2023 Jishishan Earthquake-triggered river terrace landslide enabled by tectonic and human activities

Abstract

The continued increase in demand for food is such that flood-irrigation-based agricultural techniques are not expected to change in the future. Consequently, in cultivated areas dominated by river terraces that experience neotectonic movements, catastrophes caused by earthquakes that trigger material liquefaction may continue to occur. Among such catastrophes, low-angle, ultra-long-distance landslides induced by synergistic effects of tectonic and human activities are events that are not fully understood but can potentially be mitigated. A landslide-mudflow that occurred on December 18, 2023, during an Ms 6.2 earthquake in Jishishan, China, on the tertiary terrace of the Yellow River. We reveal the causal mechanisms by which geomorphology, tectonics, and human activities controlled the landslide-mudflow, and outline a new, potentially widespread, dual liquefaction layer-dominated failure mode for earthquake-induced landslides on river terraces. Our findings serve as a warning that urgent landslide-potential assessments should be conducted across river terrace irrigation areas in tectonically active regions.