Quantifying the influence of topographic amplification on the landslides triggered by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake

Abstract Topographic amplification is caused by the interaction between seismic waves and rough terrains. It increases shaking levels on hilltops and could lead stable slopes to the brink of failure. However, its contribution to coseismic landslide occurrence is yet to be quantified over landscapes shaken by strong earthquakes. Here, we examine how topographic amplification controls the spatial distribution of landslides triggered by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake. We find that 6–17% of coseismic failures initiate due to topographic amplification. Among these, only 13% occurred in the vicinity of the rupture zone (