A fractal measure of spatial association between landslides and conditioning factors

Abstract

Measuring the relative importance and assigning weights to conditioning factors of landslides occurrence are significant for landslide prevention and/or mitigation. In this contribution, a fractal method is introduced for measuring the spatial relationships between landslides and conditioning factors (such as faults, rivers, geological boundaries, and roads), and for assigning weights to conditioning factors for mapping of landslide susceptibility. This method can be expressed as ρ=Cε ^–d, where d is the fractal dimension, and C is a constant. This relationship indicates a fractal relation between landslide density (ρ) and distances to conditioning factors (ε). The case of d>0 suggests a significant spatial correlation between landslides and conditioning factors. The larger the d (>0) value, the stronger the spatial correlation is between landslides and a specific conditioning factor. Two case studies in South China were examined to demonstrate the usefulness of this novel method.

Keywords

geological hazard / landslides / fractal / spatial statistic

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