Landslide susceptibility zonation using analytical hierarchy process and GIS for the Bojnurd region, northeast of Iran

The aim of this study was to produce a map of landslide susceptibility zonation (LSZ) using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for recognition of a hazardous prone zone in the Bojnurd region, northeast of Iran. A database included nine topographic, geomorphologic, and climatic parameters that affect landslide susceptibility produced by digitizing the elevation data from topographic maps and some spatial analyst procedures in GIS. Some rock falls and landslides were observed dominantly on the steep slopes of limestone formations. The study area were divided into five susceptibility zones, namely, very high, high, moderate, low, and negligible. It demonstrated that about 70.21% of the region in the south and east are prone to moderate to very high levels of landslide susceptibility. According to landslides inventory map, the most occurred landslides had the well-corresponding with high and very high landslide susceptibility classes in the region. Based on empirical classification of the AHP, the precipitation, geology, land use, and slope were the most heavily weighted factors with weightings of 0.182, 0.176, 0.166, and 0.163, respectively. While based on the spatially crosschecking, the landslide events in the study area strongly correlated with geology and slope, which exhibited on the final LSZ map.