INVENTORY, MAPPING, GEOMORPHIC CHARACTERIZATION, AND VALIDATION OF DEEP-SETATED LANDSLIDES USING SKY-VIEW FACTOR VISUALIZATION: NORTHERN, CENTRAL, AND SOUTHERN TAIWAN

Abstract. Extreme rainfall with long-term period plays a principal role in triggering deep-seated landslide around the mountainous area. A well-known typhoon Morakot, the most destructive event occurred in August 2009, battered southern Taiwan and caused severe casualties in Siaolin Village. To reduce the damage and to prevent loss of life resulting from the catastrophic landslide, this study adopted high-resolution topographic data which extracted from airborne LiDAR scanning to interpret both recent and ancient deep-seated landslides in northern, central, and southern Taiwan. Firstly, a relief visualization technique called sky-view factor was utilized to generate the quasi-3D map by overlapping slope gradient, and multiple direction hillshading maps, allowing one to interpret manually detailed landslide topography and assess the hazard potential. The study area of the on-going project covers an area of 17,000 km². This study recognized main scarp and landslide body in polygon pattern by landslide micro-topography interpretation; it showed more than 700 deep-seated landslides were mapped and located on Central Range and Western foothills in Taiwan. The spatial distribution of deep-seated landslide relates highly to the regional strike of formation, daylight at the toe, river-bank erosion, and drainage density. Additionally, the detrimental geomorphic and topographic features are extracted to evaluate the landslide activity in the future. For a landslide zonation which characterized with sharp scarp and greater deformation rate, it usually may represent higher failure susceptibility. This work also uses the 3-D terrain model created by drone photography and geomorphometric analysis to validate the expert-based landslide susceptibility. Furthermore, the result of the study will contribute updating the national-wide environmental geologic map and provide competent authority to make decisions reducing the geohazard risk.