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Assessments of land subsidence in Tehran metropolitan, Iran, using Sentinel-1A InSAR

Moradi, A ; Sharif University of Technology | 2023

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1007/s12665-023-11225-2
  3. Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH , 2023
  4. Abstract:
  5. The metropolis of Tehran, the capital and the largest city of Iran, has been affected by the phenomenon of land subsidence in the past years. Up to now, no comprehensive study has been presented on land subsidence in the Tehran metropolis. This study addresses this shortcoming through a comprehensive investigation of surface and sub-surface factors that affect the subsidence and investigates the mechanism of subsidence development in Tehran. Land surface studies involve assessing the subsidence rate by utilizing InSAR technology, tracking the urban development of the city through time, and investigating geomorphological features like the alluvial fans landforms and surface drainage. Sub-surface studies include groundwater and geotechnical assessments. The evaluations indicate that the combinations of soils with a high percentage of fine grains and the drop in the underground water level are the major drivers of subsidence in the south of Tehran. The results of the study showed that the highest rate of land subsidence is 217 mm/year and has happened in the southwest of Tehran city. Districts 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20, which comprise about 26% of Tehran’s population (about 2.3 million people in 2016), are affected by subsidence. According to the results obtained from the geomorphological studies, these areas are located at the end of the alluvial fan of Kan and Chitgar (south and southwest of Tehran). The paper also focuses on the sharp northward growth of the subsidence zone in the northeast corner of Tehran’s subsidence zone. From investigations, it is concluded that changes in four river courses (which lead to a drop in the underground water level) in conjunction with fine grain soil of this area are (probably) the major factors that have played a role in the northward growth of the subsidence zone at the northeastern corner. The paper also identifies the most vulnerable urban districts affected by the subsidence as well as some major infrastructures exposed to subsidence hazards. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
  6. Keywords:
  7. Geomorphology ; Geotechnical studies ; InSAR ; Land subsidence ; Tehran ; Urban decay
  8. Source: Environmental Earth Sciences ; Volume 82, Issue 23 , 2023 ; 18666280 (ISSN)
  9. URL: https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12665-023-11225-2