Integrated remote sensing and GIS techniques to delineate groundwater potential area of Chamchamal basin, Sulaymaniyah, NE Iraq

Groundwater management in the semi-arid areas is a crucial issue and requires more scientific study and techniques. Groundwater potential areas for part of the Chamchamal basin are determined using two techniques, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and a geographic information system (GIS). Several Input factors were used to produce a thematic map, including geology, structure, drainage density, land-use/landcover, slope steepness, lineament density, and hydrogeology. Based on the relative importance, the layers are ranked which control the groundwater potential areas. The factor classified into several zones builds upon the hydrogeological characteristics and the classes weighted based on the relative standing to the potential area of groundwater. The output of the analysis showed that there are four zones of groundwater potential, good, moderate, poor, and very poor. The zones cover 10.4, 38.7, 43.93, and 6.96% of the area, respectively. Furthermore, the results showed that the southwest part of the area is the most favorable area for groundwater existence. While the center and some parts of the northeast characterized by low groundwater potential zones. To verify the final potential zones, the yield rates of 38 wells are used. The verification process verified that the categories of groundwater potential areas are closed to the results obtained from (AHP) and (GIS).