Research Progress of Landslide Dam Events of Jinsha River and Its Geomorphologic and Environmental Effects

th , 2012; revised: Dec. 16 th , 2012; accepted: Dec. 25 th , 2012 Abstract: Strong neotectonic movements and regional landscape conditions result in landslide damming events, which widely exist in Jinsha River valley. Through summarizing the study results by other researchers and the our field inves- tigations, the development processes of the landslide damming of Jinsha River and its effects on the evolution of land- scape can be described as following sequences: strong neotectonic activities and climatic anomaly events → the occur- rence of landslide blocking river → landslide dam (dammed lakes) formation → landslide dam (dammed lakes) bro- ken/collapse → river re-shaping the valley geomorphology and environments → Modern Jinsha River valley landscape formation. It is clear that most of the damming occurred in the places with developed fault structures, rich in broken matters, with step and narrow valleys, high frequency earthquakes and climate abnormal. Even most of the landslides damming events occur suddenly and without any sign and are unpredictable, but after the damming and broken of the dams, the local, even the regional landscapes, environments, climate, ecology and the geomorphological processes, geological stabilities changed completely. The mechanisms and frequencies of landslide damming are unpredictable till now, together with the damage of the existed damming relics, it is difficult to get a complete and clear picture of the landslide damming history of the river system and makes more complex and difficult to conduct a study. Therefore, a comprehensive study planning is necessary to improve our understanding of the system, as there are a lot of aspects on how, when and why the landslide damming events happen in the area need to be investigated.