Application of Fuzzy Analytical Network Process Model for Analyzing the Gully Erosion Susceptibility

Soil erosion is one of the most important processes in land degradation especially in semi-arid areas such as Iran. Awareness from susceptible areas to erosion is essential for decreasing the damages and restoration of the eroded areas and achieving the sustainable development goals. Thus, the main purposes of this study are prioritizing the effective variables in engender and extend of gully erosion and predicting the gully erosion susceptibility map in the Kashkan-Poldokhtar Basin, Iran. In order to achieve this purpose, the fuzzy analytical network process (Fuzzy ANP) was applied by means of considering the interrelationship network within the effective criteria on the gully erosion. The assessing step were conducted by the fuzzy approach in associate with the expert’s opinions for determining the susceptible areas to gully erosion. Eventually, gully erosion susceptibility map was produced based on Fuzzy ANP weights and GIS aggregation functions. Results were validated by applying the known gullies collected in field surveys by GPS. The ROC curve was applied to investigate the susceptibility model’s performance. Results of the Fuzzy-ANP was revealed that drainage density, soil texture, and lithology are most important factors for gully erosion. In addition, results delivered the accuracy of 90.4% for the study area which is very acceptable. This research highlights that Fuzzy ANP as an efficient approach for producing the susceptibility map of gully erosion, especially in an environment with incomplete datasets.

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