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Seismic response characteristics of slopes in hilly districts based on experimental observations

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A Correction to this article was published on 21 September 2022

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Abstract

At 22:55 on the 17th of June 2019, an Ms 6.0 earthquake hit Changning County, Sichuan Province, China. On the second day, an emergency survey group arrived at the epicentre, and an earthquake monitoring profile was established. Two aftershocks with magnitudes of Ms 5.4 and Ms 5.6 were captured. Some main conclusions are as follows: (1) Compared with the high mountainous and canyon districts in Northwest Sichuan Province, coseismic geological disasters that occur in hilly districts in South Sichuan Province occur on a much smaller scale, usually less than 1000 m3. The types of disasters are mainly rock falls and rock avalanches, while landslides are rare. (2) The Ms 5.4 aftershock reveals that the amplification effects of topography (the mountaintop) and site conditions (soil site) exist under natural seismic loads, and the latter is stronger. The amplification effects are mainly manifested as the amplification of peak ground acceleration (PGA) and Arias intensity in the E‒W, N‒S and up–down (U–D) directions. Moreover, because of the E‒W strike of the mountain, the PGA values and Arias intensity in the N‒S direction are the largest. (3) The Ms 5.6 aftershock reveals that the edge of the mountaintop has a stronger seismic response than the centre part, which is mainly manifested as a further increase in the PGA and Arias intensity; this pattern is consistent with the phenomenon that coseismic disasters tend to originate at the edges of mountaintops.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41877235). We would like to thank Weiting Ming, Jiangwei Liu, Yue Luo and Yuhang Zhou for assistance during the field investigation of 2019. No easy summer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geo-Hazard Prevention and Geo-Environment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    YunSheng Wang

  2. China Railway Engineering Design and Consulting Group CO., LTD, Zhengzhou Institute, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

    Gang Jin

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  1. YunSheng Wang
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  2. Gang Jin
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Correspondence to Gang Jin.

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The original online version of this article was revised: Originally, the article was published with error. Affiliation 2 has been updated to: “China Railway Engineering Design and Consulting Group CO., LTD, Zhengzhou Institute, Zhengzhou 450000, China”.

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Wang, Y., Jin, G. Seismic response characteristics of slopes in hilly districts based on experimental observations. Bull Eng Geol Environ 81, 423 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02918-2

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