The formation mechanism of river erosion-induced loess landslide

Abstract

The Jingyang South Plateau is located near the right bank of Jinghe river, belonging to Weibei Loess Plateau. Since the large-scale irrigation from 1976s, many river erosion-induced loess landslides have occurred in the Jingyang South Plateau. Landslide disasters has seriously affected local economic development and the safety of people’s live and property. To better understand the formation mechanism of landslides in this area, this paper uses field investigation, reduced triaxial compression shear test on saturated Q2 loess and numerical simulation to understand the formation mechanism of erosion-induced loess landslides. It is concluded that (1) Under the reduced confining pressure stress path, the yield strength of saturated Q2 loess is related to the initial confining pressure and shear rate. (2) The formation mechanism of river erosion-induced landslide of loess has been proposed: river erosion is the fundamental cause of river erosion-induced landslide of loess, and some blocks of soil laying at the foot of the slope plays a key character for the stability of the slope. This research could be helpful in preventing landslide disasters.