Deep learning reveals one of Earth?s largest landslide terrain in Patagonia
Authors:Schoenfeldt, Elisabeth Winocur, Diego Panek, Tomas Korup, Oliver
Volume:593
DOI:10.1016/j.epsl.2022.117642
Published:2022
Document Type:Article
Abstract:Hundreds of basaltic plateau margins east of the Patagonian Cordillera are undermined by numerous giant slope failures. However, the overall extent of this widespread type of plateau collapse remains unknown and incompletely captured in local maps. To detect giant slope failures consistently throughout the region, we train two convolutional neural networks (CNNs), AlexNet and U-Net, with Sentinel-2 optical data and TanDEM-X topographic data on elevation, surface roughness, and curvature. We validated the performance of these CNNs with independent testing data and found that AlexNet performed better when learned on topographic data, and UNet when learned on optical data. AlexNet predicts a total landslide area of 12,000 km2 in a study area of 450,000 km2, and thus one of Earth's largest clusters of giant landslides. These are mostly lateral spreads and rotational failures in effusive rocks, particularly eroding the margins of basaltic plateaus; some giant landslides occurred along shores of former glacial lakes, but are least prevalent in Quaternary sedimentary rocks. Given the roughly comparable topographic, climatic, and seismic conditions in our study area, we infer that basalts topping weak sedimentary rocks may have elevated potential for large-scale slope failure. Judging from the many newly detected and previously unknown landslides, we conclude that CNNs can be a valuable tool to detect large-scale slope instability at the regional scale. However, visual inspection is still necessary to validate results and correctly outline individual landslide source and deposit areas.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Author Information
Corresponding Author:Schonfeldt, E (通讯作者),Univ Potsdam, Inst Geosci, Karl Liebknecht Str 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Reprint Address:Schonfeldt, E (通讯作者),Univ Potsdam, Inst Geosci, Karl Liebknecht Str 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Addresses:[Schoenfeldt, Elisabeth; Korup, Oliver] Univ Potsdam, Inst Geosci, Karl Liebknecht Str 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany; [Winocur, Diego] Univ Buenos Aires, Fac Ciencias Exactas & Nat, Dept Ciencias Geol, Lntendente Guiraldes 2416,C1428EGA CABA, Buenos Aires, DF, Argentina; [Winocur, Diego] UBA CONICET, Inst Estudios Andinos IDEAN, Buenos Aires, DF, Argentina; [Panek, Tomas] Univ Ostrava, Dept Phys Geog & Geoecol, Chittussiho 10, Slerska Ostrava, Czech Republic; [Korup, Oliver] Univ Potsdam, Inst Environm Sci & Geog, Karl Liebknecht Str 24-25, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany
E-mail Addresses:elisabeth.schoenfeldt@uni-potsdam.de