Determination of the most important factors affecting submarine groundwater discharge to the Persian Gulf coastlines using multivariate regression

The aim of this study is to determine the most important geomorphometric indices and structural features affecting Submarine Groundwater Discharge (SGD) into the Persian Gulf coastlines. For this purpose, firstly, the maps of lithology, density of lineament, zoning rainfall and temperature, vegetation (NDVI), drainage density, slope, elevation classes, abundance and distribution of springs, profile, length, cross section, general, plate, tangent, total curvatures, and surface ratio, topographic roughness, Vector Ruggedness Measure, Topographic Position, and Topographic Wetness, was prepared on three radii of 10 (buffer 1), 20 (buffer 2) and 30 (buffer 3) km from the coast to the land, using ENVI 5.3, Arc GIS10.3.1, and SAGA GIS 2.1.0 software. Then, the most important factors and the contribution of them in presence the SGD areas were determined using multivariate regression analysis. The results showed that the plate and profile curvatures are the most important curvatures with opposite scores and values. Indicators affecting the presence of SGD areas for the cold season are: springs abundance on buffers 2 and 3, topographic wetness on buffer 3, drainage density on buffer 1 and 3, fault density on buffer 2 and aquifer surface on buffer 1, and for the warm season are: springs abundance on buffer 2 and 3, topographic wetness on buffer 1, cross section curve on buffer 2, total curvature on buffer 2, temperature index on Buffer 3, fault density on Buffer 3, and aquifer surface on buffer 1. In overall, the SGD mapping can be create by