Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T12:51:16.828Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ancient landslide-dam events in the Jishi Gorge, upper Yellow River valley, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Guanghui Dong ,
Fanyu Zhang ,
Minmin Ma ,
Yuxin Fan ,
Jiawu Zhang ,
Zongli Wang  and
Fahu Chen
Guanghui Dong*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Fanyu Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, Ministry of Education, Department of Geological Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Minmin Ma
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Yuxin Fan
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Jiawu Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Zongli Wang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
Fahu Chen
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education, Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu Province 730000, China
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: + 86 931 8912330. E-mail addresses:ghdong@lzu.edu.cn (G. Dong),zhangfy@lzu.edu.cn. (F. Zhang)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Some scholars have argued that the formation and outburst of an ancient dammed lake in the Jishi Gorge at ca. 3700 cal yr BP resulted in the destruction of Lajia, the site of a famous prehistoric disaster in the Guanting Basin, upper Yellow River valley, China. However, the cause of the dammed lake and the exact age of the dam breaching are still debated. We investigated ancient landslides and evidence for the dammed lake in the Jishi Gorge, including dating of soil from the shear zone of an ancient landslide, sediments of the ancient dammed lake, and loess above lacustrine sediments using radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating methods. Six radiocarbon dates and two OSL dates suggested that the ancient landslides and dammed lake events in the Jishi Gorge probably occurred around 8100 cal yr BP, and the ancient dammed lake was breached between 6780 cal yr BP and 5750 cal yr BP. Hence, the outburst of the ancient dammed lake in the Jishi Gorge was unrelated to the ruin of the Lajia site, but likely resulted in flood disasters in the Guanting Basin around 6500 cal yr BP.

Keywords

Radiocarbon datingOSL datingAncient landslidesDammed lakeJishi GorgeUpper Yellow River valley
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 81 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 445 - 451
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitken, M.J. Thermoluminescence Dating. (1985). Academic Press, London. 359 Google Scholar
Alley, R.B., Mayewski, P.A., Sowers, T., Stuiver, M., Taylor, K.C., and Clark, P.U. Holocene climatic instability: a prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology 25, (1997). 483–486.Google Scholar
Banerjee, D., Murray, A.S., Bøtter-Jensen, L., and Lang, A. Equivalent dose estimation using a single aliquot of polymineral fine grains. Radiation Measurements 33, (2001). 73–94.Google Scholar
Cui, P., Dang, C., Zhuang, J.Q., You, Y., Chen, X.Q., and Kevin, M.S. Landslide-dammed lake at Tangjiashan, Sichuan province, China (triggered by the Wenchuan Earthquake, May 12, 2008): risk assessment, mitigation strategy, and lessons learned. Environmental Earth Science 65, (2012). 1055–1065.Google Scholar
Dong, L.F. Engineering Stability Study on Gelongbu Large Scale Landslide in the Upper Reaches of the Yellow River. (Doctor Thesis) (2008). Lanzhou University, (In Chinese) Google Scholar
González-Díez, A., Remondo, J., Díaz, D., Terán, J.R., and Cendrero, A. A methodological approach for the analysis of the temporal occurrence and triggering factors of landslides. Geomorphology 30, (1999). 95–113.Google Scholar
Grün, R. The “age” program for the calculation of luminescence age estimates. Ancient TL 27, (2009). 45–46.Google Scholar
Haug, G.H., Gunther, D., Peterson, L.C., Sigman, D.M., Hughen, K.A., and Aeschlimann, B. Climate and the collapse of the Maya civilization. Science 299, (2003). 1731–1735.Google Scholar
Hermanns, R.L., Niedermann, S., Ivy-Ochs, S., and Peter, W.K. Rock avalanching into a landslide-dammed lake causing multiple dam failure in Las Conchas Valley (NW Argentina) — evidence from surface exposure dating and stratigraphic analyses. Landslides 1, (2004). 113–122.Google Scholar
Hou, G.L., Lai, Z.P., Sun, Y.J., and Ye, M.L. Luminescence and radiocarbon chronologies for the Xindian Culture site of Lamafeng in the Guanting Basin on the NE edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Quaternary Geochronology (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2012.02.024Google Scholar
Hsu, Yin-Sung, and Hsu, Yu-Hsiung Impact of earthquake-induced dammed lakes on channel evolution and bed mobility: case study of the Tsaoling landslide dammed lake. Journal of Hydrology 374, (2009). 43–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IA, CASS (Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Report of Carbon-14 (29). Archaeology 48, (2003). 64–68. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
IA, CASS (Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Report of (14)C dates (XXXI). Archaeology 51, (2005). 57–61. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Jakob, M., and Lambert, S. Climate change effects on landslides along the southwest coast of British Columbia. Geomorphology 107, (2009). 275–284.Google Scholar
Ji, J., Shen, J., Balsam, W., Chen, J., Liu, L., and Liu, X. Asian monsoon oscillations in the northeastern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau since the late glacial as interpreted from visible reflectance of Qinghai Lake sediments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 233, (2005). 61–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennett, D., Breitenbach, S., Aquino, V., Asmerom, Y., Awe, J., Baldini, J., Bartlein, P., Culleton, B., Ebert, C., Jazwa, C., and Macri, M. Development and disintegration of Maya political systems in response to climate change. Science 338, (2012). 788–791.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kochel, R.C., Nickelsen, R.P., and Eaton, L.S. Catastrophic Middle Pleistocene Jökulhlaups in the upper Susquehanna River: distinctive landforms from breakout floods in the Central Appalachians. Geomorphology 110, (2009). 80–95.Google Scholar
Korup, O., Strom, A.J., and Weidinger, J.T. Fluvial response to large rock-slope failures: examples from the Himalayas, the Tien Shan, and the Southern Alps in New Zealand. Geomorphology 78, (2006). 3–21.Google Scholar
Lambe, T., and Whitman, R. Soil Mechanics. (1969). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Google Scholar
Liu, X., Shen, J., Wang, S., Yang, X., Tong, G., and Zhang, E. A 16000-year pollen record of Qinghai Lake and its paleo-climate and paleoenvironment. Chinese Science Bulletin 47, (2002). 1931–1936.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, H.J., Sun, G.P., and Liu, X.W. Stability analysis of Tianchi landslide dam under earthquake. Chinese Journal of Rock Mechanics and Engineering 22, (2003). 2809–2812. (in Chinese with English abstract) Google Scholar
Lliboutry, L., Morales Arnao, B., Pautre, A., and Schneider, B. Glaciological problems set by the control of dangerous lakes in Cordillera Blanca, Peru. I. Historical failures of morainic dams, their causes and prevention. Journal of Glaciology 18, (1977). 239–254.Google Scholar
Lu, H.Y., Yang, X.Y., Ye, M.L., Liu, K.B., Xia, Z.K., Ren, X.Y., Cai, L.H., Wu, N.Q., and Liu, T.S. Millet noodles in Late Neolithic China — a remarkable find allows the reconstruction of the earliest recorded preparation of noodles. Nature 437, (2005). 967–968.Google Scholar
Ma, M.M., Dong, G.H., Robert, E., Meng, X.M., and Chen, F.H. Process of paleofloods in Guanting Basin, Qinghai Province, China and possible relation to monsoon strength during the mid-Holocene. Quaternary International (2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2012.05.031Google Scholar
McCalpin, J. Preliminary age classification of landslides for inventory mapping. Proceedings of 21st Annual Geology and Soils Engineering Symposium, Moscow, Idaho. (1984). Google Scholar
Montgomery, D.R., Hallet, B., Liu, Y.P., Finnegan, N., Anders, A., Gillespie, A., and Greenberg, H.M. Evidence for Holocene megafloods down the Tsangpo River Gorge, Southeastern Tibet. Quaternary Research 62, (2004). 201–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Northwest Hydropower Survey and Design Institute (NHSDI), Study on engineering geology the Jishixia hydropower station. Internal Reports, Lanzhou, China. (1991). (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Pánek, T., Hradecký, J., Smolková, V., Šilhán, K., Minár, J., and Zernitskaya, V. The largest prehistoric landslide in northwestern Slovakia: chronological constraints of the Kykula long-runout landslide and related dammed lakes. Geomorphology 120, (2010). 233–247.Google Scholar
Peng, J.B., Mao, Y.L., and Du, D.J. Study of Engineering Geology for Reservoir Landslide. (1997). Shanxi Science and Technology Press, Xi'an, China. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Bronze Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., Vander, P.J., and Weyhenmeyer, C.E. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51, (2009). 1111–1150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reneau, S.L., and Dethier, D.P. Late Pleistocene landslide-dammed lakes along the Rio Grande, White Rock Canyon, New Mexico. Geological Society of America Bulletin 108, (1996). 1492–1507.Google Scholar
Rohling, E.J., and Pälike, H. Centennial-scale climate cooling with a sudden cold event around 8200 years ago. Nature 434, (2005). 975–979.Google Scholar
Schulz, W.H., Galloway, S.L., and Higgins, J.D. Evidence for earthquake triggering of large landslides in coastal Oregon, USA. Geomorphology 141–142, (2012). 88–98.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P.J. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, (1993). 215–230.Google Scholar
Takagi, H., Arita, K., Danhara, T., and Iwano, H. Timing of the Tsergo Ri landslide, Langtang Himal, determined by fission-track dating of pseudotachylyte. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 29, (2007). 466–472.Google Scholar
Thomsen, K.J., Murray, A.S., B¢tter-Jensen, L.B., and Kinahan, J. Determination of burial dose in incompletely bleached fluvial samples using single grains of quartz. Radiation Measurements 42, (2007). 370–379.Google Scholar
Wang, P., Zhang, B., Qiu, W.L., and Wang, J.C. Soft-sediment deformation structures in the sediments of Diexi paleo-dammed lakes in upper reaches of Minjiang River, east Tibet. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 40, (2011). 865–872.Google Scholar
Wu, Q.L., Zhang, P.Z., Zhang, H.P., Ye, M.L., and Zhang, Z.Q. A palaeo-earthquake induced damming and bursting of Yellow River and the abnormal flood that destroyed Lajia relic. Science in China (Series D) 39, (2009). 1148–1159. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Yang, X.Y., Xia, Z.K., and Ye, M.L. Prehistoric disasters at Lajia Site, Qinghai, China. Chinese Science Bulletin 48, (2003). 1877–1881.Google Scholar
Yang, X.Y., Xia, Z.K., Cui, Z.J., and Ye, M.L. Environmental settings of archeological sites depositional processes and distribution at Guanting Basin. Acta Geographica Sinica 59, (2004). 455 (in Chinese with English abstract) Google Scholar
Yang, X.Y., Xia, Z.K., and Cui, Z.J. Holocene extreme floods and its sedimentary characteristic in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Quaternary Research 25, (2005). 81–85. (in Chinese with English abstract) Google Scholar
Ye, M.L. Review Lajia site via the Wenchuan earthquake in China. Chinese Cultural Relics News 7, (2008). (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Yin, J.H., Chen, J., Xu, X.W., Wang, X.L., and Zheng, Y.G. The characteristics of the landslides triggered by the Wenchuan M-s 8.0 earthquake from Anxian to Beichuan. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 37, (2010). 452–459.Google Scholar
Yin, Y.P., Zheng, W.M., Li, X.C., Sun, P., and Li, B. Catastrophic landslides associated with the M8.0 Wenchuan earthquake. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 70, (2011). 15–32.Google Scholar
Zhang, X.H., Xia, Z.K., and Yang, X.Y. Further discussion about abandoning of Lajia Site, Qinghai — the argument against the author of ‘Ancient China's Environmental research’. Archaeology and Cultural Relics 29, (2009). 100–103. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Zhang, F.Y., Liu, G., Chen, W.W., Han, W.W., and Bai, S.B. Engineering geology and stability of the Jishixia landslide, Yellow River, China. Bulletin of Engineering Geology Environment 69, (2010). 99–103.Google Scholar
Zhang, Z.G., Bai, S.B., Wang, J., Zhang, F.Y., and Hong, T. The event of river block by severe landslide occurred at in the upper reaches of the Yellow River during the early Holocene. Journal of Arid Land Resources and Environment 27, (2013). 102–106. (In Chinese) Google Scholar
Zhao, H., and Li, S.H. Luminescence isochron dating: a new approach using different grain sizes. Radiation Protection Dosimetry 101, (2002). 333–338.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhou, H.F., Wei, Y.T., and Nie, D.X. Formation mechanism of high-speed Gelongbu landslide and associated blockage of upper reach Yellow River. Journal of Engineering Geology 483–488, (2009). (in Chinese with English abstract) Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Dong et al. supplementary material

Supplementary Material

Download Dong et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 22 KB