Characteristics, mechanism and development tendency of deformation of Maoping landslide after commission of Geheyan reservoir on the Qingjiang River, Hubei Province, China

Based on field investigation of the constituent structure and geological formation of the Maoping landslide, the authors made an in-depth study of the deformation characteristics and triggering mechanism of the reservoir-induced slide through comprehensive analysis of the about 13 years observation data. The Maoping landslide, the largest ancient landslide in Geheyan reservoir, with a volume of 23.5 million m³, is located on the left bank of the Qingjiang River, 66 km upstream of Geheyan dam. In April 1993 reservoir inundation reactivated the landslide, which resulted in relocation of a village of 290 people. Since then the landslide body has been experiencing persistent deformation with an observed maximum displacement of 2841.4 mm up to October 2005. Therefore, further development of deformation of the landslide becomes a great concern for the safety of the reservoir and dam. The analysis results show that the Maoping landslide is an ancient landslide that is an accumulation of several consequent slides along the bank slope and experienced several secondary slumps in its front in later stages. The ongoing deformation of the reactivated landslide is controlled by mechanical properties of materials and hydraulic effects induced by reservoir. The slip process is of creep deformation as a whole, and appears to be attenuating in later stage, which indicates very low possibility of the high-speed slip and integral failure of the slide.