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Distribution and characteristics of loess landslides induced by the 1654 Tianshui earthquake, Northwest of China

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Abstract

Based on the loess landslides induced by the 1654 Tianshui Ms 8.0 earthquake, the relationships among the landslide distribution and seismic intensity, epicentral distance, fault distance, original slope angle, and the strike of loess ridges were analyzed to better understand the geometric, directional, and kinematic characteristics of loess seismic landslides. The results show the following: (1) The seismic intensity and fault distance are remarkably correlated with landslide area, landslide number density, and landslide areal density, which are essential factors controlling earthquake-induced landslide development in the Tianshui area. (2) The landslides triggered by the Tianshui earthquake predominantly developed on gentle slopes, and the dominant original slope angles of the landslides range from 10 to 20°. The Tianshui earthquake-induced landslides are mainly large scale, accounting for 62.01%. (3) The main sliding directions of the landslides are concentrated at 220°–230° and 260°–270°, which are relatively the same as the aspect of the original slope. The correlation between the main sliding direction of landslides, strike of the loess ridges, and relative epicenter azimuth shows that the sliding direction of the Tianshui earthquake-induced landslides is not only affected by the propagation direction of seismic waves and strike of loess ridges, the loess thickness and stratum structure may also serve as the main factors controlling the development of the landslides. (4) The equivalent friction coefficient (μ) of the landslides induced by the 1654 Tianshui Ms 8.0 earthquake is between 0.1 and 0.6, with an average value of 0.27. The empirical relationships between the landslide volume (V) and equivalent friction coefficient, maximum horizontal distance of the landslide (Lmax), and maximum vertical distance of the landslide (Hmax) show that the Tianshui earthquake-induced loess landslides have a significant scaling effect and are characterized by low-angle and long-distance slip. The findings of our study constitute a solid base for further research on the mechanism and risk assessment of seismic-induced loess landslides and provide engineering application value.

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Data availability

The data investigated in this study is available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The manuscript benefited from careful and thoughtful reviews by anonymous reviewers. We thank them for their constructive input and the editor for effective editorial handling. The authors also would like to express their gratitude to EditSprings (https://www.editsprings.cn) for the expert linguistic services provided.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. U1939209, 51808118).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Disaster Prevention, No. 465, Xueyuan Street, Yanjiao Development Zone, Sanhe City, Hebei Province, 065201, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaobo Li, Lingyong Yan, Yiwen Wu, Junjie Duan & Jingshan Bo

  2. Hebei Key Laboratory of Earthquake Disaster Prevention and Risk Assessment, Sanhe City, Hebei Province, 065201, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaobo Li

  3. Institute of Engineering Mechanics, CEA, No. 29, Xuefu Road, Nangang District, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, 150080, People’s Republic of China

    Da Peng

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  1. Xiaobo Li
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  2. Lingyong Yan
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  4. Da Peng
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Xiaobo Li and Lingyong Yan; methodology: Xiaobo Li and Lingyong Yan; writing—original draft preparation: Xiaobo Li, Lingyong Yan, and Da Peng; writing—review and editing: Xiaobo Li, Yiwen Wu, Junjie Duan, and Jingshan Bo; visualization, Lingyong Yan, Yiwen Wu, and Junjie Duan; supervision: Xiaobo Li and Jingshan Bo. All authors participated in field surveys.

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Correspondence to Xiaobo Li.

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Li, X., Yan, L., Wu, Y. et al. Distribution and characteristics of loess landslides induced by the 1654 Tianshui earthquake, Northwest of China. Landslides 20, 2775–2790 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-023-02128-1

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