GIS-based rockfall hazard zones modeling along the coastal Gulf of Aqaba Region, Egypt

Abstract

Rockfall is a natural hazard in mountainous areas not to be underestimated. Mass activities differing in rock volume may cause considerable economic damage. Accomplishing qualitative appraisal of high-potential zones for rockfall is a first step towards implementing mitigation strategies. Nowadays, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are the state-of-the-art tool for a fast and economic approach of identifying potential hazard zones rather than using conventional mapping with in-situ field data. Primarily, current research focuses on designing and implementing user-friendly tools delineating potential rockfall hazard zonation (RHZ). The constructed model examines triggering factors like slope, aspect, elevation, lithology, structural lineament, rainfall intensity, and seismic activity focal depth of a mountainous coastal region (Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt). The extracted geomorphological parameters were based on a high-resolution TanDEM-X Digital Elevation Model. The enhanced Landsat ETM + 7 was used to generate the lithological and structural lineament parameters, while the rainfall data were collected from NASA project tool. The zonation model was implemented by means of ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro ModelBuilder. Google Earth Pro orthophotos compared with the generated rockfall hazard zonation map indicate the potential RHZ with high reliability. The achieved results show that 15 % of the study area qualifies as a high rockfall hazard zone. As the RHZs generated by the model depend on the input data and the selected rating scores and weights, obtaining ground truth is essential to get a trustworthy result. Finally, this study recommends employing the built RHZ model on similar terrains worldwide to support decision-makers involving any sustainable development projects.