Abstract
The North Eastern Region of India because of its relatively immature topography, fragile geologic base and active tectonics is vulnerable to landslide activities and the scenario is further accentuated due to various developmental activities. Almost one fifth of India’s landslide prone areas are located in this region. Guwahati, a major city in North East India is one such fast developing city that falls under medium to high category of the Global Landslide Susceptibility Map. The hills of the city have slopes between 15° and 25° where numbers of landslide affected sites are scattered. Almost 50 % of the soil samples analyzed from landslide affected sites showed low strength of the soils. Compared to the global threshold, Guwahati needs less intensity of rainfall (I = 28.7 D-0.890) for landsliding. Moreover, change in land use over a period of 30 years shows correlation between hill slope alteration and increment in landslide incidences.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aleotti P (2004) A warning system of rainfall-induced shallow failure. Eng Geol 73:247–265
Caine N (1980) The rainfall intensity-duration control of shallow landslides and debris flows. Geogr Ann 62(A):23–27
Campbell RH (1975) Soil Slips, Debris Flows, and Rainstorms in the Santa Monica Mountains and Vicinity, Southern California. Geological Survey Professional Paper 851, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, pp 1–20
Carrara A, Cardinali M, Guzzetti F, Reichenbach P (1995) GIS technology in mapping landslide hazard. In: Carrara A, Guzzetti F (eds) Geographical information systems in assessing natural hazards. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 135–175
Casagrande A (1958) Notes on the design of the liquid limit device. Geotechnique, London 8(2):84–91
Crozier MJ (1997) The climate-landslide couple: a southern hemisphere perspective. In: Matthews JA, Brunsden D, Frenzel B, Glaeser B, Weiss MM (eds) Rapid mass movement as a source of climatic evidence for the Holocene. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, pp 333–354
Deganutti AM, Marchi M, Arattano M (2000) Rainfall and debris flow occurrence in the Moscardo basin (Italian Alps). In: Wieczorek GF, Naeser ND (eds) Proceedings 2nd international conference on debris- flow hazards mitigation: mechanics, prediction, and assessment. American Society of Civil Engineers, Taipei, Taiwan, 67–72 Edition, Chapman and Hall, London, p 616
Goswami DC (1993) Assam’s land resources- a satellite based ARSAC survey. Assam Science Society, Guwahati, pp 23–27
Guzzetti F, Peruccacci S, Rossi M, Stark CP (2007) Rainfall thresholds for the initiation of landslides in central and southern Europe. Meterology and Atmospheric Physics online first version. DOI 10.1007/sO0703-O07 -0262- 7. Accessed 7 Aug 2007
IS: 1498 (1970) Classification and identification of soils for general engineering purposes. ISI, New Delhi
IS: 2720 (Part 5) (1985) Methods of test for soils. Determination of liquid limit and plastic limit. ISI, New Delhi
Kirschbaum D, Adler R, Hong Y, Lerner-Lam A (2009) Evaluation of a preliminary satellite-based landslide hazard algorithm using global landslide inventories. Nat Hazard Earth Syst Sci 9:673–686
Krishnan MS (ed) (1982) Geology of India and Burma. CBS Publishers and Distributors, Delhi, p 536. ISBN 81-239-0012-0
Larsen MC, Simon A (1993) A rainfall intensity-duration threshold for landslides in a humid-tropical environment, Puerto Rico. Geogr Ann 75:13–23
Nath SK, Thingbaijam SKK, Raj A (2008) Earthquake hazard in Northeast India- a seismic microzonation approach with typical case studies from Sikkim Himalaya and Guwahati city. J Earth Syst Sci 117(S2):809–831
Reichenbach P, Cardinali M, De Vita P, Guzzetti F (1998) Regional hydrological thresholds for landslides and floods in the Tiber River Basin (central Italy). Environ Geol 35:146–159
Sarma KP, Maswood M (1998) Structure controlled mode of emplacement of pegmattite around Guwahati, Kamrup District, Assam. Indian J Geochem 13:25–32, ISSN 09709088
Singh A (2004) Modern geotechnical engineering, 3rd edn. CBS Publishers and Distributers, New Delhi/Bangalore, p 846. ISBN 81-239-0121-6
Varnes DJ (1978) Slope movement types and processes. In: Schuster RL, Krizek RJ (eds) Landslides, analysis and control, vol 176, Transportation Research Board special report. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, pp 11–33
White ID, Mottershead DN, Harrison JJ (1996) Environmental systems, 2nd edn. Chapman and Hall, London, 616
Wieczorek GF (1996) Landslide triggering mechanisms. In: Turner AK, Schuster RL (eds) Landslides: investigation and mitigation, vol 247, Transportation Research Board, special report. National Research Council, Washington, pp 76–79
Acknowledgement
Thanks are due to Dr S Sudhakar, Director, North Eastern Space Applications Centre, Umiam, Meghalaya, India for allowing us to publish this paper. Thanks are also due to Dr. J.J. Laskar, Asst. Prof. Dept. of Geological Sciences, Gauhati University, India for his guidance during sample collection and geo-technical analysis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bhusan, K., Goswami, D.C. (2013). Triggering Factors of Landslides and Determination of Rainfall Threshold: A Case Study from North East India. In: Margottini, C., Canuti, P., Sassa, K. (eds) Landslide Science and Practice. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31337-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31337-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31336-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31337-0
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)