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Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
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Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology; 2005; v. 38; issue.3; p. 301-304;
DOI: 10.1144/1470-9236/04-077
© 2005 Geological Society of London

Photo Feature

The impact of landslides and debris flows triggered by Typhoon Mindulle in Taiwan

H. Chen1 & D.N. Petley2

1 1Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, Taiwan (e-mail: hchen@ntu.edu.tw)
2 2International Landslide Centre, Department of Geography, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK (e-mail: d.n.petley@durham.ac.uk)

Received for publication 9 December 2004. Accepted for publication 18 May 2005.

The first 250 words of the full text of this article appear below. Images appear only in PDF or full-text views.


   Introduction
 
The island of Taiwan is affected by an average of about four typhoons per year, most of which are accompanied by intense precipitation. This often leads to flooding and the extensive occurrence of landslides and rockfalls. Typhoon Mindulle, which passed across Taiwan in late June/early July 2004, brought unusually high levels of precipitation. In some areas, the precipitation total for the period 30th June to 4th July 2004 exceeded 2100 mm (Fig. 1), which represents over 80% of the average annual rainfall (c. 2500 mm) for these regions. The result was the occurrence of extensive floods, landslides and debris flows that led directly to 29 fatalities and property losses totalling around US$200 million. The central part of the island, which has been affected by a series of rainfall-induced events since the devastating 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, was particularly badly affected. In this short paper, we review the occurrence of some of the landslides and debris flows, with a particular focus upon the seriously-affected Tachia River catchment in central Taiwan.


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  		Fig. 1 A map showing the distribution of the total precipitation for Taiwan for the period 30th June to 4th July 2004.

 

   The physical and geological setting of Taiwan
 
The island of Taiwan has formed as a result of the ongoing collision between the Philippine Sea (oceanic) and Eurasian continental margin. Crustal convergence rates of approximately 80 mm per year have generated an atypical collision zone, in which subduction has been replaced by a phase of mountain building (Yu et al. 1997). The result . . . [Full Text of this Article]