Weighted Information Models for the Quantitative Prediction and Evaluation of the Geothermal Anomaly Area in the Plateau: A Case Study of the Sichuan–Tibet Railway

Abstract

The prediction of geothermal high-temperature anomalies along the plateau railway will be helpful in the construction of the project and its later management. Taking the Sichuan–Tibet railway as the study area and based on Landsat8 thermal infrared images, map data, and measured data regarding the cause and distribution of geothermal high-temperature anomalies, through correlation analysis, we selected six impact factors including the LST, combined entropy of geological formation, fault density, buffer distance to rivers, magnetic anomaly, and earthquake peak acceleration as the input maps of the model. The index-overlay information model, the weights of the entropy information model, and the weights of the evidence information model were established to quantitatively predict the geothermal anomaly in the study area, and the prediction maps were divided into four classes. The results show that the weights of the evidence information model achieved a high prediction accuracy; the success index and the ratio of the high anomaly area reached 0.0053% and 0.872, respectively, and the spatial distribution of the geothermal points is basically consistent with the prediction results. This research can act as a reference for the design and construction of the Sichuan–Tibet railway.

Keywords

• quantitative prediction
• information model
• geothermal anomaly area
• combined entropy of geological formation
• weights of evidence