Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The “long” runout rock avalanche in Pusa, China, on August 28, 2017: a preliminary report

  • Recent Landslides
  • Published:
Landslides Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

On August 28, 2017, a large rock avalanche occurred in Pusa, a village in the County of Nayong (Guizhou Province, China). About 500,000 m3 of rock detached from a mountain ridge, slid over debris from earlier landslides and buried several buildings. The rock mass, heavily fragmented, eventually formed a deposit of 800,000 m3, up to 4 m thick. Twenty-six fatalities and 9 people missing were reported. Based on site investigation, live footage, UAV photography, GBSAR monitoring, historical records and remote sensing imagery, we describe characteristics of failure and runout of the avalanche. Extensive coal mining under the slope had probably weakened and fractured the rock mass, enhancing climate-induced weathering. Failure was anticipated by cracks opening and minor rockfalls in the past decade, which intensified in the last rainy season.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Coe JA, Bessette-Kirton EK, Geertsema M (2018) Increasing rock-avalanche size and mobility in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska detected from 1984 to 2016 Landsat imagery. Landslides 15(3):393–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corominas J (1996) The angle of reach as a mobility index for small and large landslides. Can Geotech J 33(2):260–271. https://doi.org/10.1139/t96-005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Blasio FV, Crosta GB (2015) Fragmentation and boosting of rock falls and rock avalanches. Geophys Res Lett 42:8463–8470. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X, Xu Q, Zhang Z-Y, Meng D, Tang R (2009) The genetic mechanism of a translational landslide. Bull Eng Geol Environ 68(2):231–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X, Xu Q, Scaringi G, Dai L, Li W, Dong X, Zhu X, Pei X, Dai K, Havenith HB (2017a) Failure mechanism and kinematics of the deadly June 24th 2017 Xinmo landslide, Maoxian, Sichuan, China. Landslides 14(6):2129–2146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X, Xu Q, Scaringi G, Li S, Peng D (2017b) A chemo-mechanical insight into the failure mechanism of frequently occurred landslides in the Loess Plateau, Gansu Province, China. Eng Geol 228:337–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X, Juang CH, Wasowski J, Huang R, Xu Q, Scaringi G, van Westen CJ, Havenith HB (2018a) What we have learned from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and its aftermath: a decade of research and challenges. Eng Geol 241:25–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fan X, Xu Q, Scaringi G (2018b) Post-seismic landslides: the tough lesson of a catastrophe. Nat Hazards Earth System Sci 18(1):397–403. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-397-2018

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goren L, Aharonov E (2007) Long runout landslides: the role of frictional heating and hydraulic diffusivity. Geophys Res Lett 34:L07301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Scaringi G, Xu Q, Pei Z, van Asch TWJ, Hicher P-Y (2017) Sensitivity of the initiation and runout of flowslides in loose granular deposits to the content of small particles: an insight from flume tests. Eng Geol 231:34–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu W, Scaringi G, Xu Q, Huang R (2018a) Acoustic emission and microseismicity in granular slopes prior to failure and flow-like motion: the potential for early warning. Geophys Res Lett. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079724

  • Hu W, Scaringi G, Xu Q, Huang R (2018b) Internal erosion controls failure and runout of loose granular deposits: evidence from flume tests and implications for post-seismic slope healing. Geophys Res Lett 45:5518–5527. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078030

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang R (2009) Some catastrophic landslides since the twentieth century in the southwest of China. Landslides 6(1):69–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hungr O, Evans SG (2004) Entrainment of debris in rock avalanches: an analysis of a long runout mechanism. Bull Geol Soc Am 116:1240–1252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson BC, Campbell CS, Melosh HJ (2016) The reduction of friction in long runout landslides as an emergent phenomenon. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 121:881–889. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JF003751

    Google Scholar 

  • Legros F (2002) The mobility of long-runout landslides. Eng Geol 63:301–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas A, Mangeney A, Ampuero JP (2014) Frictional velocity-weakening in landslides on earth and on other planetary bodies. Nat Commun 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms4417

  • Ouyang G, Lan ZX (2009) Construction report design of collapse geological hazard treatment project of Pusa coal mine in Zhangjiawan town, Nayong County, Guiyang: Guizhou Dikuang Engineering Investigation Corporation (in Chinese)

  • Ouyang G, Wang J (2010) Mining landscape environmental protection and reservoir recovery scheme of Pusa coal mine in Zhangjiawan town, Nayong county, Guiyang. Report of the Guizhou Dikuang Engineering Investigation Corporation (in Chinese)

  • Qi J, Sui W, Liu Y, Zhang D (2015) Slaking process and mechanisms under static wetting and drying cycles slaking tests in a red strata mudstone. Geotech Geol Eng 33(4):959–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sassa K, Fukuoka H, Wang G, Ishikawa N (2004) Undrained dynamic-loading ring-shear apparatus and its application to landslide dynamics. Landslides 1:7–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scaringi G, Fan X, Xu Q, Liu C, Ouyang C, Domènech G, Yang F, Dai L (2018a) Some considerations on the use of numerical methods to simulate past landslides and possible new failures: the case of the recent Xinmo landslide (Sichuan, China). Landslides 15:1359–1375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-0953-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scaringi G, Hu W, Xu Q, Huang R (2018b) Shear-rate-dependent behavior of clayey Bimaterial interfaces at landslide stress levels. Geophys Res Lett 45(2):766–777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheidegger AE (1973) On the prediction of the reach and velocity of catastrophic landslides. Rock Mech 5(4):231–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang F (2009) Research on mechanism of mountain landslide due to underground mining. J Coal Min Eng 15(4):351–354. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12404-009-0403-3

  • Wang DY, et al. (2016) An emergency investigation report of the collapse of geological disasters in the Laoyingyan of Pusa Village in Zhangjiawan town, Nayong County, 106 geological party, Zunyi. Guizhou Bureau of Geology and Minerals Exploration and Development (in Chinese)

  • Xu Q, Fan X, Huang R, Yin Y, Hou S, Dong X, Tang M (2010) A catastrophic rockslide-debris flow in Wulong, Chongqing, China in 2009: background, characterization, and causes. Landslides 7(1):75–87

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu Q, Fan X, Dong J (2012) Characteristics and formation mechanism of a catastrophic rainfall–induced rock avalanche–mud flow in Sichuan, China, 2010. Landslides 9(1):143–154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu Q, Liu H, Ran J, Li W, Sun X (2016) Field monitoring of groundwater responses to heavy rainfalls and the early warning of the Kualiangzi landslide in Sichuan Basin, southwestern China. Landslides 13(6):1555–1570. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-016-0717-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin Y, Cheng Y, Liang J, Wang W (2016) Heavy-rainfall-induced catastrophic rockslide-debris flow at Sanxicun, Dujiangyan, after the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake. Landslides 13(1):9–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0554-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang M, McSaveney MJ (2017) Rock-avalanche deposits store quantitative evidence on internal shear during runout. Geophys Res Lett 44:8814–8821. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang D, Chen A, Liu G (2012) Laboratory investigation of disintegration characteristics of purple mudstone under different hydrothermal conditions. J Mt Sci 9(1):127–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang S, Xu Q, Hu Z (2016) Effects of rainwater softening on red mudstone of deep-seated landslide, Southwest China. Eng Geol 204:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang M, McSaveney M, Shao H, Zhang C (2018) The 2009 Jiweishan rock avalanche, Wulong, China: precursor conditions and factors leading to failure. Eng Geol 233:225–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2017.12.010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao JJ, Xiao JG, Lee ML, Ma YT (2016) Discrete element modeling of a mining-induced rock slide. SpringerPlus 5(1633):1633. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-016-3305-z

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng D, Frost JD, Huang RQ, Liu FZ (2015) Failure process and modes of rockfall induced by underground mining: a case study of Kaiyang Phosphorite mine rockfalls. Eng Geol 197:145–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2015.08.011

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the National Science Fund for Outstanding Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 41622206), the Funds for Creative Research Groups of China (Grant No. 41521002), the Fund for International Cooperation (NSFC-RCUK_NERC) (Grant No.41661134010), the Guizhou Land Resources Department Fund, Landslide risk assessment in Guizhou. After the occurrence of the August 28, 2017, Pusa landslide, the State Council, the Ministry of Land and Resources and governmental departments at all levels in Guizhou Province put great efforts in the emergency rescue operations, secondary hazard relief and geological surveying and monitoring. The preliminary results presented in this paper would not be obtained without quick data acquisition, which was facilitated greatly by the efforts of staff members from different departments, to whom we express our sincere appreciation. We thank the Guizhou Geological Hazard Emergency Guidance Centre, the Guizhou Geological Environment Monitoring Institute, the No. 106 and No. 108 Geological brigades of the Guizhou Bureau of Coal Geology and other units for the basic data collection. We thank Prof. Xiuwei Liu and Dr. Yangchun Li from the Guizhou Geological Hazard Emergency Guidance Center, Prof. Guoxuan Zhao from the Guizhou Bureau of Coal Geology and Dr. Caiyuan Hu from the Guizhou Geological Environment Monitoring Institute for providing valuable information immediately after the event.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, People’s Republic of China

    Xuanmei Fan, Qiang Xu, Gianvito Scaringi, Guang Zheng, Runqiu Huang, Lanxin Dai & Yuanzhen Ju

  2. Institute of Hydrogeology, Engineering Geology and Applied Geophysics, Faculty of Science, Charles University, 12843, Prague, Czech Republic

    Gianvito Scaringi

Authors
  1. Xuanmei Fan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Qiang Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gianvito Scaringi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guang Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Runqiu Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Lanxin Dai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yuanzhen Ju
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qiang Xu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fan, X., Xu, Q., Scaringi, G. et al. The “long” runout rock avalanche in Pusa, China, on August 28, 2017: a preliminary report. Landslides 16, 139–154 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-1084-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-018-1084-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation