Effects of geological and tectonic characteristics on the earthquake-triggered Daguangbao landslide, China

Abstract

The Daguangbao landslide is the largest co-seismic landslide triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake (Ms 8.0) occurred on 12 May 2008. The landslide, which is 4.6 km long and 3.7 km wide, involves a volume of approximately 1.2 × 109 m3. An exposed slip surface, situated at the southern flank of its source area, was observed with a length of 1.8 km along the main sliding direction and an area of 0.3 km2. To study the geological and tectonic characteristics of the source area and their contributions to the landslide formation during the earthquake, detailed geological investigations were firstly conducted. And it is reached that the landslide occurred on the northwestern limb of the Dashuizha anticline with its scarp showing several geological structures, including joint sets, local faults, and folds. These tectonic-related structures potentially influenced the failure of the landslide. Secondly, further investigations were focused on the inclined planar sliding surface using 12 exploratory trenches, nine boreholes, a tunnel, borehole sonic data, and micro-images. These data reveal that the rock mass along the sliding surface was the fragmented rock of a bedding fault. A pulverized zone was observed on the sliding surface, which was the zone of shear localization during the landslide. This suggests that the shear failure of the Daguangbao landslide developed within the bedding fault. The rapid failure of the landslide was associated with the degradation of the rock mass strength of the bedding fault both before and during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. With this study, we propose that a pre-existing large discontinuity within a slope may be the basis for initiating a large landslide during earthquake.