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PRODUCING LANDSLIDE RISK MAP OF SEBINKARAHISAR 
BY MEANS OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES 
D. Z. Seker^ *, M. O. Altan?, Z. Duran? , M. B. Shrestha?, A. Yuasa?, K. Kawamura 
* ITU, Civil Engineering Faculty, 34469 Maslak Istanbul, Turkey - (seker, oaltan, duranza)@itu.edu.tr 
River Basin research Center Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu city 501-1193, Japan — (yuasa,madhu@green.gifu-u.ac.jp) 
KEY WORDS: GIS, Landslide, Remote Sensing, Hazards, DEM/DTM 
ABSTRACT: 
The objective of this study is to determine a suitable methodology for predicting possible landslide areas and producing landslide 
risk map in the study area of Sebinkarahisar Township, which is located at the northeastern part of Turkey. In the study, various 
types of data were used to extract relevant information. These include the satellite sensor data taken in the year of 1987 and 2000, 
which are used for the extraction of land surface temperature and land use information. 1:25000 scale standard topographic map has 
been digitized and the obtained contours were used for the derivation of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and slope map of the study 
site. Satellite images, DEM and slope map of the study area were used to investigate the possible landslide risk areas and reasons of 
this natural hazard which threat the study area frequently. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Landslide is a slide of a large mass of dirt and rock down a 
mountain or cliff. Landslides have become one of the world's 
major natural disasters in the recent years in many countries. 
Prediction of potential landslide areas has been very difficult 
because of the complexity of the factors involved and the 
relationship to each other, which is wide ranging. The factors 
that arc usually related to landslides are geology, soil type, land 
surface temperature, land cover, underground water level, slope 
aspect, slope inclination, elevation, etc. Normally, the causes of 
landslide are determined by carrying out sampling of the soil, 
rock, slope inclination, land cover, underground water level, 
geology, etc. at the site. It is a difficult and time consuming job 
to do this for a large area from time to time and by integrating it 
with GIS, all the information can be combined, manipulated and 
analyzed to determine potential landslide areas. 
The integration of GIS with remote sensing data and thematic 
map may highly facilitate the assessment and estimation of 
regional landslide hazards (Yuan and Mohd, 1997). In this 
study, land surface temperature and land use information have 
been obtained from Landsat TM data taken in the 24 September 
1987 and 17 July 2000. The elevation and slope inclination of 
the study area have been determined from DEM generated 
using contours digitized from 1:25000 scaled standard 
topographic map. 
Researchers to predict landslide potential areas usually use the 
land surface temperature, which is closely related to 
underground water level. Land surface temperature is calculated 
using satellite sensor data. This process is done because 
according to previous researches, most landslide areas have 
temperature between 24-26 °C. According to previous 
researches, most of the landslides occur at slope inclination of 
35° - 45°. The slope inclination map was generated from the 
DEM. Both the DEM and slope inclination maps were used to 
produce landslide risk map (Yuan and Mohd, 1997, Shikada, 
1994), 
  
Corresponding author 
465 
All the data were manipulated and processed by using the 
ArcView and Erdas Imagine software. Several different risk 
map related to landslides in the study area were evaluated by 
different research groups and government institutions. In the 
different landslide maps obtained from previous studies, were 
classified into different risk zones. The most risky areas are 
classified. Remote sensing has been used to study characteristic 
properties of ground surface due to the advantages of its broad 
area observation and periodicity. 
The integration of GIS with remote sensing data and thematic 
map data may facilitate greatly the assessment and estimation 
of regional landslide hazards. In the study, land surface 
temperature and land use information have been derived from 
Landsat TM data. The elevation and slope inclination have been 
determined from DEMs generated from standard topographic 
maps. Reliable data related to underground water level could 
not be obtained. Using all relevant data, simple algorithms were 
used and by combining all the risk maps using GIS techniques, 
final risk maps were produced which take into account all of the 
factors. 
An integrated approach of remote sensing and GIS is highly 
useful in evaluation, management and monitoring of natural 
hazards. Routine use of remote sensing data and its analysis of a 
hazard prone area help to monitor the changes in surface 
feature. The digital image processing techniques enable the user 
to get the desired information in a more reliable, quicker and 
easier way. The goal of this study is to generate a landslide 
zonation map using GIS and remote sensing based methods. 
Use of satellite imagery has been incorporated in mapping the 
lineaments as a result of which are projected to better 
characterize the landslides of the study area. The landslide risk 
assessment has been studied in detail within the last 30 years. 
Various attitudes to a solution of this task have brought a large 
range of possible solution methods. They can be divided into 
five big groups. These groups are given in Table 1 (Halounova 
and Pavelka, 1998).