Regional Land Subsidence Vulnerability Assessment Based on Grey Correlation Analysis

It is well-known that land subsidence seriously affects the regional social and economic development and becomes a world-wide problem. Xixi-Chengnan district, Jiangsu province is one of the most important area affected by land subsidence in China. The damage of the hazard to physical, social, economical and environmental systems has been increasing during recent years, which mainly caused by the long period groundwater overexpolitation in the area. This research presents a vulnerability assessment model based on grey correlation analysis (GCA) for the regional land subsidence in Xixi-Chengnan district of Jiangsu province, by the assessment results, the rank of relative vulnerability of each township in the study area can be obtained without weighting and aggregating the vulnerbaility indicators and with avoiding the subjectivity of weighting in general vulnerability evaluation methods. The study can be expected to raise public awareness of land subsidence risk and vulnerability, lay the foundation for risk decision-making, and provide theories and technological supports for taking comprehensive and active measures to prevent and alleviate land subsidence vulnerability.