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Controls on Landslide Size: Insights from Field Survey Data

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Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk (WLF 2020)

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Abstract

Proper characterization of landslide size distribution is very important for estimating the landslide risk, quantifying the integrated effects of erosion and sediment yield, and determining the magnitude of landslide events. This paper quantitatively addresses the effects of topographic condition and landslide types on landslide size distributions. A detailed landslide inventory based on field work is developed. The landslide spatial distributions are then clustered. There exist some clustered centres in the study area. Statistical analysis showed that the large and very large landslides play an important role in determining the total landslides area in current study area. The double pareto and inverse gamma functions can well fit with the landslide probability distribution and can quantitatively reveal the maximum probability and rollover effect. The probability density of landslide size empirically agrees well with a simple power law relationship above a certain size threshold. Below this size, there exists a rollover effect. The local topographic conditions and landslide type play an important role in landslide size. About 33% of landslides occurred within a slope gradient between 30°–40°. The landslide size decreases with increasing slope gradient, and more frequent small landslides occur on larger slope gradients. About 80% of landslides occurred within a slope height less than 100 m. The landslide frequency decreased sharply with increasing slope height. The local slope height can limit the landslide size. The landslide size increases as slope height increases, and relationship of which can be well fitted by using a power law form. The peak of landslide probability density increases with increasing slope height. Moreover, the landslide size is also controlled by the landslide types and slope morphology. About 62% of the total landslides are retrogressive landslides. Most landslides concentrate on convex slopes. The lowest percentage of landslides occurred on a concave slope. This suggest that the convex slopes are preferentially susceptible to landslides. The probability densities of landslide size are influenced by the landslide types and slope morphology. Many thrust-type landslides were small landslides. More frequent small landslides occur on planar slope. The study here provides a reliable method for landslide hazard mapping.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) (grant no. 2019QZKK0902) International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (grant no. 2018YFE0100100), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41771539), Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDA 20030301), and International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. 131551KYSB20160002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710127, China

    Haijun Qiu, Dongdong Yang, Sheng Hu, Yanqian Pei & Shuyue Ma

  2. State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 10084, China

    Yifei Cui

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  1. Haijun Qiu
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  2. Yifei Cui
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  3. Dongdong Yang
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  4. Sheng Hu
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Correspondence to Yifei Cui .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia

    Željko Arbanas

  2. Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

  3. International Consortium on Landslides, Kyoto, Japan

    Kazuo Konagai

  4. International Consortium on Landslides, Kyoto University, Uji Campus, Kyoto, Japan

    Kyoji Sassa

  5. Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (Shishu-kan), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Kaoru Takara

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Qiu, H., Cui, Y., Yang, D., Hu, S., Pei, Y., Ma, S. (2021). Controls on Landslide Size: Insights from Field Survey Data. In: Arbanas, Ž., Bobrowsky, P.T., Konagai, K., Sassa, K., Takara, K. (eds) Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk. WLF 2020. ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60713-5_11

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