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A Close Look of the Gravity Erosion on the Loess Plateau of China

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Landslide plays an important role in landscape evolution, delivers huge amounts of sediment to rivers and seriously affects the structure and function of ecosystems and society. Here, a statistical analysis together with a field investigation was carried out on the Loess Plateau of China. Since the 1980s, 53 fatal landslides have occurred, causing 717 deaths. As the most important trigger, rainfall induced 40% of the catastrophic landslides, while other factors, i.e., human activities, freeze-thaw and earthquake, accounted for 36, 23 and 1%, respectively. Furthermore, the landslide frequency and death toll related to human activities were increasing as time went on. Landslide also plays an important role in sediment delivery, especially in the areas with steep terrain. In some catchments of the Loess Plateau, landslides contributed over 50% of the total sediment discharge. The result shows that landslide is a widespread geologic hazard in the rural area of the Loess Plateau, China.

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Xu, X., Zhu, T., Zhang, H., Gao, L. (2020). A Close Look of the Gravity Erosion on the Loess Plateau of China. In: Experimental Erosion. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3801-8_6

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