干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The Tien Shan is an intracontinental mountain system similar to 1500 km long and up to 500 km wide that formed between the Tarim Basin and the Kazakh Shield due to the India-Asian collision. It is shared by the five nations of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. As one of the highest and most seismotectonically active parts of the Central Asian Mountain Belt, it is extremely prone to large rock-slope failures. At least nine rock slope failures >1 km(3) in volume,two of which involved similar to 10 km(3), have been identified in the Tien Shan. Thanks to an arid climate many of these formerly river-blocking rockslides and long-runout rock avalanches are well preserved, and both their morphology and internal structure may be readily studied in detail. Here we briefly describe the state-of-the-art and planned future international collaborations in research on rock-slope failures in the Tien Shan.