Special Issue on Recent Progress on Geological Hazards in China's Loess Plateau and Yellow River Basin

The Loess Plateau, encompassed by the middle reaches of the Yellow River, is one of the areas with the most serious soil erosion, fragile ecological environments and high geological hazards in China. In particular, the landslides induced by earthquakes, rainfall and human activities have caused serious damage to the society, economy and environment of this vast region. For example, the landslides triggered by the 1920 Haiyuan M8.5 earthquake directly killed around 100,000 people. In 1983, a big landslide at Saleshan, Gansu Province, caused more than 200 deaths and destroyed hundreds of hectares of farmland. Meanwhile, the landslides induced by human activities in Heifangtai of Gansu Province, the southern tableland of Jingyang and northern tableland of Baoji in Shaanxi Province, have seriously threatened the lives and property of local residents. There are a large number of potential geological hazards in the valley areas of the Yellow River in Shaanxi Province and Shanxi Province, which impact the implementation of major national programmes, especially the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “High Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin”.

In recent years, scientific researchers and engineering experts have conducted many studies on the mechanisms, monitoring and early warning technology, risk assessment methods and engineering treatment measures of geological hazards in the Loess Plateau and the Yellow River Basin, leading to remarkable achievements in the prevention and control of hazards. This special issue aims to summarise these research results and present latest progress.

Topics Covered:

Themes will include, but won’t be limited to:

• The remote sensing-based identification of historical and ancient landslides in the Loess Plateau.
• The quantitative analysis of mechanism, dynamic process, impact intensity and risk assessment of landslides in Loess areas.
• The development and application of new technologies for Loess landslide monitoring and early warning.
• The emergency response, emergency rescue and engineering control of Loess landslides.
• Application of high and new technologies in prevention, reduction and relief of Loess landslides.
• Relationships between major factors such as earthquakes, rainfall and human activities and Loess landslides.
• Geological hazards and their environmental effects in the Loess Plateau and Yellow River Basin.
• Reviews of studies on geological hazards in the Loess Plateau and Yellow River Basin.

Important Deadlines:

• Submission deadline: 30 September 2021

Submission Instructions:

Please read the Guide for Authors before submitting. All articles should be submitted online; please select “VSI: Recent Progress on Geological Hazards in China's Loess Plateau and Yellow River Basin” on submission.

Guest Editors:

• Associate Professor Zhou Zhao, College of Geology and Environment, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, China. Email: zhaozhou@xust.edu.cn
• Professor Genlong Wang, Xi'an Center of Geological Survey, China Geological Survey, Ministry of Natural Resources of People's Republic of China, China. Email: wang2006@mail.iggcas.ac.cn
• Associate Professor Yulong Cui, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Science and Technology, China. Email: ylcui@aust.edu.cn
• Associate Professor Yanbo Cao, School of Geology Engineering and Geomatics, Changan University, China. Email: caoyanbo@chd.edu.cn
• Associate Professor Xingang Wang, State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Department of Geology, Northwest University, China. Email: xgwang@nwu.edu.cn
• Lecturer Dr. Yi Zhang, School of Earth Sciences, Lanzhou University, China. Email: zhangyigeo@lzu.edu.cn
• Research Professor Chong Xu, National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, China. Email: xc11111111@126.com; chongxu@ninhm.ac.cn