Factors driving surface deformations in plain area of eastern Zhengzhou City, China

With the rapid socio-economic development and urban expansion, land subsidence has emerged as a major environmental issue, impeding the high-quality development of the plain area in eastern Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China. However, effective prevention and control of land subsidence in this region have been challenging due to the lack of comprehensive surface deformations monitoring and the quantitative analysis of the factors driving these deformations. In order to accurately identify the dominant factor driving surface deformations in the study area, this study utilized the Persistent Scattered Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (PS-InSAR) technique to acquire the spatio-temporal distribution of surface deformations from January 2018 to March 2020. The acquired data was verified using leveling data. Subsequently, GIS spatial analysis was employed to investigate the responses of surface deformations to the driving factors. The findings are as follows: Finally, the geographical detector model was utilized to quantify the contributions of the driving factors and reveal the mechanisms of their interactions. The findings are as follows: (1) Surface deformations in the study area are dominated by land subsidence, concentrated mainly in Zhongmu County, with a deformation rate of -12.5--37.1 mm/a. In contrast, areas experiencing surface uplift are primarily located downtown, with deformation rates ranging from 0 mm to 8 mm; (2) Groundwater level, lithology, and urban construction exhibit strong spatial correlations with cumulative deformation amplitude; (3) Groundwater level of the second aquifer group is the primary driver of spatially stratified heterogeneity in surface deformations, with a contributive degree of 0.5328. The contributive degrees of driving factors are significantly enhanced through interactions. Groundwater level and the cohesive soil thickness in the second aquifer group show the strongest interactions in the study area. Their total contributive degree increases to 0.5722 after interactions, establishing them as the primary factors influencing surface deformation patterns in the study area. The results of this study can provide a theoretical basis and scientific support for precise prevention and control measures against land subsidence in the study area, as well as contributing to research on the underlying mechanisms.