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31 August 2008
UPDATED 4th Sept: Magnitude 5.7 earthquake in China
The USGS is reporting today that there was a Mw=5.7 (Xinhua is reporting M=6.1) earthquake in China at 4:30 pm local time yesterday. News reports this morning suggest that 25 people have been killed and a further 100 injured. I wouldn’t normally post on an earthquake of this size as the likelihood of triggering extensive landslides is limited. However, in this case there may be an interesting landslide angle to …
30 June 2008
International Symposium of Landslides – Wenchuan (Sichuan) earthquake landslides
This week is the 10th International Symposium on Landslides and Engineered Slopes, which is a once every four years get together. This time round it is being held in Xi’an in China, which is particularly appropriate given the recent events a few hundred kilometres to the southwest. The organisers managed to timetable a session of two keynotes and six other presentations on landslides associated withe the earthquake. The session was …
10 June 2008
Tangjiashan – problem over
Xinhua is now reporting that the flood wave has passed through the city of Mianyang safely. This appears to mark the end of the crisis. I have to say many, many congratulations to the Chinese authorities and everyone involved for their handling of this event. To manage to mitigate this lake in this way is probably an unprecedented achievement.
Tangjiashan – let’s be a little careful here…
I note from comments below that now that the landslide dam at Tangjiashan has failed the disaster is considered to be over. Please let’s be a little careful here. It is true that the flood waves has now passed through the upper parts of the river. Below is the graph of the reported discharges as per the comments left on earlier postings: The water level is clearly dropping. However, the …
Tangjiashan – let's be a little careful here…
I note from comments below that now that the landslide dam at Tangjiashan has failed the disaster is considered to be over. Please let’s be a little careful here. It is true that the flood waves has now passed through the upper parts of the river. Below is the graph of the reported discharges as per the comments left on earlier postings: The water level is clearly dropping. However, the …
Tangjiashan – latest image
This is a new image released by Xinhua of the collapse at Tangjiashan. It is clear that the dam has now effectively failed: The rate of scour is clearly very fast and the lake level is still very high indeed (it has apparently dropped 10 m). CCTV has just reported that the smaller dams downstream have now been overtopped and washed away.
Updated: Tangjiashan is failing very rapidly
Latest graph on Tangjiashan flow rates: It is clear that the failure of the dam is now very rapid and is uncontrollable. It is essential that anyone in a vulnerable location downstream is evacuated immediately. It appears that the workers on the dam have been successfully pulled off the site by helicopter, which is a relief. Update: Correspondent Andy is now reporting that cracks have been observed on the dam, …
Tangjiashan flow rate graph
This is a quick, back of the envelope graph of the reported flow rate at Tangjiashan. The dramatic rise in flow rate is clear, but so far this is not catastrophic. The next data point is the key one – can anyone provide it?
Updated: Tangjiashan is breaching
Andy has posted a comment on the blog saying “Latest news: At 7:20am 6/10 (Beijing time), the outflow reached 377 m3/s and lake level was 742.80 m compared with 742.96m 12 hours ago. Before hit the post button, I checked the news one more time. The new outflow number is 500 m3/s! Is it a good or bad news that the outflow increases so fast?” Update: Xinhua has confirmed that …
9 June 2008
Erosion on the lower parts of the Tangjiashan dam
Two days ago I posted this picture AP image of the channel at Tangjiashan: AP image captioned: Water from the Tangjiashan “quake lake” flows down a landslide site in the quake-devastated Mianyang City, southwest China’s Sichuan Province. Today, the following Reuters image has been released, apparently showing the same location: Reuters image entitled: Water flows through a sluice channel of the Tangjiashan quake lake in Tangjiashan, Sichuan Province June 8, …
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
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