Introduction
On February 18, 1911, a strong earthquake in Pamirs (Tajikistan) caused a catastrophic failure of about 2.2 km3 (six billion tons) of rock (Figure 1) and resulted in the formation of the Usoi landslide dam named after the small village buried by the landslide. Fifty eight inhabitants lost their lives in this event. The Usoi landslide located at 38°16.5′N, 72°36′E is the world’s largest non-volcanic landslide ever recorded in historical times. Despite the remoteness and inaccessibility of the site, Russian researchers performed their first studies of this feature soon after the event (Bukinich, 1913; Shpilko, 1915; Preobrajensky, 1920). Regular studies started in the 1960s (Sheko and Lekhatinov, 1970; Agakhanjanz, 1989).
Headscarp of the Usoi landslide.
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
Bibliography
Agakhanjanz, O. E., 1989. Sarez. Leningrad: Leningrad Press, pp. 110 (in Russian).
Alford, D., and Schuster, R. L., 2000. Introduction and summary. In Alford, D., and Schuster, R. L. (eds.), Usoi Landslide Dam and Lake Sarez. An Assessment of Hazard and Risk in the Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. ISDR Prevention Series, No 1. New York/Geneva: UN, pp. 1–18.
Bukinich, D. D., 1913. Usoi earthquake and its consequences. Russian Gazette, No. 187 (in Russian).
Gaziev, E., 1984. Study of the Usoi landslide in Pamir. In Proceedings of 4th International Symposium on Landslides, Toronto, Vol. 1, pp. 511–515.
Hermanns, R. L., Niedermann, S., Ivy-Ochs, S., and Kubik, P. W., 2004. Rock avalanching into a landslide-dammed lake causing multiple dam failure in Las Conchas valley (NW Argentina) – evidence from surface exposure dating and stratigraphic analyses. Landslides, 1, 113–122.
Ischuk, A. R., 2011. Usoi rockslide dam and Lake Sarez, Pamir mountains, Tajikistan. In Evans, S. G., Hermanns, R., Scarascia-Mugnozza, G., and Strom, A. L. (eds.), Natural and Artificial Rockslide Dams. New York/London: Springer. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, Vol. 133, pp. 423–440.
Preobrajensky, J., 1920. The Usoi landslide. Geological Communications, Papers on Applied Geology, 14, 21 (in Russian).
Schuster, R. L., 2002. Usoi landslide dam, southeastern Tajikistan. In Proceedings of International Symposium on Landslide Risk Mitigation and Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Kyoto, pp. 489–505.
Sheko, A. I., 1968. The Usoi blockage stability and the Lake Sarez breach assessment. Bulletin of Moscow Nature Investigation’s Society, Geological Section, 4, 151–152 (in Russian).
Sheko, A. I., and Lekhatinov, A. M., 1970. Current state of the Usoi blockage and tasks of future studies. In Materials of Scientific-Technical Meeting on the Problems of Study and Forecast of the Mudflows, Rockfalls and Landslides, Dushanbe, pp. 219–223 (in Russian).
Shpilko, G. A., 1915. New data on the Usoi blockage and the Sarez Lake. Proceedings of the Turkestan Department of Russian Geographical Society, 11, 11–17 (in Russian).
Zaninetti, A., 2000. Monitoring and early warning system. In Alford, D., and Schuster, R. L. (eds.), Usoi Landslide Dam and Lake Sarez. An Assessment of Hazard and Risk in the Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. ISDR Prevention Series, No 1. New York/Geneva: UN, pp. 63–72.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this entry
Cite this entry
Strom, A. (2013). Usoi Landslide and Lake Sarez. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_46
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_46
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-8699-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4399-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences