Application of Remote Sensing in Detailed Survey of Geological Hazards in Loess Plateau

Geological hazards are frequent and dangerous in loess plateau regions. During the detailed survey of geological hazards in the Baota district of Yan'an City, high-resolution data sets of Spot-5 and QuickBird were selected to extract the necessary information for further interpretation. Abundant informa-tion on geological environ ment and hazards was obtained, which provides basicdat a for field investigation with full advantage of remote sensing as a first screening tool. In this paper, we discuss the application of remote sensing in the detailed survey of geological hazards in the Baota district from several aspects, including contents of the survey;data selection, processing and interpret ation;extraction of useful information from existing data;and effectiveness and usefulness of the methodology. The technical approach and insight sgained from this study can be extended to other loess plateau regions with frequent geological hazards.