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The 2 September 2014 Shanshucao landslide, Three Gorges Reservoir, China

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Abstract

A Shanshucao landslide, large displacement landslide, took place on 2 September 2014, at 13:19 in Zigui County, Hubei Province, central China, which was about 42 km from the Three Gorges Dam. It was located on the left bank of Luogudong River, which was a secondary tributary of the Yangtze River. Just as the well-known Qianjiangping landslide, this landslide was considered to be one of the longest displacement consequent slope failures, which was characterized by red layer rock landslide. This event has become an outstanding and valuable reference for landslide study and is of particular importance for understanding the influence of the stability of the slope in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. The geomorphological and geological conditions of the landslide were investigated to identify and characterize previously discontinuous and slide stratum bed. The hydrogeological and geomechanical features were also analyzed. It was found that the landslide was triggered by both the long and heavy rainfall and the rising water level of the reservoir at high speed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was jointly supported by the Hydrogeological and Engineering Geological Exploration Institute of Hubei Province. We thank them for providing valuable data and discussion about the Shanshucao landslide. We also thank Prof. Jia-Jyun Dong and the anonymous reviewer who provided useful insights, which improved the original manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guangli Xu.

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Xu, G., Li, W., Yu, Z. et al. The 2 September 2014 Shanshucao landslide, Three Gorges Reservoir, China. Landslides 12, 1169–1178 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0652-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0652-8

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