The Hejiapingzi landslide in Weining County, Guizhou Province, Southwest China: a recent slow-moving landslide triggered by reservoir drawdown

Abstract

The Hejiapingzi landslide is a slow-moving landslide along the shore of the reservoir created by the Xiangbiling hydropower dam in Weining County, Guizhou Province, Southwest China. Movement caused cracks in the land surface and residential buildings of Heping village on 20 August 2017 and was triggered after an 8-day continuous drawdown of the reservoir water by 2.2 m. Field investigations and borehole and landslide surface monitoring were carried out to determine the landslide features and deformation characteristics. Based on analysis of the monitoring data, the behavior of the landslide was neither spatially nor temporally uniform. In general, it could not move quickly due to the gentle sliding surface. The possible reasons for landslide occurrence were the drawdown of the reservoir water, the increase in seepage force, and the loss of strength in a soft mudstone layer to form the landslide slip surface. Although mitigation measures, including engineering control or resident relocation to a safe place, have not yet been finally determined, some interim measures including covering landslide cracks, subsurface monitoring, decreasing the reservoir drawdown velocity, and setting velocity thresholds of landslide displacement for warnings are advised to reduce the landslide risk caused by planned reservoir drawdown in 2019.