Landslide Inventorization and Susceptibility Mapping in the SemiArid Kargil-Ladakh Region of Northwestern Himalaya

Abstract

ABSTRACT Landslides often result in damage to property and loss of life in the Himalayan Region because of high seismicity and rugged terrain. To address this issue, the current study focused on developing a landslide inventory based susceptibility map for Kargil-Ladakh Region of North-Western Himalaya. The landslide susceptibility map for the region was generated with the help of Frequency Ratio (FR) Method, landslide inventory layer and eleven influencing factors such as; elevation, geomorphology, aspect, slope, plan curvature, lithology, rainfall, profile curvature, distance from road and lineaments, temperature, and land cover. The results reveal that approximately (50%) of the study-area lies under moderate to very high susceptibility zones. The low and very low susceptibility zones cover the remaining (50%) of the study-area. The findings highlight that several factors significantly contribute to landslide occurrences in the region, namely slope, road network, elevation, rainfall, and land cover. The northern part of the study area is particularly susceptible to landslides due to the presence of the national highway, a high concentration of settlements, and increased infrastructure development. Furthermore, areas surrounding local highways and community road networks show moderate landslide susceptibility. The results were validated with the help of the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, yielding a value of (82%) which is well within the acceptable limit. The results underscore the importance of developing site-specific landslide mitigation strategies to safeguard vulnerable communities in this strategically significant border region of India.