Formation and failure of the Tsatichhu landslide dam, Bhutan

Dunning, Stuart, Rosser, Nicholas, Petley, David and Massey, Chris (2006) Formation and failure of the Tsatichhu landslide dam, Bhutan. Landslides, 3 (2). pp. 107-113. ISSN 1612-510X

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Abstract

At 00:30 (local time) on the 10th September 2003 a joint and foliation defined wedge of material with an estimated volume of 7–12×106 m3 slid into the narrow Tsatichhu River Valley, in Jarrey Geog, Lhuentse, eastern Bhutan. The Tsatichhu River, a north–easterly flowing tributary of the Kurichuu River, was completely blocked by the landslide. During its movement, the landslide transitioned into a rock avalanche that travelled 580 m across the valley before colliding with the opposite valley wall. The flow then moved down valley, travelling a total distance of some 700 m. The rock avalanche was accompanied by an intense wind blast that caused substantial damage to the heavily forested valley slopes. The resulting geomorphologically-typical rock-avalanche dam deposit created a dam that impounded a water volume of 4–7×106 m3 at lake full level. This lake was released by catastrophic collapse of the landslide, which occurred at 16:20 (local time) on 10th July 2004, after reported smaller failures of the saturated downstream face. The dam failure released a flood wave that had a peak discharge of 5900 m3 s−1 at the Kurichhu Hydropower Plant 35 km downstream.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	F600 Geology F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences
Department:	Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Geography and Environmental Sciences
Depositing User:	Stuart Dunning
Date Deposited:	02 May 2012 11:52
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 22:54
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/6761

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