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Groundwater modeling to evaluate impact of deep foundations on flow in shallow aquifers (case study: the Holy Mosque area, Makkah City, KSA)

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Abstract

Deep foundations of densely distributed buildings in shallow aquifers may modify the overall hydraulic parameters and change the flow of groundwater systems. The purpose of this paper is to present a groundwater model for investigating the changes to groundwater systems in shallow aquifers as a result of buildings foundations. The Holy Mosque area of Makkah City in Saudi Arabia was selected for this study because it contains the Holy Mosque and the Holy Well, which is called the Zamzam Well. Consequently, our groundwater model will be an effective tool to ensure that new building foundations will not cause unacceptable changes to the groundwater system in the study area. Thus, the design of building foundations should be formulated in such a way that its impacts to the groundwater flow are minimized. Based on our study, we concluded that building foundation depths at the north of the Holly Mosque may reduce water levels in the Zamzam Well by 7.6 m when the foundation depth is 12 m. Conversely, building foundation depths at the south of the Holy Mosque may increase groundwater levels in the Zamzam Well by 4.4 m when the foundation depth is 12 m. Our primary recommendation is to continuously update, recalibrate, and rerun the model to increase its effectiveness as a tool for future building foundation design in the study area.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the Development Authority of Makkah Al-Moukrramah and Al-Mashaaer Al-Mokddasah Authority, KSA and Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants—Saudi Arabia (Project No J 04–10600). I sincerely thank all persons and institutions that provided me with the extensive data necessary to perform the groundwater modeling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Groundwater, Water Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    Osama M. Sallam

  2. Development Authority of Makkah, Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Osama M. Sallam

  3. Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Osama M. Sallam

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  1. Osama M. Sallam
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Correspondence to Osama M. Sallam.

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Sallam, O.M. Groundwater modeling to evaluate impact of deep foundations on flow in shallow aquifers (case study: the Holy Mosque area, Makkah City, KSA). Arab J Geosci 8, 5189–5202 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1557-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-014-1557-x

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