Abstract:

The research on development characteristics and size of landslides has a great significance to landslide risk assessment and geomorphic evolution analysis. In this paper, the Three Gorges area was selected as a study area, and landslides’development characteristics and parameters such as area, volume, thickness and size density were analyzed using GIS technology and statistical method, and the variable dimension fractal theory was used to study fractal characteristics of landslide size and geological environmental factors. The results show that the regional landslide has the spatial pattern and cluster feature for soil- and rock-type landslides, and different types of landslides have characteristics of agglomeration in the distribution and no uniformity in the size. The relations of frequency to size and frequency to velocity of landslides exhibit the power law, indicating that landslide system has the property of self-organized criticality. Furthermore,the results indicate that landslide size has the variable dimension fractal characteristics, revealing the sensitivity relationship between landslide size and geological environmental factors. The results are important to improve understanding of the development law and risk assessment of landslides.

Key words: landslide, area, volume, power law, fractal characteristic, Three Gorges area