Suggestion for a new deterministic model coupled with machine learning techniques for landslide susceptibility mapping

Deterministic models have been widely applied in landslide risk assessment (LRA), but they have limitations in obtaining various geotechnical and hydraulic properties. The objective of this study is to suggest a new deterministic method based on machine learning (ML) algorithms. Eight crucial variables of LRA are selected with reference to expert opinions, and the output value is set to the safety factor derived by Mohr–Coulomb failure theory in infinite slope. Linear regression and a neural network based on ML are applied to find the best model between independent and dependent variables. To increase the reliability of linear regression and the neural network, the results of back propagation, including gradient descent, Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), and Bayesian regularization (BR) methods, are compared. An 1800-item dataset is constructed through measured data and artificial data by using a geostatistical technique, which can provide the information of an unknown area based on measured data. The results of linear regression and the neural network show that the special LM and BR back propagation methods demonstrate a high determination of coefficient. The important variables are also investigated though random forest (RF) to overcome the number of various input variables. Only four variables—shear strength, soil thickness, elastic modulus, and fine content—demonstrate a high reliability for LRA. The results show that it is possible to perform LRA with ML, and four variables are enough when it is difficult to obtain various variables.