Abstract
The Japanese landslide expert team conducted landslide investigation in and around Machu Picchu Citadel since March 2000 in cooperation with the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC) and the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales (INRENA). The investigation results and the cooperation scheme between ICL and the Government of Peru are introduced.
In the past, probably a series of retrogressive landslides scraped a part of the mountain ridge of Machu Picchu slope along a shear band almost parallel to the present slope. The flat area was formed by landslides on the mountain ridge. Inca people were likely to have constructed a citadel on this flat part of mountain ridge. Landslide debris provided them weathered debris and soils possible for farming. When undercutting by river erosion reached the level of another shear band, another series of retrogressive landslides have proceeded along the shear band near or a little bit higher than the present river bed. The process was faster in the landslide block (no. 1) including the Hyram Bingham road, and delayed in the landslide block (no. 2) including the Inca’s citadel because the river erosion to the slope was stronger for block no. 1 due to sharp curvature of river route. The slope deformation affecting the citadel part is not real landslide at present, but it is a precursor stage of landslides, namely it can become to be a real landslide as the result of retrogressive development of landslides from the Urubamba River and from the block no. 1 side.
The initial slope monitoring using extensometers by the Japanese team of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute of Kyoto University (DPRI/KU) started with cooperation from INC and INRENA from November 2000. One year monitoring in 2001 was presented. After the establishment of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) and the International Programme on Landslides (IPL) in 2002, the initial cooperation agreement on Machu Picchu between the Government of Peru and DPRI/KU has developed to the cooperation between the Government of Peru and the ICL. The International Programme on Landslides (IPL) C101-1 ’Landslide investigations in Machu Picchu’ consists of six groups including Japanese, Italian, Czech-Slovakian, Peruvian-Canadian groups in 2005. The Japanese team installed new four sets of long-span extensometers, three sets of GPS receivers, a Total Station with three prism mirror targets in 2004 and started monitoring of the displacement.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bandarin F (editorial director) (2001) Rumbles at Machu Picchu. World Heritage Review, UNESCO, no. 29, 56 p
Brown JL (2001) Landslides may threaten Machu Picchu. Civil Engineering, ASCE, May 2001 issue, p 16
Carreño R, Bonnard C (1997) Rock slide at Machupicchu, Peru. Landslide News 10:15–17
Hadfield P (2001) Slip sliding away. New Scientists, Reed Business Information 169(2281):20
Hong Y, Hiura H, Shino H, Sassa K, Fukuoka H (2005) Quantitative assessment on the influence of heavy rainfall on the crystalline schist landslide by monitoring system-case study on Zentoku landslide, Japan. Landslides 2(1):31–41
Sassa K (1999) Landslides of the world. Kyoto University Press (ISBN4-87698-073-X C3051), pp 311–316
Sassa K, Fukuoka H, Shuzui H (2000) Field investigation of the slope instability at Inca’s World Heritage in Machu Picchu, Peru. Landslide News 13:37–41
Sassa K, Fukuoka H, Kamai T, Shuzui H (2001a) Landslide risk at Inca’s World Heritage in Machu Picchu, Peru. In: Proc. UNESCO/ IGCP Symposium on Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Tokyo, pp 1–14
Sassa K, Fukuoka H, Wang FW, Furuya G, Wang GH (2001b) Pilot study of landslide hazard assessment in the Imperial Resort Palace (Lishan), Xi’an, China. In: Proc. UNESCO/IGCP Symp on Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Tokyo, pp 15–34
Sassa K, Fukuoka H, Shuzui H, Hoshino M (2002) Landslide risk evaluation in the Machu Picchu World Heritage, Cusco, Peru. In: Proc. UNESCO/Kyoto University Int Symp on Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Kyoto, pp 469–488
Sassa K (2005a) Precursory stage of landslides in the Inca World Heritage site at Machu Picchu, Peru. Independent brochure for UNITWIN Programme, Education Sector of UNESCO, 4 p
Sassa K (2005b) ICL history and activities. In: Sassa K, Fukuoka H, Wang F, Wang G (eds) Landslides — Risk analysis and sustainable disaster management. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, pp 3–21 (this book)
Wright KR, Wright RM (1997) Machu Picchu: its engineering infrastructure. 37th Annual Meeting of the Institute of Andean Studies, Berkeley, Calfornia. 24 p
Wright KR, Zengarra AV (2000) Machu Picchu — a civil engineering marvel. ASCE Press, ISBN 0-7844-0444-5
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sassa, K. et al. (2005). Landslide Investigation in Machu Picchu World Heritage, Cusco, Peru (C101-1). In: Sassa, K., Fukuoka, H., Wang, F., Wang, G. (eds) Landslides. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-28680-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-28680-2_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-28664-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-28680-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)