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Late Cenozoic Geology of La Paz, Bolivia, and Its Relation to Landslide Activity

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Late Cenozoic Geology of La Paz, Bolivia, and Its Relation to Landslide Activity Late Cenozoic geology of La Paz, Bolivia, and its relation to landslide activity by Nicholas J. Roberts B.Sc. (Physical Geography), Simon Fraser University, 2004 M.Sc. (Earth and Environmental Sciences), University of Waterloo, 2007 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Earth Sciences Faculty of Science Nicholas J. Roberts 2016 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2016 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, education, satire, parody, criticism, review, and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Nicholas Jason Roberts Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title: Late Cenozoic geology of La Paz, Bolivia, and its relation to landslide activity Examining Committee: Chair: Doug Stead Professor John Clague Senior Supervisor Professor Reginald Hermanns Supervisor Geological Survey of Norway Bernhard Rabus Supervisor Professor Brent Ward Internal Examiner Professor Scott Burns External Examiner Professor Emeritus Department of Geology Portland State University Date Defended/Approved: April 20, 2016 ii Abstract La Paz lies in a deeply incised valley on the Bolivian Altiplano. It has experienced frequent damaging historic landslides and numerous, much larger, prehistoric landslides. I documented the Neogene and Pleistocene lithostratigrahic and magnetostratigraphic framework of La Paz, produced an inventory of recent (1995-2014) landslides, and characterized ongoing (2008-2011) slow ground motion using radar interferometry (InSAR). The upper part of the sediment sequence beneath the Altiplano is glacial in origin and fines distally away from the Cordillera Real. It records at least 15 late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene glaciations, most of which predate the oldest known North American continental glaciation. The plateau surface formed by ca. 1.0 Ma, but most likely before ca. 1.8 Ma. After that the headwaters of the Amazon River extending westward through the Cordillera Real incised the underlying sediments. The poorly lithified fill sequence is exposed in steep slopes, promoting instability. Between 1995 and 2014, La Paz experienced 43 discrete landslides and slow ongoing landslides at 13 additional locations. Landslides were most frequent late in the rainy season and generally happened after particularly wet periods weeks in length, indicating a strong hydro-meteorological control. The margins of several landslides coincide with buried culverted streams, indicating that this engineering practice reduced slope stability. InSAR results show that about one-third of slopes in La Paz are moving at rates up to ~20 cm/a. They also identify previously unknown landslides, detect hectare-scale movements of as little as ~0.5 cm/a, and indicate several distinct failure mechanisms. Many recent landslides correspond with large, creeping paleolandslide deposits, indicating that the reduced residual strength and modern activity of these deposits influences the localization of recent failures. My findings highlight aspects of slope instability in La Paz that can be used to reduce risk. Future failures are most likely to happen in previously displaced fine-grained sediments, particularly the slowly moving paleolandslides south and east of the city centre. Several key areas require detailed ground-based monitoring, particularly during the rainy season when cumulative precipitation thresholds are exceeded. The practice of burying river channels should be re-assessed, and a survey of existing culverted channels conducted. iii Keywords: Andean landscape evolution; paleomagnetism; Pliocene tropical glaciation; landslide inventory; urban landslide hazard and risk; Homogeneous Distributed Scatterer Synthetic Aperature interferometry (HDS-InSAR) iv Acknowledgements I thank Dr. John Clague for his mentorship and support throughout my degree. Working with John has greatly advanced my abilities as a scientist and writer. His passion for geoscience and its communication has inspired me. My supervisory committee provided invaluable expertise and guidance. Dr. Reginald Hermanns was instrumental in initiating this project and establishing my collaborations with Bolivian scientists. He also reminded me to always consider how my research could benefit the residents of La Paz. Dr. Bernhard Rabus’ expertise in synthetic aperture RADAR and the training he provided me was critical to my application of RADAR interferometry. His keen interest in the other aspects of my research also lead to fruitful discussions on landscape processes. In addition, Dr. Stephanie Chang (University of British Columbia) helped me to better understand the interconnections between society and natural hazards, and to consider their ramifications on land-use. I could not have completed this work without the involvement and local knowledge of my collaborators in La Paz. Mr. Marco-Antonio Guzmán (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés [UMSA]) provided crucial details on recent landslides in La Paz, particularly those predating my first field visit in 2009, and kept me apprised of new landslides as they occurred. Ms. Estela Minaya (Director of Obseravatrio San Calixto [OSC]) was instrumental in my research through discussions on various aspects of La Paz’s geology, provision of logistical support, and engagement with local decision makers. Undergraduate students from the Faculty of Geology at UMSA and the staff at OSC were valuable and eager field assistants during each of my field visits. Although not part of the initial plan for my thesis, paleomagnetism became a core part of my research because of the generous support of Dr. René Barendregt (University of Lethbridge). In additional to training in paleomagnetic theory and field sampling, René provided me with extensive use of his laboratory equipment over the last five years. Dr. Randy Enkin (Geological Survey of Canada) contributed additional expertise that was crucial to interpreting paleomagnetic results. Ms. Corinne Griffing (SFU) assisted with paleomagnetic field sampling, laboratory processing, and magnetization interpretation. v The support of Macdonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. facilitated the RADAR remote sensing component of my research. Dr. Harold Zwick and, subsequently, Mr. Christian Nadeau, granted me access to processing facilitates and in-house software. Mr. Jayson Eppler, Dr. Jayanti Sharma, Mr. Mike Kubanski and Mr. Parwant Ghuman contributed processing expertise and countless discussions on RADAR theory and applications. A variety of sources provided funding that enabled this research: NSERC (Discovery Grant to Dr. Clague and Post-graduate Scholarship to me); SFU (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship, Steel Memorial Graduate Scholarship, Emergency Preparedness Scholarship, and International Research Travel Award); American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (Robert Colwell Memorial Fellowship and Ta Liang Memorial Award); Geological Remote Sensing Group, Geological Society of London (Fieldwork Award); and the Mackenzie King Trust (Mackenzie King Open Scholarship). Finally, I thank my friends and family. My parents, Duncan and Lynda Roberts, provided encouragement and support throughout my long time as a student. Hazel Choi kept me grounded and motivated, particularly during the tough times. Hazel – thank you for all the things you have done, big and small, to help me through this. vi Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... v Table of Contents .......................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .................................................................................................................. xi List of Figures................................................................................................................ xii Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 1.1. Urbanization of the La Paz area ............................................................................. 1 1.2. Existing knowledge ................................................................................................. 7 1.3. Opportunities afforded by modern techniques ........................................................ 9 1.3.1. Paleomagnetism of sediment ..................................................................... 9 1.3.2. RADAR interferometry ............................................................................. 10 1.4. Research objectives ............................................................................................. 10 1.4.1. Thesis outline .......................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2. Late Pliocene and early Pleistocene history of the northeast Altiplano and adjacent Cordillera Real from magnetostratigraphy of the La Paz basin ...........................................
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