Failure Mechanism and Stability Analysis of an Active Landslide in the Xiangjiaba Reservoir Area, Southwest China

Dam construction for hydropower development is a very important subject all around the world, especially in developing countries due to energy crises. Filling of reservoir lakes may trigger or reactivate landslides in reservoir area. Active landslides in populated districts in the Xiangjiaba Reservoir area have become a striking problem for residents, local government and construction engineers. The key objective of this study is to analyze the role of reservoir filling and fluctuation in the activation/reactivation of the landslide as well as the mechanism of landslide from microstructures of pre-sheared slip surface. A large active landslide with a total volume of 1.25 Mm(3) at the left margin of Jinsha River in Pingshan County of Sichuan Province, Southwest China, was selected as a case study. Field investigation, field monitoring and laboratory tests were carried out to find out the failure mechanism and the stability of the active landslide. The shear strength test and stability analysis confirm that the water level fluctuations have an adverse effect on slope stability. It is obvious from microstructure analysis that the clay minerals contribute to down-slope movement at micro-scale as well as presence of expansive minerals (e.g., montmorillonite) decreases the strength of soil due to water level rise.