Spatial interrelationship of landslides, litho‐tectonics, and climate regime, Satluj valley, Northwest Himalaya

Abstract

Landslides have been considered widely as principal mass wasting agents in the valleys experiencing varied influence of tectonics and climate. However, pattern of landslides is rarely addressed in the literature that may act as a surface manifestation of interrelationship of tectonics, climate, and lithology. Here, we have attempted to understand such interrelationship in the context of landslide distribution pattern in the Satluj valley, Northwest Himalaya. Geomorphic indices such as steepness index, valley floor width to valley height ratio, and topographic swath profile were used for tectonic inference. Daily rainfall data of the year 2000-2016, using 5 rain-gauge stations and swath profile of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, were used to deduce spatial variability of climate. Influence of lithological variability and regional faults; Sangla Detachment, Main Central Thrust, and Munsiari Thrust on the landslide distribution are also inferred. A total of 55 landslides (20 rock avalanche, 19 debris slides, and 16 rockfalls) are found to exist in 6 clusters along 130 km stretch of the Satluj valley. These landslides, covering a total area (A) and volume (V) of 1.05 × 10 7 m 2 and 4.4 × 10 7 m 3 , respectively, are also noted to follow a power law (R 2 = 0.8) and result in a scaling relationship of V = (0.180)A 1.208 .

Rainfall Induced Landslide Studies in Indian Himalayan Region: A Critical Review

“…However, the accuracy of the above-mentioned techniques largely depends on the resolution of the satellite images that are costly to be acquired. Therefore, free and high-resolution Google Earth (GE) images have also been used for landslide mapping [19,37]. The ability of such images to provide a 3D view and its free availability can serve researchers to exploit imagery for landslide detection and mapping [38].…”

“…The ability of such images to provide a 3D view and its free availability can serve researchers to exploit imagery for landslide detection and mapping [38]. Kumar et al [37] utilized GE images for landslide dimension mapping along Satluj Valley in Northwest Himalaya. Further, Kumar et al [19] conducted a study on a relatively smaller area (Pawari landslide) in the same region and analyzed the changes using GE images of 2005, 2012, and 2014.…”

Inferring potential landslide damming using slope stability, geomorphic constraints and run-out analysis; case study from the NW Himalaya

“…of the HHC. Migmatitic gneiss marks the upper part of the HHC whereas, base is marked by kyanite-sillimanite gneiss rockmass (Sharma 1977;Vannay et al 2004;Kumar et al 2019b).…”

“…The LHC is delimited at the base by the Munsiari Thrust (MT) fault that is thrusted over the Lesser Himalaya Sequence (LHS) rockmass. The MT contains breccia, cataclastic, and fault gouge (Sharma 1977;Vannay et al 2004;Kumar et al 2019b). The LHS in the study area consists of quartzarenite (Rampur Quartzite) with bands of phyllite, meta-volcanics, and paragneiss (Sharma 1977).…”

“…The present study covers forty-four (44) active landslides (20 debris slides, 13 rock falls, and 11 rock avalanches) along the study area that have been mapped recently by Kumar et al (2019b). The location and dimensional details of the landslides have been summarized in Table 1.…”