Evaluation and Zonation of Karst Development in Tamtaman Nazlo Chai Urmia Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Method

The Tamtaman area is located between 37◦38/00//-37◦44/00//north and 44◦40/30//-44◦59/30// east in northwestern Iran, approximately 15 km northwest of Urmia. This study aims to identify and zoning the potential development of karst in the area of Tamtaman cave in west Azerbaijan province using the AHP method. In this study, the information layers of lithology, tectonics, topography, slope, aspect, hydrology, land use, and climate have been considered as factor maps. The above layers have been called to extract the karst potential model in the GIS environment. Different information layers were classified as Criterion maps by applying expert judgment and assigning the weight of each layer in Expert Choice software and field visits. Finally, according to the obtained weight, the karst development zoning map in the Tamtaman area was obtained. The results obtained in this region exhibited a total area, of 6.68% within the very poorly developed class, 15.64% in the less developed class, 42.50% in the normal developed class, and 35.18% in the developed floor are located. The results show that in the Tamtaman region, the lithological and tectonic factors have the highest weight and are the most important factors controlling potential karst growth, while the land-use factor has the least impact on karst formation.