The role of earthquake-induced landslides in erosion and weathering from active mountain ranges: Progress and perspectives

Jin, Zhangdong; Hilton, Robert; West, A. Joshua; Li, Gen K.; Zhang, Fei; Wang, Jin; Li, Gaojun; Fan, Xuanmei; Hsieh, Meng-Long

doi:10.1007/s11430-021-9832-3

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In addition, China is located in one of the most active seismic regions of the world (Molnar and Tapponnier, 1975;Zhang et al, 2004;Wang and Shen, 2020). Frequent earthquake disasters caused great losses of people's lives and property (Ren et al, 2018;Fan et al, 2022), and irreversible damage to the surface morphology and ecosystem (Fan et al, 2020a(Fan et al, , 2020bJin et al, 2021;Wei et al, 2021). Although both extreme climatic events and catastrophic earthquake events have caused great damage to social communities and economic development (e.g., Jongman et al, 2014;Winsemius et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2022;León et al, 2022;Salazar et al, 2022), it is still strongly debated whether and how they have impacts on Chinese dynasty alternation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of seismic activity and climatic change on Chinese history in the recent millennium

Fan

Jiang

et al. 2022

J. Geogr. Sci.

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General history of disasters in China suggests that China has frequently experienced two major natural disasters in its long history, one is from catastrophic earthquake events, and the other is from extreme climatic events, due to its unique active tectonic environment and climatic complexity. Although these two major natural disasters have caused great damage to human society, it remains unclear whether and how they affect Chinese dynasty alternation on decadal (emperor) timescales. Based on detailed comparisons between abrupt climatic changes, catastrophic seismic activities, and the history of Chinese dynasty alternation from 1000-2000 AD, we conclude that on decadal timescales, extreme drought (and/or flood) events could indeed significantly reduce agricultural production, cause severe food shortages and famine, and result in increases in population exile, rising food prices and inflation, and insufficient supplies for military defense, which could exceed social resilience and eventually lead to financial risks and social upheavals of the dynasties. In addition, catastrophic seismic events in the densely populated, agricultural areas of China, including the 1303 surface wave magnitude (M s ) 8.0 Hongtong earthquake, the 1556 M s 8.25 Huaxian earthquake and the 1920 M s 8.5 Haiyuan earthquake, caused more than 200,000 casualties and millions of victims to live in exile which was almost equivalent to the order of magnitude of those extreme climatic events-induced refugees. The secondary geological hazards related to the earthquakes (e.g., extensive landslides and soil erosion), which could last for decades, caused more casualties and reduced food production. Furthermore, great plague spread caused by the casualties could significantly increase psychological panic among the survivors, resulting in social instability. Therefore, catastrophic seismic events could also accelerate the collapse of the dynasties (e.g., the Ming dynasty) without immediate mitigation measures. This study indicates that catastrophic seismic activities, as well as extreme climatic events, could have great effects on the social structures and thus on the Chinese dynasty alternation on decadal timescales, which highlights the far-reaching implica-

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