Modelling the impact of seismic triggered landslide location on basin sediment yield, dynamics and connectivity

Abstract

As evidenced by recent earthquakes in Chi-Chi, Wenchuan and Gorkha, seismic triggered landslides can have a major impact on river basins and landscape evolution. The location of landslides with respect to river channels plays an important role in post-earthquake sediment dynamics. As well as direct impacts such as damming rivers, the connectivity of landslides to the fluvial network can alter how quickly sediment is moved and stored within river basins. Such “landslide-landscape relationships” are dominated by factors including geology, hydrological and geomorphic characteristics of the landscape, the location of landslides, and the geometric properties (e.g., size and runout length) of landslides. These factors will therefore control the magnitude and retention of associated sediment transportation. But key characteristics of this relationship and how it controls sediment dynamics are poorly understood. In this research, we probed the impact of landslide location on sediment dynamics and the response of sediment yields through numerical modelling. We modified the landscape evolution model, CAESAR-Lisflood (CL) to enable sediment from landslides to be tracked throughout the basin, and to include spatial changes in landslide failure angle. The model was then used to investigate impact of the different landslide location scenarios on basin morphology and sediment yields. Using a study area in the Hongxi river basin, four different regions (upstream-high, upstream-low, downstream-high, and downstream-low) were determined in terms of the distance to main stream for an upstream and downstream basin - and in each region landslides were generated for twenty times at random locations. The model results indicate that the location of landslides could alter the fluvial sediment yields and spatial pattern of the sediment dynamics, with low location landslides being more likely to link or connect to the drainage system (higher connectivity) thus leading to greater sediment yields at basin outlet. Whereas material generated by high location landslides tended to accumulate on hillslopes, which could lead to a lag sediment evacuation from the basin. Simulations also show a big latency of sediment yield between upstream and downstream scenarios, which is largely due to the differences of the flow length from landslides source to the basin outlet. These findings are of great importance to understand the characteristics especially the location of landslides and measures for landslide risk prevention and mitigation.