Landslides triggered by the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake Lewis A. Owen a, ⁎ , Ulrich Kamp b , Ghazanfar A. Khattak c , Edwin L. Harp d , David K. Keefer e , Mark A. Bauer f a Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA b Department of Geography, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA c National Centre of Excellence in Geology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan d United States Geological Survey, 1711 Illinois Street, Golden, CO 80401, USA e United States Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA f United States Geological Survey, Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225, USA Received 20 November 2006; received in revised form 10 April 2007; accepted 10 April 2007 Available online 10 May 2007 Abstract The 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake triggered several thousand landslides. These were mainly rock falls and debris falls, although translational rock and debris slides also occurred. In addition, a sturzstrom (debris avalanche) comprising ∼ 80 million m 3 buried four villages and blocked streams to create two lakes. Although landsliding occurred throughout the region, covering an area of N 7500 km 2 , the failures were highly concentrated, associated with six geomorphic–geologic–anthropogenic settings, including natural failures in (1) highly fractured carbonate rocks comprising the lowest beds in the hanging wall of the likely earthquake fault; (2) Tertiary siliciclastic rocks along antecedent drainages that traverse the Hazara–Kashmir Syntaxis; (3) steep (N 50°) slopes comprising Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic rocks; (4) very steep (» 50°) lower slopes of fluvially undercut Quaternary valley fills; and (5) ridges and spur crests. The sixth setting was associated with road construction. Extensive fissuring in many of the valley slopes together with the freshly mobilized landslide debris constitutes a potential hazard in the coming snowmelt and monsoon seasons. This study supports the view that earthquake-triggered landslides are highly concentrated in specific zones associated with the lithology, structure, geomorphology, topography, and human presence. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Kashmir; Earthquake; Landslides; Himalaya 1. Introduction At 8:50 a.m. (03:50 UTC) on 8 October 2005, an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.6, located in northern Pakistan (34.493°N., 73.629°E., depth of 26 km), shook Kashmir (USGS, 2006a: Fig. 1). This was the deadliest earthquake in South Asia's recent history, with N 86,000 fatalities, N 69,000 people injured, N 32,000 buildings destroyed, and 4 million people left homeless. The earthquake triggered thousands of land- slides throughout the region in an area of N 7500 km 2 , causing »1000 fatalities, destroying roads, and disrupt- ing communications. Assessing the nature and distribu- tion of landslides and other geomorphic consequences of such an event is essential for seismic hazard mitigation, for risk assessment and management, and Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Geomorphology 94 (2008) 1 – 9 www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: Lewis.Owen@uc.edu (L.A. Owen). 0169-555X/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.04.007