Geomorphological conditions of formation of landslides hazards in the Western Caucasus and methods of their monitoring

Abstract

Toppling, falling and sliding of slopes are widespread in the mountains of the Western Caucasus. The slope hazards on Aibga Ridge and in the Mzymta river basin determine the ecological and geomorphological conditions for construction and operation of first of all, the linear infrastructures (roads and railways). Investigation considered the characteristic of the recent gravity-induced processes and corresponding slopes, including topples, falls, slides and spreads. According to the research results, ecological-geomorphological zoning (allocation of ecological-geomorphological sub-zones) was carried out. The base for the sub-zones regionalization were the morphometric characteristics: the relative excess (m) between the conjugate landforms and slope angle. The possibilities of applying modern techniques for monitoring and preventing of dangerous slope processes were investigated. The monitoring technique for high-precision fixation of “movements” of dangerous slopes was considered, which included several stages of applying modern hardware tools (ground-based and aerospace remote sensing): preliminary allocation of sections along a linear object that represent a potential hazard; ground-based sensing, in which various geodetic instruments (laser robotic total station, laser scanner, digital stereo-camera, etc.) are positioned on a reference marks of geodetic control network to monitor object of interest; analysis of satellite imagery data from various satellites (Landsat, Pléiades, ALOS, Sentinel) and transforming them into the adopted coordinate system of the research site; use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for local large-scale remote sensing, which allows to obtain large-scale ortho-photo-maps and digital elevation model of the surface of an investigated area.