Identification of erosion-prone areas using different multi-criteria decision-making techniques and GIS

Abstract The awareness of erosion risk in watersheds provides the possibility of identifying critical areas and prioritising protective and management plans. Soil erosion is one of the major natural hazards in the rainy mountainous regions of the Neka Roud Watershed in Mazandaran Province, Iran. This research assesses soil erosion susceptibility through morphometric parameters and the land use/land cover (LU/LC) factor based on multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques, remote sensing and GIS. A set of 17 linear, relief and shape morphometric parameters and 5 LU/LC classes are used in the analysis. The aforementioned factors are selected as indicators of soil erosion in the study area. Then, four MCDM models, namely, the new additive ratio assessment (ARAS), complex proportional assessment (COPRAS), multi-objective optimisation by ratio analysis and compromise programming, are applied to the prioritisation of the Neka Roud sub-watersheds. The Spearman’s correlation coefficient test and Kendall’s tau correlation coefficient test indices are used to select the best models. The validation of the models indicates that the ARAS and COPRAS models based on morphometric parameters and LU/LC classes, respectively, achieve the best performance. The results of this research can be used by planners and decision makers in soil conservation and in reducing soil erosion.

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