Mohammed Sarkhel H, Mohammed Musaab A A, Karim Hawber Ata, Al-Manmi Diary A Mohammed, Aziz Bakhtiar Qader, Mustafa Asaad I, Szűcs Péter
Institute of Water Resources and Environmental Management, University of Miskolc, Miskolc, Hungary.
Department of Earth Sciences and Petroleum, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 22;15(1):9920. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-94603-z.
Groundwater is a critical resource for sustaining human activities, particularly in urban areas, where its importance is exaggerated by growing water demands, urban expansion, and industrial activities. Ensuring future water security necessitates an in-depth understanding of groundwater recharge dynamics, which are often complex and influenced by rapid urbanization. The alarming decline in groundwater resources in both urban and rural regions underscore the urgency for advanced groundwater management strategies. However, identifying and evaluating groundwater recharge potential zones (GWPZs) remains a challenge due to the dynamic interplay of hydrogeological and urban development factors. This study employs an integrated approach combining geographic information system (GIS), remote sensing, and multi-criteria decision analysis using the analytical hierarchy process (MCDA-AHP) to delineate GWPZs in the Sulaymaniyah Basin (SB). The methodology is further supported by hydrogeological data and validated through geophysical investigation using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) data. For the MCDA-AHP, six thematic layers including rainfall, geology, lineament density, slope, drainage density, and land use/land cover were derived from satellite imagery, geological surveys, and well data. These layers were ranked based on their relative influence on groundwater recharge and integrated using GIS-based weighted overlay analysis to generate groundwater potential maps. The results identified three potential zones for groundwater recharge: low (11.26%), moderate (45.51%), and high (43.23%). Validation using ERT data and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis revealed strong agreement, with an area under the curve (AUC) accuracy of 86%. These findings demonstrate the robustness of the integrated approach, providing a reliable tool for minimizing hydrogeophysical exploration costs and reducing the number of unsuccessful boreholes.
地下水是维持人类活动的关键资源，在城市地区尤为如此，在这些地区，不断增长的用水需求、城市扩张和工业活动加剧了其重要性。确保未来的水安全需要深入了解地下水补给动态，而这种动态往往很复杂，并受到快速城市化的影响。城乡地区地下水资源的惊人下降凸显了采用先进地下水管理策略的紧迫性。然而，由于水文地质和城市发展因素的动态相互作用，识别和评估地下水补给潜力区（GWPZs）仍然是一项挑战。本研究采用一种综合方法，将地理信息系统（GIS）、遥感和使用层次分析法（MCDA-AHP）的多标准决策分析相结合，以划定苏莱曼尼亚盆地（SB）的地下水补给潜力区。水文地质数据进一步支持了该方法，并通过使用电阻层析成像（ERT）数据的地球物理调查进行了验证。对于MCDA-AHP，从卫星图像、地质调查和水井数据中得出了六个专题图层，包括降雨量、地质、线性密度、坡度、排水密度和土地利用/土地覆盖。根据这些图层对地下水补给的相对影响进行排名，并使用基于GIS的加权叠加分析进行整合，以生成地下水潜力图。结果确定了三个地下水补给潜力区：低（11.26%）、中（45.51%）和高（43.23%）。使用ERT数据和接收器操作特性（ROC）分析进行的验证显示出高度一致性，曲线下面积（AUC）准确率为86%。这些发现证明了综合方法的稳健性，为最大限度地降低水文地球物理勘探成本和减少不成功钻孔数量提供了一个可靠的工具。
