Land Subsidence Hazard Zoning in Hashtgerd Plain based on Integrated Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach: WOI-BWM

The occurrence of land subsidence phenomenon and its potential hazards in the plains of Iran due to the water crisis and drought period has grown significantly in recent years. In this study, the zoning of land subsidence hazard in the Hashtgerd plain was discussed and 19 criteria were selected as factors that influence the subsidence. The mentioned layers were prepared in GIS, weighted based on the best-worst method (BWM) and integrated using the Weighted Overlay Index (WOI). The results of BWM method showed that groundwater abstraction (0.219), the type of geological formation (0.157), the decrease of groundwater level (0.079), and groundwater depth (0.078) are important factors on the potential of subsidence hazard in the study area. Moreover, in order to evaluate the results of this model, the ROC curve was used, which has an accuracy of 90%. The results showed that land subsidence hazard of 10.66% of the study area was in very low category, 38.51% in low category, 31.49% in medium category, 11.66% in high category and 7.69% is in the very high category. According to the results, there are areas with a high probability of subsidence in the central part of Hashtgerd Plain, which requires continuous evaluation, controling, and monitoring of the criteria that affect the situation.