Himalayan Geology, Vol. 41 (1), 2020, pp. 81-92, Printed in India
Landslide Susceptibility Mapping in the Dharasu-Uttarkashi National Highway NH-108/34, NW Himalaya
ARAVIND S. NAIR*, SOMENDRA K. SINGH
Department of Geology, University of Delhi, New Delhi-110007, India
*Email (Corresponding author): aravimanikuttan@gmail.com
Abstract: Landslides are one of the major natural hazards that account for loss of hundreds of lives besides causing enormous damage to properties and blocking the communication links every year in the North-Western Himalaya. The present study, discuss about the major landslides that occurred in the Dharasu-Uttarkashi National Highway NH-108/34 sector of NW Himalaya, and to suggest the required mitigation measures. The area chosen for the study is located along toe side of the Bhagirathi river valley in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, suffering from landslides every year. One of the massive landslides in the study area was Varunavat Parvat landslide in Uttarkashi city, and other villages affected by landslide were Maneri, Mala and Bhatwari. The populations living in these townships and villages continue to suffer badly from the onslaught of landslides. Therefore, landslide susceptibility mapping is one of the important approaches for the sustainable development of these villages. Landslide susceptibility analysis (LSA) was made using various parameters such as DEM, slope, stream, roads and Landsat image. The validation results show satisfactory agreement between the susceptibility map and the existing data on landslide locations. Consequently, the landslide susceptibility map was prepared for the study area.
Keywords: India, Uttarkashi, Landslides, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Landslide Susceptibility Mapping, Remote Sensing and GIS, ArcGIS.