Zoning and mapping of landslide hazard in the Nilgiris district, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Landslide is the frequent disastrous events in the Nilgiris District. It shows a historical record in the study area. The objective of this present study is to prepare a landslide hazard zonation map. The present study has been carried out by using secondary sources of data. Total of 33 landslides has been recognized through Landsat-8 satellite imagery. In this study, five parameters have been taken such as land-use/ land cover, rainfall, slope, aspect and geology. The hazard zonation map has been done with the technique of Weighted Overlay Analysis by using GIS software ARC GIS 10.4. The results of this study reveal that most of the landslide has occurred in the east and center part of Nilgiris district which are highly prone to landslides. These regions are in very high and high zones. The northern most part of the Nilgiris is in the low zone due to dense forest covered. There are only 0.21 percentage of area is in under very high zone, 1.82 percentage is under the high zone, 41.72 percentage is under the moderate zone,50.38 percentage is under the low zone and 5.91 percentage is under very low zone out of the total study area. Therefore, the results of this study also reveal that the final map of hazard zonation can be useful for mitigating the hazard and is very helpful to planners and engineers for determining the safe and suitable locations to continue the developmental works.