Investigating Landslides Caused by Earthquakes – A Historical Review

Post-earthquake field investigations of landslide occurrence have provided a basis for understanding, evaluating, and mapping the hazard and risk associated withearthquake-induced landslides. This paper traces thehistorical development of knowledge derived from these investigations. Before 1783, historical accounts of the occurrence of landslides in earthquakes are typically so incomplete and vague that conclusions based on these accounts are of limited usefulness. For example, the number of landslides triggered by a given event is almost always greatly underestimated. The first formal, scientific post-earthquake investigation that included systematic documentation of the landslides was undertaken in the Calabria region of Italy after the 1783 earthquake swarm. From then until the mid-twentieth century, the best information on earthquake-induced landslides came from a succession ofpost-earthquake investigations largely carried out by formal commissions that undertook extensive ground-based field studies. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, when the use of aerial photography became widespread, comprehensive inventories of landslide occurrence have been made for several earthquakes in the United States, Peru, Guatemala, Italy, El Salvador, Japan, and Taiwan. Techniques have also been developed for performing ``retrospective' analyses years or decades after an earthquake that attempt to reconstruct the distribution of landslides triggered by the event. The additional use of Geographic Information System (GIS) processing and digital mapping since about 1989 has greatly facilitated the level of analysis that can applied to mapped distributions of landslides. Beginning in 1984, syntheses of worldwide and national data on earthquake-induced landslides have defined their general characteristics and relations between their occurrence and various geologic and seismic parameters. However, the number of comprehensive post-earthquake studies of landslides is still relatively small, and one of the most pressing needs in this area of research is for the complete documentation of landslides triggered by many more earthquakes in a wider variety of environments.     

Statistical analysis of factors affecting landslide distribution in the new Madrid seismic zone, Tennessee and Kentucky

More than 220 large landslides along the bluffs bordering the Mississippi alluvial plain between Cairo, Ill., and Memphis, Tenn., are analyzed by discriminant analysis and multiple linear regression to determine the relative effects of slope height and steepness, stratigraphic variation, slope aspect, and proximity to the hypocenters of the 1811-12 New Madrid, Mo., earthquakes on the distribution of these landslides. Three types of landslides are analyzed: (1) old, coherent slumps and block slides, which have eroded and revegetated features and no active analogs in the area; (2) old earth flows, which are also eroded and revegetated; and (3) young rotational slumps, which are present only along near-river bluffs, and which are the only young, active landslides in the area.

Discriminant analysis shows that only one characteristic differs significantly between bluffs with and without young rotational slumps: failed bluffs tend to have sand and clay at their base, which may render them more susceptible to fluvial erosion.

Bluffs having old coherent slides are significantly higher, steeper, and closer to the hypocenters of the 1811-12 earthquakes than bluffs without these slides. Bluffs having old earth flows are likewise higher and closer to the earthquake hypocenters.

Multiple regression analysis indicates that the distribution of young rotational slumps is affected most strongly by slope steepness: about one-third of the variation in the distribution is explained by variations in slope steepness. The distribution of old coherent slides and earth flows is affected most strongly by slope height, but the proximity to the hypocenters of the 1811-12 earthquakes also significantly affects the distribution.

The results of the statistical analyses indicate that the only recently active landsliding in the area is along actively eroding river banks, where rotational slumps formed as bluffs are undercut by the river. The analyses further indicate that the old coherent slides and earth flows in the area are spatially related to the 1811-12 earthquake hypocenters and were thus probably triggered by those earthquakes. These results are consistent with findings of other recent investigations of landslides in the area that presented field, historical, and analytical evidence to demonstrate that old landslides in the area formed during the 1811-12 New Madrid earthquakes.

Results of the multiple linear regression can also be used to approximate the relative susceptibility of the bluffs in the study area to seismically induced landsliding.     

The crystal chemistry of a naturally occurring magnesium hydroxide sulfate hydrate,a precipitate of heated seawater

The crystal chemistry of a naturally occurring magnesium hydroxide sulfate hydrate, $\text{MgSO}{}_4\text{·}\text{1}\text{3}\text{Mg(OH}{}_2\text{) ·}\text{1}\text{3}\text{H}{}_2\text{O}$ (designated MHSH($\text{2}\text{3}$)), and a number of existing and predicted compounds which are structurally related to MHSH($\text{2}\text{3}$) are discussed. An x-ray diffraction powder pattern for MHSH($\text{2}\text{3}$) is calculated from single crystal data to aid in the identification of this phase, recently found associated with active hydrothermal vents along the East Pacific Rise. It is suggested that this MHSH-type crystal structure can have a variable composition due to a novel chemical substitution, Mg²⁺ → 2 H⁺, which this particular structure may be able to accommodate. In relation to this, a method for determining the stoichiometry of MHSH crystals via density measurements is also proposed. Finally, the leaching properties of heated seawater, instrumental in the genesis of metalliferous deposits on the sea-floor, may be due in part to the growth of MHSH-type phases in certain seawater-rock systems.     

Statistical analysis of an earthquake-induced landslide distribution — the 1989 Loma Prieta, California event

The 1989 Loma Prieta, California earthquake (moment magnitude, M=6.9) generated landslides throughout an area of about 15,000 km² in central California. Most of these landslides occurred in an area of about 2000 km² in the mountainous terrain around the epicenter, where they were mapped during field investigations immediately following the earthquake. The distribution of these landslides is investigated statistically, using regression and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques to determine how the occurrence of landslides correlates with distance from the earthquake source, slope steepness, and rock type. The landslide concentration (defined as the number of landslide sources per unit area) has a strong inverse correlation with distance from the earthquake source and a strong positive correlation with slope steepness. The landslide concentration differs substantially among the various geologic units in the area. The differences correlate to some degree with differences in lithology and degree of induration, but this correlation is less clear, suggesting a more complex relationship between landslide occurrence and rock properties.     

汶川地震对现代河流形态的影响与水文效应

2008年5月12日14时28分,我国四川发生里氏8.0级大地震,发震构造为龙门山断裂带.形成了NE向映秀-北川断裂地表破裂带,彭县-灌县断裂破裂带以及NW向的小鱼洞破裂带,表现为逆冲-走滑性质.目前,有关地表破裂、次生地质灾害及堰塞湖等开展了大量的调查工作,而地震对河流形态的影响还缺少较为系统的分析.在野外地震地貌考察的基础上,根据河流走向与断层位置关系,并结合地表破裂特征,总结了汶川地震对现代河流形态影响的几种地貌类型:顺向陡坎跌水,河道错动,断寨湖(塘),河流改道等,并对其演化趋势进行了讨论.分析了汶川地震的河流水文效应:地震增加了河流泥沙含量,改变了河流水质,同时,也使得河流与地下水系统之间的联系更为紧密.