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A rapid loess flowslide triggered by irrigation in China

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Abstract

A loess landslide occurred in the morning of October 6, 2006, in Gaolou district of Daming town, Hua country, Shaanxi, China. The landslide originated from a valley side slope of the loess ‘yuan’ (dissected loess plateau), below which many houses are densely located. The displaced materials smashed several houses and killed 12 persons, after traveling down a long but gentle valley channel. Field surveys revealed that the displaced materials were highly fluidized. Because there was no rainfall before this event, the leakage of irrigation water from the canal on the top of the slope may be the reason for the initiation. To investigate the possible mechanisms underlying the initiation and movement of this landslide, laboratory tests on the loess samples from the source area were performed. Some preliminary research results are presented in this report.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40772187), and also partly supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (18380094) of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The valuable review by Mr. William Schulz, U.S. Geological Survey, is appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China, 1954 Hua Shan Road, Shanghai, China

    Dexuan Zhang, Chunyong Luo, Jun Chen & Yunxi Zhou

  2. Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Gonghui Wang

Authors
  1. Dexuan Zhang
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  2. Gonghui Wang
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  3. Chunyong Luo
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  4. Jun Chen
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  5. Yunxi Zhou
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Correspondence to Dexuan Zhang.

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Zhang, D., Wang, G., Luo, C. et al. A rapid loess flowslide triggered by irrigation in China. Landslides 6, 55–60 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-008-0135-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-008-0135-2

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