Investigation of Subsidence Susceptibility in the Semnan Plain Using Entropy Model

Land subsidence is a geo hazard that leads to slow or rapid decrease of ground level. Land subsidence presents a constant threat to the safety of surface infrastructures such as motorways, railways, power lines, and telecommunication cables. Arid and semi-arid countries like Iran are very susceptible to land subsidence phenomenon. Land subsidence has occurred in more of 300 plains of Iran, and Semnan Plain is one of the most important areas that face to this phenomenon. The purpose of this research was land subsidence susceptibility assessment using entropy model. In the first step, acquiring information about sixty-five land subsidence in the past was done. Twelve conditioning factors from different basic layers including topography, geology, land use, and ground water table were considered for modeling aims. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to assess accuracy of the Entropy model. The AUC for the entropy model was 0.715 that showed this model is acceptable for land subsidence susceptibility mapping in the Semnan Plain. Results of this research can help to policy makers and planners for environment and urban management and planning.