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Characteristics and numerical modeling of a catastrophic loess flow slide triggered by the 2013 Minxian–Zhangxian earthquake in Yongguang village, Minxian, Gansu, China

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Abstract

A catastrophic loess flow slide was triggered by the 2013 Minxian–Zhangxian earthquake in Yongguang village, Minxian County, Gansu Province, China. The landslide destroyed eight houses and killed 12 persons. The landslide involved the failure of 14.0 × 104 m3 of loess deposits from the source area. The displaced materials traveled 1000 m with an elevation descent of 180 m, covering an area of 4.2 × 104 m2. A numerical model (DAN3D) is used to simulate the post-failure behavior of the landslide based on a detailed field investigation. A combination of the frictional model and Voellmy model provides the best performance in simulating the landslide using trial and error. The simulation results indicate that the landslide lasted approximately 120 s and had an average velocity of 8.3 m/s. The final runout distance and deposit distribution are in a good agreement with the actual situation, indicating the accuracy of the simulated results. Therefore, it is expected that the models and parameters could improve the precision of hazard zonation for areas with geological, topographical, and climatic features similar to the Yongguang landslide area.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41530639 and 41272382). We are grateful to Prof. O. Hungr for supplying a copy of the DAN3D software and Prof. Che Ailan for providing the data of Rayleigh-wave exploration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Yu Zhuang, Aiguo Xing & Desheng Li

  2. Department of Geological Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China

    Qiangong Cheng

  3. Geo-environmental Monitoring Institute of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Cheng Zhao

  4. Key Laboratory of Active Tectonics and Volcano, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100029, China

    Chong Xu

Authors
  1. Yu Zhuang
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  2. Aiguo Xing
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  3. Qiangong Cheng
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  4. Desheng Li
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  5. Cheng Zhao
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  6. Chong Xu
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Correspondence to Aiguo Xing.

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Zhuang, Y., Xing, A., Cheng, Q. et al. Characteristics and numerical modeling of a catastrophic loess flow slide triggered by the 2013 Minxian–Zhangxian earthquake in Yongguang village, Minxian, Gansu, China. Bull Eng Geol Environ 79, 439–449 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-019-01542-x

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