Earthquakes, landslides, dams and reservoirs in the Tien Shan, central Asia

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of seismic and mass movement hazards affecting major Hydropower-plants (HPP) and ongoing dam projects in the mountain regions of Central Asia. HPP cascades are located along the Naryn River in the Kyrgyz Republic and the Vakhsh-Surkhob valley fault zone in Tajikistan. The latter region hosting the presently and future tallest man-made dams of the world is very prone to earthquakes and various types of slope instabilities. The Naryn Valley hosting several dam sites is marked by the presence of ancient rockslides and a dense network of seismically active faults. In December 2009, Kyrgyz, Russian, Slovak and Belgian teams have monitored seismic ground motions and displacements induced by the blasting of a slope on the Kambarata 2 site producing a 35 m-high blockage on the Naryn River. This work is part of a NATO Science for Peace and Security project on landslide dam hazards in the Tien Shan. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.