Characterization of landslide displacements in an active fault zone in Northwest China
Xuguo Shi
School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xie Hu
College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Xie Hu, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorXuguo Shi
School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Xie Hu
College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
Correspondence
Xie Hu, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Email: [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Landslides can be caused by natural forcing and anthropogenic activities. Zhouqu County (China) on the eastern margin of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is set within the active Pingding-Huama fault zone with evident fractures on the land surface. Frequent landslides and debris flows have occurred in this region due to river erosion, rainfall and deforestation. Here we quantified the slope movements using time-series synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) based on the ascending and descending Sentinel-1 satellite images acquired between October 2014 and August 2020. We observed distinct displacements in the highly fractured fault zone. The eastward and vertical displacement time series between February 2017 and July 2020 were constrained by the common-day ascending and descending acquisitions. The eastward rates (461 mm/year) were greater than those in the vertical direction (−185 mm/year). We also note displacement discontinuities across the thrust faults beneath the Suoertou and Zhongpai landslides. Seasonal variations in the displacement time series suggest that the cyclic rainfall is the primary driver for the mass wasting processes rather than the tectonic loading. As a complement to in situ observations, our results demonstrate that InSAR is an effective tool to characterize the spatio-temporal nature of landslide displacements in complicated geological environments.
Plain Language Summary
Zhouqu County in the Pingding-Huama fault zone in the eastern margin of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is identified as a high priority site to research on clusters of landslides and debris flows in a mixed geodynamic setting of active tectonics, seasonal rainfall, river erosion and anthropogenic activities. However, our knowledge about landslide kinematics in this complicated region is still limited. We relied on remote sensing images from one ascending and one descending Sentinel-1 satellite tracks to constrain the spatial–temporal displacement dynamics of active landslides from 2014 to 2020. The spatial patterns of displacements are determined by thrust faulting, river erosion, and anthropogenic activities. The temporal variations of landslide speed are mainly controlled by the seasonal rainfall rather than the tectonic loading.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT
We declare no conflict of interest. We grant the permission to reproduce material from other sources.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 data were provided by European Space Agency (ESA) through the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF).
Supporting Information
Filename | Description |
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esp5594-sup-0001-SupportingInformation.pdfPDF document, 4.6 MB |
Figure S1. Dynamic World, near real-time global 10 m land use/land cover product (Brown et al., 2022) generated using Sentinel-2 image acquired on September 27th, 2019 in Zhouqu County (China). Figure S2. Sentinel-1 InSAR network. (a) S1-A and (b) S1-D. Figure S3. (a) Slope and (b) aspect maps of Suoertou and Daxiaowan landslides. Figure S4. (a) Slope and (b) aspect maps of Xieliupo landslide. Figure S5. Google EarthTM image of Zhongpai landslide. Figure S6. (a) Slope and (b) aspect maps of Zhongpai landslide. Figure S7. The scatter plot of vertical and eastward displacement rates over the Zhongpai landslide. The black line is the linear fit using all targets while the orange line is the linear fit excluding the outliers on the landslide toe. Table S1. Basic information of detected landslides. Table S2. SAR data parameters. |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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