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Slope aspect effects of loess slides and its spatial differentiation in different geomorphologic types

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Abstract

Several researchers have evaluated landslide susceptibility using various factors, and only few have focused on only one landslide impacting factor in detail, especially its response to geomorphologic evolution. Slope aspect is one of the key conditioning factors for landslide susceptibility assessment in fine-scale studies. To elucidate the slope aspect effect of loess slides and its spatial differentiation, we selected three study areas with different geomorphologic settings in the Chinese Loess Plateau, and developed landslide inventory through the interpretation of remote sensing images and intensive field survey. By using GIS and statistical approach, including extreme ratio and coefficient of variation, we characterized the distribution of loess slides in different slope aspects and compared their spatial differentiation. The results showed that the slope aspect has a significant influence on the spatial distribution of loess slides. The number and area of loess slide is higher in south-facing slope in all the three counties. Moreover, the slope aspect effects on loess slides were mediated by the geomorphologic types. The more mature the development of geomorphology, the more obvious is the slope aspect effect on the landslide. This study is very important for the study on geomorphologic evolution of Loess Plateau.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the international partnership program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. 131551KYSB20160002), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41401602), and Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Program No.2014JQ2-4021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China

    Haijun Qiu, Amar Deep Regmi & Peng Cui

  2. College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, **’an, 710127, China

    Haijun Qiu, Sheng Hu & Yi He

  3. Northwest University, Institute of Earth Surface System and Hazards, **’an, 710127, China

    Haijun Qiu

  4. School of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Shaanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong, 723001, China

    Yanmin Wang

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  1. Haijun Qiu
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Correspondence to Haijun Qiu.

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Qiu, H., Regmi, A.D., Cui, P. et al. Slope aspect effects of loess slides and its spatial differentiation in different geomorphologic types. Arab J Geosci 10, 344 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3135-5

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