Aquifer vulnerability assessment using GIS and fuzzy system: a case study in Tehran–Karaj aquifer,Iran

Aquifer vulnerability assessment techniques have been developed to predict which areas are more likely than others to become contaminated as a result of activities at or near the land surface. This research focuses on the evaluation of groundwater vulnerability to pollution in an urban area. Among several assessment methods, DRASTIC has been selected for this study. ArcGIS has been used to overlay and calculate different layers and obtain the vulnerability map. In order to show the importance of fuzzy algorithms in classification, both Boolean and fuzzy algorithms were used and compared. The fuzzy algorithm could recognize the areas with low and negligible vulnerability potentials whereas the Boolean model classified them as moderate. Two sensitivity tests, the map removal sensitivity analyses and single-parameter sensitivity analysis, were performed to show the importance of each parameter in the index calculation.     

Hydrogeochemistry and quality of groundwater of coastal unconfined aquifer in Amol–Ghaemshahr plain,Mazandaran Province,Northern Iran

Groundwater of the unconfined aquifer (1,100 sq. km) of a two-tier coastal aquifer located in the Amol–Ghaemshahr plain, Mazandaran Province, Northern Iran, is classified into fresh and brackish water types. Fresh groundwater (FGW) samples (n = 36) are characterized by Ca²⁺ > Na⁺ > Mg²⁺ > K⁺ and HCO₃ ^? > Cl^? > SO₄ ^2? > NO₃ ^?. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient matrices, factor analysis data, values of the C-ratio (av. = 0.89) and CAI and values of the molar ratios of Ca²⁺/HCO₃ ^?, Ca²⁺/SO₄ ^2?, Mg²⁺/HCO₃ ^? and Mg²⁺/SO₄ ^2? indicate that the ionic load in the FGW is derived essentially from carbonic acid-aided weathering of carbonates and aluminosilicates, saline/sea water trapped in the aquifer sediments (now admixed with the groundwater) and ion exchange reactions. Values of the CAI and Na⁺/Cl^? molar ratio suggest that the part of the Ca²⁺ (±Mg²⁺) content in 23 FGW samples is derived from clay minerals of the aquifer matrix, and part of the Na⁺ content in 20, 12, and 3 FGW samples is derived, respectively, from alkali feldspar weathering, clay minerals of the aquifer matrix and rain water and/or halite. Brackish groundwater (BGW) samples (n = 4) contain Cl^? as the dominant anion and their average total ionic concentration (38.65 meq/L) is 1.79 times higher than that of the FGW samples (21.50 meq/L). BGW pockets were generated by non-conservative mixing of FGW with the upconed saline water from the underlying saline groundwater zone of the semi-confined aquifer along bore wells involved in excessive extraction of groundwater from the unconfined aquifer. Groundwater belongs essentially to “high salinity, low sodium” irrigation water class.     

Mapping of groundwater prospective zones integrating remote sensing,geographic information systems and geophysical techniques in El-Qaà Plain area,Egypt

The geospatial mapping of groundwater prospective zones is essential to support the needs of local inhabitants and agricultural activities in arid regions such as El-Qaà area, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. The study aims to locate new wells that can serve to cope with water scarcity. The integration of remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and geophysical techniques is a breakthrough for groundwater prospecting. Based on these techniques, several factors contributing to groundwater potential in El-Qaà Plain were determined. Geophysical data were supported by information derived from a digital elevation model, and from geologic, geomorphologic and hydrologic data, to reveal the promising sites. All the spatial data that represent the contributing factors were integrated and analyzed in a GIS framework to develop a groundwater prospective model. An appropriate weightage was specified to each factor based on its relative contribution towards groundwater potential, and the resulting map delineates the study area into five classes, from very poor to very good potential. The very good potential zones are located in the Quaternary deposits, with flat to gentle topography, dense lineaments and structurally controlled drainage channels. The groundwater potential map was tested against the distribution of groundwater wells and cultivated land. The integrated methodology provides a powerful tool to design a suitable groundwater management plan in arid regions.     

Mapping of fluoride ions in groundwater of Dindigul district, Tamilnadu, India—using GIS technique

The accurate information through water quality analysis, scientific study on F ^? distribution in groundwater and geochemical knowledge with spatial information on geology and climate are necessary to understand the source/cause, type and level of F ^? contamination. The Dindigul district is a hard-rock terrain and marked as one of the fluoride-rich area in Tamilnadu due to occurrence of various rock types including fluoride-bearing minerals. The F ^? content of groundwater can thus originate from the dissolution of fluoride-bearing minerals in the bed rock. Eighty-six representative groundwater samples from Dindigul district was collected during two different seasons. Samples were analysed for F ^?, other major cations and anions. The study area is chiefly composed of hornblende biotite gneiss and charnockite, apart from this untreated tannery effluents also let from many places in the study area. Geographical Information System technique was adopted to study the sources of F ^?, and it was found that F ^? in the study is mainly attributed to geogenic source.     

Using combined AHP–genetic algorithm in artificial groundwater recharge site selection of Gareh Bygone Plain,Iran

Flood spreading is one of the suitable strategies to control and benefit from floods which in turn improve the groundwater recharge, makes soil more fertile, and increases nutrients in soil. It is also a method for reusing sediment, which is usually wasted. Thus, selection of suitable areas for flood spreading and directing the flood water into permeable formations are amongst the most effective strategies in flood spreading projects. Having combined analytic hierarchy process (AHP) of multi-criteria decision analysis and genetic algorithm (GA) of artificial intelligence approaches, this paper addresses the problem of finding the most suitable area location for flood spreading operation in the Gareh Bygone Plain of Iran. To this end, the nine effective geodata layers including slope, alluvium thickness, geology, morphology, electrical conductivity, land use, drainage density, aquifer transmissivity, and elevation were prepared in geographic information system environment. This stage was followed by elimination of the exclusionary areas for flood spreading while determining the potentially suitable ones. Having closely examined the potentially suitable areas using the proposed methodology, the land suitability map for flood spreading was produced. The AHP and GA were used for ranking all the alternatives and weighting the criteria involved, respectively. The results of the study showed that most suitable areas for the artificial groundwater recharge are located in Quaternary Qft ₂ and Qsf geologic units and in morphological units of pediment and Alluvial fans with slopes not exceeding 2 %. Finally, further evidence for the acceptable efficiency of the integrated AHP–GA method in locating most suitable flood spreading areas have been provided by such significant spatial coincidence between the produced map and the control areas located near Kowsar research station, where the earlier flood spreading projects were successfully performed.     

Arsenic and humic substances of groundwater in the southwestern coastal plain of Taiwan

High concentrations of arsenic and humic substances in groundwater from the southwestern coastal plain of Taiwan were well known for their probable relationships with black-foot disease. In order to realize the relationships between the concentrations of …     

Delineation of the porphyry-skarn mineralized zones (NW Turkey) using concentration–volume fractal model

This study is carried out for delineation of the Tepeoba porphyry-skarn Cu-Mo ± Au mineralized zones at the Biga peninsula (NW Turkey) using the concentration–volume (C–V) fractal model. The power-law C–V relationships of Cu, Mo, and Au reveal five mineralized zones of Cu, three zones of Mo, and five zones for gold in the Tepeoba deposit. The main phase of the mineralization has average ore grades of 0.257% Cu, 0.357% Mo and 5.3083 ppm Au. Cu–Mo sulfide-rich hypogene ore zone overlain by mineralized oxidation zone are encompassed by three main alteration types, which are represented by biotite ± muscovite-K-feldspar, actinolite-albite and outer chlorite-epidote-calcite mineral associations occurring within the porphyritic microgranite and hornfels in the mine area. The delineated mineralization trend, based on the C–V fractal model, suggested that Cu and Mo enrichment zones were controlled by the same geochemical processes in the deposit due to their similar trends with the C–V log-log plot. Cu and Mo occurred mainly within the breccia zones along with stockwork veining at the contact between the hornfels and the biotite (±muscovite)-K-feldspar-altered Eybek microgranite. The main mineralization zone of Au developed in the oxidation zone due to of supergene enrichment processes.     

Assessing the long-term planform dynamics of Ganges–Jamuna confluence with the aid of remote sensing and GIS

Natural Hazards - The confluence of the Ganges, Jamuna, and Padma rivers is one of the most dynamic in the world, an internationally important research area because of the confluence of two of the...     

Delineation of mineralization zones in porphyry Cu deposits by fractal concentration–volume modeling

The purpose of this study was to identify the various mineralization zones especially supergene enrichment and hypogene in two different Iranian porphyry Cu deposits, based on subsurface data and by using the proposed concentration–volume (C–V) fractal method. The Sungun and Chah-Firuzeh porphyry Cu deposits, which are situated in NW and SE Iran, respectively, were selected for this study. Straight lines fitted through log–log plots showing C–V relations for Cu were employed to separate supergene enrichment and hypogene zones from oxidation zones and barren host rocks in the two deposits and to distinguish a skarn mineralized zone from the hypogene zone in Sungun deposit. In the proposed C–V fractal method, the identification of mineralization zones is based on power–law relationships between Cu concentrations and the volume of rocks hosting porphyry Cu mineralization. Separate subsurface data from the two deposits were analyzed by C–V fractal method and the results have been compared with geological models which included alteration and mineralogical models. The comparison shows that the interpreted zones based on the C–V fractal method are consistent with the geological models. The proposed C–V method is a new approach to defining zones in a mineral deposit and there was no commercial software available to perform the relevant calculations; therefore, a fractal concentration–volume (FCV) software was designed by the authors to achieve this goal.     

The use of the weights-of-evidence modeling technique to predictive porphyry Cu potential mapping in Ahar–Arasbaran zone,Iran

The weights-of-evidence is a data-driven method that provides a simple approach to integration of diverse geo-data set information. In this study, we will use weights-of-evidence to build a model for predicting tracts in the Ahar–Arasbaran zone of Urumieh-Dokhtar orogenic belt (northwestern Iran) that are favorable for porphyry copper deposits. Weights of evidence are a data-driven method requiring known deposits and occurrences that are used as training points in the evaluated area. This zone hosts two major porphyry Cu deposits (The Sarcheshmeh deposit contains 450 million tonnes of sulfide ore with an average grade of 1.13 % Cu and 0.03 % Mo and Sungun deposit, which has 500 million tonnes of sulfide reserves grading 0.76 % Cu and 0.01 % Mo), and a number of subeconomic porphyry copper deposits are all associated with Mid- to Late Miocene diorite/granodiorite to quartz-monzonite stocks. Five evidential layers including geology, alteration, geochemistry, geophysics, and faulting are chosen for potential mapping. Weight factors were determined based on the applied method to generate last mineral prospectivity map. The studied area reduces to less than 11.78 %, while large zones are excluded for further studies. This result represents a significant area reduction and may help to better focus on mineral exploration targeting porphyry copper deposits in the Ahar–Arasbaran zone.     

Changes in landuse and landcover along the Dhansiri River channel,Assam — A remote sensing and GIS approach

Information on landuse/landcover change is a critical input for natural resource management policy decisions. Remote sensing data under GIS domain were utilized to evaluate the changes in land-use/land-cover (LU/LC) spanning a period of thirty three years during 1975 to 2008 along the Dhansiri River channel, Assam, India. Seven different types of LU/LC were categorized and out of them cropland was evident as the most important landuse/landcover practices followed by dense mixed jungle in 1975 and the settlement in 2008. Significant reduction (13.02%) in cropland area to settlement was observed. Moreover, teagarden also occupies 0.77% of the total area from cropland and open mixed jungle. The changes in the areas of swampy land as evident from the present study in turn will impact the environmental quality around it and will help to increase the surface run off leading to enhancement of erosion processes. It is believed that the present study will help to contribute towards sustainable land-use planning and management towards protection of extremely rich biodiversity of the North East India with mighty Brahmaputra River system.     

Faulting and folding in quaternary deposits of Tehran’s piedmont (Iran)

Tehran lies on the southern flank of the Central Alborz, an active mountain belt characterized by many historical earthquakes, some of which have affected Tehran itself. The border between the Alborz Mountain and the Tehran’s piedmont (northern part of Tehran City) is marked by the North Tehran Fault (NTF), dividing the Eocene rock formation from the alluvial units of different ages (Early Pleistocene to the recent alluvium). A detail mapping of the piedmont, combined with structural study reveal that two active thrust faults (situated south of the NTF) are of importance for hazard assessment of the City. The geomorphological evidences along the NTF are not in agreement with an active fault, indicating that the fault activity may have been shifted southward. Furthermore differentiation of newly recognized alluvial units and their inferred ages, together with the mapped fault pattern permit us to characterize the Quaternary deformation. The Late Pleistocene alluvial deposits consist of three alluvial fans among them the youngest one together with the modern alluvial fan defines the Holocene deposit. The present deformation in the piedmont is accommodated along vertically left-lateral strike-slip faults and low-angle thrust faults trending in range from N070 to N110E.     

Lithologic mapping of Aja granitic batholiths,Ha’il,Saudi Arabia,using remote sensing

In this study, remote sensing, field and petrographic investigation were integrated for lithological mapping of different granitic masses in Aja complex of Ha’il, Saudi Arabia. The Landsat-8 data were processed to spectrally discriminate variations within rock types using band combinations, band ratioing and principal component analysis (PCA) techniques. Results showed that band combination of the principal components could potentially distinguish the different rock units of Aja complex than any other transform. Field observations and petrographic identification were performed to validate remotely sensing data and to map different rock units. Alkali granites were accurately recorded on the peripheries of Aja Mountain. The present study demonstrates that remote sensing techniques could provide useful tools for mapping economic rock types, particularly in well-exposed arid regions.     

Landslide hazard zoning along Himalayan Kaghan Valley of Pakistan��by integration of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing technology

This paper presents a methodology for developing a landslide hazard zonation map by integration of global positioning system (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), and remote sensing (RS) for Western Himalayan Kaghan Valley of Pakistan. The landslides in the study area have been located and mapped by using GPS. Eleven causative factors such as landuse, elevation, geology, rainfall intensity, slope inclination, soil, slope aspect, distances from main road, distances from secondary roads, and distances from main river and those from trunk streams were analyzed for occurrence of landslides. These factors were used with a modified form of pixel-based information value model to obtain landslide hazard zones. The matrix analysis was performed in remote sensing to produce a landslide hazard zonation map. The causative factors with the highest effect of landslide occurrence were landuse, rainfall intensity, distances from main road, distances from secondary roads, and distances from main river and those from trunk streams. In conclusion, we found that landslide occurrence was only in moderate, high, or very high hazard zones, and no landslides were in low or very low hazard zones showing 100% accuracy of our results. The landslide hazard zonation map showed that the current main road of the valley was in the zones of high or very high hazard. Two new safe road routes were suggested by using the GIS technology.     

“Source–sink” landscape pattern analysis of nonpoint source pollution using remote sensing techniques

Research on the “source–sink” landscape pattern of nonpoint source pollution is of great significance to natural resource management, environmental protection, water quality improvement, nonpoint source pollution prevention and control, and ecological security pattern construction. Remote sensing has proven by many scholars as a practical and effective technique to study landscape patterns and nonpoint source pollution. However, there are still many obstacles to the application of remote sensing technology, such as classification errors, scale effects and the issue, whereby landscape metrics cannot describe the landscape information comprehensively. In view of the characteristics of the macroscale and multi-scale of remote sensing, the analysis of landscape patterns is the basis for the study of the relationship research between patterns and ecological processes, and it is also the key to the study of landscape dynamics and functions. This paper attempts to summarize the representative results and the challenges of remote sensing in the study of the source and sink landscape of the nonpoint source pollution landscape and provide corresponding solutions as a reference for future research.     

Analysis of the effect of geology, soil properties, and land use on groundwater quality using multivariate statistical and GIS methods

The regional survey of groundwater used as a small water supply system was performed to know the effect of geology, soil properties and land use on groundwater quality at Nonsan City, Korea. A total of 126 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed at the study area. The multivariate statistical methods, principal components analysis and discriminant analysis, and GIS technique were used for the quantitative interpretation of groundwater quality. The study area is mainly composed of Precambrian gneiss, Jurassic granite, and Cretaceous volcanics, and metasedimentary rocks of the Ogcheon zone. The land use was grouped as paddy, upland, grassland, resident, point source, industrial area, and water system. The soil properties were classified as 4 major groups, Entisols, Alfisols, Inceptisols, and Ultisols, by the degree of development, and reclassified as 11 subgroups. The modified and simplified geologic map, soil map, and land use map were made by using ARCGIS soft-ware. The area of geology, soil property, and land use affecting the groundwater quality for each well were also calculated by ARCGIS soft-ware to acquire the quantitative parameters for multivariate statistical analysis. The monitoring results of groundwater in the study area showed that 13%-21% of the groundwater samples exceeded the portable water guideline and the main causes were turbidity, bacteria, arsenic and nitrate-N. The spatial distribution of each component showed the close relationship between groundwater quality and geology reflecting the topography, land use.     

Spatiotemporal relation of RADAR-derived land subsidence with groundwater and seismicity in Semnan—Iran

Natural Hazards - Due to excessive harvesting of underground water resources in many important aquifers inside Iran, ground subsidence is occurring at different speeds. In present study, InSAR...     

Drought impacts on long-term hydrodynamic behavior of groundwater in the tertiary–quaternary aquifer system of Shahrekord Plain, Iran

Shortage of water resources in arid and semi-arid areas causes water supply to be one of the most important subjects and major concerns within NGO and governments’ policies in recent years. The Shahrekord Plain aquifer system is located in a semi-arid area and acts as a key source of water supply. Groundwater management in this area is thus very important. Although change in the climatological factors is not possible, long-term fluctuation studies can help in managing the available water resources to overcome from drought or decrease its negative impact. The hydrodynamic study of the aquifer system coupled with the drought indices in each region can be useful in making decisions related to the hydro-ecosystem management of that region. In this article, hydrodynamics of the aquifer system of the Shahrekord Plain coupled with the ratio of P/PET as a drought index, are assessed on the long term. In Shahrekord Plain aquifer, there is a short-term seasonal fluctuation, which is increased by overexploitation during the dry season, when water is needed for irrigation. The hydrodynamic behavior of the plain aquifer on the long term is changing. This fluctuation at first is a function of time. Secondly, it is spatially dependent. Groundwater behavior is directly sensitive to the variation of drought index, both seasonally and on the long term.