Journal of Spatial Analysis

Objective: Investigating the occurrence of land subsidence in the country and the extent to which rural settlements are exposed to the phenomenon of land subsidence.
Methods: The present study was based on library surveys and studies, field observations and impressions. Using information received from the National Mapping Organization, a map of the country's subsidence zones and the degree of risk of each zone, including very low, low, medium, high and very high risk, was drawn, and the aforementioned maps were compared with the location of the villages.
Results: According to the analysis of the available data, 302 villages are at very high risk, 768 villages are at high risk, 834 villages are in the medium risk zone, and 573 villages are in the low risk zone. In terms of percentage weight, about 4 percent of the country's villages are at medium to very high risk of subsidence, of which 1,904 villages are at medium to very high risk, and 573 villages are at low risk.
Conclusions: The highest provincial distribution of villages at risk of subsidence in the country with a very high degree is in the provinces of Alborz, Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan and Hamedan, and the highest provincial distribution with a high degree is in the provinces of West Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Alborz, Tehran, Khorasan Razavi, Semnan, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan, East Azerbaijan, Hamedan and Yazd. Also, the highest provincial distribution of villages at risk of medium-level subsidence is in the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan, Isfahan, Alborz, Tehran, Semnan, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan, Mazandaran, Markazi, Hormozgan, Hamedan, and Yazd.