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Estimation of groundwater recharge and its relation to land degradation: case study of a semi-arid river basin in Iran

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Abstract

Groundwater extraction is one of the most important criteria of land degradation especially land subsidence in arid and semi-arid areas. Understanding the relationship between water extraction and recharge of groundwater can lead to better watershed management. For the estimation of groundwater recharge in Razan-Ghahavand watershed in Central Iran the Soil and Water Assessment Tools was used. Model calibration was done by using SUFI-2 based on monthly river discharge and annual crop yield, where crop yield was used to better estimate the evapotranspiration term, which consequently increased our knowledge on estimating aquifer recharge. The calibration results were satisfactory: The Nash–Sutcliffe model efficiency ranged from 0.53 to 0.63 for calibration and from 0.42 to 0.72 for validation. The results showed that, although the groundwater level was decreasing about 1 m per year, the groundwater recharge did not change significantly leading to a net withdrawal causing land subsidence over time.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their thanks to National Cartographic Center of Iran (NCC), Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO), Meteorological Organization (WSIMO), Iran Water Resources Management Company (IWRMC), and Hamedan Regional Water Co. (HMRW) for their collaboration by making available literature and data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cartography, GIS and Remote Sensing, University of Goettingen, Goldschmidt Str. 5, 37077, Goettingen, Germany

    Ammar Rafiei Emam & Martin Kappas

  2. Department of Water Engineering, College of Agriculture, Bu-Ali Sina University, 65178-33131, Hamedan, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Samira Akhavan

  3. Departments of Natural Resources and Desert Studies, Yazd University, 89195-741, Yazd, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Seyed Zeinalabedin Hosseini

  4. Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Karim C. Abbaspour

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  1. Ammar Rafiei Emam
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Rafiei Emam, A., Kappas, M., Akhavan, S. et al. Estimation of groundwater recharge and its relation to land degradation: case study of a semi-arid river basin in Iran. Environ Earth Sci 74, 6791–6803 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4674-2

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