ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geohazards and Georisks
This article is part of the Research TopicPrevention, Mitigation, and Relief of Compound and Chained Natural Hazards, volume IIIView all 4 articles
Spatial Distribution Patterns and Landslide Susceptibility Analysis from a Global–Local Perspective along the Zhuzhou-Guangzhou Section of the Beijing–Guangzhou Railway
Provisionally accepted
Hanxing Liu1
Chong Xu1*Liye Feng1
Peng Wang2
Jingjing Sun1Xuewei Zhang1Juanling Wang3Qihao Sun4
Kang Li1- 1National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management (China), Beijing, China
- 2Beijing Engineering Corporation Limited, Beijing, 100024, China, Beijing, China
- 3China Railway Xi'an Group Company Limited, 710048, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China
- 4China Railway Design Corporation, Tianjin, China
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The Beijing–Guangzhou Railway is a critical transportation corridor in China, with the Zhuzhou–Guangzhou segment particularly susceptible to landslides due to steep terrain and marked climatic variability. This study combined 713 large-scale landslide remnants with 14 Influencing factors (topography, geology, and hydrology) to analyze landslide spatial distribution and proposed a multiscale landslide susceptibility assessment framework based on a "global modeling–local analysis" approach. The contribution of each factor to susceptibility was quantified using a random forest model coupled with the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. Spatial analysis revealed that landslides are concentrated in areas at 188–752 m elevation, with slopes of 15°–30°, curvatures of -0.35–0.22, Jurassic strata, and high precipitation, and are significantly influenced by river erosion and railway engineering activities. The susceptibility model performed well (AUC = 0.88). Global analysis showed that high and very high susceptibility areas are primarily located in the central and southern sections of the study area, particularly in northern Lechang, Shaoguan, and Suxian District, Chenzhou. Local analysis of three representative sections further indicated that slope, Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), elevation, and curvature are the primary hazard factors, with the order of contribution varying across sections, reflecting the regional characteristics and complexity of landslide mechanisms along the railway. This study provides a scientific basis for landslide risk prevention and control along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and a transferable reference for susceptibility assessment in similar regions.
Keywords: Landslide susceptibility assessment, Spatial distribution patterns, random forest, Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Shap
Received: 10 Oct 2025; Accepted: 14 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Xu, Feng, Wang, Sun, Zhang, Wang, Sun and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chong Xu, xc11111111@126.com
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