Engineering Geology xxx (xxxx) xxxxxx

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Engineering Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enggeo

A uidized landslide occurred in the Loess Plateau: A study on loess

landslide in South Jingyang tableland
Yanqiu Lenga,b, Jianbing Penga,b,, Qiyao Wangc, Zhenjiang Menga,b, Weiliang Huanga,b
a
Department of Geological Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China
b
Key Laboratory of Western China Mineral Resources and Geological Engineering, Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi,
People's Republic of China
c
School of Civil Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The South Jingyang tableland is located on the southern Loess Plateau of China. Ever since the introduction of
Loess uidized landslide the water division project in the 1970s, more than 40 loess landslides have occurred in this tableland-terrace
High-speed and long-runout landslide slope topography here. On the morning of March 8, 2016, a loess landslide induced by irrigation occurred in
Irrigation Jiangliu Village on the South Jingyang tableland, and around 20,000 m3 of loess rapidly slid along a 65-m high
Softening base eect
slope for 260 m. The moisture content of the slip mass displayed a dramatic change along the slip direction: the
Loess liquefaction
water saturation degree in the landslide depression was relatively high, and the leading edge was in a ow state;
there were some local natural sub-areas, but the overall area showed a characteristic uidized. A eld
investigation indicated that while macropores developed in the loess and deep joints provided a preferential
passage for the inltration of irrigation water, which became a major water source for the slip mass, the
softening of the toe part of the slope caused by irrigation became the major factor resulting in the instability of
the slip mass. Undrained triaxial shear tests on loess in natural water content and fully saturated state show that
the enhanced saturation degree not only lowered the soil mass strength but also increased pore water pressure,
resulting in the zoning status of the Jiangliu landslide. The angle of reach formed during this landslide was
approximately 14, which demonstrated motion characteristics of long-runout. Further, considering the standing
water at the slope foot and unique properties of slip soils after the landslide occurred, it is speculated that the
motion mechanism of this high-speed and long-runout landslide was associated with loess liquefaction that led to
sharp decrease in shear strength of the displaced landslide materials during the shear process.

1. Introduction
The Loess Plateau is the main geomorphologic landscape in the
northwestern area of China. Inuenced by the Tibetan Plateau uplift,
this area is also one of the most fragile regions among various
geological environments in China (Sun, 1988; Peng et al., 2014). As
the only accumulation plateau in the world, the Loess Plateau displays
geomorphologic features of a fragmented landform that resulted from
geological disasters (i.e., soil and water loss, landslides, ground
settlement, etc). In addition, the Loess Plateau is a natural test eld
selected by a variety of researchers (Zhang and Liu, 2010). In
particular, known for characteristics like high speed and long runout,
the types of owslide disaster developed in loesses have attracted
extensive attention from various scholars. Some examples include the
loess ow failure that occurred in the irrigation area of Heifangtai,
Gansu (Xu et al., 2012a,b), the loess owslide caused by high-rise
channel leakage in Hua County, Shaanxi (Zhang et al., 2009), and the
large-scale cluster of loess landslides induced by the Haiyuan earth-
quake in Ningxia (Zhang and Wang, 2007).
A loess owslide is an important type of disaster in the Loess
Plateau, and various factors can induce such a landslide. Therefore,
considerable investigations on the owslide mechanism of high-speed
and long-runout loess landslides have been carried out by researchers
around the world. For example, according to Zhao et al. (2005), the
over-consolidation ratio and saturation degree were important inuen-
tial factors that lead to the liquefaction of loess soil under the condition
of cyclic dynamic load, and the research conducted by Seed (1966)
showed that the ow-slide of loess caused by earthquakes primarily
resulted from liquefaction of the soil mass. After a few of investigations
and a considerable number of indoor tests in Xiji County, as well as the
examination of landslides in Hua County, Zhang and Wang (2007)
concluded that under the condition of seismic dynamic loading and

Corresponding author at: Department of Geological Engineering, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi, People's Republic of China.
E-mail address: dicexy_1@126.com (J. Peng).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2017.05.006
Received 18 July 2016; Received in revised form 2 April 2017; Accepted 14 May 2017
0013-7952/ 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Leng, Y., Engineering Geology (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2017.05.006
Y. Leng et al.
humidication, unsaturated loesses are apparently liquied and sof-
tened, and exhibit ow-slide failure under the eect of gravity. In
addition, based on eld investigations and indoor mechanical experi-
ments on soils, the creeping liquefaction (or may be called as static
liquefaction) of saturated loesses is proposed as a mechanism for high-
speed loess landslide (Wang, 1992). Moreover, Zhou et al. (2010)
reported that the steady state strength (residual strength) was con-
sidered as a key factor that determines whether owslides occur after
the liquefaction of the slip mass. Generally, it is widely accepted that
the liquefaction eect is one of the main factors leading to loess
owslides.
Loess is a type of special sediment that formed since the Quaternary
period and is porous, weakly cemented, and water-sensitive. After
comparing the depositional topography, stratum structure, and origin
of the loesses in Lanzhou, China, and the loesses in Memphis, US, the
trend of vibration-induced liquefaction was found to exist in these
loesses via scanning electron microscopy and dynamic triaxial tests
(Hwang et al., 2000). In addition, the liquefaction possibility of
saturated loess under the eect of ground pulsation was theoretically
analyzed by Wang and Liu (1999), and for the rst time, Jin and Dai
(2008) proved that a liquefaction phenomenon occurred in the
saturated loesses under a small change in primary stress through an
increase in the pore-water pressure of the saturated loesses. The Study
conducted by Wang (1979) indicated that at a clay content of 1520%,
loesses with a liquid limit of water content over 0.9 possess a relatively
strong liquefaction potential. It has also been reported by various
researchers that strength-softening behavior was observed in the
humidication process of unsaturated loess based on eld monitoring
(Derbyshire et al., 1994; Tu et al., 2009) and tests (Dijkstra et al., 1994;
Zhou et al., 2014; Li et al., 2015).
High-speed and long-runout owslides that developed on the Loess
Plateau are mainly triggered by factors such as a rise in the level of
groundwater over a long period of time, leakage of the canal within a
short period, earthquake and heavy rain. Loess owslides usually
developed on high-steep slopes or valley side slopes and are character-
ized as occurring in groups and across large-scale areas. The liquefac-
tion potential of water saturated loess was examined using dierent
kinds of shearing tests such as consolidated undrained triaxial compres-
sion tests (Zhang et al., 2009), the constant shear drained triaxial test
(Xu et al., 2012a,b), and undrained ring shear test (Wang et al., 2014).
It is widely accepted that mechanism underlying these landslides is
evaluated as the liquefaction of loess soil.
In this paper, a newly appeared loess uidized landslide named the
Jiangliu loess uidized landslide was investigated in detail. The
investigation region is located in Jiangliu Village, Jingyang County in
Xianyang City, Shaanxi, China, which belongs to the downstream
region of the Baojixia Irrigation Area of the southern Loess Platform,
and the geomorphic unit is the Loess tableland areaSouth Jingyang
tableland (Fig. 1). The seismic activity in this region is weak, and the
spatial distribution of precipitation is uneven. Since the 1950s, the vast
tableland area has been developed into farmland, which requires large-
scale irrigation during dry spring periods (Xu et al., 2012a,b). Since the
1980s, a number of loess landslides induced by irrigation has developed
in a zonal region along the margins of the loess platform (Derbyshire
et al., 2002). The Jiangliu loess uidized landslide was triggered by
irrigation, featured by a small thickness, high mobility and narrow-long
shape. How the irrigation water inltrated into the loess within a short
time, and the owslide mechanism with high mobility and long runout
irrespective of its small volume, are discussed in this paper.
2. Regional setting
The investigation region is in the southern Jingyang section of the
Jing River (3428N, 10851E), which is approximately 30 km away
from the northwestern region of Xi'an City (Fig. 1). The area of the
investigation region is 1.4 km2, and the elevation is 350415 m,
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Fig. 1. Jiangliu loess uidized landslide in Jingyang, Shaanxi, triggered by the irrigation
and its location.
categorized as a typical loess tableland area. The tableland area is at
and wide and is currently used as a village and crop planting zone
(Fig. 2a). Laterally eroded by the Jing River, the northern front of the
tableland is directly connected to the second terrace of the Jing River,
forming a clinoform with an altitude dierence of approximately
6065 m and a slope gradient of 5565.
Jingyang County belongs to the arid-semi-arid continental monsoon
climate, where the average annual precipitation is 548 mm; the rainfall
is concentrated between June and September and varies largely from
year to year. Large-scale irrigation typically starts in spring and
continues on-and-o into summer. The area of the irrigation region is
approximately 255 km2. By statistically studying of the historical mean
precipitation as well as irrigation amount between 2010 and 2015,
mean annual precipitation in the winter (DecemberFebruary) was
21.96 mm, accounting for only 4.39% of the annual precipitation
(Fig. 2e); while the irrigation amount exceeded 1/3 of the annual
irrigation amount (Fig. 2f), which is around 260,670,000 m3 in this
area.
The underground water level in this investigation region is 30 m
below the ground and descends in the shape of a funnel from the
tableland towards the slope zone. The maximum slope drop appears at
the tableland edge, with a value of 7.68% (Fig.2b). In recent years, with
the increase in the irrigation area, the underground water level has
increased each year (Lei, 1995). The underground water table monitor-
ing data in drilling hole H-3 (Fig. 2b) revealed that during April to
November 2016, the rise of ground water level is 1.02 m. Such a
hydrogeological condition is one of the important factors that increases
the occurrence of loess landslides in this region.
The investigation region exposes quaternary stratum; the section
(Fig. 2b) shows a typical aeolian loess-paleosoil order, and the total
sedimentary thickness exceeds 65 m. The sedimentary loesses in this
region are grey yellow, and deepen with an increase in stratum depth.
The paleosoil is red brown, some of which contains calcareous
concretion. The overall sedimentary thickness of the loess layer is
greater than that of the paleosoil. Laser particle size analysis (LPSA)
demonstrated that both the paleosoil and the loess mainly consist of slit;
however, the slit content in the paleosoil is signicantly higher than
that in the loess (Fig. 2c). As a result, the paleosoil displays a stronger
water holding capacity. Based on the sedimentary age, the stratum
section can be divided into two sections (Fig. 2b). At approximately
11 m in the top section, the sediments are early Pleistocene (Q3)
loessMalan loess, thickness of which increases from south to north,
reaching a maximum value of 11.8 m at the edge of the tableland. The
Malan loess has a loose structure, and it is erect and strong. Below the
Malan loess, is mid-Pleistocene (Q2) loessLishi Loess, whose sedi-
mentary thickness exceeds 55 m. The adit excavated 25 m away from
the tableland surface shows that sagged loess develops into original
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Y. Leng et al.
Fig. 2. Regional geological conditions. (a) Plan map of Jiangliu village; (b) vertical section of the stratum layer; (c) Size distribution curve at the sampling site; (d) Sectional view of the
stratum depth;(e) average precipitation during 2010 to 2015; (f) average irrigation amount during 2010 to 2015.
joints, and partial joints are lled with yellow slit clays (Fig. 2d), which
provides evidence that the crack is a preferential inltration passage of
underground water. Near the bottom of the tableland, there is a
paleosoil layer (S5) that contains concretion and white calcareous
strips, the thickness of which is approximately 1.0 m. When irrigation
is continuous, the synthesized functions of the vertical joints and low
permeable paleosoil layer make it easier for saturated loess to soften or
become unstable after liquefaction.
3. Jiangliu loess uidized landslide
On March 8, 2016, around local time 8:30 am, a loess landslide
occurred in the Jiangliu area of the South Jingyang tableland after
continuous irrigation. The slip mass primarily consisted of loesses, and
some of the loess blocks were fragmented (Fig. 3b). Overall, the slip
mass showed a motion characteristic of uidization (Fig. 3c). The slip
mass slid in a direction of NE20 along a slope with an angle of 65
whose natural height (H) is 65 m. The length (L) of the slip mass along
the axis was 260 m, the slip time was shorter than 1 min according to
the witnesses worked in the farmland, and the process showed
characteristics of long runout and high speed (International Union of
Geological Sciences, 1995) with an apparent friction angle of 14. The
maximum width of the main scarp was 55 m, the plane was dimple and
chair-shaped, the section showed two water traces that had an ash black
color, and one of the water traces connected the slope top to the slope
bottom (Fig. 3d). The slip mass was rectangular with a maximum width
of 86 m, and the front of the landslide was apped, around 2.2 m higher
3
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than the original ground (Fig. 3e). The total amount of slip mass formed
during this slip was approximately 2 104 m3, and the area covered by
the slip mass was approximately 2.5 104 m2. In the investigation, a
small amount of stagnant water, deep joints and drain openings of
foraminifera (Fig. 3f) were exposed at points W1, W2, and W3,
respectively (Fig. 3a), at the slope foot. According to local residents,
before the landslide occurred, the stagnant water at the slop foot
exhibited a volume where the depth was 1.0 m, the width was 5 m, and
the length was 30 m. Both points W2 and W3 were located on the
western side of the landslide, from where water in the saturation water
layer was observed to ow out from deep joints or large pores in the
loesses.
4. Methods
4.1. Field investigation
After the landslide occurred, the corresponding DEM (Digital
Elevation Map) diagram (Fig. 4a) was obtained using an unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV). An investigation carried out one week after the
landslide occurred showed that the topography after the slip was
generally higher in the southwest and lower in the northeast, with a
maximum height dierence of 60 m. Along the slip direction, the
topography variance of the landslide was relatively large, and the
landslide depression, slip mass as well as slip tongue could be
distinguished easily with a dramatic change in the water-containing
status. The characteristics of each part of the Jiangliu loess uidized
Y. Leng et al. Engineering Geology xxx (xxxx) xxxxxx

Fig. 3. Jiangliu loess uidized landslide. (a) close-up view of the Jiangliu loess landslide; (b) fragmental loess; (c) uidized slip mass; (d) main scarp and water traces; (e) toe of landslide;
(f) drain opening of the underground water.

landslide are described as follows.
As shown in Fig. 4b, the area with a width of 50 m to the north of
the main scarp is the landslide depression (I), and inuenced by the
water point W2, standing water with a stable volume formed here
(Fig. 4b). The cross-section b-b (Fig. 5a) shows that the landslide
depression is a plateau type valley with a steep slope in the east and a
gentle slope in the west. The trench excavation shows the accumulation
of loose and fragmented silty clays 0.45.1 m below the earth's surface,
and the volumetric water content is 30.4%; below the loose accumula-
tion, there is a layer of dense clay stratum with a thickness of 35 cm,
and the volumetric water content is 29.1%; below the clay stratum is a
layer of paleosoil that contains calcareous concretion, the volumetric
water content of which is 32.3%. This paleosoil layer is located below
the water table and is in a saturated status. It is speculated that the slip
plane is funnel-shaped and is parallel to the groundwater line.
The loose loess blocks with low moisture accumulated 170 m to the
north of the landslide depression, and this area is the slip mass (II). In
some of the loess blocks, a group of sequentially arranged extension

Fig. 4. The DEM diagram of Jiangliu loess uidized landslide. (a) the overall 3D shape and condition of the stratum in the Jiangliu Loess landslide. (b) the standing water in the landslide
depression of the landslide; (c) loess joint; (d) ake shear surface; (e) ripple water-shaped slip mass; (f) shear scrape.

4
Y. Leng et al.
Fig. 5. The geological section and slide features of the Jiangliu loess after the landslide: (a) transverse section along b-b line; (b) longitudinal section along line AG; (c) distribution of
the water content in the slide soil; (d) size distribution of the slide soil.
joints was observed. Inuenced by the inltration of irrigation water,
the joint surface was lled with dark brown silty clay (Fig. 4c). Under
the shear eect, the surface of the loess block was shown as a laminated
structure with some scattered large pores (Fig. 4d). In particular, within
approximately 110 m to 160 m of the main scarp of the landslide, loose
loess blocks covered the sliding surface, featured by a water ripple
shape (Fig. 4e), indicating a strong liquefaction phenomenon of the
slide surface. A slide tongue (III) deposited at the front of slip mass, and
the moisture content of this area was so high that striations with a
certain direction remained on the loess blocks (as shown in Fig. 4f). As
the striations continuously exposed the deposited materials, a shearing
zone was formed here.
Fig. 5b is the longitudinal section of the Jiangliu loess landslide
along AG; it is speculated that the shear slide surface is circular with a
steep main scarp of approximately 60 in the upper portion. At point B,
the slip plane transitions from steep to gentle, and the inclination angle
is approximately 8. Photo b-1 was taken at the shear outlet point C-1
on the eastern wall of the landslide body; the elevation of C-1 is 373 m,
and it is located below the palesoil layer S5. In this gure, shear
scratches are arranged sequentially to the south of the white dashed
line, indicating that the compression shear eect of the landslide
mainly occurred to the south of point C-1. E is an articially excavated
cutting slope; the original elevation dierence was 5 m, the ow-state
slide surface is exposed here along with scratches in a certain direction
(shown in photo b-2), indicating that the slip mass behaved as a ow.
Point F is the boundary between the slip mass and slip tongue; the
exploratory well reveals that these two are in thrust nappe contactthe
front contact surface bends upwards, and the thrust angle is 25.
The volumetric water content of the monitored slip soil along the
above sectional direction was measured by a moisture meter and
presented in Fig. 5c: sample A was selected from the saturation zone
(around the water table in this area) in the main scarp, thus the volume
water content of point A can be regarded as the saturated water
content. Base on this, the degree of saturation of sample B, C, D and E
were 77.1%, 52.3%, 86.5% and 87.1%, respectively. Water content
curve in Fig.5c reects that during sliding, the sliding zone is in highly
saturated state with little change in the saturation in dierent sites. The
5
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solid line in Fig. 5d is the particle size distribution (PSD) curve of the
slip soil at sampling point F-1 (location is illustrated in Fig. 4).
Compared to the original loess, the particles in the slip soil are evenly
distributed and the content of clay particles is high, forming a relatively
water-shielding layer. Accordingly, during rapid sliding, the accumu-
lated pore water pressure does not easily dissipate.
4.2. Experimental testing
Landslides are essentially the mechanical response of soils to
changes in slope geometry, pore-water pressure, and shear strength.
Thus, insight into mechanisms of landslides should also be examined
from the mechanical or geotechnical perspectives (Wen et al., 2004).
Constant drained shear stress tests were performed on the saturation
loess in the South Jingyang tableland. Laboratory tests along eld stress
paths were performed in this study. The undisturbed loess specimens
were retrieved from the H-4 adit (Fig. 2a) in the mainscarp using the
block sampling method to minimize soil disturbance. First of all, loess
was trimmed to a cube-shaped block with a side length of 30 cm by
careful hand excavation at the sample site, then the block was cut into a
column and sealed in a steel cylinder with layers of wax. Finally, the
loess sample with the diameter of 38 m and the height of 80 mm was
cut in the lab with much care.
A series of constant shear drained compression tests were carried by
Jin and Dai (2008); thus, the static liquefaction potential of loess in this
area was tested. The consolidation-undrained shear test of the natural
loesses in this region showed that the unsaturated loesses had the
feature of shear softening during the shearing process, and both the
peak strength and the residual strength were controlled by the water
content (He et al., 2010; Liao et al., 2011). Based on the above ndings
and under the condition of isotropic consolidation, isotropic undrained
triaxial shear tests (where the mean stress remained constant, but the
cell pressure gradually decreased and the deviator stress gradually
increased (30 kPa/h)) were carried out on natural loesses (TCU-24%)
and saturated loesses (TCU-sat) to study the possible generation process
of pore water pressure (PWP) in the sliding surface.
Experiments were performed in a GDS triaxial tester. The physical
Y. Leng et al.
Table 1
Index properties of Lishi loess used in the test.
Dry density(g/cm3) Volumetric water content (%) Natural density (g/cm3)
1.45 2426 1.71
Fig. 6. Experimental results of undrained compression shear tests of loess. (a) stress-strain curves; (b) pore water pressure-strain curves; (c) stable strength envelope.
parameters of the sample are listed in Table 1. The consolidation
conning pressures were designed to be 350 kPa, corresponding to the
burial depth of 25 m.
Fig. 6 shows the stress-strain relationship, regularity of PWP and
eective normal stress characteristics for natural and saturated loesses
along an isobaric stress path. During the early stage of shearing, the
shear strain increased slowly but when the shear strain is large enough
(e.g. larger than 10%), both natural loess sample and saturated loess
sample will develop a big deformation in a small deviatoric stress
increment. Thus, it is indicated that once the slope is damaged, there
will be a higher starting speed for a slope failure. This may occurred
because the former is triggered by the lose of structural strength of
intact sample while the later is induced by the shear pore water
pressure. Hence, this owslide with high mobility and long travel
distance may result from the continuous reduction in shear strength due
to the continuous generation of pore water pressure with progress of
landsliding after failure. After the breakdown of cementation bonds
within the loess, the residual soil strength is primarily controlled by the
water content (Lunne et al., 2006): the higher the water content, the
greater the deformation, and the lower the residual resistance.
Fig.6b presents two curves showing the development of pore water
pressure versus shear stain; the PWP not only increases as the shear
strain increases but also as the water content increases. It can be seen
that the pore water pressure of saturated loess develops gradually with
the shear strain, and until the shear strain reaches 10%, the growth rate
of PWP is reduced. Although limited by the displacement of the triaxial
apparatus, the normalized PWP (i.e. PWP/p0 in Fig. 6b) of the saturated
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Specic gravity Void ratio Liquid limit (%) Plastic limit (%) Depth (m)
2.71 0.869 32 20 22
loess did not increase to a steady value of 0.85, the eective normal
stress of saturated loess nally decreased to a low value which dene as
liquefaction potential. Hence, this owslide with high mobility and
long travel distance may result from the continuous reduction in shear
strength due to the continuous generation of pore water pressure with
progress of landsliding after failure.
5. Discussion
5.1. Role of water in movement
The investigation conducted by Tu et al. (2009) indicated that under
highly intensive rainfall (120 mm/day) the maximum inuential depth
of inltration in the loess slope was 3 m within 9 days. In addition, a
eld monitoring test carried out by Li et al. (2013) conrmed that
mitigation of unsaturated water in the loesses increased the water
content in the deep loess layer. After testing, it was found that the stable
inltration ow of the deep joints and large pores (Fig. 2e) that
developed near the underground water line at the bottom of the slope
was 0.6 m3/day (March 25th). This indicates that joints and foramini-
fera widely developed in natural loesses become a third passage for
surface water to collect and migrate in the slope body and simulta-
neously become preferential passages. As the surface water outlet of the
Jiangliu landslide, the preferential inltration passage that developed
in the saturation layer formed stagnant water with a volume of 150 m3
in the landslide depression area at the slope foot.
During the motion process, the slip surface of the landslide is
6
Y. Leng et al.
aected by both pore water pressure and the normal pressure. As
reported, the apparent friction coecient (tana) is a common para-
meter used in models of landslide mobility (Legros, 2002; Crosta et al.,
2005). For a landslide of a certain volume, a smaller apparent friction
coecient indicates that a high pore water pressure or a signicant
basal lubrication eect could be involved in enabling the long
transportation of displaced landslide materials (Sassa, 1996; Blasio,
2011). In a eld investigation, the apparent friction coecient is
dened as the slope of the line connecting the head of the landslide
source to the distal margin of the displaced mass (Corominas, 1996). In
the landslide case mentioned in this paper, the apparent friction angle
(a) estimated from the angle of reach was about 14, and the internal
friction of natural loesses and saturated loesses (, ) obtained in the
laboratory was 23.72 (under the assumptions of zero cohesion under
saturated conditions and that the water content has no eect on the
inter-friction angle), with a ranking of () > a. The increase in the
water content is an important factor that leads to the softening or
liquefaction of the loess. Furthermore, based on the water ripple
topography (Fig. 4d), the high clay particle content in the slip soil
(Fig. 5d) and ake structures (Fig. 4c), as well as the spatial distribution
characteristics of the water content in the slip zone, it is speculated that
liquefaction occurred during the sliding process.
Generally speaking, water inltration caused by agricultural irriga-
tion has become one of the main factors leading to slope failures in the
Loess Plateau. However, irrigation played dierent roles in the evolu-
tion of the Jiangliu uidized landslide. In a short time, part of the
irrigation water increased the weight of the slope through unsaturated
water migration into the top of the loess slope, whereas the other part
softened the toe of the slope through preferential passages developed in
the soil layer. The standing water accumulated at point W1 not only
softened the slope base but also generate a lubrication eect to drive
this landslide to a high-speed, long-runout loess uidized failure.
5.2. Mechanism and evolution of the Jiangliu landslide
It is believed that cracks developed along the edge of the South
Jingyang tableland. Consistent with the statistical analysis of Xu and
Dai (2008), cracks in the adit (Fig. 2c) are concentrated in the range of
1011 m. Once the cracks are formed, the maximal scale of a potential
landslide will be 11 m 50.9 m (the maximal length of a
crack) 65 m (the height of the slope) = 3.6 104 m3. Furthermore,
a TCU test conducted on the saturated loess showed a high shear
resistance with a small shear strain, indicating the property of static
liquefaction. In addition, during the shear process, the pore water
pressure increased to a certain high value such that the eective normal
stress and the shear resistance decreased to low values, resulting in
sliding liquefaction. Thus, the mechanism of a small-scale loess
owslide can be interpreted as the combined eect of cracks that
developed in natural loess and the liquefaction of saturated loess.
Based on the above research, rapid inltration of irrigation water in
a short time is the direct inducing factor that resulted in the Jiangliu
uidized landslide, and the initiation as well as the motion process can
be concluded as follows:
1. Inuenced by loading and softening, the 2-m thick loess at the toe of
the slope started to liquefy upon the occurrence of slope instability.
2. After the highly or fully saturated toe part slid out, the downslope
movement of the upper unsaturated loess commenced. Liquefaction
of saturated loess during the shear process gave priority to the fast
movement of the displaced materials with long traveling distance.
3. Due to the dierence between the saturated and unsaturated loess
apparent friction angle, the slide block generated natural sortation
during the sliding process due to dierent water-containing states.
The non-blocked saturated slide block continued to move forward,
and the blocked unsaturated soil body gradually decreased the
sliding speed and nally stopped its movement, resulting in the
Engineering Geology xxx (xxxx) xxxxxx
overow of the saturated slide block in the landslide bed to form an
overow band (Fig. 3c).
6. Conclusion
The South Jingyang tableland is located on the southern Loess
Plateau and exhibits a typical loess tableland topography. Since the
introduction of irrigation projects in the 1970s, the clinoform where the
tableland and terrace directly contact has become one of the zones most
vulnerable to loess landslides. Based on eld geological investigations
and indoor tests, the landslide inside the loess layer was studied in
detail using an unmanned air vehicle technique. The investigation
results showed that this landslide occurred on the slope with a height of
65 m, and the eective friction angle of the landslide was approxi-
mately 14, showing ow-slide characteristics of high speed and long
runout. Large pores inside the slope body and the vertical joints were
preferential inltration passages for irrigation water, and the ow state
landslides indicated that the loess layer in the lower part of the slope
body before the landslide was in a totally saturated state. As a result, a
soft foundation eect, in particular, liquefaction, became the major
reason that the landslide occurred. The undrained compression triaxial
shear test of the original loess and saturated loess showed that during
the shear process, the increase in the sample saturation degree was the
main factor that led to the lowering of the strength of the soil body and
the increase in deformation. In addition, based on conditions that
stagnant water still exists after a landslide occurs, as well as the particle
size characteristics of the slip soil and spatial distribution of the water
content, it is reasonable to infer that high pore-water pressure was
generated with progress of sliding and then elevate the mobility of this
owslide.
Acknowledgement
This study is funded by the National Basic Research Program of
China (973 program) (No. 2014CB744700), the Key Program of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41130753), the
Research Project of Geological Hazards in Typical Area of China
granted by China Geological Survey (NO. 1212011404001), and the
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (NO.
310826151046). Dr. Xinghua Zhu of Chang'an University is thanked
for his help in the map scanning. We also would like to thank Prof. Xu
Qiang and Prof. Hu Wei (Chengdu University of Technology) for their
suggestions in eld survey. Dr. Di Wu of Xi'an University of Science and
Technology is thanked for his help in analyzing laboratory test results.
The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for
their valuable comments.
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