Investigation on the spatial distribution of landslides in Sichuan Province, southwest China

Abstract

In this study, a total of 34,893 landslides collected from the Sichuan Province of China are used to reveal their spatial distribution. Correlations between the spatial distribution of landslides and five main factors [i.e. topography, rainfall, lithology, peak ground acceleration (PGA), and human activity] are analyzed based on the Geographical Information System (GIS) platform. Topographic factors exert a significant influence on landslide occurrence, and other factors also sensitive to landslides include lithology (Classes 3 and 4), PGA (≤0.15 g), rainfall (90–140 mm), and road density (≤0.6 km/km2). The geographical detector model is used to detect the relative importance of individual influencing factors and the factor interaction effects on the landslide distribution. The results show that the interacting factors between rainfall and PGA, lithology, river density, and road density are more closely related to the spatial distribution of landslides than every single factor. The results of this study can provide a foundation and insights for hazard reduction schemes in the future.