Abstract
This research was conducted to determine which areas in the Robat Turk watershed in Iran are sensitive to gully erosion, and to define the relationship between gully erosion and geo-environmental factors by two data mining techniques, namely, Random Forest (RF) and k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN). First, 242 gully locations we determined in field surveys and mapped in ArcGIS software. Then, twelve gully-related conditioning factors were selected. Our results showed that, for both the RF and KNN models, altitude, distance to roads, and distance from the river had the highest influence upon gully erosion sensitivity. We assessed the gully erosion susceptibility maps using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve. Validation results showed that the RF and KNN models had Area Under the Curve (AUC) 87.4 and 80.9%, respectively. As a result, the RF method has better performance compared with the KNN method for mapping gully erosion susceptibility. Rainfall, altitude, and distance from a river were identified as the most important factors affecting gully erosion in this area. The methodology used in this research is transferable to other regions to determine which areas are prone to gully erosion and to explicitly delineate high-risk zones within these areas.
Highlights
Water erosion is considered as one of the basic causes of land destruction, in watersheds [1]
We employed the Random Forest (RF) and k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) data mining models to assess the results of geo-environmental variables on gully erosion and to identify areas prone to this hazard
The methodological framework used in this study has demonstrated that the appropriate choice of effective factors in gully erosion, along with the use of data driven techniques, can correctly identify gully erosion-prone areas
Summary
Water erosion is considered as one of the basic causes of land destruction, in watersheds [1]. Erosion and soil destruction are among the most significant consequences of water erosion. Soil erosion has been studied by various researchers; its consequences are very dangerous, and both the flourishing and the destruction of previous civilizations have been attributed to this phenomenon. Despite experts extensively studying gully erosion in the twentieth century, and previous work before the 1930s surveying the factors that influence its formation and expansion, gully erosion is still classified in a variety of ways in various regions of the world. Despite considerable research on soil erosion and its various dimensions, many aspects of this phenomenon remain unknown or are only vaguely understood [2].
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