatial distribution of the landslides, the landslide area percentage (LAP) and landslide number density (LND) were compared with peak ground acceleration (PGA), distance from co-seismic main surface fault ruptures, elevation, slope gradient, slope aspect, and lithology. The results show landslide occurrence is strongly controlled by proximity to the main surface fault ruptures, with most landslides occurring within 2.5 km of such ruptures. There is no evident correlation between landslide occurrences and PGA. Both LAP and LND have strongly positive correlations with slope gradient, and additionally, sites at elevations between 3,800 and 4,000 m are relatively susceptible to landslide occurrence; as are slopes with northeast, east, and southeast slope aspects. Q4 al-pl, N, and T3 kn 1 have more concentrated landslide activity than others. This paper provides a detailed inventory map of landslides triggered by the 2010 Yushu earthquake for future seismic landslide hazard analysis and also provides a study case of characteristics, failure mechanisms, and spatial distribution of landslides triggered by slipping-fault generated earthquake on a plateau.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (grant No. 40821160550 & 40974057) and the International Scientific joint project of China (grant No. 2009DFA21280). The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Xiaoli Li, Jia Cheng, Xinzhe Sun, Huaguo Liu, Hu Wang, Shenghai Yao, and Zhimin Li et al., for their assistances in field survey of landslides triggered by the Yushu earthquake. The authors also thank David K. Keefer, Lewis Owen, Hans-Balder Havenith, and David Petley for their great assistances and useful suggestions. We appreciate the editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments that improved the manuscript.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Active Tectonics and Volcano, Institute of Geology, Chinese Earthquake Administration, Qijiahuozi, Deshengmenwai, P.O. Box 9803, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Chong Xu, Xiwei Xu & Guihua Yu

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  1. Chong Xu
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  2. Xiwei Xu
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  3. Guihua Yu
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Correspondence to Xiwei Xu.

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Xu, C., Xu, X. & Yu, G. Landslides triggered by slipping-fault-generated earthquake on a plateau: an example of the 14 April 2010, Ms 7.1, Yushu, China earthquake. Landslides 10, 421–431 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-012-0340-x

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