The classification and features of loess landslide based on risk assessment

Some researchers have classified the loess landslides in the light of geological conditions, origins, thickness, and failure mechanics. However, no researchers have made the classification according to the risk assessment requirement. This paper introduced the landslide classification methods abroad and summarized the landslide classifications in China’s mainland. On such a basis, the authors put forward the classification method for loess landslides based on the view point of risk assessment. The method considers the kinematics characteristics and the magnitude or speed of landslides comprehensively so as to form a two-dimensional classification table. According to the table, loess landslides can be divided into seven kinds, i.e., peel, topple, fall, slump, slide, mudflow, and complex. Each kind of landslides has its own characteristics of deformation and kinematics, and possesses its unique magnitude, velocity, and sliding distance; hence, its features of risk are different from those of others. In the end, the authors analyzed the different risk features of various kinds of loess landslides.