Assessing the Susceptibility of Landslides in the Tuoding Section of the Upper Reaches of the Jinsha River, China, Using a Combination of Information Quantity Modeling and GIS

Abstract

Combined with visible light remote sensing technology and InSAR technology, this study employed the fundamental principles of the frequency ratio model, information content model, and analytic hierarchy process to assess the susceptibility of the study area. Nine susceptibility assessment factors such as elevation, slope, aspect, water system, vegetation coverage, geological structure, stratum lithology, rainfall, and human activities were selected, and the factor correlation degree was calculated by using the relative area density value of the landslide. The frequency ratio model and information content model were selected to carry out landslide susceptibility zoning, and the accuracy of the two models was verified by the ROC curve and density method. The results indicate that the information content model performed relatively well. Therefore, the information model, combined with the analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy superposition method using the landslide point density map, was chosen to evaluate landslide susceptibility. The study area was divided into five levels of landslide hazard, ranging from low to high, using the natural discontinuity point method. The results show that the area of each hazard zoning is 197.48, 455.72, 408.21, 152.66, and 16.22 km2 from low to high, and the proportion of landslides in the corresponding area is 0.17%, 1.60%, 3.88%, 8.41%, and 16.65%, respectively. It can be seen that with the increase in the hazard level, the proportion of landslides also increases significantly, which verifies the accuracy of the hazard results. Additionally, four representative landslides in the study area were selected for analysis to understand their characteristics and underlying mechanisms. The results revealed that these landslides were notably influenced by the density of the Jinsha River and the surrounding roads. The susceptibility assessment outcomes for geological disasters align well with the current situation of landslide occurrences in the Tuoding river section, demonstrating high accuracy. This study provides a scientific foundation for effective prevention and control measures against local landslide disasters.