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Geotechnical Characterization and PS-InSAR for Risk Analysis of Solang Landslide in Beas Valley, NW Himalaya: A Wake-Up Call!

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Abstract

Landslide is one of the most common occurring natural disasters in the Himalayan terrain due to its rugged topography, steep slopes, and structural instability. The repercussions of landslides in Himalaya are often devastating, leading to loss of life, property, and infrastructure. Therefore, it is important to monitor landslides and reduce its consequences for which the state-of-the-art Persistent scatterers-Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PS-InSAR) technique is readily used nowadays. The present study illustrates a combined approach using PS-InSAR and a semi-quantitative empirical model for landslide risk micro-zonation utilizing the case study of Solang village (Himachal Pradesh, India). The analysis exhibits that a large part of the village is undergoing deformation with a subsidence rate of upto 80 mm/year near the crown portion of the landslide. The risk analysis indicates that ~ 50% of the buildings housing more than 100 people are under high to very high risk. To better understand the landslide phenomenon in the area, the study also investigates the detailed geomorphological and geological characterization of the area, geotechnical characters of the soil and rainfall pattern in the area. The present study highlights the scope of advanced geoinformatics techniques like InSAR in site-specific risk analysis of landslides and the need for mitigation in the Solang landslide zone.

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Acknowledgements

The authors extend their thanks to the Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology for his constant encouragement and CSIR for financial assistance to carry out the work. Dr. Bikash Ram and Ambar Solanki are also thanked for their precious assistance in writing the article.

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The authors did not received any Funds for the submitted work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

    Ramandeep Kaur & Vikram Gupta

  2. Department of Geophysics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India

    Ramandeep Kaur & Bhagwan Singh Chaudhary

  3. Geology Department, Sikkim University, Gangtok, India

    Vikram Gupta

  4. Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India

    Kapil Malik

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Contributions

R. Kaur and V. Gupta contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by R. Kaur and K. Malik. The first draft of the manuscript was edited by R. Kaur, V. Gupta and B.S. Chaudhary. The revised manuscript was edited and improved by R. Kaur and K. Malik. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Vikram Gupta.

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Kaur, R., Gupta, V., Malik, K. et al. Geotechnical Characterization and PS-InSAR for Risk Analysis of Solang Landslide in Beas Valley, NW Himalaya: A Wake-Up Call!. J Indian Soc Remote Sens (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-024-01856-8

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