Distribution and failure modes of the landslides in Heitai terrace, China

Agricultural irrigation has increased the groundwater level in the Heitai terrace (part of the Heifangtai terrace) by 20 m over nearly five decades, which causes 3-5 landslides each year at the edge of the terrace. The Heitai terrace is of great interest in the study of loess-related landslides; but there is no unanimous agreement on the types of either the landslides in this study site or the loess-related slope failures in general. On the basis of aerial images (res. 5 cm), Digital Elevation Model (res. 10 cm), and field investigations, we analyzed the distribution and failure mode of the landslides in Heitai. The geological structure and characteristics of 69 landslides (vol. 5 × 103-6 × 106 m3) are studied. The preliminary results of groundwater recharge in the terrace and formation of the apparent spring lines on the slope surface are analyzed to better understand the failure modes. We divided the landslides in Heitai into two groups based on the location of the failure surface, i.e. loess landslide and loess-bedrock landslide, of which the development is governed by the angle between the principle direction of slope deformation and the dip of bedrock bedding. We further analyzed the failure mode of each type observed in Heitai, defined as follows: loess-bedrock planar slide, loess-bedrock irregular slide, loess flowslide, loess slide, and loess flow. The proposed types of loess-related landslide are to be incorporated in the Varnes classification (Varnes, 1978) in consideration of the engineering properties of loess, and to provide backward compatibility for Heitai and potentially other regions in the Loess Plateau of China.