Analysis of The Spatio-Temporal Variability of Water Storage In A Rural Landscape And Integration Into GIS. Case of Kamech Catchment

International Journal of Geoinformatics and Geological Science

© 2021 by SSRG - IJGGS Journal

Volume 8 Issue 2

Year of Publication : 2021

Authors : Faiza Khebour Allouche, Insaf Mekki, Arwa Hamaideh, Anas Khasawneh, Meriem Fgaeir

10.14445/23939206/IJGGS-V8I2P109

How to Cite?

Faiza Khebour Allouche, Insaf Mekki, Arwa Hamaideh, Anas Khasawneh, Meriem Fgaeir, "Analysis of The Spatio-Temporal Variability of Water Storage In A Rural Landscape And Integration Into GIS. Case of Kamech Catchment," SSRG International Journal of Geoinformatics and Geological Science, vol. 8,  no. 2, pp. 106-115, 2021. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23939206/IJGGS-V8I2P109

Abstract:

Quantifying the Spatio-temporal variability of available water storage is very important for assessing agricultural production and flood genesis. The main purpose of this paper is to study these Spatio-temporal variations of groundwater. The Lamech watershed (263 ha), located in Cap Bon of Tunisia, was chosen as a study site. It is mainly characterized by soils of a vertic nature and slopes varying from 0 % to over 30 %. Six sites were selected to perform weekly measurements of soil moisture contents during the period, which ran from 19 February until 7 May 2014. The essential criteria which led to the choice of these sites are the diversification of topographical and soil factors and their proximity to the experimental stations. The gravimetric and neutron methods were used to measure soil moisture profiles from the surface to a depth of 1 m at 0.1 m depth increments. The results showed that the Spatio-temporal distribution of surface soil moisture of the studied sites is governed by several factors (rainfall, topography, etc...). The results of statistical analyzes also proved a correlation of available water storage with the land use, previous crop, and slope. This spatial distribution of soil water content over the study area has been integrated into a GIS, thereby constituting a means of spatialization of available water storage across the entire watershed. The resulting map of the spatial distribution of available water storage was prepared in ArcGIS software considering data on soil type and slope. This allowed us to assess the amount of available water for plants that can be stored in the watershed. This value is of the order of 988,893 m3, or approximately 7 times the storage capacity of the lake hill reservoir (142 000 m3).

Keywords:

Soil moisture, available water, Spatio-temporal variability, cultivated watershed, GIS.

References:

[1] Mekki, I., Analyse et modélisation de la variabilité des flux hydriques à l’échelle d’un bassin versant cultivé alimentant un lac collinaire du domaine semi-aride méditerranéen (Oued Kmech, Cap Bon, Tunisie), Sciences de la terre et de l’eau, thèse de doctorat, université Montpellier II, France, (2003) 173. 
[2] Allouche-Khebou, F., Éthologie du paysage : contribution à l’étude des changements d’états des paysages de la Dorsale Tunisienne et du Cap Bon, thèse de doctorat, Le Mirail, Ecole Doctorale de géographie de l'environnement, Université de Toulouse, France, (2007) 510 .
[3] Zante, P, Collinet, J &Pepin Y., Caractéristiques pédologiques et hydrométéorologiques du bassin versant de Kamech, Cap Bon, Tunisie. UMR LISAH IRD Tunis, DG ACTA Direction des Sols Tunis, INRGREF Tunis, (2005) 21 .
[4] Bacchi,O, Reichardt, K &Calvache, M., Les sondes à neutrons et à rayons gamma: leurs applications en agronomie, AIEA, VIENNE, N° 16, (2003) 71 .
[5] Henninger, J.L, Petersen, G.W, &Engman, E.T., Surface soil moisture within a watershed-variations, factors influencing, and relationship to surface runoff. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 40 (1976) 773-776.
[6] Mohanty, B.P, Skaggs, T.H &Famiglietti, J.S., Analysis and mapping of field scale soil moisture variability using high resolution, ground-based data during the Southern Great Plains 1997 (SGP97) Hydrology Experiment. Water resources research, (2000) 1023-1031.
[7] Moore, I.D, Burch, G.J & Mackenzie, D.H., Topographic effects on the distribution of surface water and the location of ephemeral gullies. Transaction of the ASAE. American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 31 (1998) 1098-1107.