Introduction
On February 18, 1911, a strong earthquake in Pamirs (Tajikistan) caused a catastrophic failure of about 2.2 km3 (six billion tons) of rock (Figure 1) and resulted in the formation of the Usoi landslide dam named after the small village buried by the landslide. Fifty eight inhabitants lost their lives in this event. The Usoi landslide located at 38°16.5′N, 72°36′E is the world’s largest non-volcanic landslide ever recorded in historical times. Despite the remoteness and inaccessibility of the site, Russian researchers performed their first studies of this feature soon after the event (Bukinich, 1913; Shpilko, 1915; Preobrajensky, 1920). Regular studies started in the 1960s (Sheko and Lekhatinov, 1970; Agakhanjanz, 1989).
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Strom, A. (2013). Usoi Landslide and Lake Sarez. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_46
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