APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING DATA TO UNDERSTANDING GEOHAZARDS IN WYOMING AND KENTUCKY

Author

Meredith Swallom, University of KentuckyFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1400-6919

Date Available

12-26-2025

Year of Publication

2025

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/School/Program

Earth and Environmental Sciences (Geology)

Faculty

J. Ryan Thigpen

Faculty

Jason M. Dortch

Abstract

Shallow geohazards such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods profoundly impact communities globally. Constraining susceptibility to these hazards is critical for effective hazard mitigation and building more resilient communities. This dissertation includes multiple studies that leverage remotely sensed datasets to address hazard susceptibility, including: (1) characterizing a potential northern extension of the Teton fault system, (2) deriving a vegetation-based metric to improve landslide susceptibility maps in eastern Kentucky, with potential global implications, and (3) combining numerical modeling, landscape models, and field constraints to understand how anthropogenic factors affect flood severity in southern Appalachian catchments.

In the first study, analysis of new lidar data in the Yellowstone region reveals a dominant north-south trending extensional zone that spans the Yellowstone caldera and aligns with the active Teton and East Gallatin normal faults. Displacement analysis of these structures, when integrated with geophysical and geodetic data, indicates a kinematic linkage between the Teton and East Gallatin systems and provides critical evidence that these active faults were originally continuous across the hotspot track. If this is the case, associated seismic hazard must be reassessed to consider a much longer fault system.

For the second study, landslides triggered by record precipitation in July 2022 in eastern Kentucky provided a unique opportunity to test a purely GIS-derived root strength index. During this event, landslides predominantly originated on or immediately downslope of areas where root-strength index (RSTI) was relatively low. Most landslides (83.2%) occurred where the mean RSTI is < 9.3 and mean slopes are >12°. Slopes < 12°, not typically considered susceptible to failure, still experienced landslides where mean RSTI was < 9.3. Approximately 24% of landslides >1200 m2 (n=15 of 62) occurred where RSTI was above a threshold of 9.3 and slope exceeded 32°, which indicates that a moderate to high RSTI is unlikely to offset the destabilizing effects of rapid precipitation on steep slopes with thin soil. Combining RSTI thresholds and regional slope cutoffs successfully accounted for 75.5% of landslides triggered by the July 2022 storm, suggesting that slope and RSTI could serve as a model on their own. Further, statistics-based models demonstrated an 8% improvement when RSTI was incorporated in addition to typical topographic parameters. This RSTI workflow can be easily incorporated into refined susceptibility workflows in other landslide-prone regions where high-resolution lidar data is available.

In the final study, the July 2022 flood in eastern Kentucky provided the opportunity to calibrate a flood model incorporating major anthropogenic alterations to a lidar-derived landscape surface, then to iteratively test each alteration to determine which exacerbated flooding. While bridges, roads, and buildings have little apparent effect on discharge, flood volumes, and flood heights, the eastern Kentucky system is sensitive to channel narrowing and increased surface runoff facilitated by mountaintop removal sites. Narrowed channels substantially increase maximum flood heights across the catchment due to a decrease in capacity to route water downstream. Mines yield a delayed increase in total discharge due to their high topographic position and spatial distribution relative to main channels, which leads to a complex pattern of increased flood volumes.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.291

Funding Information

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation. Both the 2022 Division of Earth Sciences fund (no. EAR 2242120) as well as the 2024 Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (no. OIA 2344533) were instrumental to the success of this work.

Recommended Citation

Swallom, Meredith, "APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING DATA TO UNDERSTANDING GEOHAZARDS IN WYOMING AND KENTUCKY" (2025). Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences. 117.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ees_etds/117