Landslide incidence zonation in the Rio Mendoza valley, Mendoza Province, Argentina

Abstract

This paper presents a landslide incidence zonation map showing the percentage of underlying material involved in massmovement processes in the Rio Mendoza valley, Argentina. The landslide incidence zonation map was derived from an inventory map of landslides and reveals that many areas of the Rio Mendoza valley are implicated in this kind of process. A correlation has been found between the occurrence of landslides, earthquakes, and rainfall. The relation between lithology and landslides is clear: areas covered by friable sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Choiyoi Group are prone to debris flows and complex landslides. The slope map has been ranked and a general relation between slope and type of event is shown. Falls commonly develop in high-angle slopes.

Climatic effect of ENSO associated with landslide occurrence in the Central Andes, Mendoza Province, Argentina

“…It is worth mentioning that the number of landslides is commonly greater in the Cordillera Frontal than in the Precordillera, which indicates greater landslide susceptibility for the Cordillera Frontal geological province (Moreiras 2004a).…”

“…Landslide occurrence in the study area Landslide occurrence is mainly associated with summer storms and earthquakes with magnitudes bigger than 3.9 (Moreiras 2003(Moreiras , 2004a. Lateral erosion of the Mendoza River has originated several rockfalls and others have been caused by the action of wind and human activity.…”

“…Three hundred pre-historic or historic landslides that were at least 1,000 m long have been identified in the inventory map elabo- rated by Moreiras (2003Moreiras ( , 2004a, where debris flows and rockfall prevail, 82% of the processes identified corresponds to the former type. Debris flows are generally sourced in steep slopes with a great debris accumulation where an intense jointed rhyolite porphyry or friable vulcanites outcrop.…”

Landslide susceptibility zonation in the Rio Mendoza Valley, Argentina

“…Debris flow and rock fall occurrence is related to summer storms and earthquakes (Moreiras, 2004). Some historical data refer to landslides triggered by earthquakes; Wenceslao Díaz (Verdaguer, 1929) described numerous rock falls in his reports on the earthquake of 1861 (Ms=7.4), which destroyed the old Mendoza city, and several rock falls happened along the Río Mendoza Valley associated with earthquakes with MN4.0 (Moreiras, 2003b).…”

Commentary: The impact of climate change on landslides in southeastern of high-latitude permafrost regions of China

“…Human activity can, indeed, cause landslides. Vehicular vibration along the highway, in addition to on-going construction works, might contribute enough power to trigger landslides in a previously undisturbed area (Moreiras, 2004). Persistent precipitation, even at non-trending rates, in combination with vibrational loads, could drive landslide activity, with or without permafrost thawing, as a tabletop experiment showed (Juanico et al, 2008).…”