Landslides in the Thick Loess Terrain of North-West China

A lavishly illustrated study of landslides and debris flows on theLoess Plateau of north-central China where dense rural populationand human activity has greatly increased landslide hazard.

The Loess Plateau lies in the middle reaches of the Yellow Riverand there are a number of cities housing more than a millionpeople. Landslides are triggered by heavy rainstorms andearthquakes have been a recurrent hazard in the loess terrain forover two millennia.

The contributors to this book set out with a number of goalsincluding:

* establishing the role of bedrock relief in landsliding

* studying the nature of the hydrological system within the loessslopes

* characterising the modes of failure of the loess fabric

* producing a dynamically-based classification of loesslandslides

* 'ultimately' establishing criteria for a simple warning systemfor loess slope failure, together with an advisory scheme for localpopulation response to landslide warnings.

This book includes over forty colour maps unique in their contentand coverage, showing for the first time the detailed distributionof landslides in the thick loess terrain of eastern Gansu Province,North China.