Landslide hazard zoning along Himalayan Kaghan Valley of Pakistan—by integration of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing technology

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology for developing a landslide hazard zonation map by integration of global positioning system (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), and remote sensing (RS) for Western Himalayan Kaghan Valley of Pakistan. The landslides in the study area have been located and mapped by using GPS. Eleven causative factors such as landuse, elevation, geology, rainfall intensity, slope inclination, soil, slope aspect, distances from main road, distances from secondary roads, and distances from main river and those from trunk streams were analyzed for occurrence of landslides. These factors were used with a modified form of pixel-based information value model to obtain landslide hazard zones. The matrix analysis was performed in remote sensing to produce a landslide hazard zonation map. The causative factors with the highest effect of landslide occurrence were landuse, rainfall intensity, distances from main road, distances from secondary roads, and distances from main river and those from trunk streams. In conclusion, we found that landslide occurrence was only in moderate, high, or very high hazard zones, and no landslides were in low or very low hazard zones showing 100% accuracy of our results. The landslide hazard zonation map showed that the current main road of the valley was in the zones of high or very high hazard. Two new safe road routes were suggested by using the GIS technology.