Monitoring of land subsidence due to overexploitation of groundwater using PS-InSAR in the region in hamadan proviance, Iran

Land subsidence is one of the environmental hazards that has been less well-regarded by human societies due to lower human casualties. However, the earth subsidence causes irreparable damage to the urban areas and adjacent plains over time. In this study, Permanent Scatterer (PS) method has been used to monitor land subsidence in the region in hamadan proviance and its adjacent plains in west of Hamadan province using 89 Sentinel-1A satellite images in ascending pass and 85 descending pass images. Based on the results of our study, the Badkhora and Jannatabad villages in the region in hamadan proviance compared to the other regions have the maximum of average subsidence rate of PSs, with subsidence rate of 200-220 mm/year. Furthermore, according to the results, it can be conducted that the rate of subsidence from urban areas towards the plains have been raised. In addition, in urban areas the model has chosen more PSs with higher mean temporal coherence than mixed areas including plain and urban. In order to find the cause of subsidence, the information of piezometric wells in the study area and its temporal changes were investigated. In this regard, one of the main causes of land subsidence in the region in hamadan proviance and adjoining plains due to the increasing depth of piezometric wells in the study period can be attributed to the high pumping of groundwater resources.