Groundwater and Its Impact on Landslides Along Himalayan Regions: A Review

Landslides are complex, dynamic processes influenced by erosion, weath-ering, tectonics, and gravity, triggered by various geotechnical, biological, miner-alogical, and hydrological factors. Detailed studies on landslide mechanisms typi-cally focus on specific high-risk cases. The stability of slopes and the physical and mechanical properties of sediments can be affected by their grain size, chemical composition, mineralogy, and the chemistry of circulating water, underscoring the need for a multidisciplinary approach to studying these processes. Additional hydro-geochemical processes, such as carbonate and iron compound precipitation, and the exchange of cations with different valences, can further modify the shear strength of shear zones. Various geophysical methods are actively employed for landslide investigations in Uttarakhand, with the EVRI geophysical method potentially being a novel technique for future use. The most commonly utilized technique is GIS, which has been employed to evaluate landslides in this area. Moreover, monitoring spring discharge and groundwater levels can aid in predicting landslides in these regions.
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