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Analysis of the relationship of landslide occurrence with rainfall: a case study of Wudu County, China

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Abstract

Landslides are a significant hazard in many parts of the world and represent an important geohazard in China. Rainfall is the primary triggering agent for landslides and often used for prediction slope failures. However, the relationship between rainfall and landslide occurrences is very complex. Great efforts have been made on the study of regional rainfall-induced landslide forecasting models in recent years; still, there is no commonly accepted method for rainfall-induced landslide prediction. In this paper, the quantitative antecedent soil water status (ASWS) model is applied to investigate the influence of daily and antecedent rainfall on the triggering of landslides and debris flows. The study area is Wudu County in Gansu Province, an area which exhibits frequent landslide occurrences. The results demonstrate a significant influence of high intensity rainfall events on landslide triggering. Still, antecedent rainfall conditions are very important and once a threshold of approximately 20 mm is exceeded, landslides and debris flows can occur even without additional rainfall. The study presented could also facilitate the implementation of a regional forecasting scheme once additional validation has been carried out.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos. 40801212; nos. 40930531), the Opening Fund of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection of Chendu University of Technology, China (SKLGP2012K012),the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and part of remote-sensing image was supplied through the ESA-MOST Dragon 3 Cooperation Program(ID: 10606),the 51st Chinese PostDoc Science Foundation (No. 2012M511298).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography Science, Key Laboratory of Virtual Geographical Environment (Ministry of Education), Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210046, China

    Shibiao Bai, Jian Wang, Benni Thiebes & Chen Cheng

  2. Satellite Environment Center, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Beijing, 100029, China

    Yipeng Yang

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  1. Shibiao Bai
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  2. Jian Wang
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  3. Benni Thiebes
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  4. Chen Cheng
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  5. Yipeng Yang
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Correspondence to Shibiao Bai.

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Bai, S., Wang, J., Thiebes, B. et al. Analysis of the relationship of landslide occurrence with rainfall: a case study of Wudu County, China. Arab J Geosci 7, 1277–1285 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0939-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0939-9

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