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Rainfall-induced landslide in loess area, Northwest China: a case study of the Changhe landslide on September 14, 2019, in Gansu Province

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Abstract

A large-scale loess landslide occurred in Xiaozhuang Village, Changjiahe Town, Tongwei County, Gansu, at approximately 11:00 am on September 14, 2019. A volume of 774 × 104 m3 of a historical sliding mass was reactivated by rainfall and slipped down along a weak interface. The sliding mass accumulated in the valley of the Kushui River, blocking the channel for a distance of ~ 1000 m and destroying several roads and the Yangpo Bridge. This landslide is a typical case of rainfall-induced revival of a historical seismic landslide in the loess region of Northwest China. On the basis of site investigation, Google satellite image, unmanned aerial vehicle photography, and numerical simulation, the deformation and failure characteristics of this landslide are described in detail, and the possible inducing factors and failure mechanism are preliminarily assessed. The Tongwei earthquake in 1718 and the Haiyuan earthquake in 1920 caused the slope to slide multiple times in history. Due to continuous rainfall, the existing softened layer (previous sliding surface) was highly saturated due to the perched water on the top of the relatively impervious mudstone and formed the critical weak zone. Therefore, previous sliding mass in the lower and middle slope was reactivated along the softened layer on September 14, 2019. We suggest that the perched water mainly came from the dominant seepage channels such as sinkholes and underground rivers. In addition, sinkholes on the previous sliding body are the key factors controlling the boundary of the landslide. The movement of the landslide lasted for 12 h, and the main landslide lasted for only 60 s, with a runout distance of 60 m and an average velocity of 5 m/h. Study of the formation conditions and failure mechanism of the Changhe landslide is of great significance for the early identification and risk prevention of this kind of landslide in the loess region of Northwest China.

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Abbreviations

W:

Water content

ρ:

Density

Gs:

Specific gravity

e:

Void ratio

PL:

Plastic limit

LL:

Liquid limit

PI:

Plasticity index

cq:

Consolidated quick shear test

C:

Cohesion

σt :

Tensile strength

φ:

Internal friction angle

E:

Elasticity modulus

Es:

Compression modulus

μ:

Poisson’s ratio

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Acknowledgments

The authors especially appreciate the work of the editor and the useful comments provided by the reviewers. We thank Lucy Muir, PhD, from the Liwen Bianji, Edanz Editing China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41472296) and the China Geological Survey (grant no. DD20190717).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Haojie Wang, Ping Sun, Shuai Zhang, Shuai Han, Tao Wang & Peng Xin

  2. Key Laboratory of Neotectonic Movement and Geohazard, Beijing, 100081, China

    Haojie Wang, Ping Sun, Shuai Zhang, Shuai Han, Tao Wang & Peng Xin

  3. School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiaobin Li

  4. Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China

    Qiang Guo

Authors
  1. Haojie Wang
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  2. Ping Sun
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  3. Shuai Zhang
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  5. Xiaobin Li
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Correspondence to Ping Sun.

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Wang, H., Sun, P., Zhang, S. et al. Rainfall-induced landslide in loess area, Northwest China: a case study of the Changhe landslide on September 14, 2019, in Gansu Province. Landslides 17, 2145–2160 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-020-01460-0

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