Landslide susceptibility mapping using machine learning algorithms and comparison of their performance at Abha Basin, Asir Region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract The current study aimed at evaluating the capabilities of seven advanced machine learning techniques (MLTs), including, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), Multivariate Adaptive Regression Spline (MARS), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), and Naive Bayes (NB), for landslide susceptibility modeling and comparison of their performances. Coupling machine learning algorithms with spatial data types for landslide susceptibility mapping is a vitally important issue. This study was carried out using GIS and R open source software at Abha Basin, Asir Region, Saudi Arabia. First, a total of 243 landslide locations were identified at Abha Basin to prepare the landslide inventory map using different data sources. All the landslide areas were randomly separated into two groups with a ratio of 70% for training and 30% for validating purposes. Twelve landslide-variables were generated for landslide susceptibility modeling, which include altitude, lithology, distance to faults, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), landuse/landcover (LULC), distance to roads, slope angle, distance to streams, profile curvature, plan curvature, slope length (LS), and slope-aspect. The area under curve (AUC-ROC) approach has been applied to evaluate, validate, and compare the MLTs performance. The results indicated that AUC values for seven MLTs range from 89.0% for QDA to 95.1% for RF. Our findings showed that the RF (AUC ​= ​95.1%) and LDA (AUC ​= ​941.7%) have produced the best performances in comparison to other MLTs. The outcome of this study and the landslide susceptibility maps would be useful for environmental protection.