Analysis on the dynamical process of Donghekou rockslide-debris flow triggered by 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake

Among the geo-hazards caused by the great Wenchuan Earthquake, the rapid and long runout rockslide-debris flow is of primary concern due to the large volume of displaced material and the resultant catastrophic impacts to the landscape and socioeconomic structure. In order to analyze the dynamical process of this kind of geo-hazard, the Donghekou rockslide-debris flow is given as an example in this paper. This event, which killed 780 people, initiated at an elevation of 1300 m with a total long run-out distance of more than 2400 m. The slide mass is mainly composed of dolomite limestone and siliceous limestone of Sinian system, together with carbon slate and phyllite of Cambrian. During the processes from slide initiation to the final cessation of slide movement, five dynamic stages took place, here identified as the initiation stage, the acceleration of movement stage, the air-blast effect stage, the impact and redirection stage and the long runout slidematerial accumulation stage. Field investigations indicate that due to the effects of the earthquake, the dynamics of the Donghekou rockslide-debris flow are apparently controlled by geologic and tectonic conditions, the local geomorphological aspects of the terrain, and the microstructural and macroscopic mechanical properties of rocks which compose the slide mass. These three main factors which dictate the Donghekou rockslide-debris flow dynamics are discussed in detail in this paper, and significant results of field investigations and tests of materials are presented. The above dynamical processes are analyzed in this paper, and some useful conclusions have been gained.     

The spatial distribution characteristics of shallow fissures of a landslide in the Wenchuan earthquake area

Shallow fissures, being the main infiltration paths of fluid on the surface of a slope, played an important role in the whole process of a landslide. However, the spatial distribution characteristics of fissures in the slope are difficult to be determined. In this study, we attempted to characterize the variation pattern of slope fissures along depth in the Wenchuan earthquake area in Sichuan Province by combining engineering geological investigation, geomorphologic analysis and geophysical investigation. The geophysical methods that were used in this study include Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW), Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). The results suggested that geophysical parameters (shear wave velocity, electromagnetic signals attenuation and resistivity) could provide valuable information for the spatial network of shallow fissures. Through the verification by engineering geological survey and geophysical sensitivity analysis, this work highlighted that MASW was the most appropriate technique to delineate the propagation of shallow fissures in a gravel soil slope.     

Ecological species groups and interspecific association of vegetation in natural recovery process at Xiejiadian landslide after 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008 triggered numerous landslides, which disturbed vast areas of vegetation in northwest Sichuan. However, based on our primary field investigation at Xiejiadian landslide in July 2009, we found an obvious increase of the number of plant species and then we made a hypothesis that, after earthquake, vegetation at this landslide might recover by itself. In this paper, we conduct a newly field investigation at Xiejiadian landslide during November 2014 to verify this hypothesis. We investigated plant species composition at total 56 sites (trees 4, shrubs 16 and herbs 36, respectively), and calculated the Schluter’s variance ratio, important values, x² test, association coefficient, Ochiai index, Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation coefficients, and Ecological species groups. Species sharply increased to 84 species belonging to 66 genera and 54 families, forming a complete life form containing trees, shrubs, herbs, and ground layers while only herbs detected in 2009. Moreover, an overall positive and moderately related interspecies association was detected for most of species pairs. Of total 84 species, twenty five were identified as dominant species and could be divided into four positive ecological species groups. This study verified our proposed hypothesis of self-recovery of vegetation in landslide triggered by the earthquake, and found Alnus cremastogyne, Rhus chinensis, Litsea cubeba, Vitis piasezkii and Anemone vitifolia would play a constructive role during the continuing succession of vegetation at Xiejiadian landslide.     

Co-seismic landslide inventory and susceptibility mapping in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake disaster area, China

The Ms 8.0 May 12,2008 Wenchuan earthquake triggered tens of thousands of landslides.The widespread landslides have caused serious casualties and property losses,and posed a great threat to post-earthquake reconstruction.A spatial database,inventoried 43,842 landslides with a total area of 632 km 2,was developed by interpretation of multi-resolution remote sensing images.The landslides can be classified into three categories:swallow,disrupted slides and falls;deep-seated slides and falls,and rock avalanches.The correlation between landslides distribution and the influencing parameters including distance from co-seismic fault,lithology,slope gradient,elevation,peak ground acceleration(PGA) and distance from drainage were analyzed.The distance from co-seismic fault was the most significant parameter followed by slope gradient and PGA was the least significant one.A logistic regression model combined with bivariate statistical analysis(BSA) was adopted for landslide susceptibility mapping.The study area was classified into five categories of landslide susceptibility:very low,low,medium,high and very high.92.0% of the study area belongs to low and very low categories with corresponding 9.0% of the total inventoried landslides.Medium susceptible zones make up 4.2% of the area with 17.7% of the total landslides.The rest of the area was classified into high and very high categories,which makes up 3.9% of the area with corresponding 73.3% of the total landslides.Although the susceptibility map can reveal the likelihood of future landslides and debris flows,and it is helpful for the rebuilding process and future zoning issues.     

Mechanism and geo-mechanics models of landslides triggered by 5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake

Due to the extremely high magnitude, long duration, and the complicated geo-environment in the disaster area, the great 5.12 Wenchuan Earthquake not only produced a huge number of landslides and rockfalls, but also involved complicated dynamic processes. These processes are quite different from the characteristics of landslides and rockfalls under general gravitational force, and presently human knowledge is very poor in this field. In order to describe the special dynamic processes, some terms such as shattering-cracking, shattering-sliding, shattering-falls and ejection are defined in this paper. Combined with slope structures, a mechanism classification system of strong earthquake-triggered landslide and rockfall is suggested, which is divided into 5 categories and 14 types. This paper also analyzes the basic characteristics, dynamic processes and geo-mechanics conceptual models of some typologies, especial the type of shattering-sliding for most large-scales landsides. This paper initially reveals the formation mechanism, geo-mechanics models and dynamic features of landslides and rockfalls triggered by the great Wenchuan Earthquake.     

Dynamic process simulation with a Savage-Hutter type model for the intrusion of landslide into river

Natural damming of rivers by mass movements is a very common and potentially dangerous phenomena which has been documented all over the world. In this paper, a two-layer model of Savage-Hutter type is presented to simulate the dynamic procedure for the intrusion of landslide into rivers. The two-layer shallow water system is derived by depth averaging the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with the hydrostatic assumption. A high order accuracy scheme based on the finite volume method is proposed to solve the presented model equations. Several numerical tests are performed to verify the realiability and feasibility of the proposed model. The numerical results indicate that the proposed method can be competent for simulating the dynamic process of landslide intrusion into the river. The interaction effect between both layers has a significant impact on the landslide movement, water fluctuation and wave propagation.     

Dynamic prediction of landslide displacement using singular spectrum analysis and stack long short-term memory network

An accurate landslide displacement prediction is an important part of landslide warning system. Aiming at the dynamic characteristics of landslide evolution and the shortcomings of traditional static prediction models, this paper proposes a dynamic prediction model of landslide displacement based on singular spectrum analysis(SSA) and stack long short-term memory(SLSTM) network. The SSA is used to decompose the landslide accumulated displacement time series data into trend term and periodic term displacement subsequences. A cubic polynomial function is used to predict the trend term displacement subsequence, and the SLSTM neural network is used to predict the periodic term displacement subsequence. At the same time, the Bayesian optimization algorithm is used to determine that the SLSTM network input sequence length is 12 and the number of hidden layer nodes is 18. The SLSTM network is updated by adding predicted values to the training set to achieve dynamic displacement prediction. Finally, the accumulated landslide displacement is obtained by superimposing the predicted value of each displacement subsequence. The proposed model was verified on the Xintan landslide in Hubei Province, China. The results show that when predicting the displacement of the periodic term, the SLSTM network has higher prediction accuracy than the support vector machine(SVM) and auto regressive integrated moving average(ARIMA). The mean relative error(MRE) is reduced by 4.099% and 3.548% respectively, while the root mean square error(RMSE) is reduced by 5.830 mm and 3.854 mm respectively. It is concluded that the SLSTM network model can better simulate the dynamic characteristics of landslides.     

A Modified Certainty Coefficient Method（M-CF） for Debris Flow Susceptibility Assessment：A Case Study for the Wenchuan Earthquake Meizoseismal Areas

In the meizoseismal areas hit by the China Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, the disasterprone environment has changed dramatically, making the susceptibility assessment of debris flow more complex and uncertain. After the earthquake, debris flow hazards occurred frequently and effective susceptibility assessment of debris flow has become extremely important. Shenxi gully in Du Jiangyan city, located in the meizoseismal areas, was selected as the study area. Based on the research of disaster-prone environment and the main factors controlling debris flow, the susceptibility zonations of debris flow were mapped using factor weight method（FW）, certainty coefficient method（CF） and geomorphic information entropy method（GI）. Through comparative analysis, the study showed that these three methods underestimated susceptible degree of debris flow when used in the meizoseismal areas of Wenchuan earthquake. In order to solve this problem, this paper developed a modified certainty coefficient method（M-CF） to reflect the impact of rich loose materials on the susceptible degree of debris flow. In the modified method, the distribution and area of loose materials were obtained by field investigations and postearthquake remote sensing image, and four data sets, namely, lithology, elevation, slop and aspect, wereused to calculate the CF values. The result of M-CF method is in agreement with field investigations and the accuracy of the method is satisfied. The method has a wide application to the susceptibility assessment of debris flow in the earthquake stricken areas.     

Rapid susceptibility mapping of co-seismic landslides triggered by the 2013 Lushan Earthquake using the regression model developed for the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

The primary objective of landslide susceptibility mapping is the prediction of potential landslides in landslide-prone areas.The predictive power of a landslide susceptibility mapping model could be tested in an adjacent area of similar geoenvironmental conditions to find out the reliability.Both the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake and the 2013 Lushan Earthquake occurred in the Longmen Mountain seismic zone,with similar topographical and geological conditions.The two earthquakes are both featured by thrust fault and similar seismic mechanism.This paper adopted the susceptibility mapping model of co-seismic landslides triggered by Wenchuan earthquake to predict the spatial distribution of landslides induced by Lushan earthquake.Six influencing parameters were taken into consideration: distance from the seismic fault,slope gradient,lithology,distance from drainage,elevation and Peak Ground Acceleration(PGA).The preliminary results suggested that the zones with high susceptibility of coseismic landslides were mainly distributed in the mountainous areas of Lushan,Baoxing and Tianquan counties.The co-seismic landslide susceptibility map was completed in two days after the quake and sent to the field investigators to provide guidance for rescue and relief work.The predictive power of the susceptibility map was validated by ROC curve analysis method using 2037 co-seismic landslides in the epicenter area.The AUC value of 0.710 indicated that the susceptibility model derived from Wenchuan Earthquake landslides showed good accuracy in predicting the landslides triggered by Lushan earthquake.     

Characterization and spatial analysis of coseismic landslides triggered by the Luding Ms 6.8 earthquake in the Xianshuihe fault zone,Southwest China

On September 5, 2022, a magnitude Ms 6.8 earthquake occurred along the Moxi fault in the southern part of the Xianshuihe fault zone located in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau,resulting in severe damage and substantial economic loss. In this study, we established a coseismic landslide database triggered by Luding Ms 6.8 earthquake, which includes 4794 landslides with a total area of 46.79 km². The coseismic landslides primarily consisted of medium and small-sized landsli...     

Seismogenic fault and topography control on the spatial patterns of landslides triggered by the 2017 Jiuzhaigou earthquake

Jiuzhaigou National Park, located in northwest plateau of Sichuan Province, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of the most popular scenic areas in China. On August 8, 2017, a Mw 6.5 earthquake occurred 5 km to the west of a major scenic area, causing 25 deaths and injuring 525, and the Park was seriously affected. The objective of this study was to explore the controls of seismogenic fault and topographic factors on the spatial patterns of these landslides. Immediately after the main shock, field survey, remote-sensing investigations, and statistical and spatial analysis were undertaken. At least 2212 earthquake-triggered landslides were identified, covering a total area of 11.8 km~2. Thesewere mainly shallow landslides and rock falls. Results demonstrated that landslides exhibited a close spatial correlation with seismogenic faults. More than 85% of the landslides occurred at 2200 to 3700 m elevations. The largest quantity of landslides was recorded in places with local topographic reliefs ranging from 200 to 500 m. Slopes in the range of ~20°-50° are the most susceptible to failure. Landslides occurred mostly on slopes facing east-northeast(ENE), east(E), east-southeast(ESE), and southeast(SE), which were nearly vertical to the orientation of the seismogenic fault slip. The back-slope direction and thin ridge amplification effects were documented. These results provide insights on the control of the spatial pattern of earthquake-triggered landslides modified by the synergetic effect of seismogenic faults and topography.     

The starting mechanism and movement process of the coseismic rockslide: A case study of the Laoyingyan rockslide induced by the “5.12” Wenchuan earthquake

The"5.12"Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 triggered a large number of co-seismic landslides.The rear boundary or cracks of co-seismic landslide are generally located at the steep free surface of thin or thick mountains.Dynamic process of this kind of landslides could be divided into two parts:the seismic dynamic response of the slope and the movement process of rock mass.Taking the Laoyingyan rockslide as an example,the amplification effect was studied by single-degree-of-freedom system analysis method.Besides,the dynamic process of landslide under seismic loading was simulated by the finite difference method(FDM)and discrete element method(DEM).The amplification coefficient of the rockslide to seismic wave is 1.25.The results show that the critical sliding surface of the Laoyingyan rockslide was formed at the 23 th seconds under the action of seismic wave.At the same time,tension failure occurred at the rear edge of the sliding mass and shear failure occurred at the front edge.The maximum displacement was 0.81 m and the initial velocity was 2.78 m/s.During the initiation process of the rockslide,the rock mass firstly broke down along the joints which are along the dip of the rock stratum,and then collapsed bodily along the secondary structural planes.In the process of movement,the maximum velocity of rock mass was 38.24 m/s.After that,the rock mass underwent multiple collisions,including contact,deceleration to 0 and speed recovery after rebound.Finally,due to the constant loss of energy,the rocks stopped and accumulated loosely at the foot of the slope.The longest distance of movement was about 494 m.Besides,the smaller the damping ratio,the farther the rock mass moved.Compared with the results without considering the amplification factor,the movement distance of landslide by considering the amplification factor was more accurate.The study of the Laoyingyan rockslide is helpful to strengthen our field identification of potential co-seismic rockslides.At the same time,understanding its movement and accumulation process can help us better predict the hazard scope of the co-seismic rockslides,and provide a reference for the design of treatment projects.     

Simulation study of the void space gas effect on slope instability triggered by an earthquake

This study aims at exploring the void space gas effect of earthquake-triggered slope instability and providing a new method for studying the formation mechanism of earthquake-triggered landslides. We analysed the basic characteristics, kinematic characteristics, initiation mechanisms and physical mechanical parameters of the Daguangbao landslide, generalized a landslide prototype, and established a geological model and performed simulation tests. Based on the seismic wave propagation theory of rock-soil mass, rock fracture mechanics and the effective stress principle, we found that the void space gas effect is due to the occurrence of excess void space gas pressure when the dynamic response of seismic loads impacts the void space gas in weak intercalated layers of the slope. The excess void space gas pressure generated by the vibration(earthquake) damages the rock mass around the void space with a certain regularity. The model test results show that the effective shear strength of the rock mass can be reduced by 4.4% to 21.6% due to the void space gas effect.     

Progressive modelling of the gravity-induced landslide using the local dynamic strength reduction method

The failure of slope is a progressive process, and the whole sliding surface is caused by the gradual softening of soil strength of the potential sliding surface. From this viewpoint, a local dynamic strength reduction method is proposed to capture the progressive failure of slope. This method can calculate the warning deformation of landslide in this study. Only strength parameters of the yielded zone of landslide will be reduced by using the method. Through continuous local reduction of the strength parameters of the yielded zone, the potential sliding surface developed gradually and evolved to breakthrough finally. The result shows that the proposed method can simulate the progressive failure of slope truly. The yielded zone and deformation of landslide obtained by the method are smaller than those of overall strength reduction method. The warning deformation of landslide can be obtained by using the local dynamic strength reduction method which is based on the softening characteristics of the sliding surface.     

Hazard assessment of landslide disaster using information value method and analytical hierarchy process in highly tectonic Chamba region in bosom of Himalaya

The present study is focused on a comparative evaluation of landslide disaster using analytical hierarchy process and information value method for hazard assessment in highly tectonic Chamba region in bosom of Himalaya. During study, the information about the causative factors was generated and the landslide hazard zonation maps were delineated using Information Value Method (IV) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) using ArcGIS (ESRI). For this purpose, the study area was selected in a part of Ravi river catchment along one of the landslide prone Chamba to Bharmour road corridor of National Highway (NH-154A) in Himachal Pradesh, India. A numeral landslide triggering geoenvironmental factors i.e. slope, aspect, relative relief, soil, curvature, land use and land cover (LULC), lithology, drainage density, and lineament density were selected for landslide hazard mapping based on landslide inventory. Landslide hazard zonation map was categorized namely “very high hazard, high hazard, medium hazard, low hazard, and very low hazard”. The results from these two methods were validated using Area Under Curve (AUC) plots. It is found that hazard zonation map prepared using information value method and analytical hierarchy process methods possess the prediction rate of 78.87% and 75.42%, respectively. Hence, landslide hazard zonation map obtained using information value method is proposed to be more useful for the study area. These final hazard zonation maps can be used by various stakeholders like engineers and administrators for proper maintenance and smooth traffic flow between Chamba and Bharmour cities, which is the only route connecting these tourist places.     

Empirical-statistical models based on remote sensing for estimating the volume of landslides induced by the Wenchuan earthquake

The Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake on May 12, 2008 induced a huge number of landslides. The distribution and volume of the landslides are very important for assessing risks and understanding the landslide - debris flow - barrier lake - bursts flood disaster chain. The number and the area of landslides in a wide region can be easily obtained by remote sensing technique, while the volume is relatively difficult to obtain because it requires some detailed geometric information of slope failure surface and sub-surface. Different empirical models for estimating landslide volume were discussed based on the data of 107 landslides in the earthquake-stricken area. The volume data of these landslides were collected by field survey. Their areas were obtained by interpreting remote sensing images while their apparent friction coefficients and height were extracted from the images unifying DEM (digital elevation model). By analyzing the relationships between the volume and the area, apparent friction coefficients, and the height, two models were established, one for the adaptation of a magnitude scale landslide events in a wide range of region, another for the adaptation in a small scope. The correlation coefficients (R2) are 0.7977 and 0.8913, respectively. The results estimated by the two models agree well with the measurement data.     

Modeling of low-frequency seismic waves in a shallow sea using the staggered grid difference method

Elastic waves in the seabed generated by low-frequency noise radiating from ships are known as ship seismic waves and can be used to detect and identify ships.To obtain the propagation characteristics of ship seismic waves,an algorithm for calculating seismic waves at the seafl oor is presented based on the staggered-grid fi nite diff erence method.The accuracy of the algorithm was tested by comparison with analytical solutions.Numerical simulation of seismic waves generated by a low-frequency point sound source in a typical shallow sea environment was carried out.Using various source frequencies and locations in the numerical simulation,we show that the seismic waves in the near fi eld are composed mostly of transmitted S-waves and interface waves while transmitted P-waves are weak near the seafl oor.However,in the far fi eld,the wave components of the seismic wave are mainly normal modes and interface waves,with the latter being relatively strong in the waveforms.As the source frequency decreases,the normal modes become smaller and the interface waves dominate the time series of the seismic waves.     

Seismic deformation and seismic resistance analysis of Shapai Roller Compacted Concrete Arch Dam based on field monitoring and dynamic finite element method

Shapai Roller Compacted Concrete(RCC) Arch Dam is the highest RCC arch dam of the 20th century in the world with a maximum height of 132m,and it is the only concrete arch dam near the epicentre of Wenchuan earthquake on May 12th,2008.The seismic damage to the dam and the resistance of the dam has drawn great attention.This paper analyzed the response and resistance of the dam to the seismic wave using numerical simulations with comparison to the monitored data.The field investigation after the earthquake and analysis of insitu data record showed that there was only little variation in the opening size at the dam and foundation interface,transverse joints and inducing joints before and after the earthquake.The overall stability of the dam abutment resistance body was quite good except a little relaxation was observed.The results of the dynamic finite element method(FEM) showed that the sizes of the openings obtained from the numerical modeling are comparable with the monitored values,and the change of the opening size is in millimeter range.This study revealed that Shapai arch dam exhibited high seismic resistance and overload capacity in the Wenchuan earthquake event.The comparison of the monitored and simulated results showed that the numerical method applied in this paper well simulated the seismic response of the dam.The method could be useful in the future application on the safety evaluation of RCC dams.     

Preventing and limiting exposure to geo-hazards: Some lessons from two mountain villages destroyed by the Wenchuan earthquake

This paper examines the experiences of two mountain communities- Yinchanggou and Donghekou in the Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, where Yinchanggou’s tourism economy and natural park system was destroyed and Donghekou was buried by a landslide. We conducted research surveys on both the communities, interviewing survivors and local officials, and observed the destruction/reconstruction, geological, and living conditions. We suggest that protracted educational processes be put into place so that mountain communities possess a knowledge base to consider long-term disaster prevention when building the economy in the fragile and geo-hazardous conditions of the Longmenshan. The Donghekou Earthquake Ruins Park is an exemplar of turning disaster into sustainable, safe development for small mountain villages.     

Seismically induced slope instabilities and the corresponding treatments: the case of a road in the Wenchuan earthquake hit region

On May 12, 2008, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province resulted in great loss of life and properties. Besides, abundant landslides and slope failures were triggered in the most seriously hit areas and caused disastrous damages to infrastructures and public facilities. Moreover, abundant unstable slopes caused by the quake have the potential to cause damages for a considerable long period of time. The variety of these slopes and the corresponding treatments are connected with the topographical and geological conditions of the sites. It is decided to document and identify some of these major slope instabilities caused by the earthquake and their treatments. The paper shows the condition of a road in Dujiangyan through in situ explorations. The case history showed significant implications to the reconstruction of the quake-hit regions and future disaster prevention and management works.