Zoning of soil erosion potential using MABAC method , Case study: Givi Chay watershed

AbstractSoil erosion is one of the most important problems in the watersheds of Iran, which causes the loss of thousands of tons of arable soil every year. The aim of the present study is to zoning the risk of soil erosion in Givi Chay watershed (northwestern Iran). In this study, first, the effective factors for erosion in the region were identified and then the information layers of each criterion were prepared in Geographic Information System (GIS). Valuation and standardization of layers was done using fuzzy membership function and criteria weighting, using critic method. Final analysis and modeling was performed using the Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison (MABAC) method as one of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. According to the results of the study, slope, land use, soil and lithology had the highest weight coefficient, respectively. Also, the results of the study showed; 283.89 and 414.93 km-square of the area, respectively, has a very high and high risk potential, and very high-risk and high-risk areas in unstable and erodible formations, agricultural uses and gardens and slopes of 25-40 % are located. It can be said that the results of this study indicate the high potential of the study basin in terms of erosion occurrence and it is necessary to control erosion and conservation measures on the agenda of experts and land managers. In addition, the results of validation of the results showed that the use of MABAC method has a high relative accuracy for studying the risk of erosion.