Groundwater spring potential mapping using bivariate statistical model and GIS in the Taleghan Watershed, Iran

The aim of the current study was to produce groundwater spring potential map using a bivariate statistical model (frequency ratio) and geographical information system (GIS) in the Taleghan Watershed, Alborz Province, Iran. Firstly, field surveys were done for identifying and springs inventory mapping. In total, 457 springs were identified and mapped in GIS; out of that, 320 (70 %) locations were selected for training and the remaining 137 (30 %) cases were used for the model validation. The effective factors on the groundwater spring such as: slope percent, slope aspect, altitude, topographic wetness index, stream power index, slope length, plan curvature, distance from rivers, distance from roads, distance from faults, lithology, land use, soil hydrology groups, and drainage density were derived from the spatial database. Using the above effective factors, groundwater spring potential mapping was calculated using FR model as a bivariate statistical model, and the results were plotted in Arc GIS. Eventually, the receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn for spring potential map and the area under the curve (AUC) was figured. Validation of results indicated that the frequency ratio model (AUC=75.99 %) performed fairly good predication accuracy. The results of groundwater spring potential map may be helpful for planners and engineers in water resource management and land use planning.