Landslide Vulnerability Zone by Weights of Evidence Model using Remote Sensing and GIS, in Kodaikanal Taluk (Tamil nadu, India)

Abstract

Incidences of landslides are common in India. According to Geological Survey of India approximately 0.49 million km 2 or 15% of land area of the country is vulnerable to landslide hazard of which, 0.098 million km 2 is located in the north eastern region and the rest 80% is spread over Himalayas, Nilgiris, Ranchi Plateau and Eastern and Western Ghats (GSI, 2006). The area selected for the study, Kodaikanal taluk is located within the high landslide prone zone, where debris slides, soil slips and rock slides are a major threat for the population living in this area. The present study is the assessment of landslide vulnerability using weights-of-evidence model in Kodaikanal Taluk, Tamil Nadu. In the first stage, landslide locations were identified in the study area from interpretation of high resolution of cartosat data and Google maps, and field surveys. In the second stage, ten data layers are exploited to detect the most vulnerable areas. These factors are TIN, Aspect, Slope, Geomorphology, Land use, Soil, Distance from Roads, Distance from Lineament, Distance from Streams, Rainfall. Next, landslide vulnerable areas were analyzed using the weights-of-evidence model and mapped using landslide conditioning factors.