Groundwater Degradation and Sustainability of the Erbil Basin, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Groundwater Degradation and Sustainability of the Erbil Basin, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq By RUBAR DIZAYEE Bachelor of Science, 2010 Salahaddin University Hawler, Kurdistan Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the College of Science and Engineering Texas Christian University Fort Worth, Texas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science August 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without Becky Johnson’s support. I am grateful to her for being my thesis supervisor. I thank Dr. Michael Slattery and Mrs. Tamie Morgan for their contribution to my thesis. I am grateful to Dr. Helge Alsleben for his serious effort in providing me with valuable feedback. I would also like to thank Dr. Steve Sherwood from TCU writing center for his support in finishing this thesis. My gratitude goes to Mr. Mohammed Ahmad and Dr. Imadaldin Hassan for providing me with information during my research. I also would like to thank my friends Sebar Muhsin and Mahmood Mustafa for all the help they provided during this research. My greatest appreciation goes to my parents for always believing in me and for their continuous support. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii Chapter One: Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Overview of project ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Previous Studies: ...................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter Two: Geology, Hydrogeology, Climate, Soil, and Population ......................................... 7 2.1. Kurdistan Region ..................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.1. Tectonic Framework of Iraq and Kurdistan Region ............................................................. 7 2.1.2. Stratigraphy ........................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.2.1. Bakhtiary Formation ........................................................................................................ 11 2.1.2.2. Pleistocene units and Alluvium ....................................................................................... 11 2.2. Erbil Basin ............................................................................................................................. 13 2.2.1. Northern sub-basin (Kapran) .............................................................................................. 14 2.2.2. Central sub-basin ................................................................................................................ 15 2.2.3. Southern sub-basin (Bashtapa) ........................................................................................... 16 2.3. Challenges of the sub-basins and legitimacy of the distances between drilled wells ............ 16 2.3.1. Northern sub-basin (Kapran) .............................................................................................. 16 2.3.2. Central sub-basin ................................................................................................................ 17 2.3.3. Southern sub-basin (Bashtapa) ........................................................................................... 17 2.4. Climate ................................................................................................................................... 18 2.5. Soils........................................................................................................................................ 19 2.6. Population .............................................................................................................................. 20 Chapter Three: Objectives and Methodology ............................................................................... 22 3.1. Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 22 iii 3.2. Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 22 3.2.1. Manipulation of the Dataset ................................................................................................ 24 3.2.1.1. Survey Date ...................................................................................................................... 24 3.2.1.2. Well Locations and Coordinates ...................................................................................... 24 3.2.1.3. Converting Depths to Elevations ..................................................................................... 25 3.2.1.4. Estimate of Water Producing Formation ......................................................................... 25 3.2.1.5. Estimate of Aquifer Conditions ....................................................................................... 26 3.2.1.5.1. Aquifer Characteristics of the Alluvium and Bakhtiary Formation (confined, semi- confined or unconfined) ................................................................................................................ 26 3.2.2. Creating Maps and Cross Sections ..................................................................................... 27 3.2.3. Climatic Data ...................................................................................................................... 33 3.2.3.1. Groundwater Recharge for Erbil Basin............................................................................ 35 3.2.3.2. Average Annual Decline of Water Table ......................................................................... 35 Chapter Four: Data Analysis and Results ..................................................................................... 38 4.1. Challenges of the sub-basins and legitimacy of the distances between drilled wells ............ 38 4.2. Well Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 39 4.2.1. Elevation map ..................................................................................................................... 39 4.2.2. Depth map ........................................................................................................................... 42 4.2.3. Cross Sections ..................................................................................................................... 46 4.3. Climate Data .......................................................................................................................... 55 4.3.1. Groundwater Recharge for the Erbil Basin ......................................................................... 56 4.3.2. Precipitation ........................................................................................................................ 56 4.3.3. Evaporation ......................................................................................................................... 57 4.3.4. Calculations based on precipitation data............................................................................. 59 4.3.5. Scenarios based on future climate change .......................................................................... 61 4.4. Discussion and Interpretation ................................................................................................ 64 iv Chapter Five: Conclusions and Areas for Future Study ............................................................... 66 5.1. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................ 66 5.2. Recommendations .................................................................................................................. 68 5.3. Areas for Future Study ........................................................................................................... 70 Works Cited .................................................................................................................................. 71 Vita Abstract v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Location maps of the study area and projected drilled wells. ......................................... 2 Figure 2: Tectonic map of Kurdistan Region. ................................................................................ 8 Figure 3: Regional hydrogeological cross section (Choman-Erbil) ............................................... 9 Figure 4: Tertiary and Quaternary rock units in Iraq .................................................................... 10 Figure 5: Geological map of Erbil Basin with the sub-basins labeled .......................................... 14 Figure 6: Spatial distribution of average yearly rainfall in the study area. ................................... 19 Figure 7: Soil types in the Erbil Province. .................................................................................... 20 Figure 8: Location of the 36 wells on the Erbil Basin map. ......................................................... 31 Figure