Chinese scientists have found a new way to effectively monitor possible landslides, according to the first international academic meeting on environment and engineering physical geography, which opened Tuesday in Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province.

Dr. Li Zhenyu, with China Geological University, applied nuclear magnetic resonance to monitoring the landslide-prone massifs and achieved good results.

Landslides, a serious geological disaster, have been found by the scientists to be mainly caused by ground water activity.

Nuclear magnetic resonance, a new way to directly find water resources, can be used to confirm if the water source exists and the location and quantity of the water layer without drilling into the earth.

Information on location, depth and scope of the landslide section then can be further confirmed, offering an evaluation on its stability and scientific proofs for handling or preventing possible disasters.

From 2001 to 2003, Dr. Li and his colleagues monitored the Zhaoshuling Massif located in Badong County of Hebei Province and drew the same conclusion, that it was stable, as that made from drilling.

Wang Jiaying, chairman of the meeting, said it was the first time to apply the technology to monitoring massifs in physical geography field, though it has been widely used in medical science.

The technology has been also used in monitoring environmental pollution of ground water, leakage on dams and detecting ground water.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2004)