Landslide susceptibility mapping in a hilly terrain using remote sensing and GIS

Remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) are well suited to landslide studies. The aim of this study is to prepare a landslide susceptibility map of a part of Ooty region, Tamil Nadu, India, where landslides are common. The area of the coverage is approximately 10 × 14 km in a hilly region where planting tea, vegetables and cash crops are in practice. Hence, deforestation, formation of new settlements and changing land use practices are always in progress. Land use and land cover maps are prepared from Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS 1C - LISS III) imagery. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was developed using 20 m interval contours, available in the topographic map. Field studies such as local enquiry, land use verification, landslide location identification were carried out. Analysis was carried out with GIS software by assigning rank and weights for each input data. The output shows the possible landslide areas, which are grouped for preparation of landslide susceptibility maps. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.