Abstract
Abstract. Several remote sensing techniques, namely traditional aerial photographs, an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), and airborne lidar, were used in this study to decipher the morphological features of obscure landslides in volcanic regions and how the observed features may be used for understanding landslide occurrence and potential hazard. A morphological reconstruction method was proposed to assess landslide morphology based on the dome-shaped topography of the volcanic edifice and the nature of its morphological evolution. Two large-scale landslides in the Tatun volcano group in northern Taiwan were targeted to more accurately characterize the landslide morphology through airborne lidar and UAS-derived digital terrain models and images. With the proposed reconstruction method, the depleted volume of the two landslides was estimated to be at least 820 ± 20 × 106 m3. Normal faulting in the region likely played a role in triggering the two landslides, because there are extensive geological and historical records of an active normal fault in this region. The subsequent geomorphological evolution of the two landslides is thus inferred to account for the observed morphological and tectonic features that are indicative of resulting in large and life-threatening landslides, as characterized using the recent remote sensing techniques.
Highlights
Landslides pose long-lasting threats to humans and their property and are detrimental to the environment in general
Due to recently developed high-resolution and high-precision airborne light detection and ranging and unmanned aircraft system (UAS) datasets, we proposed feasible methods for evaluating landslides, old landslides, by performing paleotopographic reconstruction based on several concepts and the hypothetical shape of the natural edifice of a stratovolcano
Satellite images, and 40 m grid digital elevation model (DEM), these analyses revealed common morphological features, including circular crowns and depletion zones bounded by topographic scarps on the upslope side within the study area
Summary
Landslides pose long-lasting threats to humans and their property and are detrimental to the environment in general. Clayton et al (1982) suggested a useful procedure for improving site investigations and methods. Several useful morphological characteristics have been proposed for identifying potential landslide sites (Varnes, 1978; IAEG, 1990; Guzzetti et al, 2012; Santangelo et al, 2015a, b; Bucci et al, 2016); these can be readily applied for landslide recognition and identification. Such methods may facilitate the identification of landslide sites and subsequent analysis of landslides. Morphological analysis involving observation and identification methods, such as contour topographic maps, aerial photography, and remote sensing images, is considered an essential task in the early stages of landslide investigations (IAEG, 1990; Santangelo et al, 2015a, b)
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