Suitable site selection of flood spreading using analytic hierarchical process in geographic information system, case study: south of Kashan Plain

Historically, flood control and artificial recharge are one of the most important objectives in spreading in arid and semi-arid systems. Therefore, determining suitable locations for floodwater spreading systems based on different criteria and indicators is of great importance. In this study, seven information layers (slope classes, runoff volume, transmissibility in alluvium, thickness of unsaturated zone, surface infiltration rate, quality of water and land use) were combined in GIS using AHP model and weights of each factor were determined based on membership function of each responsible factor. Then AHP map of each factor was incorporated to have the flood spreading map based on the most susceptible AHP model. The results indicated that land use (39%) was the most important criterion in suitable location mapping for floodwater spreading and runoff volume, slope classes, surface infiltration rate, thickness of unsaturated zone, transmissibility in alluvium and quality of water were in second to seventh order. The results of integration of maps showed that 70% of the study area is suitable for flood spreading.