Multi-scale disaster prone geological environment zoning in 15 provinces and cities of southern China

Southern China is characterized by diverse types and widespread distribution of geological hazards, with highly complex and heterogeneous hazard-forming environments. Revealing the spatial differentiation patterns of these environments is essential for disaster prevention and mitigation. This study employed the expert scoring method, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and K-means clustering to construct a multi-scale zonation system of hazard-forming environments for 15 provinces and municipalities in southern China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan of China and the South China Sea Islands). Based on key controlling factors, including topography and geomorphology, lithology, geological hazard distribution, and human engineering activities, first-, second-, and third-level zonation were established, followed by morphological filtering for post-processing. The resulting zonation maps for hazard-forming environments in southern China align well with natural geographic boundaries and present strong interpretability. The hazard-forming environment grade shows a negative correlation with geological hazard density, confirming the scientific soundness and rationality of the proposed zonation system. The multi-scale zonation framework developed in this study not only provides a hierarchical representation of hazard-forming environments across the 15 provinces of southern China but also offers reliable technical support for geological hazard risk assessment and refined disaster prevention and control.