A NEW APPROACH TO LIQUEFACTION POTENTIAL MAPPING USING SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING AND MACHINE LEARNING

In order to help communities better plan and mitigate the effects of seismic hazards, it is important to use innovations in science and technology to improve our techniques for mapping the spatial extents of seismic hazards. Earthquake induced ground shaking in areas with saturated sandy soils pose a major threat to communities as a result of the soil liquefaction. Liquefaction is the process of changing a saturated cohesionless soil from a solid to liquid state due to increased pore pressure. Many major earthquakes, especially those in coastal regions, result in liquefaction related ground failures that can lead to infrastructure damage or slope stability issues. Currently liquefaction potential is assessed on two scales: regionally based on surficial geologic unit or locally based on geotechnical sample data. Regional liquefaction potential maps fail to capture the variability of liquefaction potential on the local scale. On the other hand, collection of geotechnical data on the local scale is costly and only done for specific engineering projects and therefore not generally available for regional mapping. Today, the advent of advanced remote sensing products from air and space borne sensors allow us to explore the land surface parameters (geology, moisture content, temperature) a