Landslide hazards mapping and permafrost slope InSAR monitoring, Mackenzie Valley, Northwest Territories, Canada

A regional landslide hazards assessment was initiated by the Geological Survey of Canada along a proposed gas pipeline route in the Mackenzie Valley in Canada. This paper briefly presents the methodology and results of the three main activities of the assessment: i) Landslide mapping and inventorying; ii) Landslide susceptibility mapping; and iii) Application of an emerging InSAR technique for slope monitoring. The proposed pipeline corridor is a prone-landslide area with an average density of one landslide per 5 km(2). Dominant landslide types are retrogressive thaw flows (28%) and active layer detachments (26%). About 47% of all landslides took place in moraine deposits. Comparison between landslide susceptibility zones and mapped landslide occurrences confirms that the applied qualitative parametric method appears a very promising tool for land management and landslide hazards mapping. Finally, a large number of man-made coherent targets have been deployed successfully for the first time in Canada's permafrost regions.