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Some catastrophic landslides since the twentieth century in the southwest of China

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Abstract

Landslides occur frequently in China. Especially, in the western part of China, large-scale landslides are notable for their scale, complex formation mechanism, and serious destruction. This paper presents some typical large-scale landslides that occurred in the southwest of China since the beginning of the twentieth century but were rarely reported worldwide. These cases represent different geological conditions and different triggering factors and mechanisms. The analysis shows that about 80% of large-scale landslides occurred in the first slope-descending zone along the eastern margin of Tibet Plateau, which is tectonically very active. The intensive interactions between the endogenic and epigenetic geological process cause serious dynamic change on the high steep slope and then result in the development of large-scale landslides. Strong earthquakes are also common in this area, and repetitive seismic activities make the slopes unstable and more vulnerable to failures. Besides earthquake, the area also experiences high rainfall, which is also responsible for triggering some of the large landslides.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Mr. Xu Zemin for arranging some parts of representative landslide cases, Prof. Xu Qiang for offering some of landslide cases, and other colleagues for their critical suggestions. The valuable comments by the editor and referees of this paper are much appreciated. Finally, the author’s special thanks go to Dr. Gonghui Wang of DPRI, Kyoto University, for his great help in the revision of this paper.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Geohazards Prevention, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 61005, China

    Huang Runqiu

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  1. Huang Runqiu
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Runqiu, H. Some catastrophic landslides since the twentieth century in the southwest of China. Landslides 6, 69–81 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-009-0142-y

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