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Mapping and Change Detection Study of Nepal-2015 Earthquake Induced Landslides

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Abstract

The devastating earthquake that struck Nepal in 25 April (Mw7.8) and 12 May (Mw7.3) 2015 have triggered numerous landslides and reactivated existing landslides extending over large areas. These two shocks mostly affected the northwest and northeast region of Kathmandu which accelerated large region along with southward up thrusting in the region. To detect the event of the landslides in time and space satellite images have been analysed using space remote sensing techniques like pseudo colour transformation technique and was employed to pre and post-earthquake images of the event to bring out only landslide affected areas from the image by masking the remaining part, where field based survey of the landslides provided information on real nature of it, slope and rock type. Surprisingly the observed mass movements are mostly belong to debris flow and rock fall types beginning from the top part of the ridge slope with south-westerly faces i.e. sun facing. Further, satellite images of different dates could be gathered which facilitated analysis on development of landslide with time. This study also revealed that the NE–SW trending geological faults have controlled the landslide occurrence especially in Ramche area and along the Bagmati river valley near Shital-chowk village on Kathmandu-Hetauda road.

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Acknowledgements

We are greatly indebted to Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), New Delhi for financial assistance and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal for valuable interaction during our field visit to Nepal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, 247667, India

    Kanika Sharma, Arun K. Saraf, Suman S. Baral, Susanta Borgohain & Gaurav Singh

  2. Department of Earthquake Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, 247667, India

    Josodhir Das

Authors
  1. Kanika Sharma
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  2. Arun K. Saraf
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  3. Josodhir Das
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  4. Suman S. Baral
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  5. Susanta Borgohain
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  6. Gaurav Singh
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Correspondence to Suman S. Baral.

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Sharma, K., Saraf, A.K., Das, J. et al. Mapping and Change Detection Study of Nepal-2015 Earthquake Induced Landslides. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 46, 605–615 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-017-0720-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-017-0720-8

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