analyses on the triggering facrors of large quantities of landslides in the upper reaches of the minjiang river,sichuan province

Over the past geological and historical period, tens of thousands of landslides occurred in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, an area which is characterized by alpine valleys and has been densely populated over the past several hundreds of years. Discussing the triggering factor of these landslides is of great significance to geological hazard mitigation and prevention in this region. In this paper, we focus on four aspects of regional rainfall, shape features of landslide slopes, the corresponding relationship between landslide area and earthquake magnitude, and the recurring features of the reconstructed palaeoearthquake record at Diexi. Compared with those in Nepal, both mean seasonal rainfall accumulation and mean daily rainfall for the past 30 years are too low to reach the threshold values triggering landslides in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River. Secondly, landslides in the study area are usually absent of inner gorges(canyon topography)on the hillslope toes, which are confirmed in previous studies as typical features of landslides triggered by storms. Thirdly, wide distribution of the landslides in the study area supports our notion of earthquake-triggering because the landslides triggered by storms commonly distribute locally. Fourthly, periodicity analysis of the reconstructed palaeoearthquake record at Diexi provides a few cycles of twenty to thirty years, possibly corresponding to the earthquakes of magnitudes>5.0 or 5.5 which are believed to have caused soft-sediment deformation in the study area. In contrast, like the 2008 M_S8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, the average recurrence interval of the large earthquakes in the study area is 2.6ka. They caused tens of thousands of landslides and provided more coarse silt particles for the nearby lake sediments at least in 330 years for each time. This is consistent with exponential increase of earthquake magnitude from large to medium and of the landslide area with the increased earthquake magnitude. To sum up, we suggest that tens of thousands of landslides in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River were most likely triggered by earthquakes instead of storms. This preliminary viewpoint needs further examination in the future.     

Terrain attributes of earthquake‐ and rainstorm‐induced landslides in orogenic mountain Belt,Taiwan

Landsliding induced by earthquakes and rainstorms in montane regions is not only a sculptor for shaping the landscape, but also a driver for delivering sediments and above‐ground biomass downstream. However, the terrain attributes of earthquake‐ and rainstorm‐induced landslides are less discussed comprehensively in Taiwan. As part of an island‐wide inventory, we here compare and contrast the landslide terrain attributes resulting from two catastrophic events: the Chi‐Chi earthquake (M _w = 7.6, September 1999) and typhoon Morakot (rainfall >2500 mm, August 2009). Results show that the earthquake‐induced landslides are relatively small, round‐shaped and prone to occur primarily in middle and toe of slopes. In contrast, the rainstorm‐induced landslides are larger, horseshoe‐shaped and preferentially occurring in slope toes. Also, earthquake‐induced landslides, particularly large landslides, are usually found at steeper gradients, whereas rainstorm‐induced landslides aggregate at gradients between 25° and 40°. Lithologic control plays a secondary role in landsliding. From an island‐wide perspective, high landslide density locates in the region of earthquake intensity ≥ VI or one‐day rainfall ≥600 mm day^?1. Through the landslide patterns and their terrain attributes, our retrospective approach sheds light on accessing the historical and remote events for close geophysical investigations. Finally, we should bear in mind that the landslide location, size, and terrain attributes varying with triggers may affect the landscape evaluation or biogeochemical processes in landslide‐dominated regions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

STUDY ON THE DISTRIBUTION PATTERN OF EARTHQUAKE- TRIGGERED LANDSLIDES BASED ON SEISMIC LANDSLIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY ANALYSIS: A CASE STUDY OF LANDSLIDES TRIGGERED BY THE MS6.5 LUDIAN EARTHQUAKE IN 2014

On August 3, 2014, an M_W6.5 earthquake occurred in Ludian County, Yunnan Province, which triggered significant landslides and caused serious ground damages and casualties. Compared with the existing events of earthquake-triggered landslides, the spatial distribution of co-seismic landslides during the Ludian earthquake showed a special pattern. The relationship between the co-seismic landslides and the epicenter or the known faults is not obvious, and the maximum landslide density doesn't appear in the area near the epicenter. Peak ground acceleration (PGA), which usually is used to judge the limit boundary of co-seismic landslide distribution, cannot explain this distribution pattern. Instead of correlating geological and topographic factors with the co-seismic landslide distribution pattern, this study focuses on analyzing the influence of seismic landslide susceptibility on the co-seismic distribution. Seismic landslide susceptibility comes from a calculation of critical acceleration values using a simplified Newmark block model analysis and represents slope stability under seismic loading. Both DEM (SRTM 90m)and geological map (1 ︰ 200^￣￣000)are used as inputs to calculate critical acceleration values. Results show that the most susceptible slopes with the smallest critical accelerations are generally concentrated along the banks of rivers. The stable slopes, which have the larger critical accelerations and are comparably stable, are in the places adjacent to the epicenter. Comparison of the distribution of slope stability and the real landslides triggered by the 2014 M_W6.1 Ludian earthquake shows a good spatial correlation, meaning seismic landslide susceptibility controls the co-seismic landslide distributions to a certain degree. Moreover, our study provides a plausible explanation on the special distribution pattern of Ludian earthquake triggered landslides. Also the paper discusses the advantages of using the seismic landslide susceptibility as a basic map, which will offer an additional tool that can be used to assist in post-disaster response activities as well as seismic landslides hazards zonation.     

基于高分卫星遥感影像的地震应急滑坡编目与分布特征探讨——以2017年8月8日九寨沟7.0级地震为例

地震应急是减轻地震灾害的重要途径之一。地震应急工作具有时间紧迫、事关重大的特点。2017年8月8日四川九寨沟M_S7.0级地震发生后,为快速、准确地提供地震引发的滑坡灾害分布,本研究基于震后第一天获取到的高分辨率遥感影像（高分二号卫星影像、北京二号卫星影像）,通过人工目视解译的方法初步建立了四川九寨沟地震滑坡编目。结果表明,该地震至少触发了622处同震滑坡,分布在沿使用影像边界框定的面积为3919km2的区域内。本研究还利用这个地震滑坡编目,统计了九寨沟地震滑坡数量和滑坡点密度（LND）与地形（坡度、坡向）、地震（地震烈度、震中距）等因素的关系。结果表明九寨沟地震滑坡多发生在坡度为20°—50°的区域内,滑坡的易发性随着坡度的增加而增加。受地震波传播方向的影响,E、SE向是地震滑坡较易发生的坡向。滑坡的易发程度和地震烈度呈正相关,即随着烈度的增大,滑坡易发性增大。滑坡易发性还随着震中距增加而降低,这是由于地震波能量随震中距的增加而衰减导致的。     

A new method for spatio-temporal prediction of rainfall-induced landslide

1 Introduction The landslides influences on the human society have become an environment difficult problem not able to be neglected, and according to the priority of harms, harms of landslides are only smaller than those from earthquakes in all sorts of natural hazards[1]. Landslide is part of rock mass, soil mass or their compound mass slides downward along a certain slid- ing surface under the actions of inner and external dy- namics, and it is one severe instability phenomenon of rock and s…     

区域地震滑坡灾害定量评估研究进展和展望

地震滑坡是最常见的地震次生地质灾害之一,不仅带来环境恶化,通常还造成严重的人员伤亡和财产损失,因此备受关注。为了解地震滑坡研究发展趋势,凝练地震滑坡定量评估科学问题,文章对区域地震滑坡定量评估起源、发展现状、存在的问题及未来发展进行了系统总结。研究结果表明：(1)区域地震滑坡灾害定量评估研究兴起于20世纪80年代,经过50多年学者的不懈努力,取得了丰硕的成果。区域地震滑坡灾害定量评估研究面临着新的社会需求。(2)地震滑坡是地震动力、地质特征和地貌条件等多因素耦合作用的结果,地震滑坡现象只有考虑成因机理与动力过程方可解释,地震滑坡成因机理研究主要集中于强震条件下斜坡的动力响应规律分析。(3)地震滑坡发育特征、成因机理以及数据库建设等基础研究推动了地震滑坡灾害风险定量评估研究。区域地震滑坡灾害风险定量评估包括地震滑坡危险性定量评估、地震滑坡易损性定量评估、地震滑坡危害性定量评估等内容。(4)在区域地震滑坡灾害定量评估方面,还需要进一步探索区域地震滑坡灾害形成的系统性和时空分布规律性、改进和完善区域地震滑坡灾害风险定量评估方法、开拓区域地震滑坡灾害防治战略规划。     

Dynamic mechanisms of earthquake-triggered landslides

Earthquake-triggered landslides usually cause great disasters,and yet their dynamic mechanisms remain poorly understood.This paper will derive a general conceptual landslide model from the geometric and kinematic features of the most landslide masses triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.Kinematic characteristics and dynamic processes are simulated here by means of finite element method(FEM)based on the dynamic process of the discontinuous deformable body.The calculated results presented the whole course of landslide motion,and displayed some typical kinematic characteristics such as initiation,sliding,ejection,collision,flying in the air,and climbing of landslides.The simulation result also shows that,under combined seismic inertial forces and gravity,landslides will start to slip once it overcomes the friction between the sliding mass and slip-bed,then it will move from slow to fast along the slippery bed until it ejects from the slip-bed.Moreover,the high frequencies and serious damages by landslides in the Wenchuan earthquake are caused by the strong ground motion on the mountain slopes in and around the epicenter that was dramatically amplified owing to both resonances produced by the seismic event and topographical amplification by seismic motion.In addition,the modeling results suggest that the direction,amplitude,frequency,and duration of strong ground motion have a great influence on the stability of landslide mass.Therefore,the study helps us better understand dynamic mechanism of landslides,seismic hazard assessment,and dynamic earthquake triggering.     

CONTROLLING FACTORS AND MECHANISMS OF INCOMPLETE OBSTRUCTION SEISMIC LANDSLIDE MOBILITY

The topography, occurrence mechanism and lithology are the important factors of landslide movement. The lithology, seismic intensity, geological structure and topography in the travel path of 215 incomplete obstruction landslides with volumes more than 10⁴m³ induced by Wenchuan earthquake were studied. Based on the classification of the factors established, we studied the factors influencing the movement distance of incomplete obstruction landslides. The following results are drawn. In the influence factors of topography in the travel path, the distance is largest in the straight valley topography, followed by the concave, ladder, turning valley, slope toe-type and slope-type landslides, in turn. The topography not only has remarkable influence on the distance of large-scale landslides, but also on the medium and small-scale landslides as well, which is the most important factor influencing the distance. The formation mechanism controlled by lithology, seismic intensity and geological structure has little influence on the mobility of medium-and small-scale landslides. For the large-scale landslides with volume more than 10⁶m³, the distance of landslide with medium hard rock is larger than landslides with hard and soft rock. In the seismic intensity Ⅸ to Ⅺ areas, the landslide distance decreases with intensity increasing, contrary to the distribution of landslide-point density and landslide-area density. The geological structure has influence on the slide aspect of landslides and occurrence mechanism, but the influence is not remarkable to the landslide movement distance.     

Factors Controlling Seismic Susceptibility of the Sele Valley Slopes: The Case of the 1980 Irpinia Earthquake Re-Examined

Most of the documented slope failures triggered by the 1980 Irpinia earthquake (M_s 6.9) occurred in the upper Sele valley epicentral area (southern Italy). The early investigations revealed some puzzling characteristics of the slope failure distribution, i.e., (i) the higher landslide concentration on the valley slopes located farther away from the earthquake fault; (ii) the predominance of re-activations over first-time movements. The analyses of factors controlling the landslide concentrations indicates that the differences in hydrological setting and in slope were the two main causal factors whereas the seismic shaking, according to the radiation pattern modelling, could have been characterised by a relatively low rate of decrease across the valley. The aspect of the slopes did not play a significant role. The differences in groundwater conditions between the western and eastern valley sides were probably enhanced by the earthquake. In addition to the probable pore-water pressure rise, the seismic shaking caused large increases in the flow of springs draining the western aquifer, and this made the adjacent flysch slopes more prone to landsliding. Data from the available literature suggest that the effects of earthquake-induced groundwater release on seismic landslide distribution is especially important for normal-fault events. The Sele valley case also indicates that the slope of the pre-existing landslides is an important factor controlling their susceptibility to seismic re-activations.     

基于降雨入渗的Newmark模型改进及地震滑坡危险性预测研究

滑坡是一种破坏性非常强的地质灾害,其中地震与降雨均为诱导滑坡发生的关键因素。从降雨期间发生地震的角度考虑,基于Green-Ampt降雨入渗模型对Newmark模型进行改进,推导两因素耦合作用下的边坡安全系数F_S。以云南省鲁甸县某一区域为例,分别开展无降雨、降雨无积水与降雨积水三种情况下的地震滑坡危险性预测及坡度与入渗深度因子对位移影响分析。通过比较上述三种情况,得到研究区域内的Newmark累积位移分布及危险性区划。结果表明：与未降雨情况相比,后两种情况下地震滑坡高危险程度区域面积占比计算区域随着降雨时间的增加从1%分别提高至9%、12%,滑坡低危险程度区域面积从51%分别降低至35%、33%;坡度值与入渗深度值越大,滑坡位移越大,危险性越高。Newmark改进模型充分考虑了降雨对地震滑坡产生的促进作用,能更好地反映出研究区每个场点相对的滑坡危险性,对滑坡危险性预测具有一定指导意义。     

Rainfall thresholds for shallow landsliding derived from pressure‐head monitoring: cases with permeable and impermeable bedrocks in Boso Peninsula,Japan

Rainfall thresholds for shallow landslide initiation were determined for hillslopes with two types of bedrock, permeable sandstone and impermeable mudstone, in the Boso Peninsula, Japan. The pressure‐head response to rainfall was monitored above a slip scarp due to earlier landslides. Multiple regression analysis estimated the rainfall thresholds for landsliding from the relation between the magnitude of the rainfall event and slope instability caused by the increased pressure heads. The thresholds were expressed as critical combinations of rainfall intensity and duration, incorporating the geotechnical properties of the hillslope materials and also the slope hydrological processes. The permeable sandstone hillslope has a greater critical rainfall and hence a longer recurrence interval than the impermeable mudstone hillslope. This implies a lower potential for landsliding in sandstone hillslopes, corresponding to lower landslide activity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于人工边坡稳定性的降雨型滑坡预警预报模型设计与应用

由削坡建房遗留的人工边坡存在大量滑坡隐患问题,在降雨引发土质边坡自身动力变化分析条件下,以稳定性评价建模为基础,提出降雨型滑坡动力学预警预报模型。文中以广东省梅州市花岗岩地区为例,使用GIS技术构建了1 727个预警分析单元,并进行关键地质环境因子赋值及与气象站点数据关联;按坡高、坡度等参数,分别构建16个边坡失稳动力学预警模块,并根据降雨量变化,计算边坡稳定性系数,最终按其阈值确定风险等级并予以预警。本研究对于推动人工边坡诱发的滑坡地质灾害预警预报与预防均具有重要意义。     

门源M6.9地震诱发地质灾害特征研究

2022年1月8日发生的门源M6.9地震诱发了崩塌、滑坡、砂土液化、地裂缝等多种同震地质灾害。通过对门源M6.9地震地质灾害进行现场调查,得出了地质灾害的分布特征和各类型地质灾害的主要特点,分析了地震地质灾害不发育的原因,并对地震地质灾害的长期效应进行了分析预测。研究结果表明：门源地震诱发地质灾害主要分布在震中附近;崩塌、落石总体规模较小,滑坡多为岩质滑坡,且以冰碛物和表层岩土体的溜滑为主。受表层土体冻结和孔隙水压力消散的影响,饱和砂土液化沿较窄的地裂缝呈串珠状分布,喷出物多为粉细砂。地震形成了4条左旋左阶斜列的地表破裂带,并在极震区内形成了大量的地裂缝。断层破碎带对地震动的阻隔作用、覆盖层薄、地表土冻结可能是造成本次地震地质灾害总体不发育的主要原因;地震产生的大量地裂缝导致斜坡和堆积体的稳定性减弱,在耦合集中降雨、冻融作用等因素后可能诱发滑坡灾害,松散堆积于沟床处的崩滑物作为物源,可能会增加地震影响区泥石流灾害的风险。     

Spatial Distribution of Seismic Landslides in the Areas of 1927 Gulang M8.0 Earthquake

The 1927 Gulang M8.0 earthquake has triggered a huge number of landslides, resulting in massive loss of people''s life and property. However, integrated investigations and results regarding the landslides triggered by this earthquake are rare; such situation hinders the deep understanding of these landslides such as scale, extent, and distribution. With the support of Google Earth software, this study intends to finish the seismic landslides interpretation work in the areas of Gulang earthquake (VIII-XI degree) using the artificial visual interpretation method, and further analyze the spatial distribution and impact factors of these landslides. The results show that the earthquake has triggered at least 936 landslides in the VIII-XI degree zone, with a total landslide area of 58.6 km². The dense area of seismic landslides is located in the middle and southern parts of the X intensity circle. Statistical analysis shows that seismic landslides is mainly controlled by factors such as elevation, slope gradient, slope direction, strata, seismic intensity, faults and rivers. The elevation of 2 000-2 800 m is the high-incidence interval of the landslide. The landslide density is larger with a higher slope gradient. East and west directions are the dominant sliding directions. The areas with Cretaceous and Quaternary strata are the main areas of the Gulang seismic landslides. The X intensity zone triggered the most landslides. In addition, landslides often occur in regions near rivers and faults. This paper provides a scientific reference for exploring the development regularities of landslides triggered by the 1927 Gulang earthquake and effectively mitigating the landslide disasters of the earthquake.     

Lithological controls on hillslope sediment supply: insights from landslide activity and grain size distributions

The volumes, rates and grain size distributions of sediment supplied from hillslopes represent the initial input of sediment delivered from upland areas and propagated through sediment routing systems. Moreover, hillslope sediment supply has a significant impact on landscape response time to tectonic and climatic perturbations. However, there are very few detailed field studies characterizing hillslope sediment supply as a function of lithology and delivery process. Here, we present new empirical data from tectonically‐active areas in southern Italy that quantifies how lithology and rock strength control the landslide fluxes and grain size distributions supplied from hillslopes. Landslides are the major source of hillslope sediment supply in this area, and our inventory of ~2800 landslides reveals that landslide sediment flux is dominated by small, shallow landslides. We find that lithology and rock strength modulate the abundance of steep slopes and landslides, and the distribution of landslide sizes. Outcrop‐scale rock strength also controls the grain sizes supplied by bedrock weathering, and influences the degree of coarsening of landslide supply with respect to weathering supply. Finally, we show that hillslope sediment supply largely determines the grain sizes of fluvial export, from catchments and that catchments with greater long‐term landslide rates deliver coarser material. Therefore, our results demonstrate a dual control of lithology on hillslope sediment supply, by modulating both the sediment fluxes from landslides and the grain sizes supplied by hillslopes to the fluvial system. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

岷县漳县6.6级地震典型滑坡特征及其诱发机制

地震和降雨是滑坡产生的两大诱因。一般认为二者的耦合作用概率小,在现实中也较少发现有此种实例。岷县漳县6.6级地震中黄土地震滑坡广泛发生,本文通过现场调查,在相关降雨量数据、航空影像空间分析的基础上研究了两个地点(永光村滑坡和堡子村滑坡)的典型地震黄土滑坡的空间展布特征和发生、发展过程,分析了诱发机制。结果发现:(1)地震滑坡呈带状分布与地震发震构造走向一致;(2)位于极震区范围的永光村黄土滑坡具有泥流特征,土体含水量可达塑限以上,是由于过量降水和强地震动耦合作用下发生;(3)堡子村黄土地震滑坡则主要为强地震动所诱发,滑距较短,并具滞后发生特性。本结果对未来地震中滑坡的预防与防治具有借鉴意义。     

EVOLUTION CHARACTERISTICS OF LANDSLIDES TRIGGERED BY 2008 MS8.0 WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE IN YINGXIU AREA

Strong earthquakes can not only trigger a large number of co-seismic landslides in mountainous areas, but also have an important impact on the development level of geological hazards in the disaster area. Usually, geological hazards caused by strong earthquakes will significantly increase and continue for a considerable period of time before they recover to the pre-earthquake level. Therefore, studying the evolution characteristics of landslides triggered by earthquake is particularly important for the prevention of geological disaster. In this paper, a 66km² region in Yingxiu near the epicenter of the 2008 M_S8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, which was strongly disturbed by the earthquake, was investigated. Firstly, one high-resolution satellite image before the earthquake(April, 2005) and five high-resolution satellite images after the earthquake(June, 2008; April, 2011; April, 2013; May, 2015; May, 2017)were used to interpret and catalog multi-temporal landslide inventories. Secondly, seven primary factors were analyzed in the GIS platform, including elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, stratum, lithology, and the distance from the nearest water system and the distance from seismogenic faults. Finally, the evolution of the landslide triggered by earthquake in this region was analyzed by comparing the landslide activity intensity in different periods, using the methods of correlation analysis, regression analysis, and single-factor statistical analysis. It was found that the total area of landslides in the study region decreased sharply from 2008 to 2017, with the area of the co-seismic landslide reducing from 21.41km² to 1.33km². This indicates that the magnitude of the landslides has recovered or is close to the pre-earthquake level. Moreover, correlation analysis shows that the elevation has a strong positive correlation with the distance from the nearest water system, and a weak positive correlation with the area. Meanwhile, there is a weak negative correlation between the distance from the nearest water system and the distance from seismogenic faults. Overall, the degree of landslide activity in the study region decreased over time, as well as the number of reactivated landslides and new landslides. The region where the area of earthquake triggered landslides decreased mainly concentrated at an elevation of 1 000m to 2 100m, a slope of 30° to 55°, an aspect of 40° to 180°, and a curvature of -2 to 2. In addition, the lithology of the Pengguan complex in the Yingxiu study region is more conducive to the occurrence of landslides, while the sedimentary rock is more conducive to the landslide recovery. When the distance from the nearest water system is more than 1 600m, the effect of the water system on the landslides gradually decreases. Also, the landslides triggered by Wenchuan earthquake in this area have the characteristics of the hanging wall effect, which means, the number of landslides in the northwestern region is much higher than that in the southeast side.     

断裂性质与滑坡分布的关系——以汶川地震中的大型滑坡为例

越来越多的地震滑坡相对于地震断层的不对称分布震例让人们意识到断层上盘效应的存在。 然而,目前有关断裂运动方式与滑坡空间分布关系的研究还不够充分和深入。在收集大量地震滑坡震例资料并获得其分布规律的基础上,建立了一个简化的断层模型,以地震波在地表与断层面之间反射传播特性为基础,探讨断层倾角改变对地表地震动强度的影响。进而,以汶川地震触发的大型滑坡为例,研究了断层的几何特征和运动方式对诱发滑坡空间分布的影响。结果表明,断层的倾角对滑坡空间分布范围具有控制作用,随着倾角的增加,垂直断层走向的滑坡分布范围逐渐减小;并且,大型滑坡的初始坡面受到断裂运动方向的影响,与断裂运动方向一致的坡面更容易发生滑坡。所获结果不仅有助于提高区域性地震滑坡危险区域的预测精度,而且对认识大型滑坡的滑动机制、主控因素以及可能的滑动规模、滑距等也起到促进作用。通过对滑坡崩塌的认识来辅助提高对地质构造、地震断层等的认识,应是地震诱发滑坡崩塌研究的新的意义所在。     

M5'模型树算法和无人机航拍影像在震后崩塌滑坡分析中的应用——以鲁甸M_S6.5地震为例

利用高分辨率无人机航拍影像,结合基本地质资料,分析了影响2014年8月3日鲁甸M_S6.5地震震后崩塌滑坡分布的主要因素,使用M5'模型树算法建立了崩塌滑坡密度与其影响因子间的分段线性模型,并检验了该模型的预测性能。结果表明,地震诱发的崩塌滑坡分布受断层距、岩土体结构强度、坡度、植被条件等的影响,其中,断层距、岩土体结构强度及坡度等为主要影响因素;崩塌滑坡易发生在结构破裂区及坡度为38°~50°的区域,其分布密度随断层距的增加而减小;利用M5'模型树算法建立的模型体现出崩塌滑坡分布与其影响因子间复杂的非线性关系,模型检验结果显示,理论模型与实际关联函数间的相关系数达到0.88,因此,可利用该模型预测地震诱发的崩塌滑坡的分布。     

Response mechanism of post-earthquake slopes under heavy rainfall

This paper uses the catastrophic landslide that occurred in Zhongxing Town, Dujiangyan City, as an example to study the formation mechanism of landslides induced by heavy rainfall in the post-Wenchuan earthquake area. The deformation characteristics of a slope under seismic loading were investigated via a shaking table test. The results show that a large number of cracks formed in the slope due to the tensile and shear forces of the vibrations, and most of the cracks had angles of approximately 45° with respect to the horizontal. A series of flume tests were performed to show how the duration and intensity of rainfall influence the responses of the shaken and non-shaken slopes. Wetting fronts were recorded under different rainfall intensities, and the depth of rainfall infiltration was greater in the shaken slope than in the non-shaken slope because the former experienced a greater extreme rainfall intensity under the same early rainfall and rainfall duration conditions. At the beginning of the rainfall infiltration experiment, the pore water pressure in the slope was negative, and settling occurred at the top of the slope. With increasing rainfall, the pore water pressure changed from negative to positive, and cracks were observed on the back surface of the slope and the shear outlet of the landslide on the front of the slope. The shaken slope was more susceptible to crack formation than the non-shaken slope under the same rainfall conditions. A comparison of the responses of the shaken and non-shaken slopes under heavy rainfall revealed that cracks formed by earthquakes provided channels for infiltration. Soil particles in the cracks of slopes were washed away, and the pore water pressure increased rapidly, especially the transient pore water pressure in the slope caused by short-term concentrated rainfall which decreased rock strength and slope stability.