A multifactorial study of mass movement in the hilly and gully Loess Plateau based on intensive field surveys and remote sensing techniques.

Mass movements, driven by various non-linearly correlated factors, exhibit high randomness, posing vast difficulties for field observations and subsequent investigations into the underlying mechanisms. In this study 157 mass movement incidents (including collapses, slump and spalling) and their primary influencing factors were surveyed in a small catchment of the hilly and gully Loess Plateau, China, through intensive field investigations and remote sensing techniques. The spatial pattern of mass movement and its relation with the influencing factors were assessed, while the relative impact of different factors was studied using the canonical correlation analysis.