Landslides triggered by the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake

The 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake triggered several thousand landslides. These were mainly rock falls and debris falls, although translational rock and debris slides also occurred. In addition, a sturzstrom (debris avalanche) comprising ∼ 80 million m 3 buried four villages and blocked streams t...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geomorphology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2008-02, Vol.94 (1), p.1-9
Main Authors: Owen, Lewis A., Kamp, Ulrich, Khattak, Ghazanfar A., Harp, Edwin L., Keefer, David K., Bauer, Mark A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Earthquake
Earthquakes, seismology
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Exact sciences and technology
Himalaya
Internal geophysics
Kashmir
Landslides
Marine and continental quaternary
Natural hazards: prediction, damages, etc
Surficial geology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake triggered several thousand landslides. These were mainly rock falls and debris falls, although translational rock and debris slides also occurred. In addition, a sturzstrom (debris avalanche) comprising ∼ 80 million m 3 buried four villages and blocked streams to create two lakes. Although landsliding occurred throughout the region, covering an area of > 7500 km 2, the failures were highly concentrated, associated with six geomorphic–geologic–anthropogenic settings, including natural failures in (1) highly fractured carbonate rocks comprising the lowest beds in the hanging wall of the likely earthquake fault; (2) Tertiary siliciclastic rocks along antecedent drainages that traverse the Hazara–Kashmir Syntaxis; (3) steep (> 50°) slopes comprising Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic rocks; (4) very steep (» 50°) lower slopes of fluvially undercut Quaternary valley fills; and (5) ridges and spur crests. The sixth setting was associated with road construction. Extensive fissuring in many of the valley slopes together with the freshly mobilized landslide debris constitutes a potential hazard in the coming snowmelt and monsoon seasons. This study supports the view that earthquake-triggered landslides are highly concentrated in specific zones associated with the lithology, structure, geomorphology, topography, and human presence.
ISSN:0169-555X
1872-695X
DOI:10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.04.007