HARLAN COUNTY LANDSLIDE RISK ANALYSIS

Harlan Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

An Example of ESRI Model Builder in Action
Value
High : 1259.44

Digital Elevation Model Low : 325.271

Creating the Final Weighted Raster

The final stage of the geoprocessing was to generate a weighted sum raster.

Slope Reclassified Slope The process entailed combing the following reclassified raster datasets: geology,
slope, land use cover, soils, and the merged raster of buffers for coal mines,
streams and roads. Each of these raster files has the same cell size and each
Slope (by percent) Reclassification
Value contains a common field called VALUE which contains the assigned reclassified
<1% 1
value that was assigned to it. The weighted raster also stipulates that each
1%-2% 2
2%-4% 4 raster file itself be assigned a percentage weight, with all included raster files
4%-7% 8
7%-10% 16 required to equal 100%. The following weighted percentages were assigned to
10%-15% 32
15%-25% 64 the raster files:
25%-45% 128 Reclassified Slope
Harlan Slope 6-7 >45% 256
Value
Reclassified Raster File Weighted Percentage
Degrees 8 - 16
Slope 40%
17 - 25
High : 512
0-1
Land Use Cover 20%
2 26 - 60
Geology 15%
3 61 - 75
Soils 15%
4-5 76 - 90
Low : 1 Coal Mine, Stream & Road Buffers 10% Image Courtesy of Google Earth

Reclassified NLCD
2001 Scheme Reclassification

Final Weighted Landslide Risk Raster

Value
11 - Open water 0
12 - Perennial Ice/Snow N/A
21 - Developed, Open Space 15

Harlan County, Kentucky

22 - Developed, Low Intensity 7
23 - Developed, Medium Intensity 10
24 - Developed, High Intensity 15
31 - Barren Land 25
32 - Unconsolidated Shore N/A
41 - Deciduous Forest 2
42 - Evergreen Forest 2
43 - Mixed Forest 2
NLCD 2001 Codes
51 - Dwarf Scrub N/A
11 Open Water 52 - Scrub/Shrub 5
21 Developed, Open Space 71 - Grassland/Herbaceous 7
22 Developed, Low Intensity 72 - Sedge Herbaceous N/A
73 - Lichens N/A
23 Developed, Medium Intensity
74 - Moss N/A
24 Developed, High Intensity
31 Barren Land
81 - Pasture/Hay
82 - Cultivated Crops
7
N/A Very Low Pine Mountain Ridge
41 Deciduous Forest 90 - Woody Wetlands 1
42 Evergreen Forest 91
92
-
-
Palustrine Forested Wetland
Palustrine Scrub/Shrub
N/A
N/A
Low
43 Mixed Forest 93 - Estuarine Forested Wetlands N/A
52 Scrub/Shrub
71 Grassland, Herbaceous
94
95
-
-
Estuarine Scrub/Shrub
Emergent Herbaceous Wetland
N/A
N/A Medium
96 - Palustrine Emergent Wetland (pers.) N/A

National Land Cover Database High

81 Pasture/Hay 97 - Palustrine Emergent Wetland N/A
90 Woody Wetlands 98 - Palustrine Aquatic Bed N/A
99 - Estuarine Aquatic Bed N/A

Reclassified Geology
Geology Weighted Risk Value 298 - 325
13 - 33 326 - 350

34 - 53 351 - 369

KY Geological Classification Reclassification 54 - 75 370 - 391

Value
76 - 103 392 - 419
Breathitt Formation, lower part 10
Breathitt Formation, middle part 5 104 - 135 420 - 442
Breathitt Formation, upper part 1
Chattanooga and Ohio Shales 25 136 - 159 443 - 462
Lee Formation 1
160 - 178 463 - 487
Pennington Formation 2 1 Very Low Risk
179 - 201 488 - 517
2 Low Risk
Harlan Geology
The geoprocessing model reveals that Pine Mountain Ridge 202 - 230 518 - 538
3 Moderate Risk
has the highest overall landslide risk within Harlan County.
Breathitt Formation, lower part
Breathitt Formation, middle part
231 - 256 539 - 552
Breathitt Formation, upper part 4 High Risk The border region with Virginia also remains at high risk for
257 - 275 553 - 572
landslides.
Chattanooga & Ohio Shales
Lee Formation 5 Very High Risk
Pennington Formation thru Bedford Shale 276 - 297 573 - 622
6 Extreme Risk Full geoprocessing model not represented in diagram

Harlan County DEM

Soils Reclassified Soils Harlan County DEM
ArcGIS Model Builder enables you to perform complex geoprocessing functions.
Models are how you automate your work. When you create a model, you are ArcScene Enhanced
preserving a set of tasks, or a data processing workflow, that you can execute Produced by ArcScene Pine Mountain Ridge, view to ESE
multiple times. There are an infinite number of tasks you can automate using models.
Vertical exaggeration = 600%
Soils play an integral role in the science of landslide risk assessment. Three soil GIS users also compose and execute analytical models that help in decision making Regions in red at highest risk of landslide
types found within Harlan County were strongly associated with areas with steep and predicting and understanding different scenarios.
slopes and rocky terrain. These three were: You create models using ModelBuilder to chain together tools, using the output of one
Harlan Soils GsD SeB Helechawa-Varilla-Jefferson (HeF) complex, very rocky, 35 to 75 percent slopes tool as the input to another tool.
Symbol GtF SeC Highsplint-Cloverlick-Guyandotte (HsF) complex, 35 to 75 percent slopes, very stony
AgB HeF SgE
Alticrest-Totz-Helechawa (AtF) complex, rocky, 20 to 55 percent slopes http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/index.cfm?TopicName=An_overview_of_models
AtF HgD ShF
These three soil types were reclassified with a value of “25”. All other soil types

£
Bo HsF SkF
CgF JfD SmF were assigned a value of “1”.
Cr KmD Ud

£
Du KrF UrC
FbC Ph UrE
Low Risk for Landslide Vertical exaggeration = 600%
FbF Po VrD
GsC Sb W High Risk for Landslide

MAP CREDITS
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and National Land Cover Dataset
Coal Seams Reclassified Coal Seams courtesy of the USGS National Map Seamless Server
http://seamless.usgs.gov/

Coal Mines – The data listed three types of surface mines – active, Soil and Coal Mining GIS data couresy of the
Kentucky Geography Network (KY GEONET)
abandoned and undetermined. Each surface mine was assigned a weighted
http://kygeonet.ky.gov/
value. Undetermined mines were given a value of “1” due to the lack of
qualified data about them. Active mines were assigned a value of “5”, whil e Geology data courtesy of the Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS)
abandoned mines, posing the greatest potential threat to contributing to http://www.uky.edu/KGS/
Harlan Coal Seams
STATUS landslides, were assigned a value of “20”
Not Determined Map created February 28, 2010 by Ryan Kelly
Abandoned Associate Professor of Geography
Active Active Bluegrass Community and Technical College
Undetermined Abandoned Lexington, Kentucky

Photography courtesy of Matt Crawford, Kentucky Geological Survey (KGS)