Analysis of Changes in Landslide Susceptibility according to Land Use over 38 Years in Lixian County, China

• Published in: Sustainability
• Main Authors: Jie Liu, Zhen Wu, Huiwen Zhang
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021
• Subjects: land use change; landslide susceptibility partition; multitemporal; natural vegetation; human activities; Environmental effects of industries and plants; TD194-195; Renewable energy sources; TJ807-830; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Bare Rock; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910858; https://doaj.org/article/148e30dde8ff43e48b0e2b45deff4325

Landslides occur frequently in Lixian County, China, and land use has changed significantly in recent decades. We obtained land use data for the years 1980, 2000, and 2018, as well as three landslide susceptibility maps from a Random Forest model. Agricultural land, low coverage grassland, water area, and urban, rural and other construction land were prone to landslides. Landslide susceptibility was low in areas of woodland, moderate and high coverage grassland, bare rock land, desert and tundra. Areas with high landslide susceptibility were mainly located in the catchment of the study region, and a 2.61% decrease in high landslide susceptibility areas over the 38-year period was primarily driven by changes in agricultural and rural land. By contrast, a 1.42% increase in low landslide susceptibility areas over the 38-year period was driven by changes in moderate and high coverage woodland and moderate coverage grassland. There is a need for effective management measures to be implemented because areas with high landslide susceptibility are still present. We also found that human aggregations, or the absence of these, vary in their effects on the areas of Lixian County most susceptible to landslides.