Abstract
Small-scale landslides that occur at unexpected locations and seasons can cause severe losses of life and property. Unusually, the Shidang landslide occurred prior to the rainy season in Jinkouhe County, Sichuan Province, China, resulting in 19 deaths and missing persons. In this paper, landslide characteristics and causes are revealed through a field investigation, laboratory experiments, and numerical calculations. The results show that the Shidang landslide was a small-scale landslide with a total volume of approximately 19500 m3, originating from hollow colluvial deposits. The geomorphological hollow above the landslide provided topographic conditions for the collection of subsurface runoff. Groundwater flow was transported downward along dolomite and accumulated in the area above shale, with a low conductivity. Groundwater table rise combined with the decrease in the soil strength led to landslide occurrence. Improper siting of residential areas and insufficient vigilance against post-rainfall landslides caused this tragedy. Considering the post-disaster lessons, it is strongly recommended that in the future, more attention should be given to the investigation of landslides triggered by groundwater, especially in determining landslide hydrological system boundaries. In mountainous areas where the developable space is limited, areas with hollow landforms are potentially at risk of geohazards. This paper could provide a reference for the prevention and management of similar landslides and new insights for updating landslide investigation systems and residential housing plans.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbate A, Papini M, Longoni L (2021) Analysis of meteorological parameters triggering rainfall-induced landslide: a review of 70 years in Valtellina. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 21:2041–2058. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2041-2021
Anderson SP, Dietrich WE, Montgomery DR, Torres R, Conrad ME, Loague K (1997) Subsurface flow paths in a steep, unchanneled catchment. Water Resour Res 33:2637–2653. https://doi.org/10.1029/97WR02595
Aragaw HM, Mishra SK (2022) Clarification of issues and long-duration hydrologic simulation SCS-CN-based proxy modelling. Acta Geophys 70:729–756. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-022-00730-w
Aubertin M, Mbonimpa M, Bussière B, Chapuis RP (2003) A model to predict the water retention curve from basic geotechnical properties. Can Geotech J 40:1104–1122. https://doi.org/10.1139/t03-054
Blothe JH, Korup O, Schwanghart W (2015) Large landslides lie low: excess topography in the Himalaya-Karakoram ranges. Geology 43:523–526
Bordoni M, Meisina C, Valentino R, Lu N, Bittelli M, Chersich S (2015) Hydrological factors affecting rainfall-induced shallow landslides: from the field monitoring to a simplified slope stability analysis. Eng Geol 193:19–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2015.04.006
Chen N, Shufeng T, Shi P, Rahman MM, Somos-Valenzuela M (2023) Multi-wing butterfly effects on catastrophic rockslides. Geoscience Frontiers
Dietrich WE, Dorn R (1984) Significance of thick deposits of colluvium on hillslopes: a case study involving the use of pollen analysis in the coastal mountains of Northern California. J Geol 92:147–158. https://doi.org/10.1086/628845
Dietrich WE, Wilson CJ, Reneau SL (1986) Hollows, colluvium, and landslides in soil-mantled landscapes. In: Abrahams AD (ed) Hillslope processes. Allen and Unwin, Boston, pp 361–388
Dietrich WE, Wilson CJ, Montgomery DR, McKean J, Bauer R (1992) Erosion thresholds and land surface morphology. Geology 20:675–679
Fan X, Scaringi G, Korup O et al (2019a) Earthquake-induced chains of geologic hazards: patterns, mechanisms, and impacts. Rev Geophys 57:421–503. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018RG000626
Fan X, Xu Q, Liu J, Subramanian SS, He C, Zhu X, Zhou L (2019b) Successful early warning and emergency response of a disastrous rockslide in Guizhou province, China. Landslides 16:2445–2457. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-019-01269-6
Fredlund D (1997) An introduction to unsaturated soil mechanics
Guo X, Cui P, Chen X, Li Y, Zhang J, Sun Y (2021) Spatial uncertainty of rainfall and its impact on hydrological hazard forecasting in a small semiarid mountainous watershed. J Hydrol 595:126049. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126049
Handwerger AL, Rempel AW, Skarbek RM, Roering JJ, Hilley GE (2016) Rate-weakening friction characterizes both slow sliding and catastrophic failure of landslides. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113:10281–10286. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1607009113
Hattanji T, Kodama R, Takahashi D, Tanaka Y, Doshida S, Furuichi T (2021) Migration of channel heads by storm events in two granitic mountain basins, western Japan: Implication for predicting location of landslides. Geomorphology 393:107943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2021.107943
Hong Y, Wan S (2011) Forecasting groundwater level fluctuations for rainfall-induced landslide. Nat Hazards 57:167–184
Hou R, Chen N, Hu G, Han Z, Liu E (2021) Characteristics, mechanisms, and post-disaster lessons of the delayed semi-diagenetic landslide in Hanyuan, Sichuan, China. Landslides. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01751-0
Hu G, Chen N, Tanoli J, Liu M, Liu R, Chen K (2017) Debris flow susceptibility analysis based on the combined impacts of antecedent earthquakes and droughts: a case study for cascade hydropower stations in the upper Yangtze River, China. J Mt Sci 14:1712–1727. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-017-4375-1
Huang Y, Zhao L (2018) Review on landslide susceptibility mapping using support vector machines. CATENA 165:520–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2018.03.003
Huang D, Li Y, Song Y, Xu Q, Pei X (2019) Insights into the catastrophic Xinmo rock avalanche in Maoxian county, China: combined effects of historical earthquakes and landslide amplification. Eng Geol 258:105158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2019.105158
Huang L, Zhou T, Zhuang S, Peng T, Wang J, Li Y (2022) Failure mechanism of a high-locality colluvial landslide in Wanzhou County, Chongqing. China Bull Eng Geol Environ 81:252. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-022-02758-0
Kalenchuk KS, Hutchinson DJ, Diederichs MS (2013) Downie Slide: numerical simulation of groundwater fluctuations influencing the behaviour of a massive landslide. Bulletin of Engineering Geology & the Environment
Lu Y, Chen J, Xu Q, Han Z, Peart M, Ng C-N, Lee FYS, Hau BCH, Law WWY (2023) Spatiotemporal variations of river water turbidity in responding to rainstorm-streamflow processes and farming activities in a mountainous catchment, Lai Chi Wo, Hong Kong. China. Science of the Total Environment 863:160759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160759
Marc V, Bertrand C, Malet JP, Carry N, Simler R, Cervi F (2017) Groundwater-surface waters interactions at slope and catchment scales: implications for landsliding in clay-rich slopes. Hydrological Processes
Mirus BB, Jones ES, Baum RL et al (2020) Landslides across the USA: occurrence, susceptibility, and data limitations. Landslides 17:2271–2285. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-020-01424-4
Mithan HT, Hales TC, Cleall PJ (2021) Topographic and ground-ice controls on shallow landsliding in thawing arctic permafrost. Geophysical Research Letters 48:e2020GL092264. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL092264
Okamoto T, Matsuura S, Larsen JO, Asano S, Abe K (2018) The response of pore water pressure to snow accumulation on a low-permeability clay landslide. Eng Geol 242:130–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2018.06.002
Parker RN, Hales TC, Mudd SM, Grieve SW, Constantine JA (2016) Colluvium supply in humid regions limits the frequency of storm-triggered landslides. Sci Rep 6:34438. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep34438
Patton AI, Rathburn SL, Bilderback EL, Lukens CE (2018) Patterns of debris flow initiation and periglacial sediment sourcing in the Colorado Front Range. Earth Surf Proc Land 43:2998–3008. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4463
Pei Y, Qiu H, Yang D, Liu Z, Ma S, Li J, Cao M, Wufuer W (2023) Increasing landslide activity in the Taxkorgan River Basin (eastern Pamirs Plateau, China) driven by climate change. CATENA 223:106911. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2023.106911
Peng T, Chen N, Hu G, Tian S, Ni H, Huang L, Yang X, Zhao A (2022) Failure mechanism of Dege landslide in western China, March 2021: the loess interlayer and multiple water resources. Landslides 19:2189–2197. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-022-01910-x
Reneau S, Dietrich W (1987) Size and location of colluvial landslides in a steep forested landscape. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publications 165:
Reneau SL, Dietrich WE, Rubin M, Donahue DJ, Jull AJT (1989) Analysis of hillslope erosion rates using dated colluvial deposits. J Geol 97:45–63. https://doi.org/10.1086/629280
Sahu RK, Mishra SK, Eldho TI (2010) An improved AMC-coupled runoff curve number model. Hydrol Process 24:2834–2839. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7695
Shrestha HK, Yatabe R, Bhandary NP (2008) Groundwater flow modeling for effective implementation of landslide stability enhancement measures. Landslides 5:281–290
Sidle R (1984) Shallow groundwater fluctuations in unstable hillslopes of coastal Alaska. Zeitschrift Fur Gletscherkunde Und Glazialgeologie 20:79–95
Singh PK, Mishra SK, Berndtsson R, Jain MK, Pandey RP (2015) Development of a modified SMA Based MSCS-CN model for runoff estimation. Water Resour Manag 29:4111–4127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-1048-1
Song C, Yu C, Li Z, Utili S, Frattini P, Crosta G, Peng J (2022) Triggering and recovery of earthquake accelerated landslides in Central Italy revealed by satellite radar observations. Nat Commun 13:7278. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35035-5
Tian S, Chen N, Wu H, Yang C, Zhong Z, Rahman M (2020) New insights into the occurrence of the Baige landslide along the Jinsha River in Tibet. Landslides 17:1207–1216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-020-01351-4
Tian S, Chen N, Rahman M, Hu G, Peng T, Zhang Y, Liu M (2022) New insights into the occurrence of the catastrophic zhaiban slope debris flow that occurred in a dry valley in the Hengduan Mountains in Southwest China. Landslides 19:647–657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-021-01824-0
Tian S, Li Y, Hu G, Chen N, Wu K, Rahman M, Peng T, Ni H (2023) Preliminary analysis on the formation mechanism of the unexpected catastrophic qijiaba landslide in a tectonically non-active hilly area of China. Landslides 20:409–420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-022-01990-9
Tsuboyama Y, Noguchi S, Shimizu T, Sidle RC, Hosoda I (1998) Intrastorm fluctuations of piezometric head and soil temperature within a steep forested hollow. Springer, Netherlands
Vassallo R, Grimaldi GM, Di Maio C (2015) Pore water pressures induced by historical rain series in a clayey landslide: 3D modeling. Landslides 12:731–744
Woldie DW, Sidle RC, Gomi T (2009) Impact of road-generated storm runoff on a small catchment response. Hydrol Process 23:3631–3638. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.7440
Wu K, Chen N, Hu G, Wang T, Zhang Y, Marcelo S (2021) New insights into the failure mechanism and dynamic process of the Boli landslide, China. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 1–18
Zhou W, Qiu H, Wang L, Pei Y, Tang B, Ma S, Yang D, Cao M (2022) Combining rainfall-induced shallow landslides and subsequent debris flows for hazard chain prediction. CATENA 213:106199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2022.106199
Ziegler AD, Giambelluca TW (1997) Importance of rural roads as source areas for runoff in mountainous areas of northern Thailand. J Hydrol 196:204–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(96)03288-X
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the reviewer and Editor for constructive comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the quality of the manuscript.
Funding
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42361144880 and U20A20110), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFC3008301), the China Power Construction core technology research project (Grant No. DJ-HXGG-2022-02), the International Cooperation Overseas Platform Project, CAS (Grant No. 131C11KYSB20200033), the National Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (Grant No. GZC20232571), the Special Research Assistant Grant of CAS (Grant Recipient: Dr. Shufeng Tian) and the Outstanding Talent Project of Thousand Talents Program in China (Grant Recipient: Prof. Ningsheng Chen). All the financial support are greatly appreciated.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Hou, R., Li, Z., Ye, W. et al. A small landslide induced a large disaster prior to the heavy rainy season in Jinkouhe, Sichuan, China: characteristics, mechanism, and lessons. Landslides 21, 1353–1365 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02213-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02213-z