A GIS study of landslides in the lower Los Amigos foreland of Peru
Department of Geology
2006
Thesis
86
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, USA
Los Amigos;geology;soils;disturbance;remote sensing;intermediate spatial scales;rivers;landslides;landscape dynamics
A GIS study of landslides in the lower Los Amigos sub-basin in Peru, where human influence on drainage is nearly non-existent, was performed to determine environmental variables controlling landslides. GIS layers consisted of slope, landslides (381 digitized), soils, and elevation. I applied Ripley’s K-function to estimate spatial extent of correlation between the landslides. The MIKE-SHE hydrologic model was used to determine the unsaturated soil-water pressure in the soil profile. Spatial regressions were performed between landslide counts in a 1X1 km grid and environmental variables: slope, aspect, distance of landslide from nearest river, and soil-water pressure. My conclusions are that landslides were spatially correlated at about 2km lengths, and variations of pore-water pressure in the soils significantly controlled landslide occurrence. Landslides along river meander paths may be an important factor that controls the evolution of foreland basins.