Characteristics of landslides induced by the great Wenchuan earthquake

Abstract

The great Wenchuan (汶川) earthquake induced a large quantity of landslides. They are widely distributed and caused tremendous damages. The sliding mechanism and characteristics of these earthquake-induced landslides are different from those of conventional gravity landslides. Their occurrences are apparently controlled by the powerful earthquake, and they are characterized by high potential energy sliding and ejection sliding. In this article, the earthquake-induced landslides are classified, the characteristics of the sliding and destruction of these landslides are described, and the relationship between the earthquake and the landslides is analyzed. The Donghekou (东河口) landslide is used as an example to characterize fast-moving long-distance earthquake-induced ejection slippage and landslide. This research suggests that many phenomena and issues related to earthquake-induced landslide are beyond current recognition and knowledge, and new methodologies should be adopted to consider the effect of the earthquake as the paramount factor in the development of landslides. Furthermore, the study of fast-moving long-distance earthquake-induced landslides can also shed light on the formation of old and ancient landslides. KEY WORDS: Wenchuan earthquake, giant landslide, ejection landslide, high potential energy landslide.

Mechanism of the Donghekou landslide triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake revealed by discrete element modeling

“…Therefore, it was inferred that the landslide started with material mobilization due to the large local seismic acceleration, expelling rocks into the air on a parabolic trajectory before they fell back to the ground (Huang, 2009;Yuan et al, 2010;Xu and Dong 2011;Zhang et al, 2011). A simple tectonic geomorphology model was introduced to explain the movement characteristics of the landslide (Yuan et al, 2010;Tang et al, 2010), but its complex kinematics and triggering process still remain poorly understood. …”

“…After the Donghekou landslide triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, several field investigations were carried out for landslide mapping and to define trigger mechanisms (Yin, 2008Yin et al, , 2011Sun et al, 2009a, b;Wang et al, 2009;Tang et al, 2010;Yuan et al, 2010Zhang et al, 2011;Huang and Fan, 2013). Meanwhile, numerical simulations based on various investigations were also applied to analyze the movement processes (Li et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2012).…”

Integration of Landscape Metrics and Variograms to Characterize and Quantify the Spatial Heterogeneity Change of Vegetation Induced by the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

“…Moreover, many natural resources were destroyed during the earthquake. In addition to the direct destruction and devastation wrought by the earthquake itself, the ensuing secondary disasters, such as landslides and debris flows, were also responsible for the horrifying aftermath [1][2][3][4]. All of these disturbances consequently impacted the ecosystem.…”

Control of style-of-faulting on spatial pattern of earthquake-triggered landslides

“…To do so, we chose the 240-km-long Yingxiu-Beichuan fault (YBF) as reference because of two reasons. Firstly, it was associated with the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that triggered a huge number of landslides (Ouimet 2009;Chigira et al 2010;Dai et al 2011;Tang et al 2010;Yin et al 2010;Zhuang et al 2010;Xu and Xu 2013;Xu et al 2012 (Fig. 1).…”