Landslide Susceptibility Assessment Using Multicriteria Evaluation Based Geospatial Modelling Along a Mughal Road in the Pir Panjal, Kashmir Himalayas

The present study aims to generate a historical Landslide inventory and Susceptibility assessment (LSA) maps using the Multicriteria Evaluation Model (MCEM) along the Mughal Road from Shopian to Peermarg. Further, to create a landslide susceptibility zonation (LSZ) map in a GIS environment, several factors were considered and weighted according to their relative importance in the likelihood of landslides. Besides, the weights were normalized such that the sum of normalized weights is equal to unity. The deciles of the normalized weights were used to split the study region into five zones. Therefore, a resulting landslide susceptibility map identified five landslide susceptibility zones, viz Very High (27.73 km2), High (60.16 km2), Moderate (58.47 km2), Low (47.99 km2), and Very Low (47.99 km2). However, the study also prepared the historical landslides along a selected part of Mughal Road through extensive field surveys and secondary sources. Further, we used landslide data to validate the model’s accuracy. Besides, the landslide susceptibility map was validated by the recorded landslides. The ROC (Receiver operating characteristic) method is utilized to validate the model, which denoted the acceptable results for the landslide susceptibility zonation with a 0.650 AUC (Area under Curve) value. However, from the findings, it is imperative that engineering and agronomic solutions be implemented promptly, as 38.95% of the study region is classified as high and very high susceptible zones. Therefore, land use planning, landslide hazard mitigation, and landscape protection could all benefit from a generated landslide susceptibility map. Moreover, the MCE model introduced in the current study could benefit all mountainous terrains, particularly the Himalayas.