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The role of active faults and sliding mechanism analysis of the 2017 Maoxian postseismic landslide in Sichuan, China

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Abstract

A giant, high-position rockslide occurred in Xinmo village of Maoxian County, Sichuan, China, on June 24, 2017. It was the largest rockslide recorded since the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, and caused great loss. We use field survey data and relevant information to describe the geometric and zoning of the Maoxian landslide, and we discuss its sliding mechanism and the role of active faults in its formation. The sliding mode of the Maoxian landslide involves a plane failure mechanism (sliding rupture), while the slipping process can be divided into two stages: a rock cracking and deterioration stage, and a high-speed sliding stage. The role of active faults (earthquake and fault movement) is probably the most important factor in the Maoxian landslide formation, while lithology played a catalytic role and rainfall acted as an inducing factor. The fault vertical combination model (“back thrust” dynamic model) proposed in this paper provides a reasonable explanation for the different distribution of the coseismic landslides caused by the 1933 M 7.5 Diexi earthquake. We consider that a steep slope near the active fault, especially where the active fault intersects, just like the “locked segment” of a fault, is the uppermost area to develop a large landslide.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Key national research and development projects in the 13th five-year plan (grant no. 2017YFC1501000); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41525010, 41741003, 41602306); the Sichuan science and technology department project (grant no. 2018124; 2017JY0140); and the Earthquake science and technology special project of Sichuan earthquake administration (grant no. LY1910); The authors acknowledge the reviewer of this paper for detailed remarks and helpful suggestions. We are grateful to Professor Yin Yueping for the IKNOS images. We also thank SCBSMG (http://www.scgis.net/mxxy/), SEA, and SCSGEC for providing data used in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China

    Chongjian Shao, Yong Li, Hairong Ding, Zhaokun Yan, Shunli Dong, Liang Yan & Tao Deng

  2. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Chongjian Shao & Hengxing Lan

  3. Sichuan Shutong Geotechnical Engineering Company, Chengdu, 610000, China

    Pengyu Li

  4. Sichuan Earthquake Agency, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Rongjun Zhou

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  1. Chongjian Shao
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  2. Yong Li
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Correspondence to Yong Li.

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Shao, C., Li, Y., Lan, H. et al. The role of active faults and sliding mechanism analysis of the 2017 Maoxian postseismic landslide in Sichuan, China. Bull Eng Geol Environ 78, 5635–5651 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-019-01480-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-019-01480-8

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