Journal of Stratigraphy and Sedimentology Researches (May 2018)

Evaluation of erosion risk map based on hierarchical decision tree method, a case study: Semnan drainage basin

  • Khalil Rezaei

DOI
https://doi.org/10.22108/jssr.2018.84023.0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 34, no. 1
pp. 47 – 66

Abstract

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Introduction: Today, Soil erosion has become one of the biggest problems in the country, especially in arid and semi-arid including Semnan. Effective and long term water and soil conservation programs require the concentration of resources on limited areas. For that purpose, regional-scale assessments of erosion risk are required. There are various methods to studying, evaluating, calculate and prevention with soil erosion. In addition, a number of parameters such as lithology, slope, aspect, land cover, elevation, and distance to stream, drainage density, vegetable cover, land use, river banks, and human activities are recommended to analyze the mechanism of soil erosion. So a rapid and cost effective methodological erosion assessment for these regions is required to describe and monitor the processes that control erosion. This study uses one of the remote sensing analyses to describe the contribution of several factors that control erosion in Semnan drainage basin where erosion is the major environmental problem. Remote sensing monitoring has been carried out by using aero photos, or multispectral images, DTM (Digital Terrain Model) or ALS (Airborne LASER Scanning) data. Semnan basin, study area, is located in north of Kavir plain and south of Alborz mountain range. Methodology: This study was conducted to evaluate the potential of analyzing regional erosion risk Topography, land use; vegetation density, soil properties and climatic proxies are used to determine erosion risk and to provide basic maps of water and soil conservation practices. A hierarchical decision tree is used to sum and combine the weight of parameters controlling the erosion. The assigned weights of each spatial unit express the susceptibility to erosion. The most important attributes in the definition of erosion landforms like gullies were selected using decision tree induction algorithms, being these attributes spectral, altimetry and texture. Classifications hierarchical and by decision trees were carried out. Using decision tree the classification is performed only by a factor of scale, not allowing the identification of all the constituent features of the erosion landforms system. One of the advantages of this method is that it can be used if there are insufficient experimental data. The lack of experimental data can be compensated for through the use of expert evaluations. Results and discussion: Three different combinations of the three dominant controlling factors are yielded in this study. In order to optimize the qualitative erosion risk assessment, each combination is discussed and evaluated depending on the contribution of parameters involved in the erosion process. As different erosion landforms erosion is similar when presents the same evolution stage and soil type, it is not possible to select attributes to classify all erosion landform systems, being necessary to investigate attributes for each erosion landform erosion, based on available data and existing land use classes in the area. The erosion landforms are the biggest erosive processes and, consequently, responsible for ambient, social and financial damages. Corrective and preventive measures need mapping and monitoring, which can be made by local measurements or by remote sensing. In relation to the remote sensing, the erosion landform erosion presents spectral heterogeneity (soil, vegetation, shade and water mix), spatial heterogeneity (existence of features as head, canals and digits with irregular forms and variable dimensions) and altimetry variation (with high declivity on the edges). Due to spectral heterogeneity, it is not enough use only spectral data, being necessary auxiliary data, as altimetry and texture data. This clearly shows that the study area is generally exposed to a high hazard of soil erosion. Nevertheless, there is a probability that the rate of erosion will increase in the future, as hazard is the probability of occurrence of a potential damaging phenomenon, within a period of time and a given area. As known, there is always an interest to depend on latest developments when making subjective judgments. In spite of the results obtained in this study, the development of a susceptibility map is usually determined by the needs and available resources, and AHP method can be equally important for all sorts of susceptibility zoning practices. Conclusion: The purpose of this study was to assess the soil erosion hazard in the Semnan province for planning appropriate conservation measures. The integrated GIS-AHP model was used to define spatial distribution of soil erosion hazard. In this area, erosion risk mainly was related with vegetation and also, it anticipated that the southern and south-eastern region due to the poverty of vegetation associated with increased levels of erosion. In each of the three mapped models, the area of the class with high erosion sensitivity was more than 75% and for observational data, the area in all three maps is above 71%. Also, the results of the assessment show that in all three maps there are over 99% correlation between the data obtained from the modeling and the test data. The erosion landforms present spectral and spatial heterogeneity and altimetry variation. This research demonstrates that the model developed was an effective tool for fast assessment of soil erosion hazard by the integration of remote sensed data, AHP, and GIS techniques. Nevertheless, the results obtained in this study are valid only for generalized planning and assessment purposes. They may be less useful at the site-specific scale, where local geological and geographic heterogeneities may prevail. Finally, any proposed decision-making tool in erosion control studies should also include local experimentation data to better simulate the erosion hazard, resulting thereby in the most appropriate and efficient choice of soil conservation works.

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