Identification and evaluation of the risk induced by landslides based on G.I.S. models of spatial analysis. Case study: Bicazu Ardelean, Romania

Abstract

Having a strong impact on human activities, landslides represent one of the most frequent hazards encountered throughout the world, but also in Romania. As a result, various exhaustive scientific approaches try to identify the areas affected by this phenomenon or at risk, among the proposed methods being those offered by G.I.S. techniques of spatial analysis in tandem with statistical methods. In the present study, G.I.S. methods of spatial analysis were used, with a focus on methodologies capable of determining the probability of occurrence of landslides, possible and viable within any territory. The analysis was carried out in the area of the commune of Bicazu Ardelean, Neamț County, Romania, where multiple areas with a medium-high and high probability of vulnerability were identified, by means of a deterministic “white-box” type model, followed by an evaluation from the point of view of the risk induced on the territorial infrastructures. Both the model and the evaluation generated suitable results, validated in G.I.S. and in the field. The obtained results attested the viability of the working method, as well as the potential of its application in any other areas with similar morphometric characteristics.