Ranking of coastal strip of Gilan Province in terms of sensitivity to oil spills

Oil pollution is an important environmental issue that can destroy marine and coastal ecosystems. The purpose of this study was to rank the coastal strip of Gilan province in terms of sensitivity to oil spills. First, the main criteria affecting oil spills on the coast were identified. Required data through field studies and surveillance by GPS device, topographic maps of 1.25000, maps of protected areas, satellite images, data of Industry, Mining and Trade Organization and etc. were collected. After mapping for each criterion, they were standardized by fuzzy method and combined using WLC method. The results showed that for low, medium and high degrees of sensitivity, 14, 36 and 50% of the coastline are involved, respectively. The high sensitivity is mostly related to the eastern part of the coast, which is located along the rivers. Low sensitivity is also located on the seafront on granular to medium sandy beaches. In order to validate the WLC method, the longitudinal profile of the shore was prepared based on the sensitivity to oil spills. The position of the peaks of the longitudinal profile of the coast in terms of sensitivity to oil spills was extracted and with field studies, the criteria affecting the sensitivity of the coast at each point were investigated. The results showed that the error of the WLC method is less than 5% and in other words, this method can be trusted with 95% confidence.