Depth of Small Scale Landslide in Slate Area : Case of 2009 Typhoon Morakot in Ai-Liao River, South Taiwan

Abstract:

This study focuses on the depth and magnitude of the small scale landslide in slate area in Ai-Liao-Shi catchment, South Taiwan. Landslide inventory of 2009 Typhoon Morakot, 5×5 m DEM, and aero photo have been interpreted by GIS software to assess the slope type and the scale of landslide events. The research database includes 276 landslides which orthographic projection areas are smaller than 1 ha. The slopes were also classified into dip, orthoclinical-dip, escarpment, and orthoclinical- escarpment 4 types of slope based on the slope aspect to the bedding orientation. The sliding plane, or so call the failure plane, was identified by aero photo, field reconnaissance and verification, and DEM before and after the typhoon event. Colluvium material deposited on the slip plane was removed based on the scarp and foot position, mass movement pattern, weak plane orientation, and the micro topography of a landslide to achieve the reasonable sliding plane. The maximum depth of sliding surface is explored through the slope type and sliding plane in total of 276 landslide cases. Results demonstrate that the average maximum depth, D_am, of dip slope is 4.6 m, D_am of orthoclinical-dip, escarpment, and orthoclinical-escarpment slopes are 5.8, 6.0, and 6.3 m respectively. In general, D_am is creasing with the average slope of landslide, the relationship of both factor is achieved in the study. Meanwhile, the orthographic projection area of landslide is increasing with the slope angle till the angle up to 40 degree then decreasing. The depth also varies with landslide magnitude. Finally, the relation of the depth normal to slope surface and the depth in gravity direction of landslides in four types slope are proposed, the R square values are 0.862 to 0.891 showing a good correlation between two types of depth.