LAND-SURFACE MORPHOLOGY

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Abstract
We have developed a rapid, flexible method for predicting potentially unstable landscapes, in the form of earthflows and rotational landslides, using a set of land-surface morphology parameters and related process calculations. We used an eastern Ohio drainage basin as a trial area, having calculated the land-surface morphology parameters from an elevation data set for the basin. The parameters, along with the calculations of gravitational stress on the soil mass and solar irradiance at an equinox and geologic-column information, were combined in a multiple-factor analysis to identify potentially unstable areas. Combining the factors of gravitational stress, surface curvature, solar irradiance, and geologic features eliminated 55, 30, 5, and 2 percent, respectively, of the total land area when combined in the sequence presented. Field investigations found that earthflow and landslide remnants in the trial drainage basin were confined to those areas the model had determined to be potentially unstable.

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