Interactions of landslide deposit with terrace sediments: Perspectives from velocity of deposit movement and apparent friction angle

The Loess Plateau has been deemed as a landslide-prone area in northwest China because of the unique platform geomorphology and the wetting-induced loess collapse. The interactions of landslide deposit and terrace sediment have been under-explored in the literature. This lack of research has inhibited the prevention and mitigation of loess landslide. This study summarises a total of 40 loess landslides in the South Jingyang Platform, Shaanxi Province; 4 out of the 40 loess landslides are investigated in detail, with an emphasis on the geomorphology feature and the internal geometry of geology. While the sandbox experiments and the discrete element modelling primarily aimed to reproduce the kinetic process of landslide deposit falling from the platform edge and colliding with terrace sediments. The field observation distinguished three domains that represent varying degrees of interaction between the landslide deposit and the terrace sediments, namely push forward domain, shear up/out domain and original terrace sediment domain. The push forward domain is defined as an area completely contained the loess deposit, with most distinct surface upheaval, while the shear up/out domain is defined as an area that significantly interacts with the push forward domain and possesses remarkable evidence of interactions. The original terrace sediment is defined as an area that is thoroughly not disturbed by the interactions. The internal geometry change and the geomorphology features, induced by the interactions of the deposit with the sediments, are reproduced using the sandbox experiments and the discrete element modelling. The sediments shearing upwards and the occurrence of shear liquefaction are interpreted from perspectives of the velocity of deposit movement and the apparent friction angle. The results are deemed to be useful in enhancing our understanding about the interactions of the landslide deposit with the terrace sediments and countermeasures against loess flowslides in the study area in future.

Automated summary

The study explores the interactions of landslide deposit and terrace sediments in the Loess Plateau, using sandbox experiments and discrete element modeling to simulate changes in geomorphology induced by these interactions. The results provide valuable insights for future countermeasures against loess flowslides in the study area.