Groundwater Potentiality Assessment Through Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Remote Sensing and GIS in Mahdishahr Area

Groundwater is considered as an important part of renewable waters of the world. With the increasing population, urbanization trend, etc., the demand for these resources, day by day is increasing. Nowadays, remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) has become one of the most powerful and affordable tools for assessing and exploration of accessible groundwater resources. The purpose of this study is to identify potential areas of groundwater in the Mahdishahr area located in Semnan using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), remote sensing, and GIS. The parameters which are considered to identify the areas of potential groundwater are: lithological units, lineaments, slope, topography, drainage density, vegetation, and isoheytal maps which prepared by using the 1:50000 scale topographic maps, digital elevation model, ETM satellite images, 1:250000 scale geological map, and precipitation data of meteorology stations by remote sensing and GIS techniques. To determine potential areas of groundwater, all layers in different classes were weighted through hierarchical analysis and after modeling in the GIS medium, Mahdishahr basin was subdivided in the groundwater potential point of view. The results showed that among the 7 examined criteria determined by the expertise and analytic hierarchy process method, the geology and lineaments have relative importance of 0.33 and 0.22 respectively as the highest priority in groundwater potential determination in this area. Quaternary alluviums including old and new terraces and alluvial deposits have the highest relative importance and desirability in the study area. Terrace storages and old elevated and recent low elevation alluvial fans are as fair potential groundwater area.