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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geohazards and Georisks
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1581090
This article is part of the Research Topic Evolution Mechanism and Prevention Technology of Karst Geological Engineering Disasters View all 5 articles
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Karst collapse, a sudden geological hazard with complex mechanisms and low predictability, presents significant threats to urban safety and sustainable development by jeopardizing human lives and infrastructure. To address the limitations of conventional prediction methods, this study introduces an enhanced predictive model, the Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm-Optimized Extreme Learning Machine (ISSA-ELM), for accurate karst collapse susceptibility assessment. The methodology incorporates two key innovations. First, it applies a Singer chaotic mapping technique to enhance the Sparrow Search Algorithm (SSA), effectively mitigating local optima entrapment by increasing population diversity and enhancing global search capabilities. Second, the optimized ISSA automatically adjusts the initial weights and thresholds of the ELM, while a 5-fold cross-validation is used to determine the optimal hidden layer configuration, forming an adaptive and intelligent prediction framework. When validated against 20 datasets from a representative karst region, the proposed model achieved exceptional performance, with a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.0544 and a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.9914, significantly surpassing the prediction accuracy of conventional ELM and SSA-ELM models. The results underscore the ISSA-ELM's superior nonlinear fitting capability, enhanced generalization performance, and outstanding stability in practical engineering applications. This research offers a solid scientific foundation for risk classification and hazard mitigation strategies, while introducing a novel methodological framework through the integration of innovative algorithms. The proposed technical pathway provides significant theoretical advancements and practical engineering value for geological disaster prediction systems.1 * +0.6521Z 2 * -0.0783Z 3 * +0.3718Z 4 * +0.6459Z 5 * +0.1069Z 6 * X 2 =-0.5044Z 1 * -0.0975Z 2 * -0.6139Z 3 * +0.4390Z 4 * -0.2019Z 5 * -0.3543Z 6 * X 3 =0.3891Z 1 * -0.1321+0.2367Z 3 * +0.1785Z 4 * +0.2218Z 5 * -0.8330Z 6 * 13 X 4 =-0.0242Z 1 * -0.2971Z 2 * +0.4789Z 3 * +0.7582Z 4 * -0.1295Z 5 * +0.2999Z 6 * X 5 =0.1712Z 1 * +0.6665Z 2 * +0.1441Z 3 * +0.1148Z 4 * -0.6869Z 5 * -0.1431Z 6 *
Keywords: Karst collapse, Susceptibility prediction, Improved Sparrow Search Algorithm (ISSA), Extreme learning machine (ELM), ISSA-ELM integrated model
Received: 21 Feb 2025; Accepted: 01 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Yang, Yang, Lu, Liu, Hu and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ying Yang, Hunan Vocational College of Engineering, hunan changsha, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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