The seismic signatures of the surge wave from the 2009 Xiaolin landslide‐dam breach in Taiwan

The catastrophic Xiaolin landslide occurred on 9 August 2009, after Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan. This landslide formed a dam that subsequently breached, burying and flooding the village of Xiaolin. Seismic signals were induced by the landslide and dam breaching and recorded at the Jiaxian broadband seismic station in Taiwan. The time‐frequency spectra for the data from this station were analysed to extract the seismic characteristics of the landslide and to deduce the timing of processes associated with the landslide dam‐break flooding. The duration of the river blockage, the time of the dam breach, the duration of the surge wave and the mean speed of the surge wave were estimated, and the hydrological implications of the flood behaviour were interpreted. The spectral characteristics of the different stream discharges were also studied. Stream water level/discharge is closely related to the frequency of the seismic signals. The broadband stations are particularly useful for flood monitoring due to their ability to continuously record measurements and their high sensitivity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.