Analysis of the Controlling Effect of Excess Topography on the Distribution of Coseismic Landslides during the Iburi Earthquake, Japan, on 6 September 2018

Abstract

Coseismic landslides cause changes in the hillside material, and this erosion process plays an important role in the evolution of the topography. Previous studies seldom involved research on the influence of excess topography on the occurrences of coseismic landslides. The Iburi earthquake, which occurred in Japan on 6 September 2018 and triggered a large number of landslides, provided a research example to explore the relationship between coseismic landslides and excess topography. We used the average slope of the lithology as the threshold slope of the corresponding stratum to calculate the excess topography of the different lithological units. Based on the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER) digital elevation model (DEM) with a resolution of 30 m, a quantitative analysis was conducted on the excess topography in the study area. The results indicate that the excess topography in the study area was mainly distributed in the valleys on both sides of the river, and the thickness of the excess topography on the high and steep ridges was generally greater than that at the foot of the slope, which has a relatively flat topography or a low elevation. In the area affected by the earthquake, approximately 94.66% of the coseismic landslides (with an area of approximately 28.23 m2) developed in the excess topography area, indicating that the distribution of the excess topography had a strong controlling influence on the spatial distribution of the coseismic landslides. The Iburi earthquake mainly induced shallow landslides, but the thickness of the landslide body was much smaller than the excess topography height in the landslides-affected area. This may imply that the excess topography was not completely removed by the coseismic landslides, and the areas where the earthquake landslides occurred still have the possibility of producing landslides in the future.