Mapping of groundwater zones in deserts in ArcGIS with AHP

This course is a handful, easy to learn, and apply guide for students, who want to apply GIS instrument and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to delineate groundwater areas in desert zones. The knowledge and skills represented throughout the course are easy to master and apply for any study area a student desires.

Although this might seem surprising, desert areas also have groundwater beneath. Usually, groundwater travels slowly and silently beneath the surface, but in some locations, it bubbles to the surface at springs. Groundwater is the largest reservoir of liquid fresh water on Earth and is found in aquifers, porous rock and sediment with water in between. Water is attracted to the soil particles and capillary action, which describes how water moves through a porous media, moves water from wet soil to dry areas.

AHP is the most widely applied multi-criteria decision analysis tool and is used for multiple purposes during GIS analysis, including soil erosion modelling. AHP incorporates both psychological and mathematical methods to assign appropriate weights while making a different choice, whether it is choosing a university department, buying a car, or even searching for a partner. In this course, AHP will be used to assign weights for six thematic layers that directly influence to formation of groundwater.

The amount of water that is available to enter groundwater in a region is influenced by the local climate, the slope of the land, the type of rock and soil, the vegetation cover, land use in the area, water retention and lineaments areas.

The course will teach to prepare all those thematic layers for any study area. By accomplishing this course a student will be able to create a map of groundwater areas for any study area that belongs to arid and semi-arid regions. The results a student may use either for thesis dissertation or publication of an article, as well as conducting a research project.