Abstract
The first impoundment of the Three Gorges Dam reservoir in China started from a water-surface elevation of 95 m on June 1, 2003 and reached 135 m on June 15, 2003. Shortly after the water level reached 135 m, many slopes began to deform and some landslides occurred. The Qianjiangping landslide is the largest one; it occurred on the early morning of July 14, 2003, and caused great loss of lives and property. Field investigation revealed that although failure occurred after the reservoir reached 135 m, the stability of the slope was already reduced by pre-existing, sheared bedding planes. To study the mechanism of the rapid motion of this reactivated landslide, two soil samples were taken from a yellow clay layer and a black silt layer in the sliding zone and a series of ring shear tests were conducted on the samples. One series of ring shear tests simulates the creep deformation behavior, while the other series simulates different shear rates. Conclusions drawn from analysis of the ring shear tests indicate that the mechanism of the rapid motion of the reactivated landslide was caused by the rate effect of the black silt layer during the motion phase after the creep failure. The yellow clay layer did not play any important role in the rapid motion in the 2003 event.
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Acknowledgments
The scientific research grant (No. 18403003, Representative: F.W. Wang) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan is highly appreciated. The financial support from the China Three Gorges University Key Laboratory of Geological Hazards on Three Gorges Reservoir Area, Chinese Ministry of Education, is also appreciated. W. Yu and Y.Y. Li from the Yichang Center of the China Geological Survey assisted with the sampling from the slide zone. Their help is appreciated.
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Wang, F., Zhang, Y., Huo, Z., Peng, X. (2009). Mechanism for the Rapid Motion of the Reactivated Qianjiangping Landslide in Three Gorges Dam Reservoir, China. In: Wang, F., Li, T. (eds) Landslide Disaster Mitigation in Three Gorges Reservoir, China. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00132-1_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00132-1_8
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