WHY WAS THE AUGUST 2010 ZHOUQU LANDSLIDE SO POWERFUL?
https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2013-6-1-72-75
Abstract
On August 8, 2010 in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu, rainstorm-triggered debris flow devastated the small county of Zhouqu. A modeling study, using a new multiple-phase scalable and extensible geo-fluid model, suggests that the cause is the result of an intersection of several events. These were a heavy rainstorm, not necessarily the result of global warming, which triggered the landslide and followed a drought that created surface cracks and crevasses; the geology of the region, notably the loess covering heavily weathered surface rock; and the bedrock damage, which deepened the surface crevasses, inflicted by the 7.9 magnitude Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008. Deforestation and topsoil erosion also contribute. The modeling results underscore the urgency for a high priority program of re-vegetation of Zhouqu county, without which the region will remain exposed to future disastrous, “progressive bulking” type landslides.
About the Authors
Diandong Ren
ASDI, Curtin University of Technology, WA U1987
Australia
Australia
Lance Leslie
The University of Oklahoma; 120 David L. Boren Blvd., Suite 5900, Norman, Oklahoma 73072-73071
United States
United States
Mervyn Lynch
Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University of Technology
Australia
Australia
Qingyun Duan
College of Global Change and Earth System Sciences, Beijing Normal University; 19 Xinjiekouwai, Beijing, China 100875
China
China
Yongjiu Dai
College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University; 19 Xinjiekouwai, Beijing 100875 China
China
China
Wei Shangguan
College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University; 19 Xinjiekou Road, Haidian, Beijng, China, 100875
China
China
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Review
For citations:
Ren D., Leslie L., Lynch M., Duan Q., Dai Y., Shangguan W. WHY WAS THE AUGUST 2010 ZHOUQU LANDSLIDE SO POWERFUL? GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY. 2013;6(1):67-79. https://doi.org/10.24057/2071-9388-2013-6-1-72-75
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