Development of Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Using GIS Modeling in Jordan's Northern Highlands

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop landslide susceptibility mapping using the GIS Technique of areas at risk of landslides in Jordan's Northern Highlands within the regions of Jerash and Ajloun, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), harmonious with GIS layout. The main factors considered in this study were geological structure, slope, flood susceptibility, rain intensity, runoff, aspect, elevation, and land use/land cover, which were reclassified and weighted for mapping the levels of landslide hazards in the study area. Each factor/criterion was weighted and assigned a rank or score by using the Pairwise Comparison method for making a decision about the severity of the landslide. Consequently, landslide risk areas can be categorized into five risk levels namely very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. The landslides risk map obtained for the study area shows that the landslides phenomenon is threatening the road network clearly, the percentage of road network; lengths located within the high and very high landslide risk areas was about 53.8% of the total road network length. Also, the results show that about 44.2%, of these, are high and very high landslide risk areas.