The Amman-Zarqa Basin, a critical groundwater resource in Jordan, has experienced substantial land cover changes over recent decades due to accelerated urbanisation, industrial development, and agricultural intensification. This study assesses the effects of these changes on groundwater quality by employing an integrated methodological framework that combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), and conceptual hydrogeochemical modelling. Multitemporal satellite imagery (2002–2022) was analysed to detect land cover transformations using supervised classification techniques and change detection algorithms. Groundwater quality data, collected from monitoring wells across the basin over the same period, were subjected to hydrochemical analysis, including the evaluation of major ions and trace metals. Spatial overlays were used to correlate groundwater quality trends with specific land cover changes, identifying pollution hotspots and vulnerable zones. Hydrogeochemical characterisation was performed using Piper, Durov, Wilcox, and Schoeller diagrams to classify water types and assess its suitability for various uses. Results indicate a marked deterioration in groundwater quality, particularly increased concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), chloride, sulphate, and heavy metals such as chromium, lead, and manganese–especially near industrial and agricultural zones. The methodology proved effective in capturing both spatial and temporal dynamics of groundwater degradation. The integration of GIS and RS tools with long-term hydrochemical data provided a robust framework for understanding the interactions between land use change and groundwater quality. These findings emphasise the urgent need for implementing sustainable land and water management strategies to protect the Amman-Zarqa Basin from further environmental stress and ensure long-term water security.

This article introduces a groundwater vulnerability assessment model that utilises the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) in the Wadi AlHasa catchment, Jordan. The assessment takes into account both geomorphological and hydrogeological variables, employing a comprehensive methodology that integrates various parameters. To evaluate the catchment, the study employs remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. The analysis of the digital elevation model enables the creation of a map illustrating the diverse geomorphology of the catchment. This geomorphology significantly influences drainage density, direction, and the spatial distribution and intensity of flash flood events. Moreover, the study develops and maps a fuzzy FAHP DRASTIC vulnerability index, which proves to be a valuable tool for assessing the susceptibility of groundwater resources to contamination. The unique feature of the index is its ability to incorporate uncertain or subjective data, providing a means to evaluate the significance of various influencing factors. This information serves as critical support for decision-making and management efforts geared towards safeguarding and enhancing groundwater resources. Within the study area, the DRASTIC vulnerability index values span from 0.08325 to 0.28409, with 18% of the site exhibiting a high vulnerability rate. Additionally, the article implements a managed aquifer recharge model (MAR), with 31% of the area falling into MAR classes. Among these, 22.1% are classified as a high MAR class, while 0.7% belong to a very high MAR class. These findings underscore the feasibility of MAR projects in regions with limited water resources.

Geospatial analysis of land use and land cover (LULC) changes is crucial for understanding the dynamics of urban development and its impacts on the environment. This study presents an integrated approach utilizing Re-mote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to detect and analyze LULC changes over the past 40 years in the Amman Zarqa Basin in Jordan. The study employed satellite imagery from multiple sensors, including Landsat and Sentinel, covering a span of four decades (1980-2020). LULC classifications were performed using supervised and unsupervised classification methods, considering a range of LULC categories relevant to the study area. The results revealed significant LULC changes in the Basin over the study period. Urban expansion was found to be the dominant driver of land transformation, leading to the conversion of agricultural land, soil, and open spaces into built-up areas. The urban growth rate exhibited an accelerating trend, particularly during the past two decades, reflecting rapid population growth and urbanization in the region. Ground truthing technique was used to validate the results using 200 points distributed over the basin, the confusion matrix ranges from 79 to 85%, which reveals high accuracy. This research serves as a foundation for future studies on urban growth, land management, and environmental impact assessments, supporting sustainable development in the Amman Zarqa Basin and similar regions facing rapid urbanization.

Irrigation water represents the primary water usage in arid regions worldwide, reaching up to 70% in some countries.However, more than 90% of that water is lost by evaporation in arid regions.This study aims to reduce the soil evaporation rate in Jordan, a water-scarce country, using water-absorbent materials that are both affordable and environmentally friendly.Our research used three absorbent materials: volcanic tuff, wood ash, and date pit ash.These materials were characterized by different analytical methods to investigate their chemical composition, mineral content, specific surface area, and microstructural morphologies.Three different soil, absorbent materials, and water mixtures were prepared in specific ratios.The evaporation rates for the mixtures were estimated in an open area using a time-domain reflectometry sensor during the winter of 2022.The soil temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed conditions were recorded.It was found that these materials have a significant efficiency in reducing the evaporation rate related to their internal structure.The study suggests utilizing biomass ash to alter the internal structure of soil aggregates, thereby improving water retention and lowering evaporation rates.This action would diminish the need for irrigation, consequently bolstering sustainable water resources.

The catchment geomorphology of the Zarqa River in Jordan was investigated using a three-dimensional model and interpretation of geology. There are three major elements that control the Zarqa River catchment and its drainage networks: lithological units, faults and paleovolcanism. The upper catchment is typical of a youthful stage of river development with relatively recent lava fields that have infilled and reduced the original size of the catchment. The lower part of the catchment includes a convex profile probably resulting from the coalescence of knickpoints generated by uplift along the Dead Sea fault. The lower and middle sections of the catchment contain remnants of an older, wider valley, 200–500 m above the present river level, that probably formed during a hiatus in tectonic and volcanic activity from 22 to 13 Ma.

The deep aquifers in Jordan contain non-renewable and fossil groundwater and their extraction is quasi a mining process, which ends in the depletion of these resources. Although aquifers in the majority of groundwater basins in Jordan are vertically and horizontally interconnected stratification in different water quality horizons with generally increasing water salinity with the depth is observed. Many officials and planners advocate the extraction of deep salty and brackish water to be desalinated and used in household, industrial, and agricultural uses. In this article, the quality of the groundwater in the different deep aquifers and areas in Jordan is discussed. The results of this study show that the consequences of the deep groundwater exploitation are not restricted to depletion of the deep aquifers but also that the overlying fresh groundwater will, due to vertical and horizontal interconnectedness of the different aquifers, percolate down to replace the extracted deep groundwater. This will cause the down-percolating fresh groundwater to become salinized in the deep saline aquifers, which means that extracting the deep brackish and saline groundwater is not only an emptying process of the deep groundwater but also it is an emptying process of the fresh groundwater overlying them. The results allow to conclude that any extraction of the deep groundwater in areas lying to the north of Ras en Naqab Escarpment will have damaging impacts on the fresh groundwater in the overlying fresh groundwater aquifers. This article strongly advises not to extract the deep brackish and saline groundwater, but to conserve that groundwater as a base supporting the overlying fresh groundwater resources, and that will help in protecting the thermal mineralized water springs used in spas originating from these deep aquifers. The increasing water needs of the country can be covered by the desalination of seawater at Aqaba, which is the only viable option for Jordan at present and in the coming decades.

Rapidly growing demands and climate change stresses water resources worldwide and leads to highly competitive situations between the environment and socio-economic development of a region, calling for a smart and modelling driven water resources management. However, data scarcity often prevents the realisation of a comprehensive, nation-wide resources model, which provides reliable and spatially discretized results of water resources development. We present a workflow approach to set up a large-scale multi-aquifer model, overcoming data shortage by stepwise calibration and integrating hydrological and numerical groundwater flow modelling into a coupled system. The study aims to develop such a system to assess how groundwater resources react on anthropogenic impacts on the example of the Kingdom of Jordan, one of the water poorest countries on globe. Simulated heads reliably resembled the monitored ones in >70 % of the observation wells. That makes us confident, the model represents all the states well from 1970, prior to the intense development of the country until 2015. The water balance shows an annual deficit of 1.16 million cubic meter (MCM) due to an overdraft. The discharge to the Dead Sea increased from 564 MCM/yr to 696 MCM/yr over the time period. Regional drawdowns of >250 m and groundwater depression with an extension of approx.100 km are observable in both large aquifer complexes. Most severe areas in the upper calcareous aquifer are located in the north of Amman and practically in all urban and agricultural agglomerations across the country. Groundwater tables in the deeper sandstone aquifer are particularly affected in the south as well as in the wider vicinity of the Dead Sea as consequence of its continuous dropping. Simulations of the future development of the groundwater tables indicate a severe deterioration of the situation with further declines in groundwater levels of up to 70 m.

The objective of this study is selecting the optimized locations for rainwater harvesting using geographic information systems (GIS). The selected study area locates in the northwest of Jordan. It is a catchment area that has two major cities in Jordan with a variation in the landcover. According to our previous studies, six main factors were chosen in order to evaluate the potential as follows: rainfall, soil, land use/land cover, slope, lithology, and drainage density. However, secondary factors were also be considered which are socio-geo-economic factors as follows: wadis, roads, faults, well, and urban areas. The approach that we used depends on the integration between GIS and remote sensing. All the spatial that are produced by GIS and remote sensing were analytically modelled by using the weighted linear combination method. Accordingly, three potential areas were selected for rainwater harvesting. However, the study area was classified into five classes based on the suitability for rainwater harvesting, not suitable areas 2388 km(2) (63.11%), low suitability 1.1 km(2) (0.029%), medium suitability 538.03 km(2) (14.22%), high suitability 843.62 km(2) (22.29%) and very high suitability 12.63 km(2) (0.33%). Moreover, three potential sites for establishing rainwater harvesting projects were identified on the final rainwater harvesting suitability map. The study recommends the use of evaporation reduction techniques such as shade balls or floating covers to reduce the evaporation rates from the harvested rainwater reservoir also to rehabilitate the suggested sites for rainwater harvesting projects to utilize the harvested rainwater and attain an environmental systems restoration.

An 'oasis' signifies a refugium of safety, recovery, relaxation, fertility, and productivity in an inhospitable desert, a sweet spot in a barren landscape where life-giving water spills forth from the Earth. Remarkable mythological congruencies exist across dryland cultures worldwide where oases or 'arid-land springs' occur. In many places they also provide specialised habitats for an extraordinary array of endemic organisms. To inform their management, and maintain their integrity, it is essential to understand the hydrogeology of aquifers and springs. Gravity-fed vs artesian aquifers; actively recharged vs fossil aquifers, and sources of geothermal activity are important concepts presented here. There consequences for oases of sustainable and unsustainable groundwater extraction, and other examples of effective conservation management. Oases are archetypes for human consciousness, habitats that deserve protection and conservation, and a lingua franca for multicultural values and scientific exchange. We represent an international Fellowship of the Spring seeking to encompass and facilitate the stewardship of oases and aquifers through improved knowledge, outreach, and governance.

This work aims to investigate the influence of adding Jordanian scoria on the characteristics of clay-based geopolymer. The clay deposit and scoria were gotten from north-east Jordan. The chemical, mineralogical, and microstructural properties of the used materials were examined. Scoria was added to clay-based geopolymer mixtures in different ratios: 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%. Comprehensive experimental tests were conducted to assess the effect of adding scoria on the properties of the produced geopolymer. The results revealed decreased compressive strength and dry density, whereas porosity, water absorption, cation exchange capacity, and specific surface area increased as the ratio of scoria increased. The mineralogical and microstructural analysis of the geopolymers after adding scoria indicates the formation of mineral phases, namely hydroxy-sodalite and hydroxy-cancrinite in addition to the gel phase.

Silver nanoparticles have a wide range of anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral effects due to their unique properties. In this work, citrate reduction has been employed to fabricate silver colloidal nanoparticles with 12 nm. The plasmon resonance spectra of nanoscopic silver particles adsorbed onto transparent electrodes in contact with various electrolyte solutions and concentrations of NaC1O4, KPF6, and NaCl were studied. Potentials were controlled with a galvanostat, and UV/visible spectrophotometer was employed to obtain the optical spectra. The results showed the electrolyte identity, potential-induced redshifts, and damping is most pronounced for NaCl, whereas spectral changes are weaker in the cases of NaC1O4 and KPF6 solutions. Hence, due to the noble physical and biological properties of silver colloid nanoparticles, it becomes a great candidate and promising in the future to be used as an anti-coronavirus surface.

Climate change is determined as a severe threat to water resource availability in Semi-Arid Areas. Therefore, it is crucial to examine the drought trends to develop and sustain water resources. This study evaluates the effects of climate change in Jordan by investigating the long-term precipitation trends in the Amman Zarqa Basin over the water from 1971 to 2016. Daily precipitation data were gathered to analyze different rainfall stations over and around the basin.. The standardized precipitation index (SPI) variations were investigated at monthly intervals. Control charts, hypothesis testing, T-test. differences of variances, and trend analysis were used to determine climatic trends. The analysis results showed that 2003 marks an acceleration point in the precipitation decrease rate; therefore, the SPI showed a decrease and a high DI for the area in the tested year 2005 and 2010 to be a mild drought in the following years. Additionally, a change in the precipitation pattern was observed as seasonal precipitation contribution varied for the pre-2003 period compared to the post-2003 period. The SPI results show that 1995 reflects the higher drought periods, and the following years showed mild drought events; nevertheless. the year 2016 displayed lower drought events, reflecting wet events.

Amman governorate is the largest governorate in terms of population and urbanization in Jordan that is the third most water-scarce country worldwide. It has also limited water resources that were rapidly decreasing as results of groundwater over-pumping and climate changes that generate a serious water crisis. However, the population and urbanization focused on the Northwest of the governorate. The surface water and groundwater resources are available in the Northwest area as well. The overlaying between urbanization and population on one hand and water resources on the other hand resulted in different environmental, hydrological, and hydrogeological problems. Our research investigated these problems using an integrated approach of remote sensing and geographic information systems. Furthermore, our research suggested a spatial plan that would solve the conflict of urbanization's impact on water resources in Amman. Accordingly, the catchment areas that span on the study area and their drainage network were defined.

Rapidly growing demands and climate change stresses water resources worldwide and leads to highly competitive situations between the environment and socio-economic development of a region or nation, calling for a smart and modelling driven water resources management. However, data scarcity often prevents the realisation of a comprehensive, nation-wide resources model, which provides reliable and spatially discretized results of water resources development.We present a workflow approach to set up a large-scale multi-aquifer model, overcoming data shortage by stepwise calibration and integrating hydrological and numerical groundwater flow modelling into a coupled system. The study aims to develop such a system to assess how groundwater resources react on anthropogenic impacts on a large, national scale and furthermore, how these resources develop in future under climate change. The exercise was undertaken on the example of the Kingdom of Jordan, one of the water poorest countries.Simulated heads reliably resembled the monitored ones in more than 70% of the observation wells. That makes us confident, the model represents all the states well from 1970, prior to the intense development of the country until 2015. Regional drawdowns of more than 250 m are observable in both observed large aquifer complexes. Most severe areas in the upper calcareous aquifer are located in the north of Amman and practically in all urban and agricultural agglomerations across the country. Groundwater tables in the deeper sandstone aquifer are particularly affected in the south, as well as in the wider vicinity of the Dead Sea as consequence of its continuous dropping. Simulations of the future development of the groundwater tables indicate a severe deterioration of the situation, whatever RCP-scenarios apply. Since these predictions do not consider population growth the results mark the lowest boundary of all possible future realisations that may occur.

The climatic changes of the last 20 years generated a high rainfall intensity that lead a common flash flood risks in the wades of arid regions such as Mecca province.However, both the rapid urban expansion in that province and its small catchments trigger the flash flood risk.Therefore, a spatial plan that orient the urban expansion toward less potential flash flood risk has great importance.Such a plan is carried out by a spatial analysis for the topography, rainfall pattern, drainage network density and sub-catchment areas.Geographic Information Systems is a powerful tool in order for achieving that analysis by the overlaying method.Our research guide urban planner to where has urbanization extended.It is a preliminary study for an analytical and numerical runoff modelling that have to be done for the study area in order to clarify the flooding hazard.Our research indicates that catchment area size and drainage network density are the major two factors that control the spatial distribution of flash flooding and need to be consider for any urban spatial plan.We found that the four major cities in Mecca province are threaten by flash flooding differently in terms of direction and intensity.

Heavy metal ions and organic compounds are the most common chemical pollutants that pollute water.Natural water is contaminated with Cd ions at relatively low concentrations and neutralizing Cd polluted water is not only cumbersome but also a prohibitively expensive process.Cd unlike most organic contaminants is difficult to remove because they accumulate in the tissues of living organisms, do not biodegrade, and may be toxic.Adsorption was the most dominant method of Cd ions removal from water due to its low cost, eco-friendliness, high efficiency, and ease of operation however its efficiency depends on absorbent.In the present study processed squeezed bitter almond (PSBA) is abundantly available and used as a bio-adsorbent.PSBA was procured from the local almond oil factor, characterized, and critically examined on its properties, adsorption capacities, isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics before its use in the experiment.The Freundlich isotherm model was used and found to be the best to capture the equilibrium data.The stated value for the Langmuir bio-adsorption capacity is 59.52 mg/g.To examine the kinetic behavior of the process, pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order kinetic models were examined.The data were seeming to be better described by the pseudo-second-order model.The Cd ions bio-adsorption process employing PSBA is exothermic and spontaneous, according to the thermodynamic analysis.

This research proposes to design an approach recognizing land use/cover change for Irbid governorate from 1985 to 2015 in 10 years period bases, with an agriculture suitability map using remote sensing and GIS. In this paper, ENVI6 was used to analyse Landsat images, which helps to understand the land uses’ classes. LULC Changes results showed an increase in urban land, from 2% in 1985 reached to 11% in 2015; soil and agricultural classes had declined, in 1985 they were 74% of the total area, and reduced to 67% in 2015. Irbid Governorate’s change detection results revealed that the decline of agriculture and rock land areas is due to the accelerated expansion of urbanization, which negatively affects agricultural lands. Modelling the area showed high suitability for agricultural activities, which should be considered for the upcoming plans.

An inexorable depletion of groundwater occurs where groundwater abstraction exceeds the natural recharge, a typical state of (semi-)arid regions, which calls for sustainable management of groundwater resources. This study aims to assess the available storage and recharge rates on a national scale in time and space by modelling the natural recharge in combination with a method to evaluate changing groundwater volumes, which revealed measures to quantify the overdraft of the observed national groundwater resources in Jordan. Applying the combination of hydrological model and method to evaluate changing groundwater volumes, a climate-driven systematic decline of groundwater recharge was eliminated as responsible process, while overdraft leads to dropping groundwater tables. The major findings are, the intensity of groundwater abstraction from a basin becomes visible through the fact, that simulated baseflow exceeds significantly the observed baseflow. About 75% of Jordan's groundwater basins are subject to intense groundwater depletion, reaching annual rates of up to 1 m in some basins. The most affected areas are the basins Zarka, Azraq and the predominantly fossil groundwater reservoirs in Southern Jordan. Contrasting the past, when variable annual precipitation patterns did not negatively influence groundwater recharge, simulations show significantly reduced annual groundwater recharge all over Jordan. Particularly affected is the agricultural backbone in the Jordan Mountains, where recharge rates are predicted to vary between -30 mm/yr and + 10 mm/yr in the coming decades, being reflected in the disappearance of freshwater springs and ascending saltwater. The applied methodology is relevant and transferable to other data- and water scarce areas worldwide, allowing (i) a fast estimation of groundwater reservoir development on a national scale and (ii) an investigation of long-term effects of overdraft. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.