The landslides in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region, China and the effects of water storage and rain on their stability

Abstract

According to the statistics, there were about 1,736 landslides with the total volume of 1.339 × 1011 m3 in the 100 km2 area of upper reaches of the Yangtze River, in which about 94% of landslides are triggered by rain and water storage. Thus, based investigation of the results of the landslides in this region, this paper completed a systematic study on the effects of rainfall and water storage on the landslides in the region and found that the distribution of landslides over time and space are well correlated with the precipitation distribution in this region; landslides are also strictly controlled by the stratum, geological structure, river valley form, shore type, etc. Meanwhile, the pattern of water table variation of the three gorges reservoir will do have very serious impacts on the stability of the slopes in this region. All research results show that water storage and rainfall are the two important inducing factors that can cause a lot of large-scale landslides. Therefore, some effective control measures for water storage and rainfall should be taken so as to minimize the impacts of water on the stability of the slopes in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region of Yangtze River, China.