An Evaluation of Groundwater Potential Zones Using Combined Fuzzy-AHP Method and GIS/RS Technologies: A Case Study of NE Hezarmasjed Mountain, Khorasan Razavi Province

Due to extensive withdrawal from alluvial aquifers all around the Hezarmasjed mountains and less available water for different consumptions, it is essential to study and investigate the Karstic aquifers as an important water resource for meeting water demands. The main purpose of this paper was to identify and evaluate the potential of groundwater resources, especially in carbonate formations, in the Northern part of Hezarmasjed Mountains. To achive this propose, the maps of lithology, distance from intersection fracture, fracture density, distance from fracture, vegetation cover, slope and rain were prepared in GIS environmentbased on available geological, hydrogeological, structural, physiographical, topographical, and climatic data and using Satellite images (IRS and ETM+). These maps of different layers were converted to maps with the same scale using fuzzy membership and analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Then, the final groundwater potential zoning map was prepared, with respect to the importance of each maps, using the index and gamma Fuzzy overlying models. The evaluation of the different overlaying models, according to its correlation with springs’ layer and to the apparent resolution of the final maps, indicate that the gamma Fuzzy overlaying method is the best, comparing to other methods.