See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/345083037

Geomorphology and Landslide Proneness of Kerala, India A Geospatial study

Article  in  Landslides · October 2020

DOI: 10.1007/s10346-020-01562-9

CITATIONS READS

5 2,203

8 authors, including:

SM. Ramasamy Sh Gunasekaran

Bharathidasan University Bharathidasan University
266 PUBLICATIONS   1,362 CITATIONS    28 PUBLICATIONS   46 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

J. Saravanavel Melwyn Joshua

Bharathidasan University Bharathidasan University
81 PUBLICATIONS   255 CITATIONS    2 PUBLICATIONS   5 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Surface and subsurface lineaments mapping using remote sensing data and gis integration View project

Establishment of NRDMS Database Centre in Pudukkottai District of Tamil Nadu. View project

All content following this page was uploaded by SM. Ramasamy on 04 January 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Original paper
Landslides
DOI 10.1007/s10346-020-01562-9 SM. Ramasamy I S. Gunasekaran I J. Saravanavel I R. Melwyn Joshua I R. Rajaperumal I R.
Received: 14 January 2020 Kathiravan I K. Palanivel I M. Muthukumar
Accepted: 12 October 2020
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany
part of Springer Nature 2020 Geomorphology and Landslide Proneness of Kerala,
India A Geospatial study
Abstract It was thought for a long time that only the younger and
tectonically active mountains are prone to landslides and hence
more attention was given in studying them the world over. But,
when the landslides have started occurring in other mountain
regions of high rainfall and human interventions also, these
mountains too came under the purview of landslide studies. The
studies thus widened to the other mountains revealed that the
various geological/terrain parameters and the degree of anthropo-
genic activities occur in different combinations and assign varying
grades of landslide probabilities. According to it, these mountains
succumb to different degrees of landslides when heavy rainfall
occurs. The state of Kerala, which is 600 km long in North
Northwest–South Southeast and 35 to 120 km broad in East-West
directions, is one such a region of recurring landslides. It is a
unique physiographic/geomorphic province with highly elevated
NNW-SSE oriented Western Ghat Mountains in the east, that are
rimmed by the sub parallel systems of landforms like composite
slopes, marginally raised lateritic uplands and the coastal plains
successively in the west with gradual descending elevation, thus
providing a step like topography. The regular annual rainfall of the
southwest monsoons cause devastating landslides in Kerala due to
the unique geomorphic setting. So the present study was carried
out to analyse the geomorphology of the region in details, which is
dominantly evolved by the tectonics, to elucidate its input over the
landslides. In the study, the geomorphic features were studied in
detail using the (i) satellite false colour composite imagery
wrapped over the digital elevation model of the terrain, (ii) shaded
relief maps and (iii) the topographic cross sections drawn over the
above satellite data wrapped 3D terrain model. These were accom-
plished using the advanced options available with geospatial tech-
nology. The study revealed that due to the high degree of
deformation and the resultant development of geomorphology of
the study area, the rainwater infiltrates and cause landslides in the
form of rock and cliff topples, rock and cliff falls, landslides, talus
and debris falls/flows.
Keywords Geospatial studies . IRS FCC wrapped DEM . Shaded
relief maps . Geomorphic mapping . Landslides of Kerala
Introduction
Landslides are one of the major and recurring disasters causing
greater loss to the Man and to his basic facilities to huge infra-
structures. But due to its frequent recurrence in younger and
tectonically active mountain ranges, greater attention was given
by the researchers and developers only in such provinces all over
the world (Christaras 1994; Densmore et al. 1998; Rodriguez et al.
1999; Luzi et al. 2000; Yang et al. 2002; Xu et al. 2005; Chen et al.
2012; Sharifi et al. 2013). Conversely, landslides were occurring in
other tectonically inactive and the older mountainous regions too,
especially in the case of heavy rainfall and aggressive
anthropogenic invasions. So later, the studies were widened to
other mountainous region too which revealed that irrespective of
age and tectonic status, the other geological, meteorological and
anthropogenic parameters were found to be responsible for the
landslides (Forrester 1980; Ghobadi 1994; Wasowski 1998; Dai et al.
1999; Dai et al. 2003; Glade 2003; Bacchini and Zannoni 2003;
Moeyersonsa et al. 2004; Meusburger and Alewell 2008;
Galeandro et al. 2011; Gill et al. 2017; Skilodimou et al. 2018).
Similar was the scenario, in the Indian sub-continent too, that
the younger and active Himalayan mountains were studied more
for landslides (Bansode and Pradhan 1975; Didwal 1980; Dave and
Joshi 1988; Prakash and Parthasaradhi 1988; Pachauri and Pant
1992; Mehrotra et al. 1994; Emmanuel et al. 2004; Champati Ray
et al. 2008; Arunkumar et al. 2008; Bali et al. 2009; Ojha et al. 2013;
Ramasamy et al. 2014; Kahlon et al. 2014). However, later studies
were extended to other mountainous regions like the Western and
the Eastern Ghats (John 1964; Seshagiri et al. 1982; Gogte 1986;
Ramasamy et al. 1996; Ganesha raj et al. 2001; Ramasamy 2003;
Ramasamy et al. 2006; Ramasamy and Muthukumar 2008;
Ramasamy et al. 2008; Vijith and Madhu 2008; Pardeshi et al.
2009; Kuriakose et al. 2009; Korup et al. 2010; Anbazhagan and
Sajinkumar 2011; Pooja Gujarathi and Mane 2013; Ajin et al. 2014;
Ramasamy et al. 2015; Sajinkumar and Rani 2015; Janardhana et al.
2016). These studies have revealed that the various geosystem
parameters occur in different combinations and cause varying
grades of proneness to landslides, and the anthropogenic activities
and rainfall act as triggering parameters. However, we observe that
the geomorphic features play a vital role in the landslide phenom-
enon. But the above studies show that the geomorphology was not
given the due attention it deserves. So we were motivated to take
up this study to demonstrate the significance of geomorphology in
the landslide phenomenon.
The state of Kerala located in the south western fringe of the
Indian Peninsula was taken up for the said demonstrative study
due to its geomorphology and landslide proneness (Fig. 1). The
Kerala is a unique physiographic province of 600 km long in
NNW-SSE and 35–120 km wide in ENE-WSW directions. The
physiography is marked with Western Ghat mountains occurring
at 800 m a.s.l. in the eastern fringe forming and the eastern
boundary of the state. The other geomorphic features, namely
the slopes, the lateritic uplands and the coastal plains, occur
sequentially and in parallelism to the west of the Western Ghats
with gradual descending elevations (Nair 1987; Ramasamy et al.
2019) (Fig. 1). For example, the slope that rims the western part of
the Western Ghat mountains occurs at 800 to 40 m a.s.l., followed
by the marginally raised lateritic uplands at the elevation of 40–20
m a.s.l. and the western most coastal plains, that forms the western
part and the boundary of the state, at the elevation of 20–0 m a.s.l.
Thus over all, these sequentially laid parallel geomorphic/
physiographic features form a step like topography with westerly
Landslides
 Original paper

Fig. 1 The study and Physiography of Kerala. (1) Plateaus and escarpments, (2) composite slope and structural valleys, (3) marginally raised Lateritic uplands and (4)
coastal plains shown by the IRS LISS III FCC developed by exposing band 2 of IRS data under green, 3 under red and 4 under near infrared filters and mosaiced using
satellite data processing software. a Insert: lay out of 3 bands of IRS LISS III scene used in the FCC

slope. While the highly folded and the fractured/faulted Western leached out products of the underlying Charnockites. In contrast,
Ghat Mountains are made up of hard crystalline rocks of Archaean the coastal plains are marked by clays, silts and sands of Quater-
age (Fig. 2), the marginally raised lateritic uplands/red soils are the nary period (Fig. 2). The Western Ghats, the associated slopes and

Landslides
the lateritic uplands have undergone extensive geomorphic evolu-
tion. It also receives heavy rainfall of 2250–2500 mm during the
southwest monsoons every year, at times end up with major flood
events (1907, 1924, 1961, 2018, 2019) to the level of declaring them
as a ‘calamity of severe nature’ (The Hindu 2020). These indicate
that the rainfall act as the major triggering factor for landslides in
Kerala.
Under this scenario, we observe that the Western Ghats of
Kerala are prone to recurring landslides due to complex tectonic
geomorphology and the related heavy infiltration of rainwater and
the related pore pressure increase leading to landslides. In addi-
tion, the extensive deforestation further facilitates the direct entry
of rainwater. This presumption of ours regarding the landslides
due to pore pressure also gains support from the earlier studies
(Wasowski 1998; Bacchini and Zannoni 2003; Cardinali et al. 2006;
Guzzetti et al. 2008; Galeandro and Simon 2012).
In landslides studies, different terminologies viz. vulnerability,
susceptibility and hazards have been used by Brabb 1984, Guzzetti
et al. 2005, Guzzetti 2006 and several others. Though these are
almost synonymous, but these are different from the point of
processes and the concepts. Since the present study has focused
more on geomorphology in bringing out the landslide-prone
areas, the terminology ‘proneness’ has been used.
Materials and methods
In the study, four types of data were used namely (1) IRS LISS III
FCC, (2) SRTM DEM, (3) FCC wrapped SRTM DEM and (4) SRTM
shaded relief images generated using different software and pro-
cessing techniques. The IRS LISS III (Indian Remote Sensing
Satellite–Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor) data collected by
the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC)/Indian Space Re-
search Organisation (ISRO), Government of India was procured
from NRSC. The said IRS LISS III data has the spectral resolution
of four bands with wave lengths of 0.52 to 0.59 μm (band-2; green),
0.62 to 0.68 μm (band-3; red), 0.77 to 0.86 μm (band-4; near
infrared) and 1.55 to 1.70 μm (band-5; short wave infrared) and
the spatial resolution (pixels)/ground photo coverage of 23.5 m ×
23.5 m. Each band has 6000 pixels in East–West covering 141 km
and similar 6000 pixels in North–South direction covering 141 km;
and thus each IRS LISS III scene has 3,60,00000 pixels covering
19,881 km2 on the ground (Fig. 1a: insert). The study area, Kerala
and the adjacent areas were covered by 5 of such scenes of IRS
LISS III satellite data of 141 × 141 km2 (Fig. 1a). These five scenes
were individually processed digitally using the dedicated software
‘ENVI’ meant for processing satellite digital data. In it, band-2 data
was exposed under blue, 3 under green and 4 under red filters and
a combined image was developed called false colour composite
(FCC). Such FCC of each of the 5 scenes was digitally stitched with
its adjacent counterparts and IRS LISS III FCC mosaic was pre-
pared for the entire state of Kerala (Fig. 1). The Shuttle Radar
Topographic Mission (SRTM) data was downloaded from the
NASA’s website for the study area. The SRTM is the special space
mission of NASA that orbited the Earth from 11 to 22 February
2010 and collected the elevation of the earth surface with 90 m ×
90 m spatial resolution. From the SRTM data, the digital elevation
model (DEM), which provides three dimensional/perspective view
of the topography of Kerala, was developed using the ArcGIS
software. Whereas, the FCC wrapped DEM was developed by
wrapping the digital IRS LISS III FCC mosaic of Kerala over the
SRTM DEM of the same area using the ArcGIS software. This
facilitated the enhancement of geomorphology due to 3D topog-
raphy and perspective view (Fig. 1). The shaded relief image was
generated from the SRTM data using ArcGIS, which has created
shadows wherever topographic elevations and depressions were
there by focusing light from different azimuths and elevations,
which in turn has enhanced the relief (Lillesand 1989).
The above four datasets were used in three stages in the present study.
In a first stage, the IRS LISS III FCC wrapped SRTM DEM was studied and
the regional geomorphology map (Fig. 1) was prepared by duly referring
the regional geology map of the area published by the Geological Survey of
India (Fig. 2). In a second stage, the SRTM shaded relief images were
interpreted and from amongst the shadows, where ever long, sharp and
rectilinear shadows were seen, those were interpreted as lineaments or
fracture valleys (Fig. 3); because the SRTM shaded relief images invariably
display such linear shadows, only where long and linear topographic
depressions are there. So, these were interpreted as lineaments/fractures/
fracture valleys/faults (Lillesand 1989). These lineaments were then studied
to understand their morphology and dynamics. The historical seismicity
data were also integrated to confirm the tectonic alertness of these
lineaments/fractures. From such morphology and the dynamics of the
fractures, the landslide proneness were assessed (Fig. 3). (c) In a third
stage, the FCC wrapped DEM was studied with special reference to map
the semi-circular and westerly concave escarpments as probable areas
prone to landslides (Fig. 4). Further, a number of E-W topographic profiles
were drawn over IRS LISS III FCC wrapped SRTM DEM data of the
Western Ghats region and the geomorphic features like plateaus, escarp-
ments, slopes of different types and dykes were interpreted to bring out
their distilled contribution over landslides, landslide types and the
landslide-prone zones (Figs. 5, 6 and 7). All were finally integrated and
the landslide proneness map of Kerala was brought (Fig. 8), and validated
using landslide incidence data.
Landslide proneness mapping and discussions
Geomorphology and landslides
The geomorphology of the Western Ghats of Kerala has been carved
out by the inter play of tectonic, denudational and fluvial geomor-
phic processes. The resultant landforms only play a vital role in
controlling the landslide proneness of the Kerala region as discussed
below.
Major fractured plateaus and landslides
The interpretation of SRTM shaded relief data shows that the
Western Ghats of Kerala constituted by the bundles of folded
mountains with their axes oriented in NNW-SSE direction forms
vast plateaus with their escarpments dominantly to their west.
These plateaus are densely crisscrossed with lineaments/highly
dissected fracture systems and hence mapped as dissected pla-
teaus. The lineaments are dominantly oriented in four azimuthal
frequencies in (1) E-W to ENE-WSW, (2) NE-SW, (3) NW-SE and
(4) NNW-SSE directions. But the present interpretation of IRS
LISS III FCC data showing long and linear features with vegeta-
tion infills and especially the SRTM shaded relief data displaying
darker and wider linear shadows indicated that all these
fractures/faults must be having wide open morphology irrespec-
tive of their geometrical relation with the fold axes of the West-
ern Ghats. This prompted us to study the fracture systems in
details.
Landslides
 Original paper
Fig. 2 Geology of Kerala
Ramasamy et al. (1999) have inferred that the Western Ghats of
Kerala were formed by the most violent ENE-WSW compressive
force causing NNW-SSE trending fold belts and (1) ENE-WSW
extension faults with wide open morphology, (2) NE-SW dextral
faults and the (3) NW-SE sinistral faults, both with tight morphol-
ogy and (4) NNW-SSE release fractures/faults with marginally
Landslides
open morphology following the model of Anderson (1951). Where-
as, Ramasamy (2006) has developed a post collision tectonic
model and in it, he inferred that the original northerly directed
compressive force which drifted the Indian Plate, to the distance of
6500 km from its original geo-position and caused its collision
with Eurasian Plate leading to the emergence of mighty Himalayan
Fig. 3 SRTM shaded relief map of Kerala. (1) Lineaments/fractures, (2) locations of seismicity, (3) locations of landslides, (4) outer boundary of the eastern fracture density
and infiltration maxima zones. a, b Enlarged SRTM shaded relief map

mountains, is still active; but, since the Himalayan mountains east-west trending arches and deeps and N-S extensional, NE-SW
located in the north are obstructing the movement of the Indian sinistral, NW-SE dextral and E-W fractures/faults from cape
plate, the northerly directed compressive force is getting adjusted Comorin in the south to the Himalayas in the north. Whereas
within the Indian plate by the way of deforming it with alternate Ramasamy et al. (2019) have observed that the Precambrian faults

Landslides
 Original paper

Fig. 4 IRS LISS III FCC showing semi-circular escarpments: a southeast of Kasaragod; b east and southeast of Mahe; c northeast and east of Malappuram; d east of
Thrissur and east of Ernakulam areas showing the semi-circular escarpments due to drainages descending down from the plateaus and headward erosion by the radial
tributaries along the slopes that cause landslides of different types

have geometrically and morphologically transformed during the Post collision/Pleistocene sinistral faults, NW-SE Precambrian si-
above post collision tectonics with NE-SW Precambrian dextral to nistral to Pleistocene dextral and NNW-SSE/N-S Precambrian

Landslides
release to Pleistocene extension and the ENE-WSW Precambrian
extension to Pleistocene release fractures. This indicates that the
Western Ghats of Kerala area has been tectonically active since
Precambrians and still remains to be active, as also confirmed by
the series of earthquakes of 2.0–5.5 magnitude along the linea-
ments in parts of Kerala (Singh and Raghavan 1989; Ganesha raj
et al. 2001; Rajendran et al. 2009).
Further, such sinistral to dextral and vice-versa and extension
to release and vice-versa transformations would have generally
opened up these faults. This might have been the reason why most
of the above major fractures/faults show wide open morphology in
the Western Ghats of Kerala in IRS LISS III FCC and SRTM shaded
relief data (Fig. 3). So, this wide-open morphology of the fractures
could provide more scope to the accelerated and heavy infiltration
of rain water, the followed up increase of pore pressure and the
resultant landslide proneness of the plateaus of the Western Ghats
(Fig. 3).
The more incidence of historical landslides of Thrissur-
Kottayam area in parts of Southern Kerala (Fig. 3b), and the
occurrence of landslides during the recent August 2018 flood
disaster in Malappuram and Wayanad parts of the central Kerala
(Fig. 3a) duly confirm it. While the coincidence of seismicity
indicates the tectonic alertness, the landslide suggests the heavy
infiltration and the increase of pore pressure along the open
fractures and their density maxima/high.
Semi-circular escarpments and landslides
The physiography and geomorphology of Kerala is well defined
with step like descending topography with westerly slope from the
Western Ghats in the eastern to the coastal plains in the western
parts of Kerala (Fig. 1). So, the southwest monsoon water that is
impounding on the plateaus of the Western Ghats, which used to
be normally heavy in Kerala every year, quickly descends down
towards westerly, cutting across the escarpments and reaches the
sea. This causes heavy erosion in the escarpments of the plateaus
leading to carving them out as semi-circular and wavy escarp-
ments with westerly concave slope (Fig. 4). The slopes of the semi-
circular escarpments act as major and broad catchments for the

Fig. 5 Geomorphology of Western Ghat Mountains of parts of Kerala. a East of Mahe: (1) bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateau with (2) vertical escarpment. b East of
Thrissur: (3) bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateau with (4) cliffed escarpment and slope. c East of Kottayam: (5) bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateaus with (6)
denuded escarpments and talus heaps and debris mounds. d East of Ernakulam: (7) Gullied plateau with (8) cliffed escarpment and slope; P1, P2, P3 & P4—topographic
profiles

Landslides
 Original paper
radial tributary systems of the westerly flowing rivers along the
western slopes of the Western Ghats of Kerala.
In semi-circular escarpments, during the heavy rains, these
tributaries get activated and cause heavy headward erosion. The
headward erosion could go on eating/eroding the base of the
escarpments leading to landslides along the slopes (Fig. 4) in the
form of rock slides from the rim of the escarpments and debris
and mud flows along the concave slopes west of the semi-circular
escarpments. Since these semi-circular escarpments occur in dif-
ferent rock types, the rock types in general do not have any control
over their origin (Fig. 4). So, this may be due to the intensive
tectonics and the related geomorphic evolution of the area. How-
ever, as far as the types of landslides are concerned, these semi-
circular escarpments can cause (i) rock fall due to vertical collapse
of the escarpments, (ii) debris flows and slides due to the already
fallen talus materials accumulated in the top and mid slope of the
western composite slope and (iii) mud flows, wherever the admix-
ture of smaller fragments of the rocks and the soil flowed down
during the earlier rainfall occupy the mid slopes. Such semi-
circular escarpments were found prominently in the areas south
Fig. 6 Geomorphology of Western Ghats Mountains of parts of Kerala. a North of Palakkad: (9) Gullied plateau with (10) Gullied escarpment and slope. b East of Kollam:
(11) Gullied escarpment with (12) debris foot hills; P5 & P6—topographic profiles
Landslides
of Kasargode, east and south east of Mahe, northeast and east of
Malapuram and east of Thrissur and Ernakulam (Fig. 4).
Plateaus–escarpments–slopes–foothills and landslides
While the large fractured plateaus in general stand prone to major
landslides along their escarpment zones and the semi-circular
escarpments contribute significantly towards landslides, the other
geomorphic features like plateaus, escarpments, slopes and foot-
hills cause landslides of varying types and magnitudes. So, the
finer geomorphic features were mapped by drawing a number of
near East-West topographic profiles over the IRS LISS III FCC
wrapped SRTM DEM data in different parts of the Western Ghat
mountains of Kerala (Figs. 5 and 6). These profiles showed that the
plateaus and slopes of the Western Ghat mountains have devel-
oped varied minor geomorphic features of different categories due
to the combination of tectonic, denudational and fluvial geomor-
phic processes. These geomorphic features, thus interpreted were
(i) bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateaus with vertical escarp-
ments (1, 2, Fig. 5a), (ii) bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateaus
with cliffed escarpments and slopes (3, 4, Fig. 5b), (iii) bowl-shaped
fractured erosional plateaus with denuded escarpments and talus
heaps and debris mounds (5, 6, Fig. 5c), (iv) gullied plateaus with
cliffed escarpments and slopes (7, 8, Fig. 5d), (v) gullied plateaus
with gullied escarpments and slopes (9, 10, Fig. 6a) and (vi) gullied
escarpments with debris mounds (11, 12, Fig. 6b) (Table 1).
In the context of the above various types of plateaus, escarpments,
slopes and the foothills and their occurrence in different combinations
in the Western Ghats of Kerala, various types of landslides are possible.
Such landslides would be of rock topple which involves more than 90°
falling of the vertically jointed and cliffed rocks, rock falls which are just

Fig. 7 Dykes and landslides. (13) Dykes; (14) mud flows on either ends of the dykes; (15) possible limits of soil flows/soil creep. Different colours denote different
physiographic provinces as shown in Fig. 1

Landslides
 Original paper
the vertical collapse of the jointed and cliffed rocks, landslides that flows, debris flows and talus flows that are related to the flow of the
involves the movements of rock masses along the slopes; and the rock disintegrated rocks and the debris along the slopes (Table 1). Several

Fig. 8 Landslide proneness map of Kerala. (1) Areas of highly fractured Western Ghats, accelerated infiltration and landslides; (2) semi-circular escarpments prone to
rockslides, debris flows and mud flows; (3) areas east of Mahe prone to rock topple, talus slides and talus flows; (4) areas east of Thrissur prone to cliff topple, cliff slides,
talus slides and talus flows; (5) areas east of Kottayam prone to rockslides, debris slides and debris flows; (6) areas east of Ernakulam prone to accelerated cliff topple, cliff
slides and debris slides; (7) areas north of Palakkad prone to cliff topple, cliff fall and debris flow; (8) areas east of Kollam prone to cliff fall and debris flows; (9) mud flows
and (10) soil flows due to dykes

Landslides
Table 1 Landslide proneness based on geomorphological features
Sl. No Region
1 East of Mahe
2 East of Thrissur
3 East of Kottayam
4 East of Ernakulam
5 North of Palakkad
6 East of Kollam
Geomorphology
(1) Bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateau
with (2) vertical escarpment
(3) Bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateau
with (4) cliffed escarpment and slope
(5) Bowl-shaped fractured erosional plateaus
with (6) Denuded escarpments and talus
heaps and debris mounds
(7) Gullied plateau with (8) cliffed
escarpment and slope
(9) Gullied plateau with (10) gullied
escarpment and slope
(11) Gullied escarpment with (12)
debris mounds
Landslide Types
Rock topple, Talus slide, Talus flow
cliff topple, cliff falls, landslides/
cliff slides, talus slide and talus flows
Rock slides, talus and debris flows
Accelerated cliff topple, cliff slides and
debris slides / debris flow
Cliff topple, cliff fall, cliff slide, debris flows
Cliff fall, debris flow

researchers have come out with different classifications for landslides
(Varnes 1978; Guzzetti et al. 2012; Hungr et al. 2013). In this study, these
classifications have been broadly followed viz. topple failure, rock falls,
rock slides, rock flows and landslides. However, these were further
classified on the basis of the combinations of the finer geomorphological
features related to the landslides as discussed below.
(a) East of Mahe>
denuded vertical escarpments and talus heaps and debris mounds at the
foot hills. In this case too, the water stagnation, infiltration into the
fractures and the increase in pore pressure would be similar to the above
cases of Mahe and Thrissur. But, since the escarpments are highly denud-
ed, the rocks in the fringe of the plateaus will fall down as rock slides (5)
along the vertical escarpments and these slided materials will form talus
heaps and debris mounds at the foot of the escarpments (6); these will also
flow down as talus and debris flows subsequently (Fig. 5c; Table 1).

(d) East of Ernakulam>

For example, in the Western Ghats to the east of Mahe, the
fractured erosional plateau is bowl-shaped with vertical escarp-
ment to its west (1, 2, Fig. 5a). So the impounded rain water would
get stagnated for some time in the plateau before cascading down
the slope. During the period of stagnation, the water would infil-
trate into the fractures, fracture valleys and the related gullies in
the plateau. This would increase the pore pressure and resultantly
push the escarpment occurring to its west towards westerly along
the western slope. So the escarpments are prone to rock topple
because of the vertical nature of the escarpments. In addition, the
talus materials accumulated during the earlier rock topples along
the foot of the escarpments will also slide as talus slides and talus
flows due to the erosion at the base of the Talus materials due to
rains (1, Table 1, Fig. 5a).
(b) East of Thrissur>
In the Western Ghats region, east of Ernakulam, the slides will
be in the form of accelerated cliff topple and cliff slides, because
the plateaus are gullied and the escarpments are also highly cliffed.
Again, the area is also prone to the debris slides because of the
already accumulated fallen materials (7, 8 Fig. 5d).
(e) North of Palakkad>
Whereas, because of the gullied nature of the plateaus as well as
the escarpments and the slopes in the area north of Palakkad (9,
10, Fig. 6a), the landslides would be of cliff topple, cliff fall, cliff
slide and the debris slide/debris flow of the already accumulated
materials (Table 1).

(f) East of Kollam>

Similarly, the fractured plateaus to the east of Thrissur, though
are bowl-shaped (3), since the escarpments and slopes are cliffed
(4), these zones are prone to cliff topple, cliff falls and landslides/
cliff slides due to similar water infiltration and the increase of pore
pressure (Fig. 5b). Again, during the rains, there will be talus slides
and talus flows of the already accumulated materials of the cliff
slides at the foot of the escarpments (Table 1).
In the area east of Kollam, the whole escarpment is gullied (11)
and the already fallen materials form debris cover in the foot hills
(12) (Fig. 6b). In such cases, there will be cliff falls from the
escarpments and the debris accumulated will flow like a stream
forming debris flow.

(c) East of Kottayam> Dyke ridges

Similarly, the dykes, whether have positive relief or at ground level
or forming narrow channel like depressions, act as master barriers
In the area East of Kottayam (5, 6 Fig. 5c), the plateaus in the Western for ground water movement and thus their up streams will be
Ghats are again over all bowl-shaped fractured erosional in nature with groundwater bearing and the down streams of the dykes will be

Landslides
 Original paper
groundwater shadow regions (Todd 1980). The same has also been
observed (13, Fig. 8) in parts of Kerala (Vijith and Madhu 2008). In
the event of heavy rains, as it used to be the case in every south
west monsoons of Kerala, water can get stagnated and infiltrated
into the subsoil on the upstream sides of the dykes. This in turn
would increase the pore pressure leading to landslides. In this case,
as the dykes act as barriers, the subsoil system of the upstream side
will become muddy because of the infiltrated water and hence the
landslides will be in the form of mud flows. However, if the
elevation of the dykes is at ground level, then such mud flow will
occur over the dykes. But if the dykes have sufficient height, then
the mud flows will move on either ends of the dykes (14, Fig. 7). On
the other hand, in the downstream of the dykes, due to the
inherent groundwater shadow conditions and the resultant deeper
groundwater levels, there will be more aeration. Hence, this will
lead to soil flow or soil creep or solifluction in less water condition
when their toe portions are eroded during the monsoon (15, Fig. 7).
Mapping of landslide proneness and discussions
Kerala is a unique geologic, geomorphologic and physiographic
province with intensely deformed Western Ghats in the east and
the other major geomorphic/physiographic features like composite
slopes, marginally raised lateritic uplands and the coastal plains
rimming the Western Ghats in the west, sequentially and in par-
allelism with Western Ghats with descending elevations towards
westerly. This has provided the step like topography with regional
westerly slope from the Western Ghat mountains of eastern parts
to the coastal plains of the western parts of the state. The defor-
mation pattern of the Western Ghats plateaus and associated hills
of Kerala are marked with large fractures of wide open morphol-
ogy due to repeated deformations from the Precambrian to the
Pleistocene periods (Soman 2002; Ramasamy et al. 1999;
Ramasamy 2006; Ramasamy et al. 2019). Such repeated deforma-
tions have opened up these faults. In addition, the aggressive
anthropogenic developments related to tourism industries and
the natural resources exploration/exploitation have barely opened
up these fractures and the soil systems further facilitating the
direct entry of rainwater during the heavy rainfall of the south
west monsoon. This obviously increases the pore pressure leading
to landslides on macro scale in the Western Ghats. Studies around
the world also show that, in general the geological parameters
control the landslide proneness of the terrain, and the rainfall-
induced pore pressure increase, the various anthropogenic aggres-
sions and the sudden events like earthquakes act as triggering
parameters (De Costa Nunes 1969; Seshagiri et al. 1982; Dai et al.
2003; Romkens and Prasad 2006; Guzzetti et al. 2008; Galeandro
et al. 2011 Galeandro and Simon 2012; Sajinkumar and Rani 2015).
So, the zones of such fracture density high/maxima have been
marked as areas prone for heavy infiltrations and landslide-
prone provinces in the Western Ghats of Kerala (1, Fig. 8).
The extensive development of drainages and the resultant
headward erosion along the western slope of the semi-circular
escarpments of the Western Ghats also contribute to the land-
slides (2, Fig. 8). The detailed studies of the various geomorphic
features interpreted from the advanced tools and techniques
like IRS LISS III FCC data, IRS LISS III FCC wrapped DEM data
and SRTM shaded relief data and the topographic profiles over
the IRS LISS III wrapped DEM data aided the precise mapping
Landslides
of different landslide types along with the areas prone to land-
slides (3–8, Fig. 8).
Finally, all these information were combined together and the
landslide proneness map of Kerala was prepared (Fig. 8), showing
(i) the areas of fracture density maxima and the accelerated infil-
tration along the western rim of the Western Ghats plateaus, (1,
Fig. 8); (ii) the semi-circular escarpments, that are prone to rock
slides and different types of debris flows (2, Fig. 8); and (iii) the
areas prone to rock topple, cliff topple, accelerated cliff topple, cliff
fall, rock slides, landslides, cliff slides and debris flows (3–9, Fig. 8).
A new conceptual model has also been evolved on the contribu-
tion of dykes over the landslides (10, Fig. 8), as discussed in the
‘Landslide proneness mapping and discussions’ section above. The
landslides incidences high in such zones duly confirm it.
Conclusion
Landslides are rapidly growing around the world largely due to
heavy anthropogenic activities and rainfall. The state of Kerala is
one such region that stands prone to the onslaught of landslides
due to the inherent and self-styled geomorphic and the physio-
graphic architecture, heavy annual rainfall due to south west
monsoon and the unscrupulous anthropogenic activities along
the Western Ghat mountains and associated slopes. Studies have
been carried out in piecemeal, but concrete concepts and maps are
yet to be brought out on the landslide proneness of Kerala along
with zones prone to landslides and causative factors. In this
connection, the plateaus of the Western Ghats are the major
landslide contributory province due to intensive fracturing related
to repeated deformations, the direct entry of rain water into the
fractures and the pore pressure increase. The semi-circular escarp-
ments and the associated westerly concave escarpments of the
Western Ghats are yet another areas prone to landslides due to
heavy headward erosion by the tributaries of the Arabian sea
bound rivers. The finer resolution geomorphic mapping indicates
not only the areas prone to landslides but also the types of
landslides like rocks and cliff topple, rocks and cliff falls, land-
slides, debris flows and debris falls. The NNW-SSE trending dyke
systems contribute invisibly to landslide phenomenon. So, the
study shows that the high-tech tools like remote sensing-derived
FCC data, the digital elevation modelling of topographic data
using SRTM or other similar data and FCC wrapped over DEM
have advanced credentials in precise landslide mapping. So the
studies in this direction in the state of Kerala and other demanding
provinces would be highly rewarding.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Bharathidasan University (Tiruchirappalli),
Alagappa University (Karaikudi) and Gandhigram Rural
Institute—Deemed University (Dindigul) for having extended facilities
for the authors for present study.
References
Ajin RS, Vinod PG, Menon ARR (2014) Landslide hazard zonation using RS and GIS
techniques: a case study of Meenachil and Kanjirappally Taluk, Kottayam District,
Kerala, India. Proceedings of 26th Kerala Science Congress Pookode, Wayanad: 28-31
Jan. 2014. 1797 - 1803
Anbazhagan S, Sajinkumar KS (2011) Geoinformatics in terrain analysis and landslide
vulnerability mapping in parts of Western Ghats, India, Geoinformatics in Applied
Geomorphology. CRC Press, pp 291–315
Anderson EM (1951) The dynamics of faulting and dyke formation with application to
Britain. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, p 206
Arun Kumar A, Kapoor U, Dhar S, Chingkhei RK (2008) Landslide Hazard Zonation Atlas of
Northeast India. Indian Landslides 1(2):11–18
Bacchini M, Zannoni A (2003) Relations between rainfall and triggering of debris-flow: case
study of Cancia (Dolomites, Northeastern Italy). Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 3:71–79
Bali R, Bhattacharya AR, Singh TN (2009) Active tectonics in the Outer Himalaya: dating a
landslide event in the Kumaun sector. Earth Sci India 2(IV):276–288 ISSN: 0974 –
8350
Bansode RB, Pradhan SK (1975) Landslides in Nepal Himalaya and their influence on the
Kosi dam. Proceedings, Seminar on Landslides and Toe Erosion problems with special
reference to Himalayan region, Gangtok, 247
Brabb EE (1984) Innovative approaches to landslide hazard mapping. In: Proc. 4th
Int.Symp. Landslides, Toronto. 1. pp. 307–324
Cardinali M, Galli M, Guzzetti F, Ardizzone F, Reichenbach P, Bartoccini P (2006) Rainfall
induced landslides in December 2004 in south-western Umbria, central Italy: types,
extent, damage and risk assessment. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 6:237–260
Champati Ray PK, Parvaiz I, Lakhera RC (2008) Seismically triggered landslides and
associated hazard assessment in Kashmir Himalaya. Indian Landslides 1:1–10
Chen XL, Zhou Q, Ran H, Dong R (2012) Earthquake-triggered landslides in southwest
China. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 12(351–363):2012. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-
12-351
Christaras B (1994) Slope stability investigations in relation to the neotectonic conditions
along the South Western coast of Athos Peninsula (N.Greece) - the case of Simonos
Petra Monestry. Proceedings of 7th International IAEG Congress, Rotterdam, 1577-
1583
Dai FC, Lee CF, Wang S (1999) Analysis of rainstorm-induced slide debris flows on natural
terrain of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Eng Geol 51(4):279–290
Dai FC, Lee CF, Wang S (2003) Characterization of rainfall-induced landslides. Int J
Remote Sens 24(23):4817–4834. https://doi.org/10.1080/014311601131000082424
Dave VKS, Joshi BC (1988) Landslide hazard zones in the Nayar basin, Garhwal Himalaya,
Proceedings, Sixth Indian Geological Congress, Rurkee, India, February 21–24: 137-145
De Costa Nunes AJ (1969) Landslides in soils of decomposed rocks due to intense
rainstorms, Internat. Conf. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 7th, Mexico
City 1969, Proc, Vol (2): 547-554
Densmore AL, Michael A, Ellis Robert S, Anderson (1998) Landsliding and the evolution
of normal-fault-bounded mountain. J Geophys Res 103(b7):15,203–15,219
Didwal RS (1980) Occurrence of landslides in Jammu Province of J and K state and their
control, Proceedings, International Symposium on Landslides, (ISL 1980), April 7-11,
New Delhi, Vol (1): 37-40
Emmanuel J, Gabeta D, Burbank W, Jaakko K, Putkonen B, Pratt-Sitaula A, Ojha T (2004)
Rainfall thresholds for landsliding in the Himalayas of Nepal. Geomorphology 63:131–
143
Forrester DG (1980) Two landslides on New South Wales Highways, Proceedings,
International Symposium on Landslides, (ISL 1980), April 7-11, New Delhi, Vol (1):
113-144
Galeandro A, Simon V (2012) Infiltration processes in fractured and swelling soils and
their influence on the stability of surficial covers. Rend Online Soc Geol Ital 2(1):518–
520
Galeandro A, Simunek J, Simon V (2011) Analysis of infiltration processes into fractured
and swelling soils as triggering factors of landslides. In: Proceedings of the Second
World Landslide Forum. Roma, 3–7
Ganesha Raj K, Paul MA, Hegde VS, Nijagunappa R (2001) Lineaments and seismicity of
Kerala a remote sensing based analysis. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 29(4):203–211
Ghobadi MH (1994) Geology and slope stability in the northern Illawara, NSW, Australia.
Proceedings. 7th IAEG Conference, Lisboa, Portugal, Vol (3):1307-1314
Gill JC, Bruce D, Malamud (2017) Anthropogenic processes, natural hazards, and
interactions in a multi-hazard framework. Earth-Sci Rev 166:246–269
Glade T (2003) Landslide occurrence as a response to land use change: a review of
evidence from New Zealand. CATENA 51:297–314
Gogte BS (1986) Landslip vulnerability of some Indian rocks; a factor related to their
petrological and physical nature. Proceedings. Seminar on Engineering Geophysics,
Prospectives and Prospects; Hyderabad, India: 62–68
Gujarathi P, Mane SJ (2013) Landslides zones of nearby areas of MalinVillage, Pune
District, Maharashtra using GIS techniques. Int J Sci Res (IJSR) ISSN (Online) 2319-
7064:443–448
Guzzetti F (2006) Landslide hazard and risk assessment. Mathematisch
Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Uni-
versity of Bonn, Bonn, Germany Ph.D. Thesis. 389 pp. https://
geomorphology.irpi.cnr.it/Members/fausto/PhD-dissertation. Accessed Jun 2006
Guzzetti F, Reichenbach P, Cardinali M, Galli M, Ardizzone F (2005) Probabilistic landslide
hazard assessment at the basin scale. Geomorphology 72:272–299. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.geomorph.2005.06.002
Guzzetti F, Peruccacci S, Rossi M, Stark CP (2008) The rainfall intensity-duration control of
shallow landslides and debris flows: an update. Landslides 5(1):3–17
Guzzetti F, Mondini AC, Cardinali M, Fiorucci F, Santangelo M, Chang KT (2012) Landslide
inventory maps: New tools for an old problem. Earth-Sci Rev 112(1–2):42–66
Hungr O, Leroueil S, Picarelli L (2013) The Varnes classification of landslide types, an
update. Landslides 11(2):167–194. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-013-0436-y
Janardhana MR, Vinutha DN, Ahamed A-A, Al-Qadhi AD (2016) Landslides in Coorg
District of Karnataka state. Int J Innov Res Sci Eng Technol 5(6):10120–10125. https://
doi.org/10.15680/IJIRSET.2015.0506112
John A (1964) Slope morphological features resulting from gravitation. Z Geomorphic SB
5:59–72
Kahlon S, Vishwa BS, Chandel, Brar KK (2014) Landslides in Himalayan Mountains: a
Study of Himachal Pradesh, India. Int J IT Eng Appl Sci Res 3(9):28–34
Korup O, Densmore AL, Schlunneger F (2010) The role of landslides in mountain range
evolution. Geomorphology 120:77–90
Kuriakose S, Lillisand, Sankar GE, Muraleedharan C (2009) History of landslide vulnera-
bility and a chorology of landslide—prone areas in the Western Ghats of Kerala,
India. Environ Geol 57:1553–1568
Lillesand TM (1989) Remote sensing and image Interpretation. Wiley, p 721
Luzi L, Pergalani F, Terlien MTJ (2000) Slope vulnerability to earthquakes at sub regional
scale using probabilistic techniques and geographic information systems. Eng Geol
58:313–336
Mehrotra GS, Sarkar S, Kanungo DP (1994) A geological appraisal of landslide hazards in
East Sikkim Himalaya. J Himal Geol 1:35–43
Meusburger K, Alewell C (2008) Impacts of anthropogenic and environmental factors on
the occurrence of shallow landslides in an alpine catchment (Urseren Valley, Swit-
zerland). Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 8:509–520
Moeyersonsa J, Trefois J, Lavreau D, Alimasi I, Badriyo B, Mitima M, Mundala DO,
Munganga L, Nahimana (2004) A geomorphological assessment of landslide origin
at Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Eng Geol 72:73–87
Nair MM (1987) Coastal geomorphology of Kerala, India. J Geol Soc India 29:450–458
Ojha T, DeCelles PG, Chaudhary S, Srivastava P (2013) Relationships among landslides,
major geological structures, seismic epicenters, and fluvial knick zones, in far West
Nepal Himalayas: a GIS and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) approach. Int J
Landsl Environ 1(1):69–70
Pachauri AK, Pant M (1992) Landslide hazard mapping based on geological attributes.
Eng Geol 32:81–100
Pardeshi SD, Pardeshi SS, Nagare V (2009) A study of effect of landslide on human
environment in Thana district, Maharashtra state. Deccan Geogr 47(1):45–56
Prakash P, Parthasaradhi EVR (1988) Monitoring landslides in Dihang and Subansiri river
basin, Arunachal Pradesh. J Geol Soc India 31:449–454
Rajendran CP, Biju John K, Sreekumari, Rajendran K (2009) Reassessing the earthquake
hazard in Kerala based on the historical and current seismicity. J Geol Soc India
73:785–802
Ramasamy SM (2003) Landslides and Quaternary tectonics of South India. Spec. Vol. on
South Asian Geological Congress. 192-200
Ramasamy SM (2006) Remote sensing and active tectonics of South India. Int J Remote
Sens, Taylor and Francis, London 27(20):4397–4431
Ramasamy SM, Muthukumar M (2008) Geospatial modelling of geosystems and land-
slides mapping and mitigation, the Nilgiri Mountains, South India. Indian. Landslides
1(1):45–54
Ramasamy SM, Suresh F, Neelakantan R (1996) Frequent landslides in Nilgiris, India - A
phenomenon related to Pleistocene Tectonism. Proceedings of the seventh Interna-
tional Symposium on Landslides, Trondheim, Norway, 345 – 349
Ramasamy SM, Balaji S, Kumanan CJ (1999) Tectonic evolution of Early Precambrian
South Indian Shield (Rocks) using remotely sensed data. Photonirvachak J Indian Soc
Remote Sens Dehradun 27(2):91–104
Ramasamy SM, Neelakantan R, Suresh F (2006) Predictive and preventive modelling for
landslides in the Nilgiris, South India—using remote sensing and GIS. In: Landslides:
a perception and initiatives of DST, Chapter-16. Indian Society of Engineering
Geology, pp 177–203
Landslides
 Original paper
Ramasamy SM, Kumanan CJ, Neelakantan R, Muthukumar M (2008) GIS based slope Varnes DJ (1978) Slope movements: types and processes. In: Schuster RL, Krizek RJ (eds)
analysis for landslide hazard zonation mapping. Nilgiri Mountains. South India. Int J Landslide Analysis and Control, National Academy of Sciences, Special Report 176.
Geoinform 4:47–57 Transportation Research Board, Washington D.C., pp 11–33
Ramasamy SM, Muthukumar M, Subagunasekar M (2014) Drainage and anthropogenic aberrations Vijith H, Madhu G (2008) Estimating potential landslide sites of an upland sub-watershed
in Himalayan landslides, Uttrakhand, India. Indian Landslides 7(1 & 2):9–22 in Western Ghats of Kerala (India) through frequency ratio and GIS. Environ Geol
Ramasamy SM, Muthukumar M, Subagunasekar M (2015) Malin-Maharashtra landslides: 55(7):1397–1405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-1090-2
a disaster triggered by tectonics and anthropogenic phenomena. Curr Sci Wasowski J (1998) Understanding rainfall-landslide relationships in man modified
108(8):1428–1430 environments: a case history from CaramanicoTerme, Italy. Environ Geol 35(2):197–
Ramasamy SM, Gunasekaran S, Rajagopal N, Saravanavel J, Kumanan CJ (2019) Flood 209
(2018) and the Status of Reservoir Induced Seismicity in Kerala, India. J Nat Hazards Xu XW, Zhang PZ, Wen XZ (2005) Features of active tectonics and recurrence behaviours
Rodriguez CE, Bommer JJ, Chandler RJ (1999) Earthquake-induced landslides: 1980– of strong earthquakes in the western Sichuan province and its adjacent regions.
1997. Soil Dyn Earthq Eng 18(5):325–346 Seismol Geol 27:446–461
Romkens MJM, Prasad SN (2006) Rain Infiltration into swelling/shrinking/cracking soils. Yang C-M, Chen J-C, Peng L-L, Yang J-S, Chou C-H (2002) Chi-Chi Earthquake-caused
Agr Water Manage – V 86:196–205 Landslide: grey prediction model for pioneer vegetation recovery monitored by
Sajinkumar KS, Rani VR (2015) Contrasting anthropogenically influenced landslides in satellite images. Bot Bull Acad Sim 43:69–75
two different terrain conditions in the southwestern part of Peninsular India. In:
Lollino G. et al., (Eds.), Engineering Geology for Society and Territory, Vol (2):1005–
S. Ramasamy ()) : J. Saravanavel : R. M. Joshua : R. Rajaperumal :
1010
R. Kathiravan : K. Palanivel
Seshagiri DN, Badrinarayanan S, Upendran R, Lakshminathan CB, Sirnivasan V (1982) The
Nilgiris Landslides. Geol Surv India Misc Publ 57:41
Department of Remote Sensing,
Sharifi R, Solgi A, Pourkermani M (2013) A study of the relationship between landslide
Bharathidasan University,
and active tectonic zones: a case study in Karaj Watershed management. Open J Geol
Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu 620023, India
3(3):34335, 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojg.2013.33027
Email: smrsamy@gmail.com
Singh HN, Raghavan V (1989) A note on earth tremor of September 2, 1988 in
Trivandrum district, Kerala. J Geol Soc India 36:323–325
S. Gunasekaran
Skilodimou HD, Bathrellos GD, Koskeridou E, Soukis K, Rozos D (2018) Physical and
Rural informatics Centre,
anthropogenic factors related to landslide activity in the Northern Peloponnese,
Alagappa University,
Greece. Land 7:85. https://doi.org/10.3390/land7030085:1-18
Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu 630003, India
Soman K (2002) Geology of Kerala. Geological Society of India, Banglore 376p
The Hindu (2020) https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala-floods-declared-ca-
M. Muthukumar
lamity-of-severe-nature/article24738072.ece. Acessed 6 Sept 2020
Centre for Geoinformatics,
Todd DK (1980) Groundwater Hydrology, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York, p 535
Gandhigram Rural University,
Dindigul, Tamil Nadu 624302, India

Landslides

View publication stats