A review on the material control of landslide dam formation

The formation of a landslide dam is strongly influenced by the properties of the source debris, yet the formation interval has received less systematic attention from a material perspective than stability and breach behavior. This review synthesizes field cases, flume experiments, and numerical simulations to develop a material-centered framework that traces key source descriptors through sequential formation stages to both macroscopic geometry and inherited internal structure, two outcomes that jointly determine how a formed dam responds to overtopping, seepage, and breach. The synthesis shows that multiple material descriptors, spanning grain size distribution, grading continuity, fines fraction, density state, and water-bearing condition, jointly regulate momentum retention, energy dissipation, blockage state, and depositional structure across the formation sequence, with their combined expression recorded in the spatial organization of the dam body. To characterize this organization in a reproducible way, directional indices are proposed that capture internal structural contrasts and serve as a reference for experimental and field studies on dam stability and breach development.