Using Remote Sensing and GIS-Multicriteria decision Analysis for Groundwater Potential Mapping in the Middle Atlas Plateaus, Morocco

Abstract

The remote sensing technology and GIS tools have been developed recently for planning and management of water resources. In This study, the groundwater potential zones were delineated by integrating various thematic maps generated from remote sensing data (Landsat ETM+, Aster DEM) along with the existing maps. All the thematic layers combined with a GIS environment, were then assigned weights according to their relative importance in groundwater occurrence and the corresponding normalized weights were obtained based on the Saaty's analytical hierarchy process. The groundwater potential zones demonstrates that the highest recharge potential area is located in the northern plateaus and towards the down streams in the region because of the high infiltration rates caused by the importance of fracturing within dolomitic limestone in these regions is an attempt to map groundwater potential zones in the Middle Atlas Plateaus and could help the concerned decision-makers to identify areas suitable for circulation of vital groundwater.