GIS-based Gully Erosion Susceptibility Evaluation Using Frequency Ratio, Cosine Amplitude and Logistic Regression Ensembled with fuzzy logic in Hinglo River Basin, India

Gully erosion is one of the most serious environmental problems in the Chhota Nagpur plateau fringe area of India. The present study intends to identify the potential gully erosion areas in Hinglo river basin which is located in the fringe area of Chhota Nagpur plateau using ensemble models in GIS environment. Gully inventory map (GIM) has been considered as dependent factor and geo-environmental factors such as elevation, slope, aspect, geology, rainfall, soil texture, land use/land cover, normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI), distance from river, distance from lineament, topographic wetness index (TWI), stream power index (SPI), sediment transportation index (STI) have been considered as independent factors. The fuzzy logic (FL) is a reliable technique which has been ensembled with Frequency Ratio, Cosine Amplitude and Logistic regression models to outline the probable gully erosion areas. The gully erosion susceptibility maps of ensembled models have been classified into four classes such low, moderate, high and very high susceptibility zones based on natural break classification method. The very high gully erosion susceptibility zones of Fuzzy-FR, Fuzzy-CA and Fuzzy-LR models are covered with an area about 28%, 30% and 23% of the total basin respectively. Finally, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and Seed Cell Area Index have been used to authenticate and evaluate the performance of these ensembled models. The area under curve (AUC) of Fuzzy-Frequency Ratio, Fuzzy-Cosine Amplitude and Fuzzy-Logistic Regression models are 82% and 87% and 88%, indicating the very good accuracy for delineating the gully susceptibility area. The prediction ability of the Fuzzy-LR model, with the highest AUC values and the smallest SCAI values, is better compared to those of other models. The gully erosion susceptibility maps can be taken up for the management of soil erosion and land use by planners and engineers.