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Environmental Earth Sciences
Published in: Environmental Earth Sciences 2/2013

01-05-2013 | Special Issue

Numerical analysis of the groundwater regime in the western Dead Sea escarpment, Israel + West Bank

Authors: Agnes Gräbe, Tino Rödiger, Karsten Rink, Thomas Fischer, Feng Sun, Wenqing Wang, Christian Siebert, Olaf Kolditz

Published in: Environmental Earth Sciences | Issue 2/2013

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Abstract

Water is scarce in the semi-arid to arid regions around the Dead Sea, where water supply mostly relies on restricted groundwater resources. Due to increasing population in this region, the regional aquifer system is exposed to additional stress. This results in the continuous decrease in water level of the adjacent Dead Sea. The interaction of an increasing demand for water due to population growth and the decrease of groundwater resources will intensify in the near future. Thus, the water supply situation could worsen significantly unless sustainable water resource management is conducted. In this study, we develop a regional groundwater flow model of the eastern and southern Judea Group Aquifer to investigate the groundwater regime in the western Dead Sea drainage basin of Israel and the West Bank. An extensive geological database was developed and consequently a high-resolution structural model was derived. This structural model was the basis for various groundwater flow scenarios. The objective was to capture the spatial heterogeneity of the aquifer system and to apply these results to the southern part of the study area, which has not been studied in detail until now. As a result we analyzed quantitatively the flow regime, the groundwater mass balance and the hydraulic characteristics (hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic head) of the cretaceous aquifer system and calibrated them with PEST. The calibrated groundwater flow model can be used for integrated groundwater water management purposes in the Dead Sea area, especially within the framework of the SUMAR-Project.
previous article Impact of Preboreal to Subatlantic shifts in climate on groundwater resources on the Arabian Peninsula
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Metadata
Title
Numerical analysis of the groundwater regime in the western Dead Sea escarpment, Israel + West Bank
Authors
Agnes Gräbe
Tino Rödiger
Karsten Rink
Thomas Fischer
Feng Sun
Wenqing Wang
Christian Siebert
Olaf Kolditz
Publication date
01-05-2013
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Environmental Earth Sciences / Issue 2/2013
Print ISSN: 1866-6280
Electronic ISSN: 1866-6299
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1795-8

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