Stability of landslide dams and development of knickpoints

The Wenchuan earthquake triggered many landslides and numerous avalanches and created 100 odd quake lakes. The quake lakes may be removed or preserved. The removal strategy was applied to several large landslide dams, which were dangerous because massive amounts of water pooled up in the quake lakes. The dams could eventually fail under the action of dam outburst flooding, potentially endangering the lives of people in the downstream reaches. This paper studied the stability of landslide dams and the development of knickpoints by field investigations and experiments, and analyzing satellite images. The study concluded that if landslide dams were preserved, they would develop into knickpoints and act as a primary control of riverbed incision and, thus, reduce the potential of new landslide. The stability of landslide dams depends mainly on the development of the step-pool system and stream power of the flood flow. If a landslide dam consists of many boulders, a step-pool system may develop on the spillway channel of the dam, which would maximize the resistance, consume most of the flow energy and consequently protect the dam from incision. The development degree of the step-pool system is represented by a parameter S _p, which was measured with a specially designed instrument. A preservation ratio of landslide dams is defined as the ratio of preserved height after flood scouring to the original height of the dam. For streams with peak flood discharge lower than 30 m³/s, the preservation ratio is linearly proportional to S _p. For rivers with a peak flood discharge higher than 30 m³/s (30–30,000 m³/s), the minimum S _p value for stable channel increases with log p, in which p is the unit stream power. For a landslide dam with a poorly developed step-pool system, S _p is smaller than the minimum value and the outburst flood incises the spillway channel and causes failure of the dam. For preserved landslide dams, sediment deposits in the quake lakes. A landslide dam may develop into a knickpoint if it is stabilized by long-term action of the flow. Large knickpoints can totally change the fluvial processes and river morphology. Uplift of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau has caused extensive channel bed incision along almost all rivers. For many rivers, the incision has been partly controlled by knickpoints. Upstream reaches of a knickpoint have a new and unchanging base level. This brings about a transition from degradation to aggradation and from vertical bed evolution to horizontal fluvial process. Multiple and unstable channels are prominent in the reaches, upstream of the knickpoints. If hundreds of landslide dams occurred simultaneously on a reach of a mountain river, the potential energy of bank failure and the slope erosion would be greatly reduced and sediment yield from the watershed may be reduced to nearly zero. The quake lakes may be preserved long term and become beautiful landscapes. Streams with long-term unfilled quake lakes have good aquatic ecology.     

Amplification effect of cascading breach discharge of landslide dams

Landslides - Affected by earthquakes and heavy rainfall, multiple landslide dams often cluster closely together along river reaches or gullies. Compared with a single landslide dam, the burst flood...     

Ice, moraine, and landslide dams in mountainous terrain

We review recent work on ice, moraine, and landslide dams in mountainous terrain, thus complementing several comprehensive summaries on glacier dams in intracontinental and Arctic areas of low relief. We discuss the roles of tectonic and climatic forcing on ice-, moraine-, and landslide-dam formation and sudden drainage, and focus on similarities and differences between their geomorphic impacts on confined valleys drained by steep bedrock and gravel-bed rivers.Despite numerous reported failures of natural dams in mountain belts throughout the world, their relevance to long-term dynamics of mountain rivers remains poorly quantified. All types of dams exert local base-level controls, thus trapping incoming sediment and inhibiting fluvial bedrock incision. Pervasive geomorphic and sedimentary evidence of outburst events is preserved even in areas of high erosion rates, suggesting that sudden dam failures are characterized by processes of catastrophic valley-floor aggradation, active-channel widening, and downstream dispersion of sediment, during which little bedrock erosion seems to be achieved.We find that, in the absence of direct evidence of former dams, a number of similarities among the geomorphic and sedimentologic characteristics of catastrophic outburst flows may give rise to ambiguous inferences on the dam-forming process. This is especially the case for tectonically active mountain belts where there is ample and comparable potential for the formation and failure of ice, moraine, landslide, and polygenetic dams concomitant with climatic oscillations or earthquake disturbance. Hence, the palaeoclimatic implications of erroneously inferring the cause of dam formation may be significant.We recommend that future research on natural dams in mountainous terrain addresses (a) climate- and earthquake-controlled systematics in the pattern of formation and failure; (b) quantification of response of mountain rivers to catastrophic outburst events and their concomitant process sequences; (c) elaboration of a comprehensive classification of natural dams in mountainous terrain with special attention to polygenetic dams; (d) physical-based modelling of dam formation, failure, and routing of water and sediment outbursts; and (e) quantitative controls on the contribution of natural dams to sediment budgets in mountainous terrain.     

基于SSA-Adam-BP神经网络模型的堰塞坝稳定性预测

现有的堰塞坝稳定性预测模型多为线性模型,无法充分考虑堰塞坝稳定性与其形态特征和水域条件之间的复杂非线性关系.鉴于此,结合反向传播神经网络模型和樽海鞘优化算法,提出了一种新型的堰塞坝稳定性预测模型SSA-Adam-BP.该模型通过网格搜索法选取确定模型结构的最佳超参数组合,进而利用交叉验证和绘制ROC曲线的方式分别对采用...     

Field variability of landslide model parameters

 A data set of parameters (slope, soil depth and soil shear strength) relevant to spatially distributed modelling of shallow landslides triggered by rain and snowmelt events was determined from field measurements in 250 grid elements of dimensions 25 m (downslope)×10 m (across slope) in an area of 250 m×250 m on a hillslope in Scotland. These data provide an unusually detailed basis for the evaluation of spatial variability and uncertainty in model parameterisation. The variations in slope and soil strength are represented adequately by normal distributions; a Weibull distribution is suggested for the soil depth data. The factor of safety calculated at each point in the grid was shown partially to identify observed landslides, with a number of false predictions of occurrence. Trend analysis and semivariogram analysis of the data set suggest that the use of kriging could improve upon this approach to landslide prediction by providing areal estimates of parameters at the grid element scale with associated error bounds. Received: 30 October 1996 · Accepted: 25 June 1997     

Some considerations about the simulation of breach channel erosion on landslide dams

The analysis of the flood hazard related to the areas downstream of landslide dams is one of the most interesting aspects of studying the formation and the failure of natural dams. The BREACH code [14], simulating the collapse of earthen dams, both man-made and naturally formed by a landslide, was chosen in order to analyse the case of the Valderchia landslide (central Italy). The bed-load transport formula used in BREACH (Meyer-Peter and Muller, modified by Smart [27]) is based on flume experiments with well-sorted sediments. Such a methodology probably makes this equation not very suitable for describing the sediment transport peculiar to a landslide body presenting a very poor material sorting. The Schoklitsch [26] formula was implemented into the programme as an alternative to the Smart equation. However, because the landslide deposits may often have a strongly bimodal grain–size frequency curve, the percentile D ₅₀ (the typical granulometric parameter requested by bed-load sediment transport formulas) can sometimes correspond to one of the grain-size classes which are really present to a lesser degree. To consider this phenomenon, the BREACH programme (version 7/88-1) was implemented with a new procedure that calculates two granulometric curves, one for each mode of the original distribution, and evaluates transport of the landslide material separately. Results of the analysis show that the model is very sensitive to the bed-load equation and that the procedure implemented to consider the eventual bimodal distribution of the dam material simulates the armouring phenomenon (which can stop the erosion of the dam during the overtopping phase).     

Coupled DEM-CFD investigation on the formation of landslide dams in narrow rivers

Large-scale landslide dams can induce significant hazards to human lives by blocking the river flows and causing inundation upstream. They may trigger severe outburst flooding that may devastate downstream areas once failed. Thus, the advancement in understanding the formation of landslide dams is highly necessary. This paper presents 3D numerical investigations of the formation of landslide dams in open fluid channels via the discrete element method (DEM) coupled with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). By employing this model, the influence of flow velocity on granular depositional morphology has been clarified. As the grains settle downwards in the fluid channel, positive excess water pressures are generated at the bottom region, reducing the total forces acting on the granular mass. In the meantime, the particle sedimentations into the fluid channel with high impacting velocities can generate fluid streams to flow backwards and forwards. The coupled hydraulic effects of excess water pressure and fluid flow would entrain the solid grains to move long distances along the channel. For simulations using different flow velocities, the larger the flow velocity is, the further distance the grains can be transported to. In this process, the solid grains move as a series of surges, with decreasing deposit lengths for the successive surges. The granular flux into the fluid channel has very little influence on the depositional pattern of particles, while it affects the particle–fluid interactions significantly. The results obtained from the DEM-CFD coupled simulations can reasonably explain the mechanisms of granular transportation and deposition in the formation of landslide dams in narrow rivers.     

1,000-year record of landslide dams at Halden Creek, northeastern British Columbia

Large, rapid, low-gradient landslides are common in clay-rich glacial sediments in northeastern British Columbia. Many of the landslides create upstream impoundments that may persist for years in small watersheds in the region. We have documented such events in the Halden Creek watershed, 60 km southeast of Fort Nelson. The events are recorded geologically in two ways. First, trees are drowned in lakes dammed by the landslides and subsequently buried by deltaic sediments, where they are protected from decay. Bank erosion later exhumes the drowned trees. Second, landslide deposits with entrained wood are exposed along stream banks. We have reconstructed the recent history of landslide damming at Halden Creek by performing radiocarbon dating on exhumed trees and wood in and beneath landslide deposits at 13 sites in the watershed. Drowned trees range in age from 169±59 to 274±49 ¹⁴C year bp. Wood in and below landslide deposits yielded radiocarbon ages ranging from modern to 965±49 ¹⁴C year bp.     

土石坝地震永久变形参数反演方法研究

提出了一种基于径向基网络的土石坝永久变形参数反演分析模型。该模型充分利用了径向基神经网络的非线性映射能力,只需要进行少量的样本设计,即可反演坝体永久变形参数,可以解决土石坝动力参数反演计算耗时长的问题。同时在对永久变形参数进行灵敏度分析的基础上,建立考虑参数灵敏度的网络训练目标函数,进一步提高了反演精度。将所建立的模型用于紫平铺面板堆石坝地震永久变形参数反演,采用三维有限元法进行静动力分析,并采用改进的沈珠江模型计算坝体地震永久变形。结果表明,反演参数计算的大坝地震永久变形和坝体实测永久变形数值接近,趋势一致,因而所建立的模型能够有效地反演坝体地震永久变形参数,为土石坝的动力参数反演提供了一种简便、有效的方法。     

Morphological analysis and features of the landslide dams in the Cordillera Blanca,Peru

Global warming in high mountain areas has led to visible environmental changes as glacial retreat, formation and evolution of moraine dammed lakes, slope instability, and major mass movements. Landslide dams and moraine dams are rather common in the Cordillera Blanca Mountains Range, Peru, and have caused large damages and fatalities over time. The environmental changes are influencing the rivers’ and dams’ equilibrium, and the potential induced consequences, like catastrophic debris flows or outburst floods resulting from dam failures, can be major hazards in the region. The studies of past landslide dam cases are essential in forecasting induced risks, and specific works on this topic were not developed in the study region. Reflecting this research gap, a database of 51 cases and an evolution study of landslide dams in the Cordillera Blanca Mountains is presented. The main morphometric parameters and information of the landslide, the dam body, the valley, and the lake, if any, have been determined through direct and indirect survey techniques. Low variability in some of the main morphometric parameter distributions (valley width and landslide volume) has been shown, most likely due to an environmental control connected to the regional tectonic and glacial history. In order to analyze present and future landslide dam evolution, a morphological analysis was carried out using two recently developed geomorphological indexes employed on the Italian territory. The results of the Cordillera Blanca analysis have been compared with a large Italian landslide dam inventory, highlighting as much the differences as the similarities between the two datasets. The long-term geomorphological evolution changes are evaluated. Many of the stable dams are in disequilibrium with their surrounding environment and their classification result is of “uncertain determination.”     

Field testing of erodibility of two landslide dams triggered by the 12 May Wenchuan earthquake

A strong earthquake of magnitude 8 in Richter scale, occurred in Sichuan Province, China on 12 May 2008, triggered about 257 landslide dams. The erodibility of fresh landslide deposits plays an important role in evaluating the initiation and development of breaching of such landslide dams. In this research, field jet index tests were conducted shortly after the earthquake at 27 locations on the Hongshihe landslide dam and the Libaisi landslide dam. The purpose of these tests was to investigate the erodibility of freshly deposited landslide soils. The landslide deposits are broadly graded. The bulk density increases and the coefficient of erodibility decreases with the depth of deposition. The erodibility of the fresh landslide deposits falls into a moderately resistant category and the fresh deposits are much more erodible than the native geomaterials before the earthquake. The main factors that control soil erodibility are found to be grain-size distribution, void ratio, fines content, and plasticity index. Particularly, the coefficient of erodibility decreases exponentially with the degree of compaction. Two empirical equations are developed for estimating the coefficient of erodibility and critical erosive shear stress of the freshly deposited landslide soils based on their basic soil properties.     

Mechanism of the giant Seimareh Landslide,Iran, and the longevity of its landslide dams

Seimareh Landslide (SL) is globally recognized as one of the largest rock mass movements in the world. It is located along the border of Ilam and Lorestan provinces in southwest Iran, in the heart of the Zagros Mountain Range. There are controversial findings about the mechanism of the landslide formation. This field work study reviewed the possible mechanisms of failure and analyzed post-failure geomorphic features. Drainage pattern disturbance in the depositional region and consequent dammed lake formation are among the most significant characteristics of these features. Seimareh, Jaidar and Balmak are three large landslide-dammed lakes. The present study analyzed the processes responsible for the formation and erosion of the Jaidar and Seimareh Landslide dams using the available annual sedimentation and field measurements of the sediment deposited in these lakes. The results showed that the SL dam has been formed about 935 years after the landslide event. Detailed field investigations indicated a specific hydro-morphological condition in the landslide area. The results implied that the main causes of the failure were probably the particular hydro-morphological characteristic of the landslide source area together with the enormous eroding energy resulted from merging of two high-flow rivers which eroded the base of the southern flank of Kabir-kuh Mountain. However, the unusual size of the landslide suggests that an external factor, e.g., a huge earthquake, might have triggered the failure.     

Development of an empirical model for predicting peak breach flow of landslide dams considering material composition

The existing empirical models do not consider the influence of material composition of landslide deposits on the peak breach flow due to the uncertainty in the material composition and the randomness of its distribution. In this study, based on the statistical analyses and case comparison, the factors influencing the peak breach flow were comprehensively investigated. The highlight is the material composition-based classification of landslide deposits of 86 landslide cases with detailed grain-size distribution information. In order to consider the geometric morphology of landslide dams and the potential energy of dammed lakes, as well as the material composition of landslide deposits in an empirical model, a multiple regression method was applied on a database, which comprises of 44 documented landslide dam breach cases. A new empirical model for predicting the peak breach flow of landslide dams was developed. Furthermore, for the same 44 documented landslide dam failures, the predicted peak breach flow obtained by using the existing empirical models for embankment and landslide dams and that obtained by using the newly developed model were compared. The comparison of the root mean square error (E_rms) and the multiple coefficient of determination (R²) for each empirical model verifies the accuracy and rationality of the new empirical model. Furthermore, for fair validation, several landslide dam breach cases that occurred in recent years in China and have reliable measured data were also used in another comparison. The results show that the new empirical model can reasonably predict the peak breach flow, and exhibits the best performance among all the existing empirical models for embankment and landslide dam breaching.

     

Formation process of two massive dams following rainfall-induced deep-seated rapid landslide failures in the Kii Peninsula of Japan

Extreme heavy rainfall due to Typhoon Talas on September 2–4, 2011 in the Kii Peninsula, Japan, triggered numerous floods and landslides. This study investigates the mechanism and the entire process of rainfall-induced deep-seated landslides forming two massive dams in the Kuridaira and Akatani valleys, respectively. The mechanism of the rapid deep-seated landslides is examined through a series of laboratory experiments on samples from sliding surfaces by using undrained high-stress dynamic-loading ring-shear apparatus. The test results indicate that the failure of samples is triggered by excess pore water pressure generation under a shear displacement from 2 to 7 mm with a pore pressure ratio ranging from 0.33 to 0.37. The rapid movement of landslides is mainly attributed to high mobility due to the liquefaction behavior of both sandstone-rich and shale samples. Geomorphic settings and landslide mobility are major contributing factors to the dam formation. Additionally, shear displacement control tests show that a certain amount of shear displacement between 2 and 7 mm along the sliding surfaces of the gravitationally deformed slopes might have led to the failures. Importantly, computer simulation with LS-RAPID software using input parameters obtained from physical experiments is employed to interpret the entire formation process of the abovementioned two landslide dams. The simulation results are examined in accordance with the observed on-site geomorphic features and recorded data to explain the possibility of sliding processes. The results further point out that local failures are initiated from the lower middle part of the landslide bodies where the geological boundary exists. This condition most probably influences the landslide initiation in the two case studies. This research is therefore helpful for hazard assessment of slopes that are susceptible to deep-seated landslides and other sequential processes in areas with geology and geomorphology similar to that of the Kii Peninsula.     

考虑河床坡度和泄流槽横断面影响的堰塞坝溃决过程试验研究

针对缺乏地形条件和工程处置措施对堰塞坝溃决过程影响研究的现状,采用4种河床坡度（0°、1°、2°、3°）和3种泄流槽横断面型式（三角形、梯形、复合型）,开展了堰塞坝溃决的模型试验。通过分析堰塞坝的溃决流量、溃决历时、溃口发展和坝体纵截面演变过程,研究了不同河床坡度和泄流槽横断面对堰塞坝溃决过程的影响规律。试验结果表明：（1） 堰塞坝溃决过程可分为3个阶段。阶段I：溃口形成阶段,溃决流量较小;阶段II：溃口发展阶段,水流下蚀及侧蚀强烈,溃决流量到达峰值;阶段III：衰减-平衡阶段,粗化层形成,溃口停止发展。（2） 河床坡度增加意味着下游坝坡、坝顶及泄流槽的坡度增加,导致水流侵蚀能力增强,溃口下切迅猛,因此在0°~3°范围内河床坡度越大,峰值流量越大,峰现时间越早,溃决流量过程曲线越趋于“高瘦型”,且残留坝高越小。（3） 泄流槽横断面型式不同导致其槽深、槽宽和侧坡坡度不同,进而影响溃口发展和溃决流量。三角形槽的水土作用面积小,溃口下切及展宽速率最高,峰值流量最大,峰现时间最早;梯形槽的槽底高程最高,水土作用面积最大,溃口下切速率最低,峰现时间最晚;而复合槽介于前两者之间。试验成果将为堰塞坝应急抢险和工程措施的选取提供依据。     

红石包滑坡滑带土强度参数的神经网络预测

在分析影响滑带土强度因素的基础上,建立了滑带土强度参数的BP神经网络模型,预测滑带土在不同含水率下c,φ值的变化规律,尤其足当红石包滑坡前缘、后缘地质条件差异较大时,找出可能的工况匹配,可以为滑坡稳定性评价提供可靠依据,克服了c,φ值按峰值折减的主观性.应用表明:该模型精度很高,有应用前景.     

An experimental determination of the relationship between the minimum height of landslide dams and the run-out distance of landslides

Landslides - Landslides frequently occur on mountain slopes due to earthquakes and rainfall. When a landslide occurs near a river, the landslide mass moves at a certain speed towards the river...     

云南玄武岩滑坡滑动面力学参数分析

云南是中国滑坡灾害最严重的地区之一。在高速公路的建设过程中,出现了许多滑坡的稳定性问题。分析滑坡稳定性的关键是获得较为准确的滑动面力学参数。首先提出了滑坡滑动面力学参数分析的内容以及主要的研究方法,然后针对云南一高速公路玄武岩滑坡的滑体松散、取样困难的实际情况,采用现场试验的方法进行滑动面力学参数分析,并采用基于稳健回归分析的计算方法进行滑动面力学参数的计算,能有效地减少异常值的影响,从而获得更为可靠的滑动面力学参数。同时指出,古滑坡滑动面的抗剪强度的分析应考虑时间效应下残余强度的恢复。     

降雨条件下弃土场滑坡力学参数敏感性反演研究

为了研究不同降雨工况下的滑坡稳定性机理及变形规律,以兰原弃土场滑坡为例,首先在GeoStudio中建立二维剖面模型,然后从内因和外因两个角度出发,选取了内摩擦角、黏聚力、降雨强度、渗透系数、降雨入渗补给系数、饱和体积含水率等6个影响因子作为研究对象,设计了25组正交试验并采用极差分析法对滑坡影响因子进行敏感性分析,并结合监测数据对内摩擦角、黏聚力和渗透系数进行参数反演;同时,结合当地多年降雨数据资料,对滑坡进行了3种极端降雨工况条件下的稳定性影响规律研究。研究表明:兰原弃土场滑坡6个影响因子的敏感性大小为:内摩擦角>黏聚力>降雨强度>渗透系数>降雨入渗补给系数>饱和体积含水率;经参数反演计算后,得出的参数值较室内试验组有了进一步的修正,使得滑坡变形趋势更加符合实际监测资料分析的结果,同时得出双日降雨对滑坡稳定性影响更大,更易导致滑坡失稳破坏。通过本文的研究,可在后期不同极端降雨条件下对其采取针对性的防治措施及稳定性判别,并可为同类滑坡的研究提供借鉴意义。