A research team from Periyar University inspected the ghat road leading to Vathalmalai in Dharmapuri, which suffered damage due landslides during the recent rains.
The State government declared Vathalmalai as a tourist spot in 2012 and laid the ghat road.
The recent rainfall triggered a number of landslips, forcing the authorities to suspend vehicular traffic.
Periyar University research team, headed by S. Anbazhagan, Director, Centre for Geoinformatics and Planetary Studies, studied the nature and cause of landslips. He observed that the occurrence of landslides was part of mass wasting along modified slope condition and it took time to settle.
The team has already carried out similar studies at Kolli hills and Yercaud hills.
The highly weathered soil conditions, absence of major tree cover, excessive loading of boulders and soil erosions were the major causes for landslides.
The team made detailed investigation of landslide sites for long-time planning and mitigation measures.
The team has proposed to conduct a detailed study on geology, geotechnical analysis of soil and other terrain parameters through integrated geoinformatics techniques.
V. Ramesh, Faculty of Disaster Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and G. Kavitha, and K. Tamilarasan, research scholars, were the members of the team.
Mr. Anbazhagan said that additional provision might be made for draining surface water to reduce recurrence of landslides to some extent.
For long-term planning, small weightless trees with bifurcation root system could be planted.
Retaining wall should be constructed with provision for water drainage. Detailed geotechnical studies woukld provide further clue for long-term preventive measures, he added.
