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Landslide dams triggered by the Wenchuan Earthquake, Sichuan Province, south west China

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Abstract

At 14:28 (Beijing time) on 12 May 2008, the catastrophic Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake occurred just west of the Sichuan basin, China, causing severe damage and numerous casualties. It also triggered a large number of landslides, rock avalanches, debris flows etc. Some of the landslides formed natural dams in the rivers, with the potential secondary hazard of subsequent flooding. Through the interpretation of a series of aerial photographs and satellite images, 256 landslide dams were identified, although because of limited access, relatively detailed data were available for only 32. The paper presents statistical analyzes of the distribution, classification, characteristics, and hazard evaluation of these 32 dams. A case study of the 2.04 × 107 m3 Tangjiashan landslide dam and the emergency mitigation measures undertaken is discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This study is financially supported by the National Basic Research Program “973” Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (2008CB425801). The authors would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Water Resource of People’s Republic of China, the Geological Survey of China, the Chengdu Hydroelectric Investigation & Design Institute of SPC, the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment in Chengdu and the Southwest Jiaotong University in China. We also would like to thank all those involved in the landslide dam emergency engineering who collected the first information. The authors would like to thank Prof. Niek Rengers for revising the article and his many helpful suggestions and Liu Ning, Chen Wuyi, Hu Xiewen, You Yong, and Cui Peng for providing many valuable first-hand materials and photographs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Geohazards Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

    Qiang Xu, Xuan-Mei Fan, Run-Qiu Huang & Cee Van Westen

  2. The International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands

    Xuan-Mei Fan & Cee Van Westen

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  1. Qiang Xu
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  2. Xuan-Mei Fan
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  3. Run-Qiu Huang
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  4. Cee Van Westen
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Correspondence to Qiang Xu.

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Xu, Q., Fan, XM., Huang, RQ. et al. Landslide dams triggered by the Wenchuan Earthquake, Sichuan Province, south west China. Bull Eng Geol Environ 68, 373–386 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-009-0214-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-009-0214-1

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