title: Geomorphic and geologic controls of geohazards induced by Nepal's 2015 Gorkha earthquake.
abstract: The Gorkha earthquake (magnitude 7.8) on 25 April 2015 and later aftershocks struck South Asia, killing ~9000 people and damaging a large region. Supported by a large campaign of responsive satellite data acquisitions over the earthquake disaster zone, our team undertook a satellite image survey of the earthquakes' induced geohazards in Nepal and China and an assessment of the geomorphic, tectonic, and lithologic controls on quake-induced landslides. Timely analysis and communication aided response and recovery and informed decision-makers. We mapped 4312 coseismic and postseismic landslides. We also surveyed 491 glacier lakes for earthquake damage but found only nine landslide-impacted lakes and no visible satellite evidence of outbursts. Landslide densities correlate with slope, peak ground acceleration, surface downdrop, and specific metamorphic lithologies and large plutonic intrusions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. kargel@hwr.arizona.edu dshugar@uw.edu uharitashya1@udayton.edu.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kargel
authors.affiliation: Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.affiliation: School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA. kargel@hwr.arizona.edu dshugar@uw.edu uharitashya1@udayton.edu.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Shugar
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA. kargel@hwr.arizona.edu dshugar@uw.edu uharitashya1@udayton.edu.
authors.forename: U K
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Haritashya
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Prince George, BC, Canada.
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authors.lastname: Bevington
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
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authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Fielding
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
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authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Prince George, BC, Canada.
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authors.lastname: Geertsema
authors.affiliation: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
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authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Miles
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Engineering, Federal Institute of Technology-ETH, Zurich, Switzerland.
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authors.affiliation: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA.
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authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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authors.affiliation: NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA.
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authors.affiliation: GlacierWorks, Marblehead, MA, USA.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
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authors.affiliation: The Mountain Institute, Elkins, WV, USA.
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authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Central Department of Geology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.affiliation: CVA Engineering, Suresnes, France.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
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authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA.
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authors.affiliation: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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authors.affiliation: Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Prince George, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heijenk
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
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authors.affiliation: Earthquake Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Pasadena, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: ImageCat, Long Beach, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
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authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth's Dynamics, Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.
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authors.affiliation: U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, CO, USA.
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authors.lastname: Jibson
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway.
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authors.lastname: Kääb
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
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authors.affiliation: Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA.
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authors.lastname: Kirschbaum
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
authors.forename: P D A
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Kraaijenbrink
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
authors.forename: D
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authors.affiliation: Cold and Arid Regions of Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
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authors.lastname: Shiyin
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Lv
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authors.affiliation: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.
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authors.affiliation: School of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Nan
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authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
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authors.lastname: Ojha
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Arizona Remote Sensing Center, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Cold and Arid Regions of Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
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authors.affiliation: National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Himalayan Research Center, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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authors.affiliation: Environmental and Water Resources Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
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authors.affiliation: Cold and Arid Regions of Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.
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authors.lastname: Donghui
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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authors.affiliation: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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authors.affiliation: Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India.
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authors.affiliation: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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authors.affiliation: MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates-GSI, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China.
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authors.affiliation: Geography Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA.
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authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
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authors.affiliation: College of Geographical Science and Environment, Northwest Normal University, China.
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authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
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authors.affiliation: Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.
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mesh_terms: D004190:Disasters / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055866:Earthquakes / Q000401:mortality*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D055868:Floods; D006801:Humans; D060106:Lakes; D055876:Landslides / Q000401:mortality*; D009390:Nepal; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods*; D063809:Satellite Imagery