Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Controlling parameter analyses and hazard mapping for earthquake-triggered landslides: an example from a square region in Beichuan County, Sichuan Province, China

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

On May 12, 2008, at 1428 hours (Beijing time), a catastrophic earthquake, with a magnitude of Ms 8.0, struck the Sichuan Province, China. About 200,000 landslides, as a secondary geological hazard associated with the earthquake, were triggered over a broad area. These landslides were of almost all types such as shallow, disrupted landslides, rock falls, deep-seated landslides, and rock avalanches. Some of these landslides damaged and destroyed large part of some towns, blocked roads, dammed rivers, and caused other serious damages. The purpose of this study is to detect correlations between landslide occurrence and the surface rupture plane, ground shaking conditions (measured by peak ground acceleration, PGA), lithology, slope gradient, slope aspect, topographic position, and distance from drainages by using two indices, landslide area percentage (LAP) and the landslide number density (LND), based on geographic information system (GIS) technology and statistical analysis method in a square region (study area) of Beichuan County, Sichuan Province, China. There were 5,096 landslides related with the earthquake which were delineated by visual interpretation and selected field checking throughout the study area. The total area (horizontal projection) of the 5,096 landslides is about 41.103 km2. The LAP, which is defined as the percentage of the plane area affected by landslides, was 10.276 %, and the LND, means the number of landslides per square kilometers, was 12.74 landslides/km2. Statistical analysis results show that both LAP and LND have a positive correlation with slope gradient and a negative correlation with distance from the surface rupture. However, the correlation between the occurrence of landslides with PGA, topographic position, and distance from drainages are uncertain, or has just a little positive correlation. The correlation between landslide and slope aspect also shows the effect of the directivity of the seismic wave. The Zbq formation had the most concentrated landslide activity with the LND value of 21.78 landslides/km 2, and the ∈1 q Gr. geological units had the highest LAP value. Furthermore, weight index (W i) model is performed with a GIS platform to derive landslide hazard index map. The success rate of the model was 71.615 % and, thus, it was valid. In addition, comparison of five landslide controlling parameters’ influence on landslide occurrences was also carried out.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bui DT, Pradhan B, Lofman O, Revhaug I, Dick OB (2012a) Spatial prediction of landslide hazards in Hoa Binh province (Vietnam): a comparative assessment of the efficacy of evidential belief functions and fuzzy logic models. Catena 96:28–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bui DT, Pradhan B, Lofman O, Revhaug I, Dick OB (2012b) Landslide susceptibility assessment in the Hoa Binh province of Vietnam: a comparison of the Levenberg–Marquardt and Bayesian regularized neural networks. Geomorphology. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2012.04.023

  • Chen JP, Li JF, Qin XW, Dong QJ, Sun Y (2009) RS and GIS-based statistical analysis of secondary geological disasters after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Acta Geol Sin 83(4):776–785

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chigira M, Yagi H (2006) Geological and geomorphological characteristics of landslides triggered by the 2004 Mid Niigta prefecture earthquake in Japan. Eng Geol 82(4):202–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chigira M, Wu XY, Inokuchi T, Wang GH (2010) Landslides induced by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, Sichuan, China. Geomorphology 118(3–4):225–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai FC, Xu C, Yao X, Xu L, Tu XB, Gong QM (2011) Spatial distribution of landslides triggered by the 2008 Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, China. J Asian Earth Sci 40(4):883–895

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das JD, Saraf AK, Panda S (2007) Satellite data in a rapid analysis of Kashmir earthquake (October 2005) triggered landslide pattern and river water turbidity in and around the epicentral region. Int J Remote Sens 28(8):1835–1842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di BF, Zeng HJ, Zhang MH, Ustin SL, Tang Y, Wang ZY, Chen NS, Zhang B (2010) Quantifying the spatial distribution of soil mass wasting processes after the 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan, China: a case study of the Longmenshan area. Remote Sens Environ 114(4):761–771

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukuoka H, Sassa K, Scarascia-Mugnozza G (1997) Distribution of landslides triggered by the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu earthquake and long runout mechanism of the Takarazuka Golf Course landslide. J Phys Earth 45(2):83–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallus D, Abecker A, Richter D (2008) Classification of landslide susceptibility in the development of early warning systems. Headway Spat Data Handl 55–75

  • Garcia-Rodriguez MJ, Malpica JA, Benito B, Díazc M (2008) Susceptibility assessment of earthquake-triggered landslides in El Salvador using logistic regression. Geomorphology 95(3–4):172–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gorum T, Fan XM, van Westen CJ, Huang RQ, Xu Q, Tang C, Wang GH (2011) Distribution pattern of earthquake-induced landslides triggered by the 12 May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Geomorphology 133(3–4):152–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han YS, Liu HJ, Cui P, Su FH, Du DS (2009) Hazard assessment on secondary mountain-hazards triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake. J Appl Remote Sens 3(031645)

  • Harp EL, Jibson RW (1995) Inventory of landslides triggered by the 1994 Northridge, California earthquake, USGS. http://geo-nsdi.er.usgs.gov/metadata/open-file/95-213/metadata.faq.html

  • Harp EL, Jibson RW (1996) Landslides triggered by the 1994 Northridge, California, Earthquake. Bull Seimological Soc Am 86(1B):S319–S332

    Google Scholar 

  • Harp EL, Wilson RC (1995) Shaking intensity thresholds for rock falls and slides: evidence from 1987 whittier narrows and superstition hills earthquake strong-motion records. Bull Seimological Soc Am 85(6):1739–1757

    Google Scholar 

  • Jibson RW, Harp EL (1994) Landslides triggered by the Northridge earthquake. Earthquakes Volcanoes 25(1):31–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Jibson RW, Keefer DK (1989) Statistical analysis of factors affecting landslide distribution in the new Madrid seismic zone, Tennessee and Kentucky. Eng Geol 27(1–4):509–542

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamp U, Growley BJ, Khattak GA, Owen LA (2008) GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake region. Geomorphology 101(4):631–642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keefer DK (1984) Landslides caused by earthquakes. Geol Soc Am Bull 95(4):406–421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keefer DK (2000) Statistical analysis of an earthquake-induced landslide distribution—the 1989 Loma Prieta, California event. Eng Geol 58(3–4):231–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelarestaghi A, Ahmadi H (2009) Landslide susceptibility analysis with a bivariate approach and GIS in Northern Iran. Arab J Geosci 2(1):95–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khazai B, Sitar N (2003) Evaluation of factors controlling earthquake-induced landslides caused by Chi-Chi earthquake and comparison with the Northridge and Loma Prieta events. Eng Geol 71(1–2):79–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Korup O (2006) Rock-slope failure and the river long profile. Geology 34(1):45–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee CT, Huang CC, Lee JF, Pan KL, Lin ML, Dong JJ (2008) Statistical approach to earthquake-induced landslide susceptibility. Eng Geol 100(1–2):43–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Chen Q, Zhou JM, Tian BS (2009) Analysis of synthetic aperture radar image characteristics for seismic disasters in the Wenchuan earthquake. J Appl Remote Sens 3(031685)

  • Liao HW, Lee CT (2000) Landslides triggered by the Chi-Chi earthquake. ACRS 2000, http://www.geospatialworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16097:landslides-triggered-by-the-chi-chi-earthquake&catid=150:natural-hazard-management-landslide-soil-erosion

  • Liao C, Liao H, Lee C (2002) Statistical analysis of factors affecting landslides triggered by the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, Taiwan. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting, abstract #H12D-0951

  • Lin ML, Tung CC (2003) A GIS-based potential analysis of the landslides induced by the Chi-Chi earthquake. Eng Geol 71(1–2):63–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Marzorati S, Luzi L, Amicis MD (2002) Rock falls induced by earthquakes: a statistical approach. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 22(7):565–577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Owen LA, Kamp U, Khattak GA, Harp EL, Keefer DK, Bauer MA (2008) Landslides triggered by the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake. Geomorphology 94(1–2):1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parise M, Jibson RW (2000) A seismic landslide susceptibility rating of geologic units based on analysis of characteristics of landslides triggered by the 17 January, 1994 Northridge, California earthquake. Eng Geol 58(3–4):51–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearce AJ, O’Loughlin CL (1985) Landsliding during a m 7.7 earthquake: influence of geology and topography. Geology 13(12):855–858

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pourghasemi HR, Pradhan B, Gokceoglu C, Mohammadi M, Morad HR (2012a) Application of weights-of-evidence and certainty factor models and their comparison in landslide susceptibility mapping at Haraz watershed, Iran. Arab J Geosci. doi:10.1007/s12517-012-0532-7

  • Pourghasemi HR, Pradhan B, Gokceoglu C (2012b) Application of fuzzy logic and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to landslide susceptibility mapping at Haraz watershed, Iran. Nat Hazard. doi:10.1007/s11069-012-0217-2

  • Pradhan B, Youssef AM (2009) Manifestation of remote sensing data and GIS on landslide hazard analysis using spatial-based statistical models. Arab J Geosci 3(3):319–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez CE, Bommer JJ, Chandler RJ (1999) Earthquake-induced landslides: 1980–1997. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 18(5):325–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sato HP, Sekiguchi T, Kojiroi R, Suzuki Y, Lida M (2005) Overlaying landslides distribution on the earthquake source, geological and topographical data: the Mid Niigata prefecture earthquake in 2004, Japan. Landslides 2(2):143–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sato HP, Hasegawa H, Fujiwara S, Tobita M, Koarai M, Une H, Iwahashi J (2007) Interpretation of landslide distribution triggered by the 2005 Northern Pakistan earthquake using SPOT 5 imagery. Landslides 4(2):113–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sezer EA, Pradhan B, Gokceoglu C (2011) Manifestation of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy model on landslide susceptibility mapping: Klangvalley, Malaysia. Expert Syst Appl 38(7):8208–8219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tibaldi A, Ferrari L, Pasquare G (1995) Landslides triggered by earthquakes and their relations with faults and mountain slope geometry: an example from Ecuador. Geomorphology 11(3):215–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • US Geological Survey (2008) Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS), shake map, global region, maps of ground shaking and intensity for event 2008 yr, Eastern Sichuan, China. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/shakemap

  • Wang WN, Nakamura H, Tsuchiya S, Chen CC (2002) Distributions of landslides triggered by the Chi-chi earthquake in Central Taiwan on September 21, 1999. Landslides J Jpn Landslide Soc 38(4):18–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang WN, Wu HL, Nakamura H, Wu SC, Ouyang S, Yu MF (2003) Mass movements caused by recent tectonic activity: the 1999 Chi-chi earthquake in central Taiwan. Island Arc 12(4):325–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang HB, Sassa K, Xu WY (2007) Analysis of a spatial distribution of landslides triggered by the 2004 Chuetsu earthquakes of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. Nat Hazard 41(1):43–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wasowski J, Gaudio VD, Pierri P, Capolongo D (2002) Factors controlling seismic susceptibility of the Sele Valley slopes: the case of the 1980 Irpinia earthquake re-examined. Surv Geophys 23(6):563–593

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss AD (2001) Topographic position and landforms analysis. Poster Presentation, ESRI User Conference, San Diego, CA

  • Weissel JK, Stark CP (2001) Landslides triggered by the 1999 Mw 7.6 Chi Chi Earthquake in Taiwan and their relationship to topography. Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS ‘01. IEEE 2001 Int 2:759–761

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Xu XW (2012) Comment on “Spatial distribution analysis of landslides triggered by 2008.5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake, China” by Shengwen Qi, Qiang Xu, Hengxing Lan, Bing Zhang, Jianyou Liu [Engineering Geology 116 (2010) 95–108]. Engineering Geology 133–134:40–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZQ, Ji SC, Li HB, Hou LW, Fu XF, Cai ZH (2008a) Uplift of the Longmen Shan range and the Wenchuan earthquake. Episodes 31(3):291–301

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu XW, Wen XZ, Ye JQ, Ma BQ, Chen J, Zhou RJ, He HL, Tian QJ, He YL, Wang ZC, Sun ZM, Feng XJ, Yu GH, Chen LC, Chen GH, Yu SE, Ran YK, Li XG, Li CX, An YF (2008b) The Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake surface ruptures and its seismogenic structure. Seismol Geol 30(3):597–629 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Dai FC, Yao X, Chen J, Tu XB, Sun Y, Wang ZY (2009a) GIS-based landslide susceptibility assessment using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) for May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake region. Chin J Rock Mech Eng 28(S2):3978–3985 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Dai FC, Chen J, Tu XB, Xu L, Li WC, Tian W, Cao YB, Yao X (2009b) Identification and analysis of secondary geological hazards triggered by a magnitude 8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake. J Remote Sens 13(4):754–762 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Dai FC, Yao X (2009c) Incidence number and affected area of Wenchuan Earthquake-induced landslides. Sci Technol Rev 27(11):79–81 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu XW, Wen XZ, Yu GH, Chen GH, Klinger Y, Hubbard J, Shaw J (2009d) Coseismic reverse- and oblique-slip surface faulting generated by the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, China. Geology 37(6):515–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu XW, Yu GH, Chen GH, Ran YK, Li CX, Chen YG, Chang CP (2009e) Parameters of coseismic reverse- and oblique-slip surface ruptures of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, eastern Tibetan Plateau. Acta Geol Sin 83(4):673–684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Dai FC, Yao X, Chen J, Tu XB, Cao YB, Xiao JZ (2010) GIS-based certainty factor analysis of landslide triggering factors in Wenchuan Earthquake. Chin J Rock Mech Eng 29(S1):2972–2981 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Dai FC, Xiao JZ (2011) Statistical analysis of the characteristic parameters of landslides triggered by the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. J Nat Disasters 20(4):147–153 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, et al. (2012a) Three (nearly) complete inventories of landslides triggered by the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan Mw 7.9 earthquake and their spatial distribution statistical analysis. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, In press

  • Xu C, Xu XW, Yu GH (2012b) Landslides triggered by slipping-fault-generated earthquake on a plateau: an example of the 14 April 2010, Ms 7.1, Yushu, China earthquake. Landslides 2012, Online. doi:10.1007/s10346-012-0340-x

  • Xu C, Dai FC, Xu XW, Lee YH (2012c) GIS-based support vector machine modeling of earthquake-triggered landslide susceptibility in the Jianjiang River watershed, China. Geomorphology 145–146:70–80

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Xu XW, Dai FC, Saraf AK (2012d) Comparison of different models for susceptibility mapping of earthquake triggered landslides related with the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in China. Comput Geosci 46:317–329

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Xu XW, Dai FC, Xiao JZ, Tan XB, Yuan RM (2012e) Landslide hazard mapping using GIS and weight of evidence model in Qingshui river watershed of 2008 Wenchuan earthquake struck region. J Earth Sci 23(1):97–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Xu XW, Lee YH, Tan XB, Yu GH, Dai FC (2012f) The 2010 Yushu earthquake triggered landslide hazard mapping using GIS and weight of evidence modeling. Environ Earth Sci 66(6):1603–1616

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu C, Xu XW, Yu GH (2012g) Earthquake triggered landslide hazard mapping and validation related with the 2010 Port-au-Prince, Haiti earthquake. Disaster Advances, 2012, Accepted

  • Yamagishi H, Iwahashi J (2007) Comparison between the two triggered landslides in Mid-Niigata, Japan by July 13 heavy rainfall and October 23 intensive earthquakes in 2004. Landslides 4(4):389–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yao X, Tham LG, Dai FC (2008) Landslide susceptibility mapping based on support vector machine: a case study on natural slopes of Hong Kong, China. Geomorphology 101(4):572–582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yilmaz I (2010) Comparison of landslide susceptibility mapping methodologies for Koyulhisar, Turkey: conditional probability, logistic regression, artificial neural networks, and support vector machine. Environ Earth Sci 61(4):821–836

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin JH, Chen J, Xu XW, Wang XL, Zheng YG (2010) The characteristics of the landslides triggered by the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 Earthquake from Anxian to Beichuan. J Asian Earth Sci 37(5–6):452–459

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang WJ, Lin JY, Peng J, Lu QF (2010) Estimating Wenchuan Earthquake-induced landslides based on remote sensing. Int J Remote Sens 31(13):3495–3508

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (40821160550 and 41004037), the Special Fund of Chinese Central Government for Basic Scientific Research Operations in Commonweal Research Institutes (ZGCEA-1120), and Doctoral Candidate Innovation Research Support Program by Science and Technology Review (kjdb200902-5).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    Chong Xu & Xiwei Xu

Authors
  1. Chong Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiwei Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chong Xu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xu, C., Xu, X. Controlling parameter analyses and hazard mapping for earthquake-triggered landslides: an example from a square region in Beichuan County, Sichuan Province, China. Arab J Geosci 6, 3827–3839 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-012-0646-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-012-0646-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation