APPLIED GEOPHYSICS, Vol.13, No.1 (March 2016), P. 1-12, 10 Figures.

DOI:10.1007/s11770-016-0543-3

Landslide monitoring in southwestern China via

time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography*
Xu Dong1, Hu Xiang-Yun1, Shan Chun-Ling1, and Li Rui-Heng1
Abstract: The dynamic monitoring of landslides in engineering geology has focused on the
correlation among landslide stability, rainwater infiltration, and subsurface hydrogeology.
However, the understanding of this complicated correlation is still poor and inadequate.
Thus, in this study, we investigated a typical landslide in southwestern China via time-lapse
electrical resistivity tomography (TLERT) in November 2013 and August 2014. We studied
landslide mechanisms based on the spatiotemporal characteristics of surface water infiltration
and flow within the landslide body. Combined with borehole data, inverted resistivity models
accurately defined the interface between Quaternary sediments and bedrock. Preferential
flow pathways attributed to fracture zones and fissures were also delineated. In addition, we
found that surface water permeates through these pathways into the slipping mass and drains
away as fissure water in the fractured bedrock, probably causing the weakly weathered layer
to gradually soften and erode, eventually leading to a landslide. Clearly, TLERT dynamic
monitoring can provide precursory information of critical sliding and can be used in landslide
stability analysis and prediction.
Keywords: time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography, landslide, hydrogeophysics,
monitoring, preferential flow

Introduction
The 2008 Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake triggered
thousands of landslides in the mountains of southwestern
China and caused heavy casualties and property losses
Huang and Li, 2009; Huang et al., 2013). Geohazard
mitigation and risk assessment require the identification
of landslide-triggering mechanisms and the collection of
data before the critical sliding stage. Many researchers

have attempted to model landslides and deformation

based on multidimensional data, e.g., remote sensing
(Liu et al., 2013), GPS distortion monitoring (Benoit et
al., 2015), geophysical imaging (Guo et al., 2005; Lee et
al., 2012), and geotechnical investigation (Supper et al.,
2008).
Traditional geophysical methods for investigating
landslides are shallow seismics, ground-penetrating
radar, surface waves, and electrical and electromagnetic
methods (Bruno and Martillier, 2000; Chu et al., 2014;

Manuscript received by the Editor February 21, 2016; revised manuscript received March 12, 2016.
*This study was funded by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2013CB733203) and the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41474055).
1. Hubei Subsurface Multiscale Imaging Laboratory, Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, China University of
Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China.
Corresponding author: Hu Xiang-Yun (Email: xyhu@163.com)
2016 The Editorial Department of APPLIED GEOPHYSICS. All rights reserved.

Landslide monitoring
Perrone et al., 2004; Shan et al., 2014). Because slope
stability is mainly affected by rainwater infiltration
and runoff (Bivre et al., 2012), electrical resistivity
tomography (ERT) has been frequently used owing to
its greater sensitivity to subsurface water content and
groundwater flow, compared with wave theory based
methods (Lapenna et al., 2005; Miller et al., 2008).
Furthermore, ERT provides information on the threedimensional structure of landslides (Perrone et al.,
2014) because of multichannel instruments used in
data acquisition (Loke et al., 2013) and improvements
in computer technology and geophysical inversion
algorithms (Gunther et al., 2006; Li et al., 2014; Rucker
et al., 2006) that have increased the S/N and spatial
resolution. However, precipitation infiltration to the
slope with what kind of runoff and drainage, slope
containing water change and slide zone with holding
time of water in a series of key hydrogeological process
problems have not only spatial distribution complexity,
but also unceasingly along with the time evolution
(Lebourg et al., 2010).
Therefore, when exploring the structure of the
slope, it is essential to characterize the spatiotemporal
evolution of of precipitation (fluid flow) through the
landslide, because this is the main controlling factor
of causing landslides. In situ stationary monitoring at
drilling boreholes has been widely used in hydrological
investigations to understand the hydrological and
geological processes (Thomsen et al., 2004), but this
investigations always are constrained by a series of
factors, such as the heterogeneity of the strata, the
limitation of the point sampling survey scale and
the in situ geological environment broken by the
hydrogeological drillings (Binley et al., 2010; Binley
et al., 2015).The application of the time-lapse electrical
resistivity tomography (TLERT) method helped to
better understand complex subsurface hydrogeological
properties and processes. The method relies on the
direct observation of dynamic electrical changes.
Hydrogeophysics studies hydraulic conductivity
estimation (Hayley et al., 2009; Kuras et al., 2009;
Oldenborger et al., 2007), groundwater contamination
monitoring as well as in situ remediation (Gasperikova
et al., 2012; Revil et al., 2013), and saltwater intrusion
surveys (de Franco et al., 2009; Martorana et al., 2014).
Lebourg et al. (2005) have been reported to map the
time-dependent three-dimensional evolution of pore
water pressure in deep-seated landslides using the
TLERT method. In addition, Cassiani et al. (2009)
observed that fast vertical infiltration into the bedrock
through specific flow paths significantly affect slope
2

reactivation. The correlation between water saturation

and slope stability was deduced from time-lapse
resistivity data (Niesner, 2010). Many attempts have
been made to further develop TLERT and its applications
(Chambers et al., 2014; Hubner et al., 2015; Travelletti
et al., 2012; Wilkinson et al., 2010), but no TLERT
study has been performed in China, or in particular,
mountainous areas of southwestern China.
The main objectives of this study are to investigate the
subsurface hydrogeological environment and evolution
of landslides. We conducted high-precision surface
TLERT surveys of a landslide in southwestern China and
studied the electrical structure and geometry of sliding
surfaces. From borehole data and dynamic groundwater
analysis, we investigated the potentially preferential
flow paths of near-vertical fractured zones using timelapse electrical resistivity models and inferred landslide
mechanisms.

Geology and hydrogeology

Geological and geomorphological settings
The study area is at the left bank of the Zagunao
River in Lixian County, Sichuan Province, China. The
terrain is typically alpine with severe denudation (Qi
et al., 2010). Landslide boundaries are defined by the
topography and geomorphology, i.e., cracks and scarps,
surface deformation, and bedrock. The studied landslide
is a large-scale soil landslide that affects an area of
approximately 1402 m long and 760 m wide and slopes
between 25 and 35. The altitude difference between
the front and back areas is approximately 650 m, and the
main sliding direction is 178.
The bedrock is mainly Devonian quartz-bearing
phyllite and Holocene colluvial deposits (Su et al.,
2015). The Devonian phyllite is characterized by joints
and fissures along the bedding surface. Fissures are 0.5
2 cm wide, and fissure surfaces are smooth without
fillings. The phyllite is covered by Holocene deposits
of pebbly clays, gravelly soil, alluvium, and diluvium.
From geotechnical reports, the detailed lithologies of
these layers are given below.
1. Pebbly clays are generally plastic to strongly plastic
and consist of clays, breccia, and gravel; the amount
of clay is approximately 75%, and breccia and gravel
diameters vary from 2 mm to 20 mm.
2. The gravelly soil layer is made of silt and gravel. It
is strongly weathered, and the parent rock is phyllite. Silt
grains have diameter between 0.5 mm and 2.0 mm and

Xu et al.
are unconsolidated and granular. Gravel constitutes more
than 50%, and the diameter ranges between 10 mm and
50 mm. Gravel pores are filled with silt that is slightly
denser and of poor self-stability.
3. The Quaternary alluvial layer comprises Zagunao
River deposits and is found in the toe of the floodplain
and shore terraces. Parent rocks are phyllite and quartz
sandstone, which are moderately weathered and filled
with medium-grained sand. Here, 20100 mm pebbles
constitute more than 50% of the alluvial layer.
The joint fissures are relatively well developed in the
area. There are several bedrock outcrops in the rear side
of the landslide. The faults and large-scale joint fissures
are potential flow pathways for water infiltration and
transportation.

Meteorological and hydrogeological conditions

The study area is in the subtropical monsoon climate
zone. In winter, the precipitation is scarce and the
weather is windy. In May and June, the southwest
monsoon intensity increases the temperature and
precipitation. In July and August, the rainfall gradually
decreases and brings in the summer drought. September
and October are the months of the low-temperature rainy
season. Figure 1 shows the average monthly rainfall
distribution in Lixian Country and average annual
rainfall is about 650 mm.
The groundwater in the area can be divided into pore
water and bedrock fissure water. The former is in the
high-permeability Quaternary unconsolidated deposits.
The pore water resources are strongly affected by the
climate and atmospheric precipitation. The bedrock
fissure water flows in the weathered Devonian phyllite
and is derived from the seasonal snow melt. The surface
80

Average monthly rainfall (mm)

68.8
61.4

60

60

41.2

40

35.4

34.2

19

20

2.5

72.5

9.1

5.4

2.1

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Month

Fig.1 Average monthly rainfall in the Lixian County,

Southwestern China (Weather Bureau data).

water infiltrates the bedrock fissures forming the

underground runoff.

Electrical resistivity tomography

ERT is a geophysical prospecting method. Direct
current is injected into the ground through a pair of
electrodes and the potential difference is measured
between two different electrodes. As the electrical
conductivity is closely related to water content and
salinity in rocks and soils, it is possible to characterize
landslides with great contrast between the dry bedrock
and the wet overlying layers. The surface water
infiltrates and migrates in the subsurface along fracture
zones, fissures, or faults; thus, the spatial distribution of
the fracture networks in the slope and hard rock as well
as the seepage field characteristics can be deciphered
from monitoring the resistivity variations (Miller et al.,
2008). To figure out the temporal landslide features, it is
essential to implement a long-term monitoring system
and then assess the landslide potential.
We set up three geoelectrical profiles (Line 1, Line
4, and Line 5) across several fissures and scarps on the
landslide (Figure 2b). In November 2013 and August
2014, The ERT data is collected using the DUK-2
system developed by the Chongqing Geological
Instrument Factory. Considering the rough terrain
and strong noise, we chose the Wenner configuration
because of its high antijamming capability and better
vertical resolution than other arrays (Chambers et al.,
2011; Dahlin and Zhou, 2004; Hubner et al., 2015).
The Wenner array is more suitable for this large-scale
laterally bedded landslide with deep sliding surface and
good continuity of bedrock basement. Although the
dipole-dipole array also has high horizontal resolution,
but lower vertical resolution, bad S/N and and lower
detecting depth.
In this study, each section has 120 electrodes at 5 m
intervals. Each section is 595 m long and is only limited
by the acquisition system of DUK-2. Because the survey
line is about 1.5 km, we needed three sections to cover
the long profile. The ground resistance between each
pair of electrodes was kept below 2k m to ensure the
quality of the apparent resistivity. Based on the statistical
analysis of the raw data, we consider that the number
of singular values is less than 1% (see Figure 3), which
satisfies the conditions for further data processing.
We used RES2DINVx64 (Loke, 2014) to inverse the
time-lapse apparent resistivity and reconstruct the true
subsurface resistivity distribution. Compared to static
geophysical inversion, the TLERT inversion scheme
considers the changes in electrical resistivity over
3

Landslide monitoring
constrained inversion decreased the artifacts and
increased stability. Similarly, for the time regularization
we can select the L1-norm, L2-norm, and Lp-norm as
well (Karaoulis et al., 2014; Kim et al., 2013; Loke et
al., 2014). In this work, the data collected in 2013 were
used as the initial model to delineate the sliding surface
and lithology. Finally, we compared the independent
inversion and the timespace-domain-constrained
inversion.

time and readily obtains time-lapse images for each

monitoring moment (Miller et al., 2008). In addition,
LaBrecque and Yang (2001) proposed the difference
inversion algorithm to invert the differences in the data.
Difference inversion can cancel the systematic errors
but the stability of the inversion is strongly affected
if the differences in resistivity are large. Hence, Kim
et al. (2009) introduced regularizations in the space
domain and time domain, and the spacetime-domain(a)

(b)
Line4

Line1
Line5

ZK05

Sou
thwe
stern

Chin
a

Lixian
BZK6
ZK06
2050

ZK09

BZK5
2000

BZK4

1975

ZK07

BZK3

1950
1925

1862.30

1900

1875

1850

BZK2

1825

1800
1775

1750

ZK08

1820.23

1725

1700

1650

1675

BZK17

1625

1724.41

1650

1650

1625

1600
1600

1575
1575

1550

BZK1

1525

1550

1525

1507.48

317

317

317

500 m

Complementary
boreholes
Existing boreholes

Fissures

ERT proles

Road

River

The scope of landslides

and major scarps

Buildings

Fig.2 (a) Location of the study area and satellite landform image. (b) Extent of the landslide; the three TLERT
profiles are shown by the black dashed lines.
Distance (m)
50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Electrode spacing (m)

0
-30
-60
-90
-120
-150

Fig.3 Pseudosection of the apparent resistivity (Line 1: 0595 m).

550

Apparent resistivtiy
(ohm-m)
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0

Xu et al.

Results
Landslide structure
From the pretreatment and multiple inversions of
the three resistivity profiles of late November 2013, we
obtained the high-precision electrical structure of the
landslide with RMS between 5% and 10%. The twodimensional inversion results clearly show the slope
stratigraphy (Figure 4a). The drilling data show that the
resistivity of the pebbly clay varies from 50 to 200 m
at 320 m. The middle part of the landslide is relatively
thick and locally it is 1020 m. However, the trailing
edge of the landslide is steep and 310 m thick. The lowresistivity intermediate layer is widely distributed with

resistivity between 10 m and 150 m and thickness

of 30 m to 55 m. This layer is thinner at the leading
edge of the landslide at 2035 m depth, whereas in the
rear it is at about 4060 m depth. The borehole data also
suggest that the middle low-resistivity gravelly soil layer
is mostly cemented by silt. The porosity of the gravelly
soil layer is higher than that of the overlying pebbly clay.
As a result, surface water may flow along the cracks,
scarps, or fracture zones (see Figure 2b and the black
solid line in Figure 4a) and accumulates. Therefore,
the intermediate layer has lower resistivity than the
shallow pebbly clay layer. The inverted resistivity of the
underlying phyllite is greater than 300 m at 2565 m
depth. Affected by the shear dislocation and extrusion
of the bedrock, the bedrock surface is either weakly or
moderately weathered, even partially broken.

Fig.4 (a) Resistivity model from the 2D ERT inversion and (b) geological interpretation of Line 1.

The lithology from the six boreholes in Line 1 and the

resistivity curves extracted from the 2D inversion model
are shown in Figure 5; the results of the ERT inversion
are basically consistent with the borehole data.However,

there are some differences between boreholes data

and the depth of bedrock surface showed in inverted
resistivity structures. The top of the bedrock is also a
sliding bed, which is sureffred by long term surface
5

Landslide monitoring

Resistivity (ohm-m)
400
600
800

1000

0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100

200

BZK17

300

400

500

200

Resistivity (ohm-m)
400
600
800

0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100

ZK07

Pebbly clay

Gravelly soil

0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100

200

Resistivity (ohm-m)
400
600
800

1000

1000

BZK2

Resistivity (ohm-m)
1000
2000

0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100

3000

Depth (m)

200

Depth (m)

100

Depth (m)

1000

ZK08

Resistivity (ohm-m)
0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100

Resistivity (ohm-m)
400
600
800

Depth (m)

200

Depth (m)

0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100

bedrock surface weakly weathered layer well developed,

and bedrock fissure flow also effects the formation
resistivity, so the bedrock top is covered in part by the
low resistivity layer.

Depth (m)

water infiltration and fissure water runoff, leading to

sliding surface softening and masking the bedrock top.
The inversion results from measurements show the
low- and high- resistances interface is slightly deeper
than the bedrock surface drilled. That is because the

ZK06

Phyllite

Inferred sliding surface

BZK06

Inferred weak-weathered surface

Fig.5 Resistivity curves from the 2D inversion results and borehole data.

In Figure 5, the red dashed line is the inferred depth

of the potential sliding surface, and the blue dashed
line is the interface of the weakly weathered bedrock
surfaces. It is noteworthy that there is a high-resistivity
layer in the shallow part of the posterior landslide
(ZK06 and BZK6) owing to the gravel layer used in
road and building construction. Integrating the electrical
resistivity models with geological data, we obtain the
geological framework of the landslide (Figure 4b). The
red solid line marks the interface between the bedrock
and Quaternary sediments that serves as the sliding
surface, and this is consistent with the microtremor
survey method (MSN) results of Su et al. (2015). The
locally uplifted bedrock disrupts the sliding surface
and creates many secondary sliding surfaces and water
accumulation zones. This gives the sliding surface a
step-like shape of a typical bedding plane landslide.
Figure 6 shows the 2D inversion results of the three
profiles in quasi 3D, and the potential sliding surface is
6

pointed out. The line spacing of three profiles is about

150 m, with different topographic conditions, buildings,
and human activity, which effects data acquisition to a
certain extent. These inversion results show variations
of the sliding surfaces in lithology and its geometry. The
boreholes data confirm that the thickness of sliding body
varies from 25 to 65 m. The depth of the sliding surface
on both sides is slightly less than the middle part on the
whole. As shown in the figure, the bedrock fluctuation
is a little severe at different positions and there are some
secondary sliding surface in every lines.

TLERT inversion
In Figure 7, it is clear that the electrical resistivity
structure inverted from the August 2014 data is similar
to the November 2013 data, as well as geometry
delineation of the sliding surface. However, there are
several locally strong resistivity variations, such as high
resistivity distribution in the rear of Line 1, resistivity

Xu et al.

ZK06

ZK07
3.5
53.2
55.2

Line 4

ZK08
7
BZK1 3.9.6
3 276.5
3
23.7

3.6
52.0
59.1

BZK6
6.0
63.7

BZK2
20.8
37.9
41

Line 1

Line 5

Resistivity (ohm-m)
0

200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000

Fig.6 2D ERT inversion images of the three profiles in quasi 3D view.

increasing in shallow parts and decreasing in deep layers.

Thus, we first calculate the changes in the inverted
resistivity using the November data as the initial model
(Figure 7). The shallow top (010 m) of the landslide is
clearly visible with a string of bead-shaped resistivity
anomalies that are probably linked to the temperature

data in Figure 8. In early August the average maximum

temperature is about 30 C, whereas during the late
November acquisition the weather has deteriorated and
the average temperature is 10 C. In August, the nearsurface evaporation is high and the ground dries. The
middle and bottom parts of the profiles generally show

Fig.7 TLERT independent inversion models and resistivity variations.

Landslide monitoring
the inversion results in the middle column of Figure 7.
Therefore, we believe that the middle-rear section cannot
be used for time-lapse inversion interpretation, and
also cannot be used for hydrological interpretating the
northern section of the landslide in detail. The inversion
result is to be believed for the middle and lower
section in the front of Line 1 at 0595 m, the electrical
resistivity characteristics are consistent with seasonal
factors and geological factors. Next study is the timelapse inversion. From the dry season in November to
the wet season in the summer, the resistivity decreases,
as shown in Figure 7. Apparently, the water content
strongly affects the resistivity.

small resistivity changes with some reduction locally

at the gravelly soil layer. The resistivity variations
extend to the weakly weathered bedrock, suggesting
high water content at depth, which is consistent with the
summer rainy season. According to the hydrogeological
conditions, the monthly average rainfall in August is
more than four times that of November, as shown in
Figure 1, which introduces surface water into the sliding
surface via infiltration through near-vertical fractured
zones and accumulates the water at the bottom of the
bedrock fissures. There is an exception in the middle and
rear part of Line 1 at 7001495 m, where the resistivity
is high because there is noise disturbance in the data of
the Line 1 subsection of August 2014. This is similar to
40

30

20

10

14

14

7.5

10

7
4

11/18/13 11/19/13

15

16

3
0

11/20/13
Date

Temperature (C)

30
Temperature (C)

40

November 2013
Min temperature
Max temperature
Average temperature

30
23

20

16

29
23
17

31
28
24.5

22.5

18

17

19

26
22.5
19

10
August 2014
Min temperature
Max temerature
Average temperature

2
0

11/21/13

27
23

2/14/08 3/14/08 4/14/08 5/14/08 6/14/08 7/14/08

Date

11/22/13

Fig.8 Temperature distribution in the study area.

the pore water pressure increases and the shear strength

decreases. Hence, the probability of landslides in the
rainy summer is much higher than in the fall and winter.
Finally, the lateral resistivity change at 0150 m is
likely due to the proximity to the Zagunao River, where
resistivity measurements can be effected by the water
table changing in different season. These zones are
consistent with the borehole hydrogeological monitoring
data in the west side of the BZK2 about 40 m apart and
perpendicular to the line direction (Liu et al., 2013).
Resistivity
(m)

(a)
1800
Elevation (m)

The first subsection of Line 1 (0595 m) was inversed

by the timespace-domain-constrained inversion. Figure
9c shows the resistivity change ratio of the independent
inversion method and the TLERT method. The TLERT
simultaneous inversion based on regularization provides
time and space constraints using the L1-norm and L2norm (Figures 9d and 9e), respectively. We prefer the L1norm constraint to the L2-norm constraint because of the
long-term monitoring and better edge identification of
the L1-norm (Loke et al., 2014). In addition, the major
factor affecting the resistivity in the upper part is the
shallow subsurface evaporation. There are two reduced
resistivity zones marked 1 and 2 by the elliptical dashed
lines at 3060 m depth. Zone 1 is located in the front
of the landslide accumulation zone that is rich in water
and gradually erodes. Zone 2 is below the moderately
weathered layer in phyllite and is likely produced by the
increase in water content owing to the water infiltration
in August. Furthermore, because of the increase in water
content and the infiltration into the bedrock fissures,

T1: 2013-11
Line 1 (0-595 m)

BZK2

1750

1800
1500

BZK17

1700

ZK08

3.9
3
26.6
23.7
37.5

1650
1600

20.8
37.9
41

1200
900
600
300
0

50

100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Distance (m)

Xu et al.

Fig.9 TLERT inversion results for the first subsection of Line 1 (0595 m): (a) and (b) independent inversion, (c) resistivity
changes of the differences of the two independent inverses, and (d) and (e) timespace-domain-constrained inversion using
the L1-norm and L2-norm for time regularization.

Dual-axis inclinometer data showed that the average

deformation displacement rate is higher than 2 mm/day
and in the landslide is a long-term deformation stage.

Discussions
Reliability of the TLERT results
The resolution of ERT decreases with increasing
depth; thus, the imaging sensitivity decreases. This
severely affects the quality and the reliability of the
data (Oldenburg and Li, 1999). The quality of the six
geoelectrical profiles up to 100 m depth is generally good
and the bedrock surfaces are clearly reflected. We chose
a large damping factor to suppress the noise because of
the artificial gravel layer, and the rugged and dissected
topography. Consequently, the root mean square of
the ERT inversion is approximately 10%. However,
compared with the borehole data, the resistivity models
are deemed overall reliable.
Generally, TLERT monitoring requires placing the
electrodes at the same positions at different times to avoid
artifacts. However, it is hard to find the same positions
during long-term monitoring. Thus, we consider that
slight positions changes could be ignored because they are
far less than the length scale of observations (1.5 km).
Combined with petrophysical data from on-site

experimental or laboratory data, the short-term TLERT

monitoring is capable of quantifying hydrogeological
parameters (Johnson et al., 2012; Kuras et al., 2009).
Our approach is different from that of short-term
investigations. Aiming to characterize the seasonal
variation features and assessing the stability with
respect to the landslide evolution, we performed longterm TLERT monitoring surveys. Nevertheless, it is
recommended to carry out short-term monitoring of
landslide masses. In this study, we found the strongly
deformation anomalies in landslide toe using inclinometer
data from hydrogeological borehole, that means it is
necessary for us to further carrying out four-dimensional
(3D plus time) dynamic monitoring in order to monitoring
these factors which affect landslide evolution and
triggering, such as temperature, rainfall, snowfall,
underground water level, human activities.

Landslide evolution and hydrogeological model

Guided by the established relation between the
landslide stress field and the seepage field via the timelapse electrical resistivity characteristics (Cassiani et al.,
2009), we find that the evolution of the landslide is in
agreement with the hydrogeological features in Figure
10. After the earthquake, the landslide was strongly
deformed, as many fissures, cracks, scarps, and fractured
zones developed and formed potential preferential flow
paths. Most of the recharge groundwater infiltrates the
9

Landslide monitoring
slipping mass and the local accumulation zones at the
landslide toe mainly drain as fissure water runoff in the
fractured bedrock, which probably causes the gradual
softening and erosion of the weakly weathered layer;
the surface runoff and discharge capacity decrease. The
interflow in the gravelly soil is low because of the low
infiltration replenishment from the lower permeability
overlying pebbly clay. In addition, the bedrock uplifts are
also the toes of the local secondary landslides that form
water-rich zones. Sliding beds, or moderately weathered
bedrock layers, and the landslide mass gradually deform
with time and finally collapse, completely connecting
the sliding surfaces.
Precipitation

ns
regio
r-rich
Wate

noff
ce ru
Surfa
flow
Inter

Preferential flow

connect, and soil movements are triggered. To reduce

water infiltration and increase the antisliding force,
drainage ditches, catchwater drains, and groundwater
monitoring have been used by the local government.

Conclusions
High-resolution TLERT monitoring was used to
delineate the sliding surfaces and better understand the
hydrogeology of a complex landslide in Lixian County,
Southwestern China. Based on the temporal and spatial
variations of resistivity, we coupled hydrogeological
processes and landslide instability, and assessed the
landslide mechanisms.
We used TLERT to monitor the landslide, and
combined these observations with detailed geological
and groundwater data. We believe that the TLERT
method will contribute to landslide stability analysis and
prediction as well as landslide prevention efforts.

Acknowledgements

Fractured flow

Fig.10 Hydrogeological model for the landslide mass.

Stability analysis of the landslide

There are many cracks and dislocations on the slope
that have affected the houses in the area to different
extent. The scarps and gullies in the east and west of the
landslide are strongly eroded and form the boundaries of
the slope. The landslide toe at the concave bank of the
Zagunao River is strongly affected by human activities
and the highways cuts. Thus, the creep deformation of
the slopes increases with time. Despite the vegetation in
the middle and back of the landslide, the surface water
infiltration accelerates the mass movement.
From the geoelectrical images and borehole data,
sliding surfaces are observed in the landslide toe at 30
50 m depth and after the middle part at 5060 m depth.
Owing to the bedrock uplifts and rugged terrain, the
landslide mass is in the creep deformation stage and the
landslide surfaces have not connected along bedding.
The TLERT results strongly suggest that the surface
water permeates through preferential flow paths into the
slipping mass and locally accumulates on the landslide
toe, and recharges the bedrock fissure water runoff.
As the landslide mass increases and the shear strength
decreases, the slope deforms, the sliding surfaces
10

The borehole data were supplied by the State Key

Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment
Protection (Chengdu University of Technology). We also
thank all who were involved in the ERT data acquisition.

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Xu Dong is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Geophysics

and Geomatics, China University of
Geosciences (Wuhan). He received
his B.S. from East China University of
Technology in 2013. His research interests
are electrical resistivity tomography and
hydrogeophysics.