GIS Methodology to Assess Landslide Susceptibility: Application to a River Catchment of Central Italy

Abstract

This paper illustrates a geographic information system (GIS) supported methodology for the assessment of landslide susceptibility. The methodology involves four operational steps: survey, site analysis, macro- area analysis and susceptibility analysis . The Survey includes the production (or acquisition) of a large-scale litho-technical map, a large-scale geomorphological map, a detailed inventory of past and present land- slide events, and a high resolution DTM (Digital Terrain Model. Site analysis leads to the definition of discriminating parameters (commonly, lithological and morphometric conditions necessary but not suffi- cient to trigger a landslide of a given type) and predisposing factors (conditions that worsen slope stability but are not sufficient to trigger a landslide of a given type in the absence of discriminating parameters ). The different predisposing factors are subdivided into classes, whose intervals are established by descriptive, statistical analysis of landslide inventory data. A numerical index, based on the frequency of landslide occurrence, quantifies the contribution of each class to slope instability. Macro-area analysis includes the generation of Litho-Morphometric Units (LMU) by overlaying discrimina- ting parameters , manual drawing of LMU envelopes ( macro-areas ), generation of predisposing factor maps from the spatial distribution of predisposing factors , and heuristic weighting of predisposing factor indices. Susceptibility analysis includes the generation of Homogeneous Territorial Units (HTU) by overlaying macro- areas and predisposing factor maps , and the application of a susceptibility function to the different HTU. The resulting values are normalized before the generation of the landslide susceptibility maps . The methodo- logy has been applied to the Fiumicino River catchment, located in the western side of Latium Apennine (Central Italy) between 200 and 1300 m a.s.l. and developed on Late Miocene calcarenites, sandstones with clay intercalations, and marls. The resulting landslide susceptibility maps will be employed in envi- ronmental management. They also represent the preliminary step for the assessment of landslide hazard and risk