Delineation of Potential Groundwater Area in Semi-arid and Arid Region: A Case Study of Wadi Mekerra North West Algeria Using Remote Sensing, GIS and Analytic Hierarchy Process.

Groundwater is a vital natural resource and has an important role in the economy. It is the main source of water for irrigation and food industry. In general, groundwater is a reliable water source for agriculture and can be used flexibly during dry periods. Moreover, the use of geographic information systems (GIS) has shown great effectiveness in the study of groundwater since they present a very essential and rapid result. It allows the establishment of thematic maps that are useful for future developments and to control the quality of groundwater. For this reason, the present study aims to delimit the potential of Wadi Mekerra groundwater basin, located in the North-Western part of Algeria, characterized by an arid and semi-arid climate. This aquifer, which extends over more than 2800 km2, sis unconfined, drained through Wadi Mekerra, and exploited by a fairly impressive number of wells and deep wells, almost the majority of which are used to irrigate agricultural land. In the current study, an analytical hierarchical process technique (AHP) was integrated with a geographic information system. A total of eight thematic layers were established and assessed for groundwater potential zone delineation, including geomorphology, geology, land use/cover, lineament density, drainage density, rainfall, soil and slope. All thematic maps' weights for each class are determined by the AHP approach based on each class's attributes and water potential capacity. Data from springs, wells, and deep wells and their chemical analyses were carefully used for validation. The map of the groundwater potential zone was, then, divided into five categories: very good, good, moderate, low, and very low. The study shows a very low and low groundwater potential zone that covers around 50.55% of the study area. The percentages of areas with very good and good groundwater potential are 4.15 and 11 percent, respectively. The moderate groundwater potential zone covers 59 % of the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jordan Journal of Earth & Environmental Sciences is the property of Association of Arab Universities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)