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Formation and failure of the Tsatichhu landslide dam, Bhutan

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Abstract

At 00:30 (local time) on the 10th September 2003 a joint and foliation defined wedge of material with an estimated volume of 7–12×106 m3 slid into the narrow Tsatichhu River Valley, in Jarrey Geog, Lhuentse, eastern Bhutan. The Tsatichhu River, a north–easterly flowing tributary of the Kurichuu River, was completely blocked by the landslide. During its movement, the landslide transitioned into a rock avalanche that travelled 580 m across the valley before colliding with the opposite valley wall. The flow then moved down valley, travelling a total distance of some 700 m. The rock avalanche was accompanied by an intense wind blast that caused substantial damage to the heavily forested valley slopes. The resulting geomorphologically-typical rock-avalanche dam deposit created a dam that impounded a water volume of 4–7×106 m3 at lake full level. This lake was released by catastrophic collapse of the landslide, which occurred at 16:20 (local time) on 10th July 2004, after reported smaller failures of the saturated downstream face. The dam failure released a flood wave that had a peak discharge of 5900 m3 s−1 at the Kurichhu Hydropower Plant 35 km downstream.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the funding of a benefactor to the International Landslide Centre, who made the field work and this subsequent study possible. We would also like to acknowledge the information provided by the Department of Geology and Mines and the Department of Energy of the Royal Government of Bhutan during our two field visits to Bhutan. The field assistance of Mr Kiran Humagai, Geo-Tech Consultancy, Thimpu, is also gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for the comments that have significantly improved this manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geography, Durham University, Science Site, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK

    S. A. Dunning, N. J. Rosser, D. N. Petley & C. R. Massey

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  1. S. A. Dunning
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  2. N. J. Rosser
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  3. D. N. Petley
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  4. C. R. Massey
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Correspondence to S. A. Dunning.

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Dunning, S.A., Rosser, N.J., Petley, D.N. et al. Formation and failure of the Tsatichhu landslide dam, Bhutan. Landslides 3, 107–113 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-005-0032-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-005-0032-x

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