Landslide disasters have occurred frequently in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) due to increased agricultural irrigation. To explore the spatiotemporal relationship between landslides and mechanisms at the Heifangtai terrace, the HFT irrigated area was selected as a typical case study to investigate the fundamental mechanism of the irrigation-induced landslide in the CLP. Multi-temporal remote sensing images, topographic maps, and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry data were used to investigate the evolution progress of landslides. Moreover, the evolution mechanism was discussed through topographic analysis, field monitoring, and laboratory testing. The results showed that erosion, collapse, and sliding had occurred at different scales and at different locations in the past 50 years. With an average retrogressive speed of 9.6 × 10³ m² per year, the tableland decreased by 4.9 × 10⁵ m² from 1967 to 2018, accounting for about 4.5% of its total area. Over 20 landslides and collapses were extracted in the Dangchuan section in the past four years. More than 5.48 × 10⁵ m³ of loess slipped with an average volume of 381 m³ per day. The evolutionary process of the irrigation-induced landslide, which features retrogression, lateral extension, and clustering, began with local failure and ended in a series of slidings. The increase of groundwater level was a slow process, which is the reason for the lagged occurrence of the landslide. The influence of rainfall and irrigation on slope stability was greater than that of the periodic change of the groundwater level. The triggering effect of irrigation and rainfall on the landslide had a time lag due to slow loess infiltration, and the time response among irrigation, rainfall, and groundwater level was 4–6 months. Our findings provide guidance, concerning the planning and controlling of landslide disasters, which is of critical value for human and construction safety.

The structure, time-dependent mechanical deformation, and strength characteristics of loess, which is loose and porous with well-developed vertical joints, are greatly affected by the dry-wet cycles, which are attributed to periodic artificial irrigation, rainfall, and water evaporation. To better understand the creep characteristics of loess under the effect of dry-wet cycles, Q₂ loess samples obtained from the South Jingyang County, China, were subjected to different dry-wet cycles (0, 5, 10, 15, 20) and sheared in triaxial creep tests. The experimental results revealed that: firstly, the maximum value of the deviatoric stress corresponding to creep failure gradually decreases with an increase in the dry-wet cycles. Secondly, the long-term strength of the loess after dry-wet cycles were obtained through the Isochronous Curve Method. It is found that the long-term strength and the number of dry-wet cycles showed an exponential decreasing relationship. In addition, the creep damage mechanism of loess due to dry-wet cycles is proposed. This study may provide the basis for understanding the mechanical behavior of the loess under the effect of dry-wet cycles, as well as guidelines for the prevention and prediction of loess landslide stability.