Articles | Volume 26, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5757-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5757-2022
Research article
 | 
15 Nov 2022
Research article |  | 15 Nov 2022

Influence of intensive agriculture and geological heterogeneity on the recharge of an arid aquifer system (Saq–Ram, Arabian Peninsula) inferred from GRACE data

Pierre Seraphin, Julio Gonçalvès, Bruno Hamelin, Thomas Stieglitz, and Pierre Deschamps

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Cited articles

Abu-Jaber, N. S., Ali, A. J., and Al Qudah, K.: Use of Solute and Isotopic Composition of Ground Water to Constrain the Ground Water Flow System of the Azraq Area, Jordan, Groundwater, 36, 361–365, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.1998.tb01101.x, 1998. 
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Alhassan, A. A., McCluskey, A., Alfaris, A., and Strzepek, K.: Scenario Based Regional Water Supply and Demand Model: Saudi Arabia as a Case Study, Int. J. Environ. Sci. Dev., 7, 46–51, https://doi.org/10.7763/IJESD.2016.V7.739, 2016. 
Al-Homoud, A. S., Allison, R. J., Sunna, B. F., and White, K.: Geology, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Groundwater and Physical Resources of the Desertified Badia Environment in Jordan, GeoJ., 37, 51–67, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00814885, 1995. 
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This study assesses the detailed water budget of the Saq–Ram Aquifer System using satellite gravity data. Spatial heterogeneities regarding the groundwater recharge were identified: (i) irrigation excess is great enough to artificially recharge the aquifer; and (ii) volcanic lava deposits, which cover 8% of the domain, contribute to more than 50% of the total natural recharge. This indicates a major control of geological context on arid aquifer recharge, which has been poorly discussed hitherto.
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