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University of Nevada, Reno an Evaluation of Spatial Data And University of Nevada, Reno An Evaluation of Spatial Data and Analysis for Identifying Potentially Favorable Areas for Manual Well Drilling: Zinder Region of Niger A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Hydrogeology by Sean A. Thomas Dr. James M. Thomas / Thesis Advisor August, 2010 © by Sean Thomas 2010 All Rights Reserved THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by SEAN A. THOMAS entitled An Evaluation Of Spatial Data And Analyis For Identifying Potentially Favorable Areas For Manual Well Drilling: Zinder Region Of Niger be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Dr. James M. Thomas, Advisor Dr. Kenneth McGwire, Committee Member Dr. Scott Bassett, Graduate School Representative Marsha H. Read, Ph. D., Associate Dean, Graduate School August, 2010 i Abstract This thesis evaluated a variety of straightforward spatial data and analysis techniques for identifying potentially favorable areas for manual well drilling in the Zinder region of Niger. A key question was whether environmental variables derived from publically available spatial data had the capacity to augment groundwater depth data for mapping these potentially favorable areas. Some variables considered were: a new calculation of vegetation persistence derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data, MODIS night land surface temperature, and lineament properties, topographic convergence index, and landforms derived from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Digital Elevation Model (SRTM DEM). Regression tree analysis showed that geology and soils were the strongest variables for predicting groundwater depth in the study area. The results indicated and parsimony dictates that a geology map and adequate groundwater data are sufficient to map favorable areas for manual well drilling. However, the regression tree analysis also revealed that the combination of relatively high vegetation persistence and low night land surface temperature were related to shallow groundwater depth and can improve favorability mapping for manual well drilling. Additional research is needed to describe these relationships further. Among the output was a procedural outline for favorability mapping, which uses common hydrogeologic and terrain criteria to differentiate between topography and recharge controlled water tables, to direct the choice of variables used in future mapping efforts. Ultimately, several maps of favorable areas for manual well drilling for the Zinder region were created using geology, groundwater depth, and threshold values of environmental variables from the regression tree analysis. ii Dedicated to Lindsey, Anya, and the new one Jeremiah 17:7-8 iii Acknowledgements Dr. James M. Thomas Dr. Ken McGwire Dr. Scott Bassett Alan McKay Dr. Alexandra Lutz Christopher Kratt The Manka Family The Thomas Family Jim and Darlene Uptain Renovation Community Tim Minor Jamie Trammel David McGraw Mary Ohren Dr. Chris Shope Mark Lucas Hal Voepel Justin Huntington Charles Morton David Healy Kirsten Danert Dr. Todd Caldwell Dr. Kenneth Hardcastle Alio Aboubacar Fabio Fussi The United States Agency for International Development The United Nations Children’s Fund Practica Foundation Desert Research Institute Direction Régionale Hydraulique, Zinder World Vision Niger Winrock International iv Table of Contents List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................................ vii Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................. xi 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The state of water access in sub-Saharan Africa .......................................................... 1 1.2 UNICEF and manual well drilling in Africa ................................................................ 2 1.3 Research problem ......................................................................................................... 4 2 Basis and Background .............................................................................................................. 5 2.1 Importance of topic ...................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Site description ............................................................................................................. 7 3 Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 12 3.1 Synopsis of spatial analysis for groundwater exploration .......................................... 12 3.2 Spatial data and analysis techniques .......................................................................... 12 4 Development of Variables...................................................................................................... 17 4.1 Choosing the data and development methods ............................................................ 17 4.2 Key limitations and assumptions ............................................................................... 20 4.3 Groundwater depth ..................................................................................................... 21 4.4 Geology, soils, and hydrogeology.............................................................................. 22 4.5 Geologic lineaments ................................................................................................... 25 v 4.6 Topographic convergence index ................................................................................ 28 4.7 Landforms .................................................................................................................. 31 4.8 Vegetation persistence ............................................................................................... 32 4.9 Night land surface temperature .................................................................................. 41 4.10 Proximity variables .................................................................................................... 43 5 Analysis and Results .............................................................................................................. 45 5.1 Choosing the analysis methods .................................................................................. 45 5.2 Preliminary statistical exploration ............................................................................. 47 5.3 Regression tree analysis ............................................................................................. 53 6 Discussion .............................................................................................................................. 60 6.1 Identification of data and methods ............................................................................. 60 6.2 Strengths and weaknesses of the data and methods ................................................... 61 6.3 Favorability mapping procedure ................................................................................ 71 6.4 Map creation and comparisons .................................................................................. 75 7 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 80 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 83 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................... 88 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................... 89 Appendix D ................................................................................................................................... 93 References ................................................................................................................................... 95 vi List of Tables Table 1: Base data. ......................................................................................................................... 18 Table 2: Environmental variables with variables selected for the final analysis shown in grey. ... 46 Table 3: Correlation matrix of numeric environmental variables. ................................................. 52 Table 4: Correlation matrix of groundwater depth and numeric environmental variables. ........... 52 Table 5: Codes for environmental variables in Tree 1. .................................................................. 56 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Improved drinking water coverage in rural areas (UNICEF and WHO, 2008). ............... 1 Figure 2: Examples of manual well drilling (Elson and Shaw, 1995). ............................................ 2 Figure 3: Niger reference map. ........................................................................................................ 8 Figure 4: Mean Sahel precipitation anomalies, 1900-2009 (JISAO, 2010).
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