GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping with probabilistic likelihood ratio and spatial multi-criteria evaluation models (North of Tehran,Iran)

The aim of this study is to produce landslide susceptibility mapping by probabilistic likelihood ratio (PLR) and spatial multi-criteria evaluation (SMCE) models based on geographic information system (GIS) in the north of Tehran metropolitan, Iran. The landslide locations in the study area were identified by interpretation of aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys. In order to generate the necessary factors for the SMCE approach, remote sensing and GIS integrated techniques were applied in the study area. Conditioning factors such as slope degree, slope aspect, altitude, plan curvature, profile curvature, surface area ratio, topographic position index, topographic wetness index, stream power index, slope length, lithology, land use, normalized difference vegetation index, distance from faults, distance from rivers, distance from roads, and drainage density are used for landslide susceptibility mapping. Of 528 landslide locations, 70 % were used in landslide susceptibility mapping, and the remaining 30 % were used for validation of the maps. Using the above conditioning factors, landslide susceptibility was calculated using SMCE and PLR models, and the results were plotted in ILWIS-GIS. Finally, the two landslide susceptibility maps were validated using receiver operating characteristic curves and seed cell area index methods. The validation results showed that area under the curve for SMCE and PLR models is 76.16 and 80.98 %, respectively. The results obtained in this study also showed that the probabilistic likelihood ratio model performed slightly better than the spatial multi-criteria evaluation. These landslide susceptibility maps can be used for preliminary land use planning and hazard mitigation purpose.     

Landslide susceptibility mapping using a modified decision tree classifier in the Xanthi Perfection,Greece

The objective of this study was to validate the outcomes of a modified decision tree classifier by comparing the produced landslide susceptibility map and the actual landslide occurrence, in an area of intensive landslide manifestation, in Xanthi Perfection, Greece. The values that concerned eight landslide conditioning factors for 163 landslides and 163 non-landslide locations were extracted by using advanced spatial GIS functions. Lithological units, elevation, slope angle, slope aspect, distance from tectonic features, distance from hydrographic network, distance from geological boundaries and distance from road network were among the eight landslide conditioning factors that were included in the landslide database used in the training phase. In the present study, landslide and non-landslide locations were randomly divided into two subsets: 80 % of the data (260 instances) were used for training and 20 % of the data (66 instances) for validating the developed classifier. The outcome of the decision tree classifier was a set of rules that expressed the relationship between landslide conditioning factors and the actual landslide occurrence. The landslide susceptibility belief values were obtained by applying a statistical method, the certainty factor method, and by measuring the belief in each rule that the decision tree classifier produced, transforming the discrete type of result into a continuous value that enabled the generation of a landslide susceptibility belief map. In total, four landslide susceptibility maps were produced using the certainty factor method, the Iterative Dichotomizer version 3 algorithm, the J48 algorithm and the modified Iterative Dichotomizer version 3 model in order to evaluate the performance of the developed classifier. The validation results showed that area under the ROC curves for the models varied from 0.7936 to 0.8397 for success rate curve and 0.7766 to 0.8035 for prediction rate curves, respectively. The success rate and prediction curves showed that the modified Iterative Dichotomizer version 3 model had a slightly higher performance with 0.8397 and 0.8035, respectively. From the outcomes of the study, it was induced that the developed modified decision tree classifier could be efficiently used for landslide susceptibility analysis and in general might be used for classification and estimation purposes in spatial predictive models.     

Application of fuzzy logic and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to landslide susceptibility mapping at Haraz watershed, Iran

The main goal of this study is to produce landslide susceptibility maps of a landslide-prone area (Haraz) in Iran by using both fuzzy logic and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) models. At first, landslide locations were identified by aerial photographs and field surveys, and a total of 78 landslides were mapped from various sources. Then, the landslide inventory was randomly split into a training dataset 70?% (55 landslides) for training the models and the remaining 30?% (23 landslides) was used for validation purpose. Twelve data layers, as the landslide conditioning factors, are exploited to detect the most susceptible areas. These factors are slope degree, aspect, plan curvature, altitude, lithology, land use, distance from rivers, distance from roads, distance from faults, stream power index, slope length, and topographic wetness index. Subsequently, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using fuzzy logic and AHP models. For verification, receiver operating characteristics curve and area under the curve approaches were used. The verification results showed that the fuzzy logic model (89.7?%) performed better than AHP (81.1?%) model for the study area. The produced susceptibility maps can be used for general land use planning and hazard mitigation purpose.     

Application of frequency ratio,statistical index,and weights-of-evidence models and their comparison in landslide susceptibility mapping in Central Nepal Himalaya

The Mugling–Narayanghat road section falls within the Lesser Himalaya and Siwalik zones of Central Nepal Himalaya and is highly deformed by the presence of numerous faults and folds. Over the years, this road section and its surrounding area have experienced repeated landslide activities. For that reason, landslide susceptibility zonation is essential for roadside slope disaster management and for planning further development activities. The main goal of this study was to investigate the application of the frequency ratio (FR), statistical index (SI), and weights-of-evidence (WoE) approaches for landslide susceptibility mapping of this road section and its surrounding area. For this purpose, the input layers of the landslide conditioning factors were prepared in the first stage. A landslide inventory map was prepared using earlier reports, aerial photographs interpretation, and multiple field surveys. A total of 438 landslide locations were detected. Out these, 295 (67 %) landslides were randomly selected as training data for the modeling using FR, SI, and WoE models and the remaining 143 (33 %) were used for the validation purposes. The landslide conditioning factors considered for the study area are slope gradient, slope aspect, plan curvature, altitude, stream power index, topographic wetness index, lithology, land use, distance from faults, distance from rivers, and distance from highway. The results were validated using area under the curve (AUC) analysis. From the analysis, it is seen that the FR model with a success rate of 76.8 % and predictive accuracy of 75.4 % performs better than WoE (success rate, 75.6 %; predictive accuracy, 74.9 %) and SI (success rate, 75.5 %; predictive accuracy, 74.6 %) models. Overall, all the models showed almost similar results. The resultant susceptibility maps can be useful for general land use planning.     

Landslide susceptibility mapping using certainty factor, index of entropy and logistic regression models in GIS and their comparison at Mugling�CNarayanghat road section in Nepal Himalaya

Landslide susceptibility maps are vital for disaster management and for planning development activities in the mountainous country like Nepal. In the present study, landslide susceptibility assessment of Mugling?CNarayanghat road and its surrounding area is made using bivariate (certainty factor and index of entropy) and multivariate (logistic regression) models. At first, a landslide inventory map was prepared using earlier reports and aerial photographs as well as by carrying out field survey. As a result, 321 landslides were mapped and out of which 241 (75?%) were randomly selected for building landslide susceptibility models, while the remaining 80 (25?%) were used for validating the models. The effectiveness of landslide susceptibility assessment using GIS and statistics is based on appropriate selection of the factors which play a dominant role in slope stability. In this case study, the following landslide conditioning factors were evaluated: slope gradient; slope aspect; altitude; plan curvature; lithology; land use; distance from faults, rivers and roads; topographic wetness index; stream power index; and sediment transport index. These factors were prepared from topographic map, drainage map, road map, and the geological map. Finally, the validation of landslide susceptibility map was carried out using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The ROC plot estimation results showed that the susceptibility map using index of entropy model with AUC value of 0.9016 has highest prediction accuracy of 90.16?%. Similarly, the susceptibility maps produced using logistic regression model and certainty factor model showed 86.29 and 83.57?% of prediction accuracy, respectively. Furthermore, the ROC plot showed that the success rate of all the three models performed more than 80?% accuracy (i.e. 89.15?% for IOE model, 89.10?% for LR model and 87.21?% for CF model). Hence, it is concluded that all the models employed in this study showed reasonably good accuracy in predicting the landslide susceptibility of Mugling?CNarayanghat road section. These landslide susceptibility maps can be used for preliminary land use planning and hazard mitigation purpose.     

GIS-based frequency ratio and index of entropy models for landslide susceptibility assessment in the Caspian forest,northern Iran

This study presents a landslide susceptibility assessment for the Caspian forest using frequency ratio and index of entropy models within geographical information system. First, the landslide locations were identified in the study area from interpretation of aerial photographs and multiple field surveys. 72 cases (70 %) out of 103 detected landslides were randomly selected for modeling, and the remaining 31 (30 %) cases were used for the model validation. The landslide-conditioning factors, including slope degree, slope aspect, altitude, lithology, rainfall, distance to faults, distance to streams, plan curvature, topographic wetness index, stream power index, sediment transport index, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), forest plant community, crown density, and timber volume, were extracted from the spatial database. Using these factors, landslide susceptibility and weights of each factor were analyzed by frequency ratio and index of entropy models. Results showed that the high and very high susceptibility classes cover nearly 50 % of the study area. For verification, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn and the areas under the curve (AUC) calculated. The verification results revealed that the index of entropy model (AUC = 75.59 %) is slightly better in prediction than frequency ratio model (AUC = 72.68 %). The interpretation of the susceptibility map indicated that NDVI, altitude, and rainfall play major roles in landslide occurrence and distribution in the study area. The landslide susceptibility maps produced from this study could assist planners and engineers for reorganizing and planning of future road construction and timber harvesting operations.     

Applying different scenarios for landslide spatial modeling using computational intelligence methods

Landslides every year impose extensive damages to human beings in various parts of the world; therefore, identifying prone areas to landslides for preventive measures is essential. The main purpose of this research is applying different scenarios for landslide susceptibility mapping by means of combination of bivariate statistical (frequency ratio) and computational intelligence methods (random forest and support vector machine) in landslide polygon and point formats. For this purpose, in the first step, a total of 294 landslide locations were determined from various sources such as aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys. Landslide inventory was randomly split into a testing dataset 70% (206 landslide locations) for training the different scenarios, and the remaining 30% (88 landslides locations) was used for validation purposes. To providing landslide susceptibility maps, 13 conditioning factors including altitude, slope angle, plan curvature, slope aspect, topographic wetness index, lithology, land use/land cover, distance from rivers, drainage density, distance from fault, distance from roads, convergence index, and annual rainfall are used. Tolerance and the variance inflation factor indices were used for considering multi-collinearity of conditioning factors. Results indicated that the smallest tolerance and highest variance inflation factor were 0.31 and 3.20, respectively. Subsequently, spatial relationship between classes of each landslide conditioning factor and landslides was obtained by frequency ratio (FR) model. Also, importance of the mentioned factors was obtained by random forest (RF) as a machine learning technique. The results showed that according to mean decrease accuracy, factors of altitude, aspect, drainage density, and distance from rivers had the greatest effect on the occurrence of landslide in the study area. Finally, the landslide susceptibility maps were produced by ten scenarios according to different ensembles. The receiver operating characteristics, including the area under the curve (AUC), were used to assess the accuracy of the models. Results of validation of scenarios showed that AUC was varying from 0.668 to 0.749. Also, FR and seed cell area index indicators show a high correlation between the susceptibility classes with the landslide pixels and field observations in all scenarios except scenarios 10_RF and 10_SVM. The results of this study can be used for landslides management and mitigation and development activities such as construction of settlements and infrastructure in the future.     

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Using GIS-based Fuzzy Logic and the Analytical Hierarchical Processes Approach: A Case Study in Constantine (North-East Algeria)

The main purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the performance of two multicriteria models for landslide susceptibility assessment in Constantine, north-east of Algeria. The landslide susceptibility maps were produced using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Fuzzy AHP (FAHP) via twelve landslides conditioning factors, including the slope gradient, lithology, land cover, distance from drainage network, distance from the roads, distance from faults, topographic wetness index, stream power index, slope curvature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, slope aspect and elevation. In this study, the mentioned models were used to derive the weighting value of the conditioning factors. For the validation process of these models, the receiver operating characteristic analysis, and the area under the curve (AUC) were applied by comparing the obtained results to The landslide inventory map which prepared using the archives of scientific publications, reports of local authorities, and field survey as well as analyzing satellite imagery. According to the AUC values, the FAHP model had the highest value (0.908) followed by the AHP model (0.777). As a result, the FAHP model is more consistent and accurate than the AHP in this case study. The outcome of this paper may be useful for landslide susceptibility assessment and land use management.

     

A comparative study on the landslide susceptibility mapping using evidential belief function and weights of evidence models

The purpose of this study is to produce landslide susceptibility map of a landslide-prone area (Daguan County, China) by evidential belief function (EBF) model and weights of evidence (WoE) model to compare the results obtained. For this purpose, a landslide inventory map was constructed mainly based on earlier reports and aerial photographs, as well as, by carrying out field surveys. A total of 194 landslides were mapped. Then, the landslide inventory was randomly split into a training dataset; 70% (136 landslides) for training the models and the remaining 30% (58 landslides) was used for validation purpose. Then, a total number of 14 conditioning factors, such as slope angle, slope aspect, general curvature, plan curvature, profile curvature, altitude, distance from rivers, distance from roads, distance from faults, lithology, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), sediment transport index (STI), stream power index (SPI), and topographic wetness index (TWI) were used in the analysis. Subsequently, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using the EBF and WoE models. Finally, the validation of landslide susceptibility map was accomplished with the area under the curve (AUC) method. The success rate curve showed that the area under the curve for EBF and WoE models were of 80.19% and 80.75% accuracy, respectively. Similarly, the validation result showed that the susceptibility map using EBF model has the prediction accuracy of 80.09%, while for WoE model, it was 79.79%. The results of this study showed that both landslide susceptibility maps obtained were successful and would be useful for regional spatial planning as well as for land cover planning.     

Landslide susceptibility mapping by binary logistic regression, analytical hierarchy process, and statistical index models and assessment of their performances

The current research presents a detailed landslide susceptibility mapping study by binary logistic regression, analytical hierarchy process, and statistical index models and an assessment of their performances. The study area covers the north of Tehran metropolitan, Iran. When conducting the study, in the first stage, a landslide inventory map with a total of 528 landslide locations was compiled from various sources such as aerial photographs, satellite images, and field surveys. Then, the landslide inventory was randomly split into a testing dataset 70 % (370 landslide locations) for training the models, and the remaining 30 % (158 landslides locations) was used for validation purpose. Twelve landslide conditioning factors such as slope degree, slope aspect, altitude, plan curvature, normalized difference vegetation index, land use, lithology, distance from rivers, distance from roads, distance from faults, stream power index, and slope-length were considered during the present study. Subsequently, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using binary logistic regression (BLR), analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and statistical index (SI) models in ArcGIS. The validation dataset, which was not used in the modeling process, was considered to validate the landslide susceptibility maps using the receiver operating characteristic curves and frequency ratio plot. The validation results showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for three mentioned models vary from 0.7570 to 0.8520 $ ({\text{AUC}}_{\text{AHP}} = 75.70\;\% ,\;{\text{AUC}}_{\text{SI}} = 80.37\;\% ,\;{\text{and}}\;{\text{AUC}}_{\text{BLR}} = 85.20\;\% ) $ ( AUC AHP = 75.70 % , AUC SI = 80.37 % , and AUC BLR = 85.20 % ) . Also, plot of the frequency ratio for the four landslide susceptibility classes of the three landslide susceptibility models was validated our results. Hence, it is concluded that the binary logistic regression model employed in this study showed reasonably good accuracy in predicting the landslide susceptibility of study area. Meanwhile, the results obtained in this study also showed that the statistical index model can be used as a simple tool in the assessment of landslide susceptibility when a sufficient number of data are obtained.     

A GIS-based landslide susceptibility evaluation using bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses

Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to predict the spatial distribution of landslides in the Cuyahoga River watershed, northeastern Ohio, U.S.A. The relationship between landslides and various instability factors contributing to their occurrence was evaluated using a Geographic Information System (GIS) based investigation. A landslide inventory map was prepared using landslide locations identified from aerial photographs, field checks, and existing literature. Instability factors such as slope angle, soil type, soil erodibility, soil liquidity index, landcover pattern, precipitation, and proximity to stream, responsible for the occurrence of landslides, were imported as raster data layers in ArcGIS, and ranked using a numerical scale corresponding to the physical conditions of the region. In order to investigate the role of each instability factor in controlling the spatial distribution of landslides, both bivariate and multivariate models were used to analyze the digital dataset. The logistic regression approach was used in the multivariate model analysis. Both models helped produce landslide susceptibility maps and the suitability of each model was evaluated by the area under the curve method, and by comparing the maps with the known landslide locations. The multivariate logistic regression model was found to be the better model in predicting landslide susceptibility of this area. The logistic regression model produced a landslide susceptibility map at a scale of 1:24,000 that classified susceptibility into four categories: low, moderate, high, and very high. The results also indicated that slope angle, proximity to stream, soil erodibility, and soil type were statistically significant in controlling the slope movement.     

GIS-based weights-of-evidence modelling of rainfall-induced landslides in small catchments for landslide susceptibility mapping

Landslide susceptibility mapping is a vital tool for disaster management and planning development activities in mountainous terrains of tropical and subtropical environments. In this paper, the weights-of-evidence modelling was applied, within a geographical information system (GIS), to derive landslide susceptibility map of two small catchments of Shikoku, Japan. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the importance of weights-of-evidence modelling in the generation of landslide susceptibility maps in relatively small catchments having an area less than 4 sq km. For the study area in Moriyuki and Monnyu catchments, northeast Shikoku Island in west Japan, a data set was generated at scale 1:5,000. Relevant thematic maps representing various factors (e.g. slope, aspect, relief, flow accumulation, soil depth, soil type, land use and distance to road) that are related to landslide activity were generated using field data and GIS techniques. Both catchments have homogeneous geology and only consist of Cretaceous granitic rock. Thus, bedrock geology was not considered in data layering during GIS analysis. Success rates were also estimated to evaluate the accuracy of landslide susceptibility maps and the weights-of-evidence modelling was found useful in landslide susceptibility mapping of small catchments.     

Mapping landslide susceptibility with frequency ratio,statistical index,and weights of evidence models: a case study in northern Iran

The main objective of this study is to investigate potential application of frequency ratio (FR), weights of evidence (WoE), and statistical index (SI) models for landslide susceptibility mapping in a part of Mazandaran Province, Iran. First, a landslide inventory map was constructed from various sources. The landslide inventory map was then randomly divided in a ratio of 70/30 for training and validation of the models, respectively. Second, 13 landslide conditioning factors including slope degree, slope aspect, altitude, plan curvature, stream power index, topographic wetness index, sediment transport index, topographic roughness index, lithology, distance from streams, faults, roads, and land use type were prepared, and the relationships between these factors and the landslide inventory map were extracted by using the mentioned models. Subsequently, the multi-class weighted factors were used to generate landslide susceptibility maps. Finally, the susceptibility maps were verified and compared using several methods including receiver operating characteristic curve with the areas under the curve (AUC), landslide density, and spatially agreed area analyses. The success rate curve showed that the AUC for FR, WoE, and SI models was 81.51, 79.43, and 81.27, respectively. The prediction rate curve demonstrated that the AUC achieved by the three models was 80.44, 77.94, and 79.55, respectively. Although the sensitivity analysis using the FR model revealed that the modeling process was sensitive to input factors, the accuracy results suggest that the three models used in this study can be effective approaches for landslide susceptibility mapping in Mazandaran Province, and the resultant susceptibility maps are trustworthy for hazard mitigation strategies.     

GIS-based groundwater spring potential assessment and mapping in the Birjand Township,southern Khorasan Province,Iran

Three statistical models—frequency ratio (FR), weights-of-evidence (WofE) and logistic regression (LR)—produced groundwater-spring potential maps for the Birjand Township, southern Khorasan Province, Iran. In total, 304 springs were identified in a field survey and mapped in a geographic information system (GIS), out of which 212 spring locations were randomly selected to be modeled and the remaining 92 were used for the model evaluation. The effective factors—slope angle, slope aspect, elevation, topographic wetness index (TWI), stream power index (SPI), slope length (LS), plan curvature, lithology, land use, and distance to river, road, fault—were derived from the spatial database. Using these effective factors, groundwater spring potential was calculated using the three models, and the results were plotted in ArcGIS. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were drawn for spring potential maps and the area under the curve (AUC) was computed. The final results indicated that the FR model (AUC?=?79.38 %) performed better than the WofE (AUC?=?75.69 %) and LR (AUC?=?63.71 %) models. Sensitivity and factor analyses concluded that the bivariate statistical index model (i.e. FR) can be used as a simple tool in the assessment of groundwater spring potential when a sufficient number of data are obtained.     

Remote sensing and GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping using frequency ratio and analytical hierarchy methods in Rize province (NE Turkey)

The northeast part of Turkey is prone to landslides because of the climatic conditions, as well as geologic and geomorphologic characteristics of the region. Especially, frequent landslides in the Rize province often result in significant damage to people and property. Therefore, in order to mitigate the damage from landslides and help the planners in selecting suitable locations for implementing development projects, especially in large areas, it is necessary to scientifically assess susceptible areas. In this study, the frequency ratio method and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) were used to produce susceptibility maps. Especially, AHP gives best results because of allowing better structuring of various components, including both objective and subjective aspects and comparing them by a logical and thorough method, which involves a matrix-based pairwise comparison of the contribution of different factors for landslide. For this purpose, lithology, slope angle, slope aspect, land cover, distance to stream, drainage density, and distance to road were considered as landslide causal factors for the study area. The processing of multi-geodata sets was carried out in a raster GIS environment. Lithology was derived from the geological database and additional field studies; slope angle, slope aspect, distance to stream, distance to road and drainage density were invented from digital elevation models; land cover was produced from remote sensing imagery. In the end of study, the results of the analysis were verified using actual landslide location data. The validation results showed satisfactory agreement between the susceptibility map and the existing data on landslide locations.     

Landslide susceptibility assessment by Dempster–Shafer and Index of Entropy models,Sarkhoun basin,Southwestern Iran

Landslides are natural disasters often activated by interaction of different controlling environmental factors, especially in mountainous terrains. In this research, the landslide susceptibility map was developed for the Sarkhoun catchment using Index of Entropy (IoE) and Dempster–Shafer (DS) models. For this purpose, 344 landslides were mapped in GIS environment. 241 (70%) out of the landslides were selected for the modeling and the remaining (30%) were employed for validation of the models. Afterward, 10 landslide conditioning factor layers were prepared including land use, distance to drainage, slope gradient, altitude, lithology, distance to roads, distance to faults, slope aspect, Topography Wetness Index, and Stream Power Index. The relationship between the landslide conditioning factors and landslide inventory maps was determined using the IoE and DS models. In order to verify the models, the results were compared with validation landslide data not employed in training process of the models. Accordingly, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were applied, and Area Under the Curve (AUC) was calculated for the obtained susceptibility maps using the success (training data) and prediction (validation data) rate curves. The land use was found to be the most important factor in the study area. The AUC are 0.82, and 0.81 for success rates of the IoE, and DS models, respectively, while the prediction rates are 0.76 and 0.75. Therefore, the results of the IoE model are more accurate than the DS model. Furthermore, a satisfactory agreement is observed between the generated susceptibility maps by the models and true location of the landslides.     

Quantitative landslide susceptibility mapping at Pemalang area,Indonesia

For quantitative landslide susceptibility mapping, this study applied and verified a frequency ratio, logistic regression, and artificial neural network models to Pemalang area, Indonesia, using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Landslide locations were identified in the study area from interpretation of aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and field surveys; a spatial database was constructed from topographic and geological maps. The factors that influence landslide occurrence, such as slope gradient, slope aspect, curvature of topography, and distance from stream, were calculated from the topographic database. Lithology was extracted and calculated from geologic database. Using these factors, landslide susceptibility indexes were calculated by frequency ratio, logistic regression, and artificial neural network models. Then the landslide susceptibility maps were verified and compared with known landslide locations. The logistic regression model (accuracy 87.36%) had higher prediction accuracy than the frequency ratio (85.60%) and artificial neural network (81.70%) models. The models can be used to reduce hazards associated with landslides and to land-use planning.     

A new approach to use AHP in landslide susceptibility mapping: a case study at Yenice (Karabuk, NW Turkey)

This study aimed to investigate the parameter effects in preparing landslide susceptibility maps with a data-driven approach and to adapt this approach to analytical hierarchy process (AHP). For this purpose, at the first stage, landslide inventory of an area located in the Western Black Sea region of Turkey covering approximately 567?km² was prepared, and a total of 101 landslides were mapped. In order to assess the landslide susceptibility, a total of 13 parameters were considered as the input parameters: slope, aspect, plan curvature, topographical elevation, vegetation cover index, land use, distance to drainage, distance to roads, distance to structural elements, distance to ridges, stream power index, sediment transport capacity index, and wetness index. AHP was selected as the major assessment methodology since the adapted approach and AHP work in data pairs. Adapted to AHP, a similarity relation?Cbased approach, namely landslide relation indicator (LRI) for parameter selection method, was also proposed. AHP and parametric effect analyses were performed by the proposed approach, and seven landslide susceptibility maps were produced. Among these maps, the best performance was gathered from the landslide susceptibility map produced by 9 parameter combinations using area under curve (AUC) approach. For this map, the AUC value was calculated as 0.797, while the others ranged between 0.686 and 0.771. According to this map, 38.3?% of the study area was classified as having very low, 8.5?% as low, 15.0?% as moderate, 20.3?% as high, and 17.9?% as very high landslide susceptibility, respectively. Based on the overall assessments, the proposed approach in this study was concluded as objective and applicable and yielded reasonable results.     

Comparison of landslide susceptibility mapping methodologies for Koyulhisar,Turkey: conditional probability,logistic regression,artificial neural networks,and support vector machine

This case study presented herein compares the GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping methods such as conditional probability (CP), logistic regression (LR), artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machine (SVM) applied in Koyulhisar (Sivas, Turkey). Digital elevation model was first constructed using GIS software. Landslide-related factors such as geology, faults, drainage system, topographical elevation, slope angle, slope aspect, topographic wetness index, stream power index, normalized difference vegetation index, distance from settlements and roads were used in the landslide susceptibility analyses. In the last stage of the analyses, landslide susceptibility maps were produced from ANN, CP, LR, SVM models, and they were then compared by means of their validations. However, area under curve values obtained from all four methodologies showed that the map obtained from ANN model looks like more accurate than the other models, accuracies of all models can be evaluated relatively similar. The results also showed that the CP is a simple method in landslide susceptibility mapping and highly compatible with GIS operating features. Susceptibility maps can be easily produced using CP, because input process, calculation and output processes are very simple in CP model when compared with the other methods considered in this study.     

Landslide susceptibility zonation using statistical and machine learning approaches in Northern Lecco,Italy

This study deals with landslide susceptibility mapping in the northern part of Lecco Province, Lombardy Region, Italy. In so doing, a valid landslide inventory map and thirteen predisposing factors (including elevation, slope aspect, slope degree, plan curvature, profile curvature, distance to waterway, distance to road, distance to fault, soil type, land use, lithology, stream power index, and topographic wetness index) form the spatial database within geographic information system. The used predictive models comprise a bivariate statistical approach called frequency ratio (FR) and two machine learning tools, namely multilayer perceptron neural network (MLPNN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). These models first use landslide and non-landslide records for comprehending the relationship between the landslide occurrence and predisposing factors. Then, landslide susceptibility values are predicted for the whole area. The accuracy of the produced susceptibility maps is measured using area under the curve (AUC) index, according to which, the MLPNN (AUC?=?0.916) presented the most accurate map, followed by the ANFIS (AUC?=?0.889) and FR (AUC?=?0.888). Visual interpretation of the susceptibility maps, FR-based correlation analysis, as well as the importance assessment of predisposing factors, all indicated the significant contribution of the road networks to the crucial susceptibility of landslide. Lastly, an explicit predictive formula is extracted from the implemented MLPNN model for a convenient approximation of landslide susceptibility value.