A novel integrated approach of relevance vector machine optimized by imperialist competitive algorithm for spatial modeling of shallow landslides

This research aims at proposing a new artificial intelligence approach (namely RVM-ICA) which is based on the Relevance Vector Machine (RVM) and the Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) optimization for landslide susceptibility modeling. A Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial database was generated from Lang Son city in Lang Son province (Vietnam). This GIS database includes a landslide inventory map and fourteen landslide conditioning factors. The suitability of these factors for landslide susceptibility modeling in the study area was verified by the Information Gain Ratio (IGR) technique. A landslide susceptibility prediction model based on RVM-ICA and the GIS database was established by training and prediction phases. The predictive capability of the new approach was evaluated by calculations of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC). In addition, to assess the applicability of the proposed model, two state-of-the-art soft computing techniques including the support vector machine (SVM) and logistic regression (LR) were used as benchmark methods. The results of this study show that RVM-ICA with AUC = 0.92 achieved a high goodness-of-fit based on both the training and testing datasets. The predictive capability of RVM-ICA outperformed those of SVM with AUC = 0.91 and LR with AUC = 0.87. The experimental results confirm that the newly proposed model is a very promising alternative to assist planners and decision makers in the task of managing landslide prone areas

Influence of structural lineaments on drainage morphometry in Qorveh-Dehgolan basin, Kurdistan, Iran

In the current study, a combination of automated lineament extraction from Landsat 8 satellite imagery and 3D interactive visual interpretation (using DEM) alongside image processing techniques (Gram-Schmidt pan-sharpening, convolution directional filter) was carried out to investigate expression and influence of tectonic activity on drainage morphometry within Qorveh-Dehgolan basin. The watersheds, derived from burned DEM using SWAT, were categorized into high and low-altitude watersheds depending on the associated relief. Analysis of spatial relationship of lineament density with drainage density and basin slope revealed that structural lineaments have a decisive control over drainage density distribution particularly at higher basin slopes of certain watersheds. These high-altitude watersheds, associated with more-resistant lithology, were also found to cover higher percentage of total lineaments compared to the lower-altitude watersheds associated with less-resistant lithology. The analysis presented significant insights into the influence of tectonic activity on drainage network in a relatively unexplored area and provided vital baseline information for future investigations

Effect of conversion of rangelands to planted forests on some physical and chemical soil properties

So far it is well known that the conversion of degraded rangelands to planted forests through afforestation practices affects soil properties. Therefore, we selected one rangeland and two planted forest area to study the physical and chemical properties of soil in different land uses in Hassanabad region of Sanandaj in Kurdistan province. Physical soil characteristics such as the percentage of water content and soil bulk density were sampled in two-week intervals during 2012 to 2013 at three points in each area. In addition, a set of double rings was conducted to measure infiltration rate at three points within each area. The saturated hydraulic conductivity was computed using the experimental infiltration data. The soil samples for measuring chemical properties (e.g. pH, EC, organic carbon content, phosphorus and total nitrogen) were taken from 3 points in each area at the depth of 20 cm with six repeated measurements. The results showed that converting degraded rangelands to tree plantations has resulted in enhancing the quality of soil physical characteristics, whereas only a portion of the chemical characteristics (organic carbon content, phosphorus and total nitrogen) were positively affected

“Assessing the key drivers of stream network configuration dynamics for tectonically active drainage basins using multitemporal satellite imagery and statistical analyses”

A comprehensive integrated framework was designed to categorize individual streams and watersheds based on their temporal variation, and to determine the key drivers controlling watershed hydrology in the Qorveh-Dehgolan Basin. Four stream networks were extracted from multi-temporal Pan-Sharpened Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 imageries. Nineteen geomorphometric indices are measured and classified into the linear aspect, aerial aspect, and relief aspect. The results revealed a significant decline in stream networks from 2000 to 2017, reducing basin order. The factor analysis identified three principal factors including ‘factor of basin magnitude’ (affecting low-altitude watersheds), ‘factor of steepness’ (influencing high-altitude watersheds), and ‘factor of texture’. The focal mechanism highlighted the complex fault mechanisms in the study area. Finally, RadViz clustering showed that for the lower order streams in the high-altitudes watersheds, stream width showed higher temporal variability in comparison to other parameters. In contrast, flow accumulation showed high variance in higher-order streams

‘Multivariate statistical analysis of relationship between tectonic activity and drainage behavior in Qorveh-Dehgolan basin Kurdistan, Iran’

In this study, morphotectonic analysis was performed to investigate the influence of tectonic activity on drainage network in Qorve-Dehgolan basin, located in Sanandaj - Sirjan Zone (SSZ). Eight watersheds were delineated using burnt DEM and eleven morphotectonic indices including stream length gradient index (SL); drainage basin asymmetry (Af); hypsometric curve (HC); hypsometric integral (HI); roughness (R); elongation ratio (Re); mountain front sinuosity (Smf); basin shape (Bs); curvature of surface (C), basin slope (Sb) and river sinuosity index (K) were calculated. The higher altitude watersheds specifically showed various anomalies in the calculated indices. These indices when subjected to factor analysis (using Varimax rotation) resulted in extraction of “steepness factor” and “asymmetric factor” as two principal factors influencing the drainage network. The integrated analysis revealed that steepness factor, indicating ongoing tectonism, plays a significant role in the hydrology of higher altitude watersheds, whereas asymmetric factor is more dominant in lower altitude watersheds

Drainage network extraction and morphometric analysis in an Iranian basin using integrating factor analysis and geospatial techniques

The application of multivariate statistical analysis (MSA) in analyzing drainage basin morphometry, in conjunction with seismic events (focal mechanism) and associated tectonic influences, has been discussed less in the framework of existing geomorphometric studies. Hence, in this study, an integrated approach was designed combining the geomorphometric analysis with MSA, focal mechanism and associated structural lineaments (using a remote sensing and GIS framework) to address the role of active tectonism on the drainage network characteristics in Qorveh-Dehgolan basin located in western part of Iran (Kurdistan province). Eight watersheds were delineated from burnt ASTER DEM using SWAT model and categorized into high-altitude watersheds and low-altitude watersheds. Four-sets of the drainage network were extracted from satellite imageries (Landsat 7 and 8) over a period of 17 years (2000–2017) to monitor the temporal stream network behavior. Overall, nineteen morphometric parameters were calculated (and categorized into linear, aerial, and relief aspects) exhibiting significant changes in the drainage network from 2000 to 2017 (the stream order declined from 5th to 4th order). The higher-altitude watersheds showed various anomalies in the calculated indices (indicating the potential influence of tectonic activity), while the lower altitude watersheds did not exhibit any specific anomalies. In addition, higher concentration of longer lineaments was observed in areas where the relatively resistant, fractured bedrock lithology (meta-volcanic and meta-sedimentary rocks) provided favorable conditions for origin and propagation of the lineaments. Further analysis of focal mechanism solutions (FMS, beachball diagrams) showed that the study area is primarily influenced by moderate earthquake events (3 ≤ Mw ≤ 6) and is influenced by a complex fault mechanism (primarily normal faults and strike slip faults). The morphometric parameters were further subjected to the factor analysis (principal axis factoring using Varimax rotation transformation) resulting in derivation of “factor of basin magnitude”, “factor of steepness” and “factor of texture” as three principal factors impacting the drainage network. Finally, it was concluded that “factor of steepness” played a decisive role in defining hydrology of higher-altitude watersheds (an indication of tectonic influences in these watersheds) and thereby defining the overall hydrology of the study area as well. Overall, this study highlighted the significant role of the tectonic activity associated with structural lineaments and the seismic events in defining the nature and behavior of the drainage network and certain anomalies caused in the basin hydrology under these structural controls

A novel hybrid approach of bayesian logistic regression and its ensembles for landslide susceptibility assessment

A novel artificial intelligence approach of Bayesian Logistic Regression (BLR) and its ensembles [Random Subspace (RS), Adaboost (AB), Multiboost (MB) and Bagging] was introduced for landslide susceptibility mapping in a part of Kamyaran city in Kurdistan Province, Iran. A spatial database was generated which includes a total of 60 landslide locations and a set of conditioning factors tested by the Information Gain Ratio technique. Performance of these models was evaluated using the area under the ROC curve (AUROC) and statistical index-based methods. Results showed that the hybrid ensemble models could significantly improve the performance of the base classifier of BLR (AUROC = 0.930). However, RS model (AUROC = 0.975) had the highest performance in comparison to other landslide ensemble models, followed by Bagging (AUROC = 0.972), MB (AUROC = 0.970) and AB (AUROC = 0.957) models, respectively

Erratum: Dieu, T.B. et al. A Novel Integrated Approach of Relevance Vector Machine Optimized by Imperialist Competitive Algorithm for Spatial Modeling of Shallow Landslides. Remote Sens. 2018, 10, 1538

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...

Effects of Inter-Basin Water Transfer on Water Flow Condition of Destination Basin

In recent years, the intensification of drought and unsustainable management and use of water resources have caused a significant decline in the water level of the Urmia Lake in the northwest of Iran. This condition has affected the lake, approaching an irreversible point such that many projects have been implemented and are being implemented to save the natural condition of the Urmia Lake, among which the inter-basin water transfer (IBWT) project from the Zab River to the lake could be considered an important project. The main aim of this research is the evaluation of the IBWT project effects on the Gadar destination basin. Simulations of the geometrical properties of the river, including the bed and flow, have been performed, and the land cover and flood map were overlapped in order to specify the areas prone to flood after implementing the IBWT project. The results showed that with the implementation of this project, the discharge of the Gadar River was approximately tripled and the water level of the river rose 1 m above the average. In April, May, and June, about 952.92, 1458.36, and 731.43 ha of land adjacent to the river (floodplain) will be inundated by flood, respectively. Results also indicated that UNESCO’s criteria No. 3 (“a comprehensive environmental impact assessment must indicate that the project will not substantially degrade the environmental quality within the area of origin or the area of delivery”) and No. 5 (“the net benefits from the transfer must be shared equitably between the area of origin and the area of water delivery”) have been violated by implementing this project in the study area. The findings could help the local government and other decision-makers to better understand the effects of the IBWT projects on the physical and hydrodynamic processes of the Gadar River as a destination basin.Validerad;2020;Nivå 2;2020-01-09 (johcin)</p