Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones in a Semi-arid Region Using Remote Sensing and GIS: A Case Study of Argana Corridor (Morocco)

Currently, the Argana corridor (Western High Atlas of Morocco) faced severe drought, desertification, and water and soil resources degradation. Due to many factors (climate change, rural practices, etc.) the level of satisfaction of water needs has been steadily decreased during last years in this semi-arid area. In general, delineation of potential aquifers is considered helpful to serve the water supply for population, especially in arid and semi-arid areas, but it is technically and economically limited as field investigations are expensive. Commonly, it can be easy to map and delineate groundwater potential areas by investigating the tectonic, lithologic, climatic and topographic data of an area. This study aims to map the potential groundwater areas in the Argana corridor using GIS and RS-based (Geographic Information System-Remote Sensing) multi-criteria analysis. The results show that the GIS and RS-based multi-criteria decision analysis plays a good role in identifying the groundwater potential areas. The areas of high groundwater potential are mainly located in the upstream part of the basin and in the eastern part of the Argana corridor. Whereas, the centrale and piedmont areas of the basin are of less interest due to the presence of Permo-Triassic continental terrain. In the western part of the basin, the main aquifers are linked to the Jurassic limestone-marlstones of the Ida-Ou-Tanane plateau boarding the western part of the Issen basin, and to the Triassic clay-sandstone terrain of Ait Khatab. The results obtained are in good agreement with water flow recorded from well points in the field (76% of accuracy). These finding emphasizes that the groundwater resources are very limited in the Argana basin.