Landslide hazard zoning along Himalayan Kaghan Valley of Pakistan��by integration of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing technology

This paper presents a methodology for developing a landslide hazard zonation map by integration of global positioning system (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), and remote sensing (RS) for Western Himalayan Kaghan Valley of Pakistan. The landslides in the study area have been located and mapped by using GPS. Eleven causative factors such as landuse, elevation, geology, rainfall intensity, slope inclination, soil, slope aspect, distances from main road, distances from secondary roads, and distances from main river and those from trunk streams were analyzed for occurrence of landslides. These factors were used with a modified form of pixel-based information value model to obtain landslide hazard zones. The matrix analysis was performed in remote sensing to produce a landslide hazard zonation map. The causative factors with the highest effect of landslide occurrence were landuse, rainfall intensity, distances from main road, distances from secondary roads, and distances from main river and those from trunk streams. In conclusion, we found that landslide occurrence was only in moderate, high, or very high hazard zones, and no landslides were in low or very low hazard zones showing 100% accuracy of our results. The landslide hazard zonation map showed that the current main road of the valley was in the zones of high or very high hazard. Two new safe road routes were suggested by using the GIS technology.     

Inclusion of earthquake strong ground motion in a geographic information system-based landslide susceptibility zonation in Garhwal Himalayas

Garhwal Himalayas are seismically very active and simultaneously suffering from landslide hazards. Landslides are one of the most frequent natural hazards in Himalayas causing damages worth more than one billion US$ and around 200 deaths every year. Thus, it is of paramount importance to identify the landslide causative factors to study them carefully and rank them as per their influence on the occurrence of landslides. The difference image of GIS-derived landslide susceptibility zonation maps prepared for pre- and post-Chamoli earthquake shows the effect of seismic shaking on the occurrence of landslides in the Garhwal Himalaya. An attempt has been made to incorporate seismic shaking parameters in terms of peak ground acceleration with other static landslide causative factors to produce landslide susceptibility zonation map in geographic information system environment. In this paper, probabilistic seismic hazard analysis has been carried out to calculate peak ground acceleration values at different time periods for estimating seismic shaking conditions in the study area. Further, these values are used as one of the causative factors of landslides in the study area and it is observed that it refines the preparation of landslide susceptibility zonation map in seismically active areas like Garhwal Himalayas.     

证据权法在区域滑坡危险性评价中的应用以贵州省为例

以GIS为技术平台,采用证据权法对研究区进行了滑坡地质灾害危险性分析。综合分析历史滑坡数据及其环境因素和触发因素,数据源主要有地形图、DEM、地质图,选取地层岩性、构造、高程、坡度、坡向、地形起伏度、道路、水系作为危险性评价因子。首先应用ArcGIS软件对数据源进行处理,提取各个评价因子图层,并对每个图层进行分级、缓冲区分析等处理,建立若干证据层。然后将历史灾害点与评价因子进行空间关联分析,计算每个评价因子等级的权重,最后计算出评价单元的危险性指数,并将危险性分为极高危险区、高危险区、中等危险区、低危险区。采用成功率曲线法对证据权法评价精度进行验证,结果表明本次评价的精度为71%。利用历史滑坡数据对评价结果进行验证,结果显示评价结果与实际情况较为吻合,说明证据权可以客观定量地评价各影响因子对滑坡的影响程度,该方法应用于区域地质灾害危险性评价比较有效。     

Landslide susceptibility analysis using probabilistic likelihood ratio model—a geospatial-based study

The crucial and difficult task in landslide susceptibility analysis is estimating the probability of occurrence of future landslides in a study area under a specific set of geomorphic and topographic conditions. This task is addressed with a data-driven probabilistic model using likelihood ratio or frequency ratio and is applied to assess the occurrence of landslides in the Tevankarai Ar sub-watershed, Kodaikkanal, South India. The landslides in the study area are triggered by heavy rainfall. Landslide-related factors—relief, slope, aspect, plan curvature, profile curvature, land use, soil, and topographic wetness index proximity to roads and proximity to lineaments—are considered for the study. A geospatial database of the related landslide factors is constructed using Arcmap in GIS environment. Landslide inventory of the area is produced by detailed field investigation and analysis of the topographical maps. The results are validated using temporal data of known landslide locations. The area under the curve shows that the accuracy of the model is 85.83%. In the reclassified final landslide susceptibility map, 14.48% of the area is critical in nature, falling under the very high hazard zone, and 67.86% of the total validation dataset landslides fall in this zone. This landslide susceptibility map is a vital tool for town planning, land use, and land cover planning and to reduce risks caused by landslides.     

Regional-scale landslide activity and landslide susceptibility zonation in the Nepal Himalaya

Landslide susceptibility zonation mapping is a fundamental procedure for geo-disaster management in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Recently, various landslide susceptibility zonation models have been introduced in Nepal with diverse approaches of assessment. However, validation is still a problem. Additionally, the role of various predisposing causative parameters for landslide activity is still not well understood in the Nepal Himalaya. To address these issues of susceptibility zonation and landslide activity, about 4,000 km² area of central Nepal was selected for regional-scale assessment of landslide activity and susceptibility zonation mapping. In total, 655 new landslides and 9,229 old landslides were identified with the study area with the help of satellite images, aerial photographs, field data and available reports. The old landslide inventory was “blind landslide database” and could not explain the particular rainfall event responsible for the particular landslide. But considering size of the landslide, blind landslide inventory was reclassified into two databases: short-duration high-intensity rainfall-induced landslide inventory and long-duration low-intensity rainfall-induced landslide inventory. These landslide inventory maps were considered as proxy maps of multiple rainfall event-based landslide inventories. Similarly, all 9,884 landslides were considered for the activity assessment of predisposing causative parameters. For the Nepal Himalaya, slope, slope aspect, geology and road construction activity (anthropogenic cause) were identified as most affective predisposing causative parameters for landslide activity. For susceptibility zonation, multivariate approach was considered and two proxy rainfall event-based landslide databases were used for the logistic regression modelling, while a relatively recent landslide database was used in validation. Two event-based susceptibility zonation maps were merged and rectified to prepare the final susceptibility zonation map and its prediction rate was found to be more than 82 %. From this work, it is concluded that rectification of susceptibility zonation map is very appropriate and reliable. The results of this research contribute to a significant improvement in landslide inventory preparation procedure, susceptibility zonation mapping approaches as well as role of various predisposing causative parameters for the landslide activity.     

Landslide hazard mapping along national highway-154A in Himachal Pradesh,India using information value and frequency ratio

For the socio-economic development of a country, the highway network plays a pivotal role. It has therefore become an imperative to have landslide hazard assessment along these roads to provide safety. The current study presents landslide hazard zonation maps, based on the information value method and frequency ratio method using GIS on 1:50,000 scale by generating the information about the landslide influencing factors. The study was carried out in the year 2017 on a part of Ravi river catchment along one of the landslide-prone Chamba to Bharmour road corridor of NH-154A in Himachal Pradesh, India. A number of landslide triggering geo-environmental factors like “slope, aspect, relative relief, soil, curvature, Land Use and Land Cover (LULC), lithology, drainage density, and lineament density” were selected for landslide hazard mapping based on landslide inventory. The landslide inventory has been developed using satellite imagery, Google earth and by doing exhaustive field surveys. A digital elevation model was used to generate slope gradient, slope aspect, curvature, and relative relief map of the study area. The other information, i.e., soil maps, geological maps, and toposheets, have been collected from various departments. The landslide hazard zonation map was categorized namely “very high hazard, high hazard, medium hazard, low hazard, and very low hazard.” The results from these two methods have been validated using area under curve (AUC) method. It has been found that hazard zonation map prepared using frequency ratio model had a prediction rate of 75.37% while map prepared using information value method had prediction rate of 78.87%. Hence, on the basis of prediction rate, the landslide hazard zonation map, obtained using information value method, was experienced to be more suitable for the study area.     

Landslide susceptibility analysis with a bivariate approach and GIS in Northern Iran

Globally, landslides cause hundreds of billions of dollars in damage and hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries each year. A landslide susceptibility map describes areas where landslides are likely to occur in the future by correlating some of the principal factors that contribute to landslides with the past distribution of landslides. A case study is conducted in the mountainous northern Iran. In this study, a landslide susceptibility map of the study area was prepared using bivariate method with the help of the geographic information system. Area density (bivariate) method was used to weight landslide-influencing data layers. An overlay analysis is carried out by evaluating the layers obtained according to their weight and the landslide susceptibility map is produced. The study area was classified into five hazard classes: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The percentage distribution of landslide susceptibility degrees was calculated. It was found that about 26% of the study area is classified as very high and high hazard classes.     

The assessment of landslide susceptibility mapping using random forest and decision tree methods in the Three Gorges Reservoir area,China

Landslide susceptibility mapping is an indispensable prerequisite for landslide prevention and reduction. At present, research into landslide susceptibility mapping has begun to combine machine learning with remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) techniques. The random forest model is a new integrated classification method, but its application to landslide susceptibility mapping remains limited. Landslides represent a serious threat to the lives and property of people living in the Zigui–Badong area in the Three Gorges region of China, as well as to the operation of the Three Gorges Reservoir. However, the geological structure of this region is complex, involving steep mountains and deep valleys. The purpose of the current study is to produce a landslide susceptibility map of the Zigui–Badong area using a random forest model, multisource data, GIS, and remote sensing data. In total, 300 pre-existing landslide locations were obtained from a landslide inventory map. These landslides were identified using visual interpretation of high-resolution remote sensing images, topographic and geologic data, and extensive field surveys. The occurrence of landslides is closely related to a series of environmental parameters. Topographic, geologic, Landsat-8 image, raining data, and seismic data were used as the primary data sources to extract the geo-environmental factors influencing landslides. Thirty-four layers of causative factors were prepared as predictor variables, which can mainly be categorized as topographic, geological, hydrological, land cover, and environmental trigger parameters. The random forest method is an ensemble classification technique that extends diversity among the classification trees by resampling the data with replacement and randomly changing the predictive variable sets during the different tree induction processes. A random forest model was adopted to calculate the quantitative relationships between the landslide-conditioning factors and the landslide inventory map and then generate a landslide susceptibility map. The analytical results were compared with known landslide locations in terms of area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. The random forest model has an area ratio of 86.10%. In contrast to the random forest (whole factors, WF), random forest (12 major factors, 12F), decision tree (WF), decision tree (12F), the final result shows that random forest (12F) has a higher prediction accuracy. Meanwhile, the random forest models have higher prediction accuracy than the decision tree model. Subsequently, the landslide susceptibility map was classified into five classes (very low, low, moderate, high, and very high). The results demonstrate that the random forest model achieved a reasonable accuracy in landslide susceptibility mapping. The landslide hazard zone information will be useful for general development planning and landslide risk management.     

浙江省永嘉县滑坡灾害危险性区划

永嘉县是浙江省滑坡灾害发生频繁的区县之一,其滑坡受地质、地形和人类工程活动等因素的影响。本文根据永嘉县滑坡灾害分布情况,选择了影响滑坡分布的主要因素,将各种因子归一化处理后转换成相同分辨率的定量数据,选择了逻辑回归分析模型和信息量模型进行滑坡灾害危险性评价。在逻辑回归模型中,利用SPSS软件,通过逐步回归分析筛选出影响滑坡的最直接的因子,计算出各个因子的回归系数,得到逻辑回归方程,据此编制了危险性预测分区图。在信息量模型中,通过MAPGIS软件及其二次开发的信息量模型,对永嘉县滑坡灾害进行了危险性区划,并依信息量法的结果编制了该区的危险性预测分区图。两种方法所编制的危险性分区图中高危险区和中危险区重合率达到了87%,具有很高的一致性,起到了相互验证的作用,为滑坡的有效防治提供了依据。最后根据"云娜"台风期间永嘉县实际灾害发生情况的资料分析,新灾害点绝大部分落在危险性预测区中的高危险区,表明模型的预测准确率很高。     

The 2010 Yushu earthquake triggered landslide hazard mapping using GIS and weight of evidence modeling

The Yushu County, Qinghai Province, China, April 14, 2010, earthquake triggered thousands of landslides in a zone between 96°20′32.9″E and 97°10′8.9″E, and 32°52′6.7″N and 33°19′47.9″N. This study examines the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology and Bayesian statistics in creating a suitable landslide hazard-zone map of good predictive power. A total of 2,036 landslides were interpreted from high-resolution aerial photographs and multi-source satellite images pre- and post-earthquake, and verified by selected field checking before a final landslide-inventory map of the study area could be established using GIS software. The 2,036 landslides were randomly partitioned into two subsets: a training dataset, which contains 80 % (1,628 landslides), for training the model; and a testing dataset 20 % (408 landslides). Twelve earthquake triggered landslide associated controlling parameters, such as elevation, slope gradient, slope aspect, slope curvature, topographic position, distance from main surface ruptures, peak ground acceleration, distance from roads, normalized difference vegetation index, distance from drainages, lithology, and distance from all faults were obtained from variety of data sources. Landslide hazard indices were calculated using the weight of evidence model. The landslide hazard map was compared with training data and testing data to obtain the success rate and predictive rate of the model, respectively. The validation results showed satisfactory agreement between the hazard map and the existing landslide distribution data. The success rate is 80.607 %, and the predictive rate is 78.855 %. The resulting landslide hazard map showed five classes of landslide hazard, i.e., very high, high, moderate, low and very low. The landslide hazard evaluation map should be useful for environmental recovery planning and reconstruction work.     

Landslide susceptibility zonation method based on C5.0 decision tree and K-means cluster algorithms to improve the efficiency of risk management

Machine learning algorithms are an important measure with which to perform landslide susceptibility assessments,but most studies use GIS-based classification methods to conduct susceptibility zonation.This study presents a machine learning approach based on the C5.0 decision tree(DT)model and the K-means cluster algorithm to produce a regional landslide susceptibility map.Yanchang County,a typical landslide-prone area located in northwestern China,was taken as the area of interest to introduce the proposed application procedure.A landslide inventory containing 82 landslides was prepared and subse-quently randomly partitioned into two subsets:training data(70％landslide pixels)and validation data(30％landslide pixels).Fourteen landslide influencing factors were considered in the input dataset and were used to calculate the landslide occurrence probability based on the C5.0 decision tree model.Susceptibility zonation was implemented according to the cut-off values calculated by the K-means clus-ter algorithm.The validation results of the model performance analysis showed that the AUC(area under the receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve)of the proposed model was the highest,reaching 0.88,compared with traditional models(support vector machine(SVM)=0.85,Bayesian network(BN)=0.81,frequency ratio(FR)=0.75,weight of evidence(WOE)=0.76).The landslide frequency ratio and fre-quency density of the high susceptibility zones were 6.76/km2 and 0.88/km2,respectively,which were much higher than those of the low susceptibility zones.The top 20％interval of landslide occurrence probability contained 89％of the historical landslides but only accounted for 10.3％of the total area.Our results indicate that the distribution of high susceptibility zones was more focused without contain-ing more"stable"pixels.Therefore,the obtained susceptibility map is suitable for application to landslide risk management practices.     

Mapping of landslide hazard zonation using GIS at Golestan watershed, northeast of Iran

Landslide hazard zonation is essential for planning future developmental activities. At the present study, after the preparation of a landslide inventory of the study area, nine factors as well as sub-data layers of factor class weights were tested for an integrated analysis of landslide hazard in the region. The produced factor maps were weighted with the analytic hierarchy process method and then classified into four classes—negligible, low, moderate, and high. The final produced map for landslide hazard zonation in Golestan watershed revealed that: (1) about 53.85 % of the basin is prone to moderate and high threats of landslides. (2) Landslide events at the Golestan watershed were strongly correlated to the slope angle of the basin. It was observed that the active landslide zones, including moderate to high landslide hazard classes, have a high correlation to slope classes over 30° (R ²?=?0.769). (3) The regions most susceptible to landslide hazard are those located south and southwest of the watershed, which included rock topples, falls, and debris landslides.     

杭州市滑坡地质灾害危险性区划与评价

基于证据权法构建滑坡地质灾害评价模型,进行杭州市滑坡地质灾害危险性区划研究。主要数据源包括1930－2009年杭州市域采集到的1 905个地质灾害个例以及杭州市地质图、土地利用数据及数字高程模型（DEM）等。利用Arcgis空间分析及信息提取功能,筛选强降水、地层岩性、坡度、坡向、坡高、河网与道路缓冲等证据因子,并运用证据权法客观确定各因子权重, 最后通过Arc-WofE扩展模块对多种优选因子的叠加,计算任意格网单元的滑坡发生概率,实现对潜在滑坡点位的空间预测。经分离样本法验证,区划准确率为88.3%,分析结果与现有滑坡的分布情况比较吻合。据此表明证据权法在多指标评价及其权重确定等方面具有普适性,值得在滑坡地质灾害危险性区划等方面推广应用。     

Assessing the spatial probability of landslides using GIS and informative value model in the Bamenda highlands

Landslides are a major natural hazard in the Bamenda highlands of Cameroon, and their occurrence in this region has most often been studied using qualitative methods. The aim of this research is to quantitatively assess the spatial probability of landslides using GIS and the informative value model. Landslide inventory was done through literature review, aerial photo-interpretation, participatory GIS and field survey. Six geo-environmental factors including slope, curvature, aspect, land use, lithology and geomorphology were used as landslide conditioning (static) factors. The susceptibility of the area to future landslide events was assessed by making a correlation between past landslides and geo-environmental factors using the informative value model. The landslide inventory involving 110 landslides was divided into two equal groups using random division criterion and was used to train and validate the model. The analysis showed that slope and land use are the most important causal factors of landslides in the area. The susceptibility index map predicted most landslides to occur around the steep slopes of the Bamenda escarpment that is being used for multiple anthropic activities. The training model had a success rate of 87%, and the validation model had a prediction rate of 90%. The prediction rate curve shows that 44, 32, 18 and 6% of future landslides will occur on 3, 8, 21 and 68% of the study area. The model correctly classified 89% of unstable areas and 81% of the stable areas with an accuracy rate of 0.90. This quantitative result complement other qualitative assessment results that show the Bamenda escarpment zone as a high-risk area. However, the area susceptible to landslide in this study goes beyond what earlier studies had indicated as houses and other infrastructure were found on old landslide sites whose scars have been eroded by human activities. This new input thus improves the quality of information placed at the disposal of civil protection units and land use managers during decision making.     

Landslide hazard and risk assessment: a?case study from the Hlohovec–Sered’ landslide area in south-west Slovakia

Landslide hazard or susceptibility assessment is based on the selection of relevant factors which play a role on the slope instability, and it is assumed that landslides will occur at similar conditions to those in the past. The selected statistical method compares parametric maps with the landslide inventory map, and results are then extrapolated to the entire evaluated territory with a final product of landslide hazard or susceptibility map. Elements at risk are defined and analyzed in relation with landslide hazard, and their vulnerability is thus established. The landslide risk map presents risk scenarios and expected financial losses caused by landslides, and it utilizes prognoses and analyses arising from the landslide hazard map. However, especially the risk scenarios for future in a selected area have a significant importance, the literature generally consists of the landslide susceptibility assessment and papers which attempt to assess and construct the map of the landslide risk are not prevail. In the paper presented herein, landslide hazard and risk assessment using bivariate statistical analysis was applied in the landslide area between Hlohovec and Sered?? cities in the south-western Slovakia, and methodology for the risk assessment was explained in detail.     

Estimating potential landslide sites of an upland sub-watershed in Western Ghat’s of Kerala (India) through frequency ratio and GIS

The purpose of this study is to assess the susceptibility of landslides in parts of Western Ghats, Kerala, India, using a geographical information system (GIS). Landslide inventory of the area was made by detailed field surveys and the analysis of the topographical maps. The landslide triggering factors are considered to be slope angle, slope aspect, slope curvature, slope length, distance from drainage, distance from lineaments, lithology, land use and geomorphology. ArcGIS version 8.3 was used to manipulate and analyse all the collected data. Probabilistic-likelihood ratio was used to create a landslide susceptibility map for the study area. The result was validated using the Area under Curve (AUC) method and temporal data of landslide occurrences. The validation results showed satisfactory agreement between the susceptibility map and the existing data on landslide locations. As the result, the success rate of the model was (84.46%) and the prediction rate of the model was (82.38%) shows high prediction accuracy. In the reclassified final landslide susceptibility zone map, 5.68% of the total area is classified as critical in nature. The landslide susceptibility map thus produced can be used to reduce hazards associated with landslides and to land cover planning.     

A comparison of the predicted vulnerability zones with the data based on hazard zones of landslide in the Kurseong hill subdivision,Darjeeling district,West Bengal,India

Kurseong hill subdivision, being one of the three (Kurseong, Sadar and Kalingpong) subdivisions of the hilly portions of the Darjeeling district, West Bengal, India, is affected by severe landslide incidence in the rainy season every year. These landslides and related phenomena frequently create social and economic instability disrupting communication system, claiming property and even sometimes life. Curbing landslide threat, therefore, becomes very much essential over this area. Individual landslide treatments are seen to be taken up by the construction engineers and geo-technical experts almost every year from government level. But reoccurrence of landslides on the same spots or surrounding places clearly reveals that construction works and filling procedures (usually taken up) are not the adequate measures to heal up the problem unless the area is treated as zones of landslides than individual spots of landslide occurrences. Therefore, the assessment of spatial probability of landslide occurrence in various magnitudes in the form of landslide vulnerability zones becomes essential. This spatial probability should also be compared with temporal probability based on the data of landslide incidence of the area for justification of match or mismatch between the inference drawn from the diagnostic criteria based assessment of the possibility level of landslide occurrence and the reality of the landslide scenario in the light of historical perspective of the area. This comparison will finally help to achieve the predicted vulnerability zones of landslide with desirable accuracy to put forward for planning decision. Moreover, such predicted vulnerability zonation can be taken as a standard estimate to use in planning purpose for the areas where historical data of landslide incidences are inadequate or unavailable. With this view in mind, the present paper takes an attempt to verify and compare landslide vulnerability zones derived from Spatial Terrain Parameter Evaluation (STPE) and Anthropogenic Criteria Identification (ACI) methods with the landslide hazard zones prepared from historical data, i.e. landslide inventory of certain length of time. Careful observation reveals that different degrees of landslide vulnerability zones significantly correspond with the similar magnitudes of the landslide hazard zones determined by past occurrence data of landslides over this hill subdivision and therefore validate the predictability procedure of landslide vulnerability zonation. The accuracy performance of the landslide vulnerability zonation model has further been verified by the occurrence dataset of landslide events through receiver operating characteristic curve analysis where area under curve evaluation showed 81.77 % correctness.     

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.     

The application of GIS-based bivariate statistical methods for landslide hazards assessment in the upper Tons river valley,Western Himalaya,India

Landslides are one of the most frequent and common natural hazards in many parts of Himalaya. To reduce the potential risk, the landslide susceptibility maps are one of the first and most important steps in the landslide hazard mitigation. Earth observation satellite and geographical information system-based techniques have been used to derive and analyse various geo-environmental parameters significant to landslide hazards. In this study, a bivariate statistics method was used for spatial modelling of landslide susceptibility zones. For this purpose, thematic layers including landslide inventory, geology, slope angle, slope aspect, geomorphology, slope morphology, drainage density, lineament and land use/land cover were used. A large number of landslide occurrences have been observed in the upper Tons river valley area of Western Himalaya. The result has been used to spatially classify the study area into zones of very high, high, moderate, low and very low landslide susceptibility zones. About 72% of active landslides have been observed to occur in very high and high hazard zones. The result of the analysis was verified using the landslide location data. The validation result shows significant agreement between the susceptibility map and landslide location. The result can be used to reduce landslide hazards by proper planning.     

Numerical Modeling of the Seasonal Dynamic Characteristics of the Koxkar Glacier,in West Tianshan,China

Landslides commonly occurs in hilly areas and causes an enormous loss iof life and property every year. National highway-1D (NH-1D) is the only road link between the two districts (Kargil and Leh) of Ladakh region that connects these districts with Kashmir valley. The landslide failure record of the recent past along this sector of the highway is not available. The present study documents landslide susceptible zones and records occurrence of 60 landslides during the last 4 years showing an increasing trend in the occurrence of landslides over these years in this sector. The landslide susceptibility zonation map has been prepared based on the numerical rating of ten major factors viz. slope morphometry, lithology, structure, relative relief, land cover, landuse, rainfall, hydrological conditions, landslide incidences and Slope Erosion, categorised the area in different zones of instability based on the intensity of susceptibility. The landslide susceptibility map of the area encompassing 73.03 km² is divided into 150 facets. Out of the total of 150 facets, 85 facets fall in low susceptibility zone covering 43.56 km2 which constitute about 59.65% of the total area under investigation with a record of 5 landslides; 40 facets fall in the moderate susceptibility zone covering 16.94km² which constitutes about 23.19% of the study area with a record of 20 landslides; and 25 facets fall in the high susceptibility zone covering 12.53 km² which constitute about 17.15% of the study area with a record of 35 landslides. Most of the facets which fall in HSZ are attributed to slope modification for road widening.