J. Mt. Sci.
(2011) 8: 544550
DOI: 10.1007/s11629-011-2128-1
Analysis of Landslide Dam Geometries
KUO Yu-Shu*, TSANG Yun-Chung, CHEN Kun-Ting, SHIEH Chjeng-Lun
Department of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering, National Cheng-Kung University, Chinese Taipei, 70101
* Corresponding author, e-mail: kuoyushu@mail.ncku.edu.tw
Science Press and Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011
Abstract: The geometry of a landslide dam is an
important component of evaluating dam stability.
However, the geometry of a natural dam commonly
cannot be obtained immediately with field
investigations due to their remote locations. A rapid
evaluation model is presented to estimate the
geometries of natural dams based on the slope of the
stream, volume of landslides, and the properties of
the deposit. The proposed model uses high resolution
satellite images to determine the geometry of the
landside dam. These satellite images are the basic
information to a preliminary stability analysis of a
natural dam. This study applies the proposed method
to two case studies in Taiwan. One is the earthquake-
induced Lung-Chung landslide dam in Taitung, and
the second is the rainfall-induced Shih-Wun landslide
dam in Pingtung.
Keywords: Landslide dam; Geometries; Stability
Introduction
Landslides are a frequent natural hazard in
Taiwan, where they result from an earthquake or a
rainfall event. The landslide dam serves to block
river flow, storing water behind the dam, and
forming a landslide lake. The lifespan of a landslide
dam ranges from less than a day to several years.
The stability of the dam is the main factor that
determines the lifespan of the dam. This study
Received: 30 January 2011
Accepted: 20 May 2011
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proposes a rapidly-applied algorithm to analyze the
geometry of a landslide dam and the stability of the
dam using satellite images. The proposed
algorithm provides useful information for
preparing emergency evacuation plans at the early
stages of dam formation.
When a landslide dam fails due to dam
breaching and erosion by an overflow stream, the
material in the dam and the released water surge
can lead to catastrophic downstream flooding. The
flooding endangers downstream properties,
residential homes and the local population.
Therefore, rapid evaluation of dam stability is very
important.
Knowledge of the geometry of the landslide
dam is essential for determining its stability. The
geometry is affected by geological conditions,
particle size, landslide type, and terrain. The
locations of landslides are usually in mountainous
areas, which are not easy to reach during and
shortly after the landslide event. Rapid analysis of
all information regarding the landslide and its
stability are crucial to the safety of downstream
areas.
1 Existing Methods for Analyzing the
Geometry of the Landslide Dam
Landslide dam stability is highly correlated
with its geometry, typically found by field
observation. Due to the location of landslide dams
 J. Mt. Sci. (2010) 7: 544550

in mountainous areas, a lack of field observations The Takahashi and Kuang (1988) model
results in insufficient data for understanding obtained good results in laboratory experiments.
landslide dam geometry. The geometry of landslide However, this model assumes that the landslide
dams is usually evaluated through laboratory mass is entirely deposited in the river channel. This
experiments or numerical models. assumption is not applicable to most landslides in
Takahashi and Kuang (1988) proposed a 2D Taiwan. In addition to this assumption, the angle
landslide dam-geometry evaluation model. This of repose is related to geographic conditions,
model assumes that a landslide mass with width, W, particle size distribution, and water content in the
and volume, V, of a uniform deposit at a cross sediment. The method proposed by Takahashi and
section of the river channel. For the vertical section Kuang (1988) is also limited to evaluating a dam
along the river channel, the shape of the landslide shape for 2D cases. For 3D cases, numerical
mass body changes from rectangular to models were adopted to analyze the geometry of
parallelogram, then becomes trapezoidal or the dams formed by landslides and debris flow
triangular. Based on the assumption of constant (Hunger 1995; Hunger 2006). These numerical
volume, the geometry of a landslide dam is models can handle dams formed by composite
influenced by the quantity of the sediment mass. materials. The composite material model considers
According to lab experiments, Takahashi and Bingham flow (Sousa and Voight 1985), shear flow
Kuang (1988) claimed that the shape of the (Savage and Hutter 1989), and shear flow
landslide dam is a triangle if the sediment volume considering pore pressure (Hunger 1995) to
is greater than a critical volume Vsc and is a evaluate the geometry of the landslide dam.
trapezoid if the volume is smaller than the critical However, the proportions of the above-mentioned
volume. The critical volume Vsc is defined as: materials is determined by field investigation and
laboratory experiment. Therefore, the geometry of
2 B (W )2
Vsc = cos (1) natural dams is very difficult to evaluate when the
K dam is newly formed.
where B is the width of the river channel, K is a
parameter related to the angle of repose r and the
slope of stream : 2 The Relationship Between the
Geometry and the Causes of
cos sin(90 o + r ) (2)
K= + sin + Landslide Dams
tan( r + ) sin( r )
When the shape of the landslide dam is The major sediment sources that form
trapezoid, both angles at the bottom sides of the landslide dams are landslides from both sides of a
dam are the angle of repose r. The top length of river channel. The major causes of the landslides
the dam, LT, and the bottom length of the dam, LB, include earthquakes, precipitation, snow melt, and
are: volcano eruption. Costa and Suhuster (1988)
W V cos (3) analyzed 128 landslide dams around the world.
LB = + K According to them, fifty percent of the landslides
cos 2 BW
are induced by precipitation and snow melt and
W V cos (4)
LT = K forty percent by earthquakes. In Taiwan, Chen
cos 2BW (1999) indicated that five landslide dams have
The maximum height of the dam, Dmax, is: occurred at Tsao-Ling, including three that were
2V earthquake-induced and two that were rainfall-
Dmax = (5)
induced. A major earthquake on September 21st,
B( LB + LT )
1999 resulted in the formation of ten landslide
When the shape of the landslide dam is dams.
triangular, the bottom length of the dam is: For rainfall-induced landslide dams, the
1 strength of the sediment material is reduced due to
V 2 W V sin the increased water content. These dams are
LB = + sc K (6)
Vsc cos 2 BW composed of non-cohesive material and tend to fail

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J. Mt. Sci. (2010) 7: 544550

soon after formation. Most dams fail because the

water behind overflows and erodes the spillway
that drains the lake (Casagli et al. 2003; Ermini
and Casagli 2003; Tabata and Mizuyama 2002;
Hyndman and Hyndman 2008). Table 1 shows that
the failure percentage of the dams formed by
rainfall-induced landslides is much higher than for
the dams formed by earthquake-induced landslides.
Chen and Hsu (2009) and Chen et al. (2010)
studied landslide cases in Taiwan and indicated
that the height of rainfall-induced landslide dams
is lower than the height of earthquake-induced
landslide dams (Figure 1).

Table 1 The failure of earthquake-induced and Figure 2 The relationship between the slope of the
rainfall induced landslide dams stream and the angle of the dam in downstream direction
Landslide Dam Rainfall- Earthquake- for earthquake-induced and rainfall-induced dams
Type induced induced
Not Failure (%) 18 43
Failure (%) 82 57
Source: Casagli et al. (2003); Tabata and Mizuyama (2002)

Figure 3 The relationship between the slope of the

stream and the angle of dam in the upstream direction
for earthquake-induced and rainfall-induced dams

Figure 1 The relationship between the height and the

volume of the dam for earthquake-induced and
rainfall-induced dams

Based on the analyses of landslide dams in

Taiwan, a linear relationship between the slope of
the stream, , and the angle of the dam in a
downstream direction d is shown in Figure 2.
However, this relationship is not observed
upstream (Figure 3). The angle of the dam in the
upstream direction can be estimated using the
regression curve obtained between the slope of the
Figure 4 The relationship between the slope of the
stream and the deposition angle of the dam in the stream and the ratio of the angle of the dam in
downstream direction (Figure 4). upstream direction to downstream direction

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 J. Mt. Sci. (2010) 7: 544550

3 Rapid Evaluation of Landslide When satellite images are not available, d can
Dam Geometry be approximated using the regression shown in
Figure 2. The relationship is:
Based on field investigations of landslide dams d = 1.2 + 1.7 (8)
in Taiwan, a landslide dam can be triangular or
The height of the dam Hd and the length of the
trapezoidal. This study first focuses on triangular
downstream part at the bottom of the dam, Ld, can
dams, and Figure 5 illustrates a triangular dam and
be expressed as:
the parameters used in this study.
When a landslide dam is formed field H d = H cos l sin (9)
measurements are unavailable. Satellite images can l
provide information for determining the Ld = + H d tan (10)
characteristic length of dam, l , in the downstream cos
direction. A problem with satellite images is that a If the landslide dam forms a reservoir and
landslide dam may breach or deform before a stores water, the location of point C is not available
current image is taken or made available for study. from satellite images. Therefore, Ld cannot be
In addition, the length of the dam in the upstream calculated from satellite images. As can be seen in
direction, Lu, is difficult to determine from a Figure 4, u can be calculated using the relationship
satellite image because point C (Figure 5) is between u and d.
beneath the water stored in the upstream lake. To u
obtain the geometry of the dam, the characteristic = 2.78e 0.17 (11)
height, H, can be obtained by comparing the
d
position of the collapsed mass deposited along the where d is obtained from equation (7). With
river sides from satellite images and from a equation (11), Lu can be calculated using the slope
topographic map. The slope of the stream, , can be of the stream, , and the height of the dam, Hd.
obtained using satellite images and a historical
Hd
topographic map. Lu = (12)
tan( + u )
The proposed algorithm is for rapid analysis of
the geometry of the landslide dams. The geometry
can provide important information for the stability
of the dams. The following case studies show
examples of how the proposed algorithm yields the
dam parameters.

4 Case Study

4.1 Earthquake-induced landslide dam

Lung-Chung landslide dam, formed at Taitung,

Taiwan on July 16th, 2006, was induced by an
earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on the Richter scale.
The landslides occurred on the right side of the
Figure 5 Illustration of a triangle landslide dam river (Figure 6). The volume of the dam was about
600,000 cubic meters. The collapsed mass
remained partially on the right hand side of the
From triangle geometry, the angle of dam in
river channel. The lake volume at full water level
downstream direction, d, is:
was estimated as 800,000 cubic meters. On July
H
d = tan 1 (7) 25th, the landslide dam overflowed from the south-
l east side because of precipitation with Typhoon

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Kaemi. To lower the water level, construction was
performed at the site of the spillway in November,
2007. The height of the spillway was lowered by 5
meters. A second construction was performed in
April, 2008 and the height was lowered by an
additional 10 meters. After that, on-site
measurement shown on Figure 7 was performed in
September, 2008. The height of the Lung-Chung
landslide dam is approximately 35 meters, and the
length is about 500 meters.
Figure 6 Lung-Chung landslide lake
Figure 7 Comparison between field measurement
and calculated elevation profile of Lung-Chung Dam
With geometric evaluation of landslide dams
using satellite images and topographic maps, the
following parameters are obtained: H=53.7m, l =
358 m, and = 3.5o. Equations (7), (9), (10), (11),
and (12) are used to obtain d = 8.5o, Hd = 31.7 m,
Ld = 360.6 m, u = 13o, and Lu = 103.7 m,
respectively. Figure 7 shows the comparison of the
dam geometry obtained from the field
measurement and the proposed algorithm. The
548
result shows that the proposed algorithm provides
a good estimation of dam geometry.
4.2 Rainfall-induced landslide dam
The Shih-Wun landslide dam, Pingtung,
Taiwan, was induced by heavy rainfall from
Typhoon Morakot. The landslide moved in a
direction parallel to the bedding of the dip slope
and blocked the river. The material of the landslide
dam is metamorphic sandstone, shale, and slate.
Due to the overflow with the typhoon rainfall, the
existing dam has a height of 20 m, and the width of
the spillway is 15 m. The catchment area is 3,315.7
ha and the water depth is about 15 m. The distance
to the closest residential community is 27
kilometers.
Figure 8 shows the Shih-Wun landslide dam.
The locations of A and B were identified using
satellite images from Formosa-2. Based on these
satellite images, the following parameters are
obtained: l = 500m, H = 58 m, and = 1.4.
Then equations (7), (9), (10), (11), and (12) are used
to obtain d = 6.62, Hd = 45.8 m, Ld = 501.3 m, u
= 14.5, and Lu = 157.97 m, respectively. Figure 9
shows the comparison of the dam geometry
obtained between the field measurement and the
proposed algorithm. The result shows that the
proposed algorithm provides a good estimation of
dam geometry.
Figure 8 Shih-Wun landslide lake
4.3 Stability analysis of the landslide dams
Ermini and Casagli (2003) proposed a
dimensionless blockage index (DBI) using
 J. Mt. Sci. (2010) 7: 544550

geomorphic variables dam height (Hd), watershed

area (Ab), and dam volume (Vd) to evaluate the
stability of a landslide dam.
A Hd
DBI = log b
Vd (13)
If DBI is larger than 3.08, the dam is classified
as unstable. If DBI is smaller than 2.75, the dam is
classified as stable. If DBI has a value between 3.08
and 2.75, the stability of the dam is uncertain.
According to the definition of DBI, the areas of
catchment of Lung-Chung and Shih-Wun dam (Ab) Figure 9 The comparison between field measurement
are 12,000,000 m2 and 33,157,000 m2, respectively. and calculated elevation profiles of the Shih-Wun
The volume of the dam (Vd) is calculated using the Landslide Dam
area of the calculated triangle times the width of
the river. The width of the river at Lung-Chung
dam and Shih-Wun dam are 64 m and 170 m,
respectively. The volume of the dam is 470,986 m3
for the Lung-Chung dam and 2,566,538 m3 for the
Shih-Wun dam. The DBIs of the Lung-Chung
landslide dam and Shih-Wun landslide dam are
2.91 and 2.77, respectively. The values of DBI for
both cases are located in the uncertain range
(Figure 10).

5 Conclusion

Landslide lakes produce a common natural

hazard in Taiwan. Due to the location of the dams,
geometry data is usually unavailable when the
dams are newly formed. This data insufficiency
results in difficulty for evaluating the stability of
the landslide dam. This study analyzed landslide
dam data in Taiwan and obtained the regression
Figure 10 Stability analyses of the landslide dams
relationship between the slope of the stream and
the angle of the dam in the upstream and
downstream directions. The characteristic heights Acknowledgements
and lengths of the dams in the downstream
direction were obtained from the satellite images This study was supported by National Science
and a topographic map. The proposed algorithm Council, Taiwan, China. The project name is
can provide a rapid analysis of the geometry of the Numerical Approach to Estimate the Stability and
landslide dam. The proposed algorithm, applied to Deformation Response of Landslide Dams (NSC
an earthquake-induced landslide dam and a 99-2625-M-006-004) and Modeling of The
rainfall-induced landslide dam, show its accuracy Compound Disaster in Hsiaolin Village (NSC 99-
and the applicability. 2218-E-006-238).

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