Abstract
Glacier-related geohazards threaten societies in mountain regions. Massive rock-ice avalanches/rockslides/glacier debris flows frequently occurred and triggered secondary geohazard chains in the Yarlung Zangbo River downstream, which pose a serious threat to nearly residents and engineering facilities and can be linked to climate change as glaciers generally retreated after 2000. This paper provides an interdisciplinary and insight analysis for geohazard modes, monitoring and evolutions, deposits features and dynamic process of glacier geohazards by combining satellite images, field investigation, InSAR, UAVs, and simulation. It is revealed that more and more ice crevasses of various size, which may expand and further decrease the integrity of rock mass due to meltwater, earthquakes, and rainfall infiltration, appear on avalanche sources through cases analysis. The temperature rise accelerates glacier retreat and results in glacier movement. Hereafter, the slope gradually becomes unstable and starts to fail. It also analyzes historic events and long-runout process of rock-ice avalanches in the Sedongpu gully. Geomorphology plays an important role in high mobility and volume amplification, such as terrain gradient, valley twist, and moraines. The volume amplification is not only connected with the substrate entrainment, but also the riverbanks failure. This work mainly provides a scientific basis for disaster risk assessment and government policy formulation in this region.
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Funding
We acknowledge support from the Geological Survey Project of CGS (Grant No.DD20230538, DD20230446, DD20221748), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.U2244226 and U2244227).
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Zhang, T., Li, B., Gao, Y. et al. Massive glacier-related geohazard chains and dynamics analysis at the Yarlung Zangbo River downstream of southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Bull Eng Geol Environ 82, 426 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03423-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03423-w