Relocation of a Problematic Segment of a Natural Gas Pipeline Using GIS-Based Landslide Susceptibility Mapping, Hendek (Turkey)

Abstract

A segment of natural gas pipeline constructed in 1997 to supply natural gas to a steel factory was broken due to a landslide with fire near Hendek, Turkey. Re-routing of the pipeline is planned but it requires preparation of landslide susceptibility map of the corresponding segment. In this study, statistical methods namely statistical index (Wi) and weighting factor (WF) have been used with geographic information systems (GIS) by analyzing several intrinsic factors controlling the landslides to prepare landslide susceptibility map of the problematic segment of the pipeline. For this purpose, thematic layers including landslide inventory, lithology, slope, aspect, elevation, land use/land cover, distance to stream, and drainage density were used. In the study area, landslides mainly occur in the unconsolidated to semi-consolidated clayey unit and regolith. Lithology, land use/land cover, elevation, slope, and distance to stream are found to be the important parameters for the study area whereas aspect is not. Nevertheless, the drainage density has a very low contribution. Based on the findings obtained in this study, an alternative route to be studied for detailed engineering geological investigations is proposed.