Landslide Susceptibility Models Utilising Spatial Data Analysis Techniques. A Case Study from the Lower Deba Valley, Guipuzcoa (Spain)

A quantitative methodology for landslide susceptibility zonationis described and its application to a study area in the lower part of the Deba Valley (Guipúzcoa,Spain) presented. Susceptibility models were obtained on the basis of statisticalrelationships between known mass movements and conditioning factors. A landslide rupturehypothesis was set and a digital database consisting of seventeen causal factors layers constructed.The modelling procedure was implemented utilising a GIS. The susceptibility analysis methodis based on the Favourability Functions approach, and two different mathematicalframeworks: probability theory and Zadehïs fuzzy set theory. Several landslidesusceptibility models were produced and validated using different sets of independent landslide data.The predictive capability of models was determined. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2003