The 1786 earthquake-triggered landslide dam and subsequent dam-break flood on the Dadu River, southwestern China — Reply

A short reply to discussion by Chanson.     

土壤天然热释光测量在寻找滑坡体边界中的应用研究

土壤天然热释光测量方法是一种累积型测氡方法。由于累积测氡时间长,其灵敏度和异常的重现性远比一般累积测氡及其子体方法好,因此,在地质领域得到了广泛的应用。在寻找滑坡体边界的应用中,取得的测量效果明显,表明该方法经济有效。     

Modeling of rainfall-triggered shallow landslide

By integrating hydrological modeling with the infinite slope stability analysis, a rainfall-triggered shallow landslide model was developed by Iverson (Water Resour Res 36:1897-1910, 2000). In Iverson’s model, the infiltration capacity is assumed to be equivalent to the saturated hydraulic conductivity for finding pressure heads analytically. However, for general infiltration process, the infiltration capacity should vary with time during the period of rain, and the infiltration rate is significantly related to the variable infiltration capacity. To avoid the unrealistically high pressure heads, Iverson employed the beta-line correction by specifying that the simulated pressure heads cannot exceed those given by the beta line. In this study, the suitability of constant infiltration capacity together with the beta-line correction for hydrological modeling and landslide modeling of hillslope subjected to a rainfall is examined. By amending the boundary condition at ground surface of hillslope in Iverson’s model, the modified Iverson’s model with considering general infiltration process is developed to conduct this examination. The results show that the unrealistically high pressure heads from Iverson’s model occur due to the overestimation of infiltration rate induced from the assumption that the infiltration capacity is identical to the saturated hydraulic conductivity. Considering with the general infiltration process, the modified Iverson’s model gives acceptable results. In addition, even though the beta-line correction is applied, the Iverson’s model still produces greater simulated pressure heads and overestimates soil failure potential as compared with the modified Iverson’s model. Therefore, for assessing rainfall-triggered shallow landslide, the use of constant infiltration capacity together with the beta-line correction needs to be replaced by the consideration of general infiltration process.     

论滑坡分类

在广泛查阅和总结国内外滑坡分类基础上 ,以滑坡监测预报与防治为目的 ,遵从滑坡活动各要素的地位与作用 ,根据分类体系的完备性需要 ,理清了已有各种滑坡分类的性质及其彼此间的关系 ,并对之进行了科学归纳、取舍和补充 ,建立了具有层次系统性的综合性滑坡分类体系。为建立滑坡监测预报地质模型体系奠定了基础 ,并有助于对滑坡活动的全面研究。     

基于GIS技术的地质灾害风险分析系统研究

地质灾害的社会经济属性决定了对其规律的研究应有别于传统的工程地质学研究 ,从社会属性方面来分析地质灾害具有更大的社会经济效益。地质灾害的危险性和受威胁对象的易损性是控制地质灾害风险评价的基本条件 ,对这两者的分析评价称作地质灾害危险性评价和社会经济易损性评价。GIS技术支持下的地质灾害风险分析代表着地质灾害研究领域的一个重要发展方向。经过多年研究 ,作者开发出了基于商业GIS软件的区域地质灾害风险分析系统 (RiskAnly)。本文介绍了该系统的设计思路、基本结构和工作过程 ,并利用此系统对我国全国范围的滑坡灾害进行了危险性分析、区域社会经济易损性分析和最终的风险评估。     

Large-scale mass wasting in ancient volcanic materials

Giant landslides are significant hazards associated with many active volcanic edifices. We describe a similar feature on ancient (>4 Ma) volcanic deposits subject to active tectonism. The landslide is approximately 3 km long by 1 km wide, with an estimated depth of 400 m. Side margins are straight and parallel, mimicking regional structure; narrow valleys incised down these margins provide low-strength side-release surfaces. Between these is a giant slump consisting of at least four, largely intact, discrete blocks that have moved down-dip a distance of >500 m. A series of flows with areal extents ranging from 0.01 to 0.5 km² extends from the front of the failure. The materials represent an eroded sequence of andesite flows on the flanks of a stratovolcano. These have undergone two phases of hydrothermal alteration, and are deeply weathered to low-density (1040±80 kg m⁻³) silt (59%) and clay (35%) materials with strength properties typical of weathered silts (c=26±3 kN m⁻²; φ=42±8°). The size and location of this landslide preclude detailed geotechnical investigation of the failure. The worth of numerical stability analysis as an alternative technique in assessing the nature of the failure and hence the risk it poses to nearby communities is investigated. Sensitivity analysis identified likely conditions under which initial failure may have occurred: analyses for sensitivity to strength and earthquake acceleration needed conversion to critical combinations (F=1.0) of water table and strength/acceleration to remove the overriding influence of water table fluctuations. Failure was likely initiated either by a high water table level (83-84%), or some combination of intensity VII-IX earthquake waves together with water table heights of 40-80%. A general hazard assessment indicates that the risk associated with creep and catastrophic failure of the main mass is small, whereas the risk from flow failures near the toe of the landslide may be high. Important parameters (hydrological regime, flow failure morphology, age of initiation, and rates of movement) requiring closer investigation are identified. Development of a model is crucial to assessing the hazard associated with a feature such as that described here. With limited resources, a detailed stability analysis is a powerful tool as an initial stage in hazard analysis.     

Practising geographical knowledge: fields, bodies and dissemination

In this article we make a case for a renewed emphasis upon some of the generic, albeit often tacit, spaces of practice that we share across our sub–disciplinary boundaries. In this we seek to emphasize the ways in which everyday actions make up the grander facades of institutional agendas, empirical projects and disciplinary schools of thought. To achieve this we trace the performance of disciplinary contours and identities across three important sites: the field, the body and the act of dissemination. There are, we will argue, significant commonalities that bind us as disciplinary practitioners in terms of how we perform within and across these sites, and indeed, how we join them up through our practices.     

On the spatial relationship between landslides and causative factors on Lantau Island, Hong Kong

This paper presents a statistical approach to study the spatial relationship between landslides and their causative factors at the regional level. The approach is based on digital databases, and incorporates such methods as statistics, spatial pattern analysis, and interactive mapping. Firstly, the authors propose an object-oriented conceptual model for describing a landslide event, and a combined database of landslides and environmental factors is constructed by integrating the various databases within such a conceptual framework. The statistical histogram, spatial overlay, and dynamic mapping methods are linked together to interactively evaluate the spatial pattern of the relationship between landslides and their causative factors. A case study of an extreme event in 1993 on Lantau Island indicates that rainfall intensity and the migration of the center of the rainstorm greatly influence the occurrence of landslides on Lantau Island. A regional difference in the relationship between landslides and topography is identified. Most of the landslides in the middle and western parts of the island occurred on slopes with slope angles of 25–35°, while in the eastern part, the corresponding range is 30–35°. Overlaying landslide data with land cover reveals that a large number of landslides occurred in the bareland and shrub-covered area, and in the transition zones between different vegetation types. The proposed approach can be used not only to analyze the general characteristics of such a relationship, but also to depict its spatial distribution and variation, thereby providing a sound basis for regional landslide prediction.     

Mean slope-angle frequency distribution and size frequency distribution of landslide masses in Higashikubiki area, Japan

Landslide mass size frequency distributions and mean slope-angle frequency distributions were calculated for slump, slide, and creep type landslides in the Higashikubiki area. Mean slope-angle frequency distributions closely approximated Weibull distributions. Size frequency distributions show power-law dependencies. Both can be explained by modeling landslides as linked uniform blocks in tensile force. Power coefficients for size frequency distributions were 2.01–2.32 (approximation to power functions) or 2.10–2.24 (approximation to Pareto distributions).