Landslide inventory and susceptibility mapping for Cincinnati and northern Kentucky: improving hazard assessment in a landslide-prone urban region

This two-year project is funded through the USGS Cooperative Landslide Hazard Mapping and Assessment Program. The purpose of this study is to reduce the risk of loss due to landsliding in the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky region by producing a landslide inventory using change detection on repeat regional lidar surveys, and to utilize the new inventory to produce landslide susceptibility maps. This will be the first time a comprehensive inventory will be created for this urban, landslide-prone region. The maps will be published on the Kentucky Geologic Map Information Service and delivered to stakeholders including the City of Cincinnati, county Emergency Managers, the USGS, FEMA, and other entities involved in engineering, transportation, and hazard mitigation planning.

Image caption: Figure 1. A landslide susceptibility map of the United States (USGS, 2024); B. Landslide susceptibility map of the Cincinnati, Ohio and northern Kentucky region, with proposed area delineated. C. City boundaries in Cincinnati, Ohio and northern Kentucky region, with 1:24,000 quadrangle boundaries and proposed study area. Study area is approximately 1100 square km.