Efficiency of Geospatial Techniques to Identify Liquefied Spots in Darbhanga, Bihar
摘要
Soil liquefaction is considered as one of the principal ground failure manifestations of an Earthquake (EQ). Due to dynamic loading, excess pore pressure develops in the soil strata. In case of loose cohesionless deposits, the excess pore pressure pushes through the subsurface to come out on the surface and in turn causes the soil to lose its shear strength. The loss of shear strength in soil causes ground failure and results in immense destruction. While conventional field investigation methods help predict liquefaction-susceptibility, these face hurdles like accessibility challenges, cost instrument limitations etc. The present study employs 5 different geospatial techniques to qualitatively analyze changes in soil moisture in the Darbhanga region due to 2015 Nepal Earthquake. Pre- and post-EQ optical satellite images are utilized, employing 5 different geospatial techniques to identify soil moisture changes. The resultant images are then classified based on histogram. Locations denoting the highest moisture change are extracted with respect to all the geospatial techniques employed. These locations of highest moisture change are then compared with known liquefied sites from past EQs to come up with the best geospatial technique to identify potential liquefiable spots for Darbhanga, Bihar.