Prioritization of watersheds based on a picture fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and linear assignment model

Soil erosion is one of the most dangerous natural dangers, causing a great deal of harm in many parts of the world. In the presented study, the Gusru river watershed in Indi was divided into 14 sub-watersheds, and then 14 morphometric parameters were calculated, including drainage density (D-d), bifurcation ratio (R-b), streams frequency (F-s), average slope (S-a), form factor (R-f), circulatory ratio (R-C), elongation ratio (R-e), relative relief (R-h), ruggedness number (R-N), bifurcation ratio (R-b), texture ratio (T), length of the overland flow (L-o) compactness coefficient (C-C) and hypsometric integral (HI) were derived for each sub- watershed. Afterward, the combination of picture fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process and picture fuzzy-linear assignment model were used to assign weights to selected morphometric criteria and to rank the sub-watersheds based on the level of soil erosion susceptibility. The results of the study showed that sub-watersheds 11 and 2 were the most susceptible sub watersheds, while sub-watersheds 13 and 14 had the lowest susceptibility to soil erosion. Prioritization and ranking of sub-watersheds from the perspective of soil erosion susceptibility can be used as a powerful tool for prevention and mitigation measures.

Automated summary

In this study, the Gusru river watershed in India was divided into 14 sub-watersheds, and 14 morphometric parameters were calculated to assess soil erosion susceptibility. The combination of picture fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process and picture fuzzy-linear assignment model was used to assign weights and rank the sub-watersheds. The results showed that sub-watersheds 11 and 2 were most susceptible to soil erosion, while sub-watersheds 13 and 14 had the lowest susceptibility.