Assistant Professor Gen Li in The Current

Large earthquakes induced widespread landslides in steep mountains. These landslides supply abundant granular materials to rivers, boosting river sediment export, but the magnitude and duration of this seismically-produced sediment pulse have remained poorly constrained. Li et al. surveyed a man-made reservoir downstream of the epicentral region of the 2008 Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake for a decade to measure post-earthquake, landslide-fueled sediment load. They found that the total river sediment load increased by six times after the earthquake whereas the riverbed sediment load increased by more than 20 times, making up ~65% of the total river sediment load. This sediment pulas has sustained for 10 years after the mainshock, causing prolonged hazards in downstream areas. 

Link to article in The Current

Photo caption: Photo taken in central China in 2015 (seven years after the 2008 Mw7.9 Sichuan earthquake), showing boulders delivered by earthquake-induced landslides being transported and deposited on the riverbed of a Yangtze River headwater that drains the mountain range shaken by the earthquake.