Evolution of a landslide-dammed lake on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau and its influence on river longitudinal profiles

Wang, Hao; Cui, Peng; Liu, Dingzhu; Liu, Weiming; Bazai, Nazir Ahmed; Wang, Jiao; Zhang, Guotao; Lei, Yu

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2019.06.023

Cited by 47 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…At the head of the knickzones on each of the Yarlung Tsangpo, Yigong Tsangpo, and Lulang rivers, landslide or glacial dams acted to retard headward incision over geomorphically significant time scales. For the Lulang landslide, where a large landslide dammed a small tributary, the blockage persisted for millennia through the last glacial maximum as well into the early Holocene 10 . In the case of the Yigong landslide, the direct impoundment by the 2000 landslide only lasted several months, but the sediment impoundment upstream of the landslide location was continuous from 1900 to 2000, and likely persisted between earlier landslides documented here as well.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Little is known, however, about the frequency with which channel damming events have occurred in the region. The Lulang landslide-dammed lake in the upper reaches of the Lulang River, a tributary to the Parlung Tsangpo, was reported recently to have remained stable from before 24.2 ka bp to around 8.8 ka bp 10 . This period extends roughly through the last glacial maximum and well into the early Holocene.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This period extends roughly through the last glacial maximum and well into the early Holocene. Like the glacial dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo, the Lulang landslide sits just upstream of the headward extent of the knickzone upstream of the deeply incised-trans-Himalayan bedrock gorge 10 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for repeated failure of the giant Yigong landslide on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau

Guo

Montgomery

Zhang

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Field surveys and radiocarbon dating of detrital materials provide evidence that repeated landslides dammed the Yigong Tsangpo River ca. 3500 bc, 1300 bc, 1000 bc, 600 bc, and twice more recently. Together with historical slides in 1900 and 2000, these six older slides make for a total of eight known channel-damming landslide events at the same location over the past six millennia, indicating submillennia recurrence intervals over this time period. Together with the likely incomplete nature of the sedimentary record of past channel-damming episodes uncovered to date, our findings indicate late Holocene multi-century-scale recurrence intervals for large landslides at this location. Hence, the riverbed at and immediately upstream of this location may have been inundated by sediment, and therefore not incising, for much of the post-glacial period. Together with the location of this landslide complex at the head of the major knickzone defining the fluvial edge of the Tibetan Plateau, our findings support the hypothesis that repeated glacial and landslide damming in this region inhibited headward propagation of river incision into the Tibetan Plateau. Landslides can be important erosional processes in upland landscapes with moderate to steep hillslopes 1. In particular, landsliding dominates hillslope erosion in rapidly uplifting terrain where high-relief, threshold hillslopes, and relatively narrow river gorges are common 1-5. Landslides can introduce large amounts of sediment into river systems and large landslides can dam channels, impounding water and sediment 6,7. In turn, an elevated sediment supply can retard river incision by shielding bedrock 8. Korup and Montgomery proposed that frequent glacial damming in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis (EHS) during the Quaternary inhibited headward incision of major rivers, thereby retarding dissection into the edge of the Tibetan Plateau 2. While this hypothesis was rooted in evidence for repeated glacial damming of the Yarlung Tsangpo immediately above its gorge through the Himalaya 9 , similar glacial and landslide blockages occur on other major tributaries upstream of the deeply incised bedrock gorges in the EHS 2. Little is known, however, about the frequency with which channel damming events have occurred in the region. The Lulang landslide-dammed lake in the upper reaches of the Lulang River, a tributary to the Parlung Tsangpo, was reported recently to have remained stable from before 24.2 ka bp to around 8.8 ka bp 10. This period extends roughly through the last glacial maximum and well into the early Holocene. Like the glacial dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo, the Lulang landslide sits just upstream of the headward extent of the knickzone upstream of the deeply incised-trans-Himalayan bedrock gorge 10. In April, 2000, the giant Yigong landslide dammed the Yigong Tsangpo River with 3 × 10 8 m 3 of sediment that formed a 60 m high dam 11. Subsequent failure of the dam sent floodwaters rushing down through the gorge, causing extensive damage for 500 km downstream into India...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for repeated failure of the giant Yigong landslide on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau

Guo

Montgomery

Zhang

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…Landslide-dammed lakes are a type of watercourse obstruction in steep mountain environments, caused by a landslide event (Wang et al, 2019). Depending on the dam resistance, landslidedammed lakes might drain rapidly and trigger catastrophic debris flows and floods, or might be stable for many years (Liu et al, 2015).…”

Section: Landslide-dammed Lakesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Object-Based Approach for Monitoring the Evolution of Landslide-Dammed Lakes and Detecting Triggering Landslides in Taiwan

Dabiri

Hölbling

Abad

et al. 2019

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> In August 2009, Typhoon Morakot caused a record-breaking rainfall in Taiwan. The heavy rainfall triggered thousands of landslides, in particular in the central-southern part of the island. Large landslides can block rivers and can lead to the formation of landslide-dammed lakes. Cascading hazards like floods and debris flows after landslide dam breaches pose a high risk for people and infrastructure downstream. Thus, better knowledge about landslides that significantly impact the channel system and about the resulting landslide-dammed lakes are key elements for assessing the direct and indirect hazards caused by the moving mass. The main objectives of this study are 1) to develop an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach for semi-automated detection of landslides that caused the formation of landslide-dammed lakes and 2) to monitor the evolution of landslide-dammed lakes based on Landsat imagery. For landslide and lake mapping, primarily spectral indices and contextual information were used. By integrating morphological and hydrological parameters derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) into the OBIA framework, we automatically identified landslide-dammed lakes, and the landslides that likely caused the formation of those lakes, due to the input of large amounts of debris into the channel system. The proposed approach can be adapted to other remote sensing platforms and can be used to monitor the evolution of landslide-dammed lakes and triggering landslides at regional scale after typhoon and heavy rainstorm events within an efficient time range after suitable remote sensing data has been provided.</p>

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“…Estimating the volume of lake sediment infill and its temporal changes is a common, albeit often difficult (cf. Anselmetti et al, 2007; Palinkas and Russ, 2019; Wang et al, 2019), task in palaeogeographical and limnological studies. Until now, estimations have relied on the combination of hypsometric measurements with drilling or probing of sediments on the lake bottom.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landslide‐dammed lake sediment volume calculation using waterborne ERT and SONAR profiling

Hartvich

Tábořík

Šobr

et al. 2020

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Lake sediment volume calculation is a challenging task, namely in cases when detailed drilling is complicated, expensive, or impossible, information on the pre-sedimentation surface unavailable, and record of siltation rate non-existent or too short. This study shows how waterborne, non-invasive geophysical survey, such as electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) can be very effective in acquiring the missing data, namely when combined with sound navigation ranging (SONAR) water depth measurements and supported by information from auxiliary sources. However, ERT surveying in water environment requires specific approaches, as we illustrate on the case of the Mladotice lake study. The lake was created after a landslide in May 1872, and since its formation, the depth has gradually decreased due to sedimentation. We have reconstructed the original surface, calculated the sediment volume, and compiled information on sedimentation to estimate its remaining life span. To achieve this, we measured nine waterborne ERT profiles across the lake. To reach the necessary depth, all ERT profiles were extended on land and crossed the lake using custom-built flotation pads. ERT profiling was combined with SONAR depth measurements, historical bathymetric surveys, borehole core analysis, sediment flux measurements, volumetric calculations, and water conductivity probing. The study has achieved three main results. First, practical applicability and advantages of stationary waterborne ERT profiling in combination with bathymetric sounding were demonstrated. Second, the original lake volume and accumulated sediment was calculated. We estimate that the volume of lake sediment is 187000 m 3 , two-thirds of the original lake volume (over 275000 m 3). Finally, based on three volumetric data sets from 1972, 2003, and 2017, and recent monitoring of the sediment inflow, we propose scenarios of lake filling and its future development. Most interestingly, the sedimentation rate has decreased significantly in the last 20years, suggesting that the lake may survive much longer than hitherto expected.

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Evolution of a landslide-dammed lake on the southeastern Tibetan Plateau and its influence on river longitudinal profiles

Cited by 47 publications

References 100 publications

Evidence for repeated failure of the giant Yigong landslide on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau

Evidence for repeated failure of the giant Yigong landslide on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau

An Object-Based Approach for Monitoring the Evolution of Landslide-Dammed Lakes and Detecting Triggering Landslides in Taiwan

Landslide‐dammed lake sediment volume calculation using waterborne ERT and SONAR profiling

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