Landslide susceptibility mapping of Chitral, northwestern Pakistan using GIS

Landslide susceptibility mapping of Chitral, northwestern Pakistan using GIS

Mukhtar S. Ahmad^1, *, Mona Lisa¹_, Saad Khan² Munawar Shah³

¹Department of Earth Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan

²Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Pakistan

³Department of Space Science, Institute of Space Technology, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan

¹mukhtargeo44@gmail.com

¹lisa_qau@yahoo.com

²saadkhan@bkuc.edu.pk

³shahmunawar1@gmail.com

^*Corresponding author: mukhtargeo44@gmail.com

Abstract

Landslides are the most frequently occurring geohazard in rugged Himalayan mountainous terrains. They often cause significant loss to life and property, and therefore landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) has become increasingly urgent and important. In this study, LSM is carried out in the Chitral district of the Hindukush region in northwestern Pakistan. Several Geographic Information System (GIS) based models (such as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), weighted overlay) has been used to build landslide inventory and susceptibility maps. The study incorporated nine main factors (including human-induced parameters, such as distance from road; topographical parameters, such as slope, aspect, and landcover; geological parameters, such as lithology, distance to fault, seismicity; hydrological parameters, such as rainfall and distance to stream) to generate LSM, further classified in five classes, very high susceptibility zone, high, moderate, low, and very low susceptible zone. It is concluded that most of the landslides in the study area are the result of steep slopes of mountains, followed by precipitation and earthquake. Landslide in the form of rockfall is mostly due to the active seismicity of the Hindukush region. The predicted susceptible zones of landslide in the study area are in good agreement with the past landslide localities, which is an indication of the susceptibility mapping of landslides in the region.