Vulnerability to ground deformation phenomena in the city of Tuzla (BiH): a GIS and multicriteria approach

Abstract

Ground deformation phenomena affecting the town of Tuzla (Bosnia Herzegovina), as consequence of underground salt deposits exploitation, have been surveyed since 60 years ago. The growing of cavities beneath the town and successive surface deformations have induced several hazard factors such as ground subsidence, deep and\ud shallow fracturing and intense groundwater table oscillations. Fortunately, this processes had no catastrophic consequences such as sinkholes developing. Previous studies analyzed\ud the historical database of topographic and piezometric data and highlighted a cumulative subsidence rate up to 12 meters over a period spanning from the 1956 to the 2003. Fractures arose as obvious result of ground deformation and caused damages and demolitions to thousands of buildings, with almost 15,000 people evacuated. Nowadays, in order to diminish the deformation processes, a strong reduction in brine withdrawal has been introduced by the local authorities. This caused an uplift of the water table which actually makes the spatial pattern of deformation more complex. In fact, in the most urbanized area, the sinking phenomena are now turning into uplift displacements. The presence of such a hazard required an urban vulnerability assessment able to support local authorities in the forthcoming planning procedure. The vulnerability assessment of urban elements over a wide area, potentially affected by deformation phenomena, has been accomplished by an integration between GIS solutions and a multicriteria approach based on ELECTRE-TRI methodology. The vulnerability procedure is able to define a discrete map where the 50 9 50 m width elementary cells report the most vulnerable parts of the town. In particular, the ELECTRE-TRI methodology is used to combine each vulnerable urban element with the others, expressed as vector data in a geographical dataset. The multicriteria approach is performed outside the GIS environment by the ELECTRE-TRI 2.0 package and requires a preliminary rasterization of the used dataset

ELECTRE: A comprehensive literature review on methodologies and applications

“…Assessing regional earthquake vulnerabilities EIII P TPS, VKR, PRM II, GRA, WSM, SRC Salvi et al (2005) Ranking accident scenarios related to urbanization around high-risk sites EIII P GIS Sebos et al (2010) Land use planning for areas adjacent to high-risk sites ETRI P GIS Soltanmohammadi et al (2008) Comparing a number of post mining land uses EI P AHP, TPS Stecchi et al (2012) Producing a ground deformation vulnerability map ETRI P GIS Taillandier and Taillandier (2012) Cartographic generalization for building blocks ETRI P van Delft and Nijkamp (1976) Selecting a planning strategy for a new industrial area EI NCD Selecting a forest planning strategy EIII ME AHP, MAUT, PRM II Same as in EIII ME AHP, MAVT, PRM II Ok (2006) Choosing an ecotourism activity EI P Choosing an ecotourism activity EI, EIII P, P AHP Comparing silvicultural scenarios for larch stands EIII P Rosato and Stellin (1993) Selecting an agricultural management scheme in EI P WAM…”

Part 1: Contemporary Challenges and Current Solutions in Sinkhole Occurrence and Mitigation

“…A similar problem is evident in Kermin city in southeastern Iran, where a drawdown of the water table has occurred (80 cm per year) that accelerates land subsidence (6 cm per year) [60]. In Tuzla, Bosnia Herzegovina, subsidence up to 12 m between 1956 and 2003 was effectively counteracted, particularly in urban areas (where uplift displacements are actually taking place) since it was affected by brine withdrawals impacting the level of the water table [61]. One of the most recognized variables affecting sinkhole development is that of hydrology in karst areas, where improper design and location of storm drainage discharge can lead to increased erosion as well as sinkhole development [62].…”

“…Changing groundwater levels in Dzershinsk, Russia led to the formation of suffosion sinkholes, which were likewise assessed using GIS in an aggregated dataset [70]. The use of GIS also assisted a multicriteria approach to ground deformation in Bosnia [61] and was likewise employed (with remote sensing) for land subsidence susceptibility mapping in the Kinta valley of Perak, Malaysia [71]. Similarly, a multicriteria approach was adopted for subsidence hazard mapping in the Val d᾿Orléans located south of Paris, France [72].…”

Incremento de los riesgos geomorfológicos en el espacio urbano de Sarajevo como consecuencia del proceso de suburbanización y las políticas de neoliberalización

“…En el caso de ciudades del Este y Sureste de Europa, un número relevante de artículos han puesto de relevancia el potencial riesgo que algunos tipos de procesos geomorfológicos (como puedan ser colapsos del terreno, procesos de vertiente, inundaciones y avenidas excepcionales) pueden suponer en algunas áreas suburbanas recientemente edificadas y localizadas en ambientes kársticos (Pohl et al, 2004;Stecchi et al, 2012;PapadopoulouVryniotia et al, 2013). Sin embargo, y a pesar de presentar un cuadro similar al expuesto en lo que se refiere a la existencia de ciertos riesgos geomorfológi-cos tanto en sus áreas suburbanas como en algunas áreas de nueva centralidad desarrolladas recientemente, el caso particular de la ciudad de Sarajevo ha sido poco tratado contando sólo con alguna referencia, como por ejemplo Golobic y Cof (2010).…”