UAV Survey for Landslide Hazard Assessment in the Former Min-Kush Uranium Processing Site

Abstract

In March 2013 a large landslide of almost one million cubic meters happened in the Min-Kush uranium processing site in the Kyrgyz Republic. This hazardous landslide area is connected to radioactive and toxic tailings of mining industry located in the center of Tien-Shan mountain system. The present research represents the results of work done by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for photographing the landslide area, which was made for monitoring of this potentially hazardous phenomenon. Based on these images and geodetic measurements of the landslide, orthophotos as well as generated Digital Surface Model (DSM) with an accuracy of less than ±5 cm resulted. The application of the UAV in the man-made landslide study has been established as a cost and time effective monitoring tool that provides researchers and engineers with high-resolution geospatial data.