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Geomorphic and Geologic Controls of Geohazards Induced by Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha Earthquake

Updated Date: 9/8/2020 2:03:50 PM

The Gorkha earthquake (M 7.8) on 25 April 2015 and later aftershocks struck South Asia, killing 9,000 and damaging a large region. Supported by a large campaign of responsive satellite data acquisitions over the earthquake disaster zone, our team undertook a satellite image survey of the earthquakes’ induced geohazards in Nepal and China and an assessment of the geomorphic, tectonic, and geologic controls on quake-induced landslides. Timely analysis and communication aided response and recovery and informed decision makers. We mapped 4312 co-seismic and post-seismic landslides and surveyed 491 glacier lakes for earthquake damage, but found only 9 landslide-impacted lakes and no visible satellite evidence of outbursts. Landslide densities are correlated with slope, peak ground acceleration, surface downdrop, and specific metamorphic lithologies and large plutonic intrusions.

Geomorphic and Geologic Controls of Geohazards Induced by Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha Earthquake
Schema iso19139
Purpose The largest earthquakes in this series caused a wide swath of death and destruction in Nepal and within adjacent India, China, and Bangladesh. Some mountain villages were shaken to complete destruction, buried by avalanches and landslides, or destroyed by powerful avalanche and landslide air blasts. The remote locations and blocked roads and rivers meant that ground crews could not immediately access many Himalayan valleys, and aircraft were insufficient for rapid assessment. A satellite-based approach was adopted to examine the vast damaged region. Satellite imagery was provided by NASA, DigitalGlobe, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), Planet Labs, Spot Image, and the China National Space Administration, including imagery triggered by the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters. A “Volunteer Group” of analysts from nine nations was organized by the University of Arizona under the auspices of Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initially to assess priority hazard situations and then to build a landslide inventory.
Descriptive Keyword landslides, geohazards, earthquake, servircat, icimod-servir (theme) Nepal (place)
Metadata Record Info
Language eng
Charset utf8
Hierarchy Level dataset
Date 2020-09-08T14:03:50
Standard Name North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003
Contact
Name Mr. Sudip Pradhan Email Sudip.Pradhan@icimod.org
Organization Name ICIMOD Voice
Position name Programme Coordinator - Regional Database Initiative Address
Role author
Identification Info
Title Geomorphic and Geologic Controls of Geohazards Induced by Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha Earthquake
Date 2015-11-11
Date Type publication
Abstract The Gorkha earthquake (M 7.8) on 25 April 2015 and later aftershocks struck South Asia, killing 9,000 and damaging a large region. Supported by a large campaign of responsive satellite data acquisitions over the earthquake disaster zone, our team undertook a satellite image survey of the earthquakes’ induced geohazards in Nepal and China and an assessment of the geomorphic, tectonic, and geologic controls on quake-induced landslides. Timely analysis and communication aided response and recovery and informed decision makers. We mapped 4312 co-seismic and post-seismic landslides and surveyed 491 glacier lakes for earthquake damage, but found only 9 landslide-impacted lakes and no visible satellite evidence of outbursts. Landslide densities are correlated with slope, peak ground acceleration, surface downdrop, and specific metamorphic lithologies and large plutonic intrusions.
Purpose The largest earthquakes in this series caused a wide swath of death and destruction in Nepal and within adjacent India, China, and Bangladesh. Some mountain villages were shaken to complete destruction, buried by avalanches and landslides, or destroyed by powerful avalanche and landslide air blasts. The remote locations and blocked roads and rivers meant that ground crews could not immediately access many Himalayan valleys, and aircraft were insufficient for rapid assessment. A satellite-based approach was adopted to examine the vast damaged region. Satellite imagery was provided by NASA, DigitalGlobe, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA), Planet Labs, Spot Image, and the China National Space Administration, including imagery triggered by the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters. A “Volunteer Group” of analysts from nine nations was organized by the University of Arizona under the auspices of Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initially to assess priority hazard situations and then to build a landslide inventory.
Status completed
Charset utf8
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Spatial Representation Type vector
Equivalent Scale 5000
Cited Responsible Parties
Name Dr. Jeffrey Kargel Email kargel@hwr.arizona.edu
Organization Name University of Arizona Voice 1-520-780-7759
Position name Senior Associate Research Scientist Address United States of America
Role author
Geographic Extent
Geographic Extent East 86.93142 Geographic Extent West 83.600
Geographic Extent North 28.854 Geographic Extent South 27.26191
Resource Maintenance Information
Maintenance and update frequency asNeeded
User Defined Maintenance Frequency
Date of Next Update
Legal Constraints
Use Limitation Users are permitted to copy, use, adapt, and redistribute these data. Users of these data must cite Kargel et al., 2015 (Science, doi forthcoming) in future publications or presentations.
Use Limitation The SERVIR Project, NASA, USAID and ICIMOD make no express or implied warranty of this data as to the merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Neither the US Government nor its contractors shall be liable for special, consequential or incidental damages attributed to this data.
Access Constraints copyright
Use Constraints copyright
Reference System Information
Code WGS 1984
Data Quality Info
Hierarchy level dataset
Distributor Info
Email metadata@icimod.org Organization Name ICIMOD
Voice Position name Regional Database Initiative
Address Role distributor
Transfer Option
Online Resource Landslide_Variable_Details.csv