Statistical analysis of the characteristic parameters of loess landslides at the South Jingyang Plateau

The South Jingyang Plateau is located in Shaanxi Province,China.Groundwater level in the loess plateau has been significantly raised since 1976 when the loess cover began to be artificially irrigated;more than 50 landslide events at 27 sites have occurred,which exacerbated the water and soil erosion and reduced the plateau area badly.Field survey and measurement of landslide characteristics were conducted at the South Jingyang Plateau,and the topographic features of the loess landslides,such as backscarp,cracks and angle of reach,were then statistically analyzed.The following conclusions can be reached: ① the upper vertical part at landslide backscarp was controlled by the thickness of the Malan loess（Q3） and the steep backscarp was an important aspect for loess landslide evolution in the study area;② the scale of cracks developed at the edge of loess plateau is small but indicated the high risk of loess landslide in the study area;③ the angle of reach is a suitable parameter for differentiating long-runout and short-runout landslides in the study area and has some application potentials in landslide runout forecast and hazard zoning.