Controls of earthquake faulting style on near field landslide triggering: The role of coseismic slip

Abstract We compare the spatial distributions of seven databases of landslides triggered byMw=5.6–7.9 earthquakes, using distances normalized by the earthquake fault length. We show that the normalized landslide distance distributions collapse, i.e., the normalized distance distributions overlap whatever the size of the earthquake, separately for the events associated with dip‐slip, buried‐faulting earthquakes, and surface‐faulting earthquakes. The dip‐slip earthquakes triggered landslides at larger normalized distances than the oblique‐slip event of Loma Prieta. We further identify that the surface‐faulting earthquakes of Wenchuan, Chi‐Chi, and Kashmir triggered landslides at normalized distances smaller than the ones expected from theirMw ≥ 7.6 magnitudes. These results support a control of the seismic slip (through amplitude, rake, and surface versus buried slip) on the distances at which landslides are triggered. In terms of coseismic landslide management in mountainous areas, our results allow us to propose distances at which 95 and 75% of landslides will be triggered as a function of the earthquake focal mechanism.