We investigate the rupture process of the 25 April 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Mw = 7.9) using a kinematic joint inversion of teleseismic waves, strong motion data, high-rate GPS, static GPS, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. The rupture is found to be simple in terms of coseismic slip and even more in terms of rupture velocity, as both inversion results and a complementing back projection analysis show that the main slip patch broke unilaterally at a steady velocity of 3.1–3.3 km/s. This feature likely contributes to the moderate peak ground acceleration (0.2 g) observed in Kathmandu. The ~15 km deep rupture occurs along the base of the coupled portion of the Main Himalayan Thrust and does not break the area ranging from Kathmandu to the front. The limitation in length and width of the rupture cannot be identified in the preearthquake interseismic coupling distribution and is therefore discussed in light of the structural architecture of the megathrust.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/2015GL066044

Rupture process of the Mw = 7.9 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Nepal): Insights into Himalayan megathrust segmentation

Rupture process of the Mw7.9 2015 Gorkha earthquake (Nepal): insights into Himalayan megathrust segmentation

A global slope unit-based method for the near real-time prediction of earthquake-induced landslides

Electrical resistivity imaging is a widely used tool in near surface geophysical surveys for investigation of various geological, environmental and engineering problems including landslide. In this study, an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey was conducted in a landslide area, located in the Soke district of Aydin, Turkey. In 2003, the Neogene-aged units on the slope next to a newly built school building became unstable due to an excavation work and moved after a heavy rainfall. The resulting landslide partly covered the school. The authors carried out a 2-D resistivity survey along three profiles over the landslide mass using a Wenner configuration. It yielded useful information about the geometry and characteristics of the landslide. In addition, a 2-D synthetic resistivity modelling study was carried out to understand the response of the resistivity method to a landslide problem before the field surveys. Eight boreholes were also drilled in the landslide area. Both the drilling and resistivity results indicated the presence of a fault in the site. Also, the resistivity data from the line measured along the axis of the landslide revealed the surface of rupture.

Application of electrical resistivity tomography technique for investigation of landslides: a case from Turkey

Summary statistics derived from the frequency–area distribution (FAD) of inventories of triggered landslides allows for direct comparison of landslides triggered by one event (e.g. earthquake, rainstorm) with another. Such comparisons are vital to understand links between the landslide‐event and the environmental characteristics of the area affected. This could lead to methods for rapid estimation of landslide‐event magnitude, which in turn could lead to estimates of the total triggered landslide area. Previous studies proposed that the FAD of landslides follows an inverse power‐law, which provides the basis to model the size distribution of landslides and to estimate landslide‐event magnitude (mLS), which quantifies the severity of the event. In this study, we use a much larger collection of earthquake‐induced landslide (EQIL) inventories (n=45) than previous studies to show that size distributions are much more variable than previously assumed. We present an updated model and propose a method for estimating mLS and its uncertainty that better fits the observations and is more reproducible, robust, and consistent than existing methods. We validate our model by computing mLS for all of the inventories in our dataset and comparing that with the total landslide areas of the inventories. We show that our method is able to estimate the total landslide area of the events in this larger inventory dataset more successfully than the existing methods. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.4359

An updated method for estimating landslide-event magnitude

The 2015 Gorkha Nepal earthquake caused tremendous damage and loss. To gain valuable lessons from this tragic event, an earthquake damage investigation team was dispatched to Nepal from 1 May 2015 to 7 May 2015. A unique aspect of the earthquake damage investigation is that first-hand earthquake damage data were obtained 6 to 11 days after the mainshock. To gain deeper understanding of the observed earthquake damage in Nepal, the paper reviews the seismotectonic setting and regional seismicity in Nepal and analyzes available aftershock data and ground motion data. The earthquake damage observations indicate that the majority of the damaged buildings were stone/brick masonry structures with no seismic detailing, whereas the most of RC buildings were undamaged. This indicates that adequate structural design is the key to reduce the earthquake risk in Nepal. To share the gathered damage data widely, the collected damage data (geo-tagged photos and observation comments) are organized using Google Earth and the kmz file is made publicly available.

/pdf/the-2015-gorkha-nepal-earthquake-insights-from-earthquake-2osrszqou7.pdf

The 2015 Gorkha Nepal Earthquake: Insights from Earthquake Damage Survey

Reconnaissance report on geotechnical and structural damage caused by the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal

A large number of landslides induced by the 2004 Mid Niigata Prefecture earthquake resulted in the closure of 233 segments of national and prefectural routes in Higashiyama mountain district, and 61 localities were completely isolated. Since railway and road facilities follow closely the motion of soils, damage to these facilities has to be discussed in terms of soil deformations that they experienced. The example of Kizawa tunnel shows that even relatively small soil deformations can be large enough to cause serious cracking of tunnel lining.

Toshihiko Katagiri

Papers

The 2015 Gorkha Nepal Earthquake: Insights from Earthquake Damage Survey

Reconnaissance report on geotechnical and structural damage caused by the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake, Nepal

An example of landslide-inflicted damage to tunnel in the 2004 Mid-Niigata Prefecture earthquake

Effect of initial water content and shear stress on immersion-induced creep deformation and strength characteristics of gravelly mudstone

Effects of drained and undrained cyclic loading history on small strain shear moduli and liquefaction resistance of medium dense toyoura sand