Research on the Sensitivity Assessment of Soil Erosion by AHP Method: A Case Study in the Northeast of Ordos Basin

Abstract

The ecological environment of Northeastern Ordos Basin which located in the Northwestern China belongs to arid and semi-arid area. The hazards of water and soil loss here are serious caused by gully river erosion. Since Soil erosion is an important factor leading to the destruction of regional ecology and has a profound impact on the long-term and healthy development of the economy and society, it is necessary to do research on the sensitivity analysis about soil erosion. In this study, the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method was used to determine the index weight of the factors for soil erosion, and made it more consistent with the whole regional condition. The results demonstrated that the soil medium, slope and vegetation coverage had the highest influence on soil erosion under the same climatic and meteorological conditions in the study area. This research evaluated the sensitivity factors and provided a significant guidance for soil erosion control.

An Alternative Process for Determining Erosion Risk: The Fuzzy Method

“…A pairwise comparison matrix is obtained based on the pairwise comparisons between the criteria considered suitable for use in a study, and then the weight values of these criteria are determined (Kazakis et al, 2015). AHP not only involves physical and planning factors such as landslides, earthquakes, erosion, and flooding (Boroumandi et al, 2015;Shadmaan & Ibne Islam, 2021;Wei et al, 2020;Kabo-bah et al, 2021) from education to logistics, the manufacturing industry, and health sector (Şahin & Yurdugül, 2018;Çakılcı & Öztürkoğlu, 2020;Sarjono et al, 2020;Schmidt et al, 2016), but ıt is also used extensively in many other subjects. Saaty (1987, p. 161) stated AHP to have been developed as a method that can be used in multi-criteria decision-making not only in the physical environment but also in social areas.…”