| The middle reaches of the Jinsha river are one of the most typical regions for paleo-landslide-dammed river-outburst flood disaster chains in southwest China. Exploring the development characteristics, and genesis of such disasters holds significant enlightenment for modern regional disaster prevention and mitigation. Based on methods including literature analysis, field investigation, remote sensing interpretation, and geochronological dating, it is revealed that multiple phases of relics of the "giant landslide→paleo-dammed lake→outburst flood" disaster chain exist in the Fengke-Longkaikou reach of the middle Jinsha river. Among these, the well-preserved thick-bedded paleo-dammed lake in the Fengke valley developed approximately 556–269 kyr ago, breached after ~269 kyr, and persisted for nearly 300 kyr. The landslide dam is inferred to be the Guoshi giant paleo-landslide located on the active Lijiang-Xiaojinhe fault zone. Comprehensive analysis indicates that the distribution of Quaternary paleo-dammed lakes and giant landslide dams in the middle Jinsha river shows a close spatial correlation with the major regional active fault zones. This suggests that frequent strong earthquakes may have been the primary trigger for the "giant landslide→paleo-dammed lake→outburst flood" event chains during the Quaternary in the Shigu-Taoyuan reach of the main Jinsha river channel. The key to preventing such disasters lies in the scientific prediction and risk mitigation of the formation and occurrence of extra-large landslide dams at the intersections of active fault zones and the main Jinsha river. |