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A giant historical landslide on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

The Tibetan Plateau is a landslide-prone area in Southwest China. A large-scale ancient landslide named Luanshibao Landslide on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is described in this paper, based on field investigation and satellite image interpretation. The geological setting and morphometric properties of the landslide are presented. Especially, the hummocky landscape, a prominent feature in the deposit area, is described. The total run-out distance of this landslide is 3910 m and the maximum velocity is estimated to be 36.6 m/s. The angle of reach is analysed as the index expressing the mobility of the landslide. Its value is about 12 degrees, indicating the high landslide mobility. Field observation shows that this landslide was most likely triggered by an earthquake, and the seismic acceleration capable to induce this landslide is estimated to be 0.36 g. This landslide might have changed the course of the Litang River.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41530639), the Open Fund of State Key laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironmental Protection (Chengdu University of Technology; grant no. SKLGP2017K005), the Open Fund of Hubei Key laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Reduction, China (Three Gorges University; grant no. 2016KJZ06), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Chinese Central Universities (2682016CX088).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, Shimane University, 1060 Nishikawatsu-cho, Matsue, Shimane, 690-8504, Japan

    Zili Dai & Fawu Wang

  2. Department of Geological Engineering, Faculty of Geoscience and Environmental Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China

    Qiangong Cheng, Yufeng Wang, Hufeng Yang, Qiweng Lin, Kongming Yan, Feicheng Liu & Kun Li

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  1. Zili Dai
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  2. Fawu Wang
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  3. Qiangong Cheng
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  4. Yufeng Wang
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  5. Hufeng Yang
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  9. Kun Li
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Correspondence to Zili Dai.

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Dai, Z., Wang, F., Cheng, Q. et al. A giant historical landslide on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Bull Eng Geol Environ 78, 2055–2068 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-017-1226-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-017-1226-x

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