Assessment of the potential areas for underground dam construction in Roomeshgan, Lorestan province, Iran

Subject Areas : Mineralogy

Siamak  Baharvand ¹ (Department of Geology, Khorramabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran)
Jafar  Rahnamarad ² (Department of Geology, Zahedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zahedan, Iran)
Salman  Soori ³ (Young Researchers and Elite club, Khorramabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khorramabad, Iran)

Received: 2018-02-21 Accepted : 2019-07-05 Published : 2020-01-01

Keywords: Lorestan province, AHP, GIS, Roomeshgan, Underground dam,

Abstract :

One of the methods for dealing with the problem of water shortage and the decline of groundwater levels in the arid areas is the construction of underground dams. It is difficult to make a decision about suitable locations for the construction of underground dams because of the necessity to consider numerous factors. Some of these criteria are hydrological, geological and geomorphologic characteristics of the area. By applying the GIS and AHP methods, this study attempted to introduce the suitable locations for construction of underground dams in Roomeshgan area in Lorestan Province, Iran. For this purpose, factors such as slope, lithology, land use, alluvium thickness, water quality, and distance from the well, fault and stream and rivers network were used. Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for the possibility of considering various qualitative and quantitative criteria, the process can be one way to select the appropriate location for constructing an underground dam. In this study, after the assessment of the used layers in the Expert Choice software, weight mapping of each layer was prepared. Then, the map of suitable areas for construction of the underground dam was prepared by overlapping the weight mappings of each layer in ArcGIS software. According to the results, 15.87 %, 11.96 %, 35.75 %, 33.23 % and 3.18 % of the region are located in very poor, poor, moderate, suitable and very suitable areas, respectively. After several field surveys of the area with three percent, six locations were selected for underground dam construction. The results show that the factors mentioned above have the most important role in locating the underground dam construction and the chosen method has high accuracy.

References:

1. Arjmandzadeh R, Shafiei Rashvanlou V, Dabiri R, Almasi AR (2017)  Satellite thermal surveys to detecting hidden active faults and fault termination, Case study of Quchan fault, NE Iran, Iranian Journal of Earth Sciences 9: 39-47.


2. Azizi SH, Kheirkhah Zarkesh MM, Sharifi E (2011) Suitable site selection for groundwater dams construction using spatial and non-spatial analytical hierarchy process (Case study: Taft's Pishkuh catchments, Yazd province), Journal of Applied RS & GIS Techniques in Natural Recourse Science 2(2): 27-38 (in Persian). 


3. Chezgi J, Rahnama H, Moradi HR, Kheirkhah Zarkesh MM (2011) Locating potential areas for construction of underground dam using multi-criteria decision-making approach with special emphases on water resources (case study: west of Tehran province), Iran-Watershed Management Science & Engineering 13(4): 65-68.


4. Dai X (2016) Dam site selection using an integrated method of AHP and GIS for decision making support in Bortala, Northwest China, Master thesis submitted to the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University, 58 p.


5. Danaie R, Hasanzadeh Nafoti, M, Mohtashamnia S, Danaeian MR (2011) Locating of Underground Dams Using RS / GIS (Case Study: Manshad of Yazd Province), The First National Conference on Economic Resolutions in the Field of Agriculture 1: 146-151 (in Persian).


6. Eisavi V, Karami J, Alimohammadi A, Niknezhad SA (2012) Comparing the AHP and Fuzzy-AHP decision making methods in underground dam site selection in Taleghan basin, Geosciences 22(85): 27-34 (in Persian).


7. Foster S, Tuinhof A (2004) Subsurface Dams to Augment Round Water Storage in Basement Terrain for Human Subsistence Brazilian and Kenyan Experience, GW Mate (Groundwater Management Advisory Team), Case Profile Collection 5: 1-7.


8. Furzieri G, Gardenti M, Caparrini F, Castelli F (2008) A methodology for the pre-selection of suitable sites for surface and underground small dams in arid areas: A case study in the region of Kidal, Mali, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 33: 74-85.


9. Hansson G, Nilsson A (1988) Groundwater dams for rural water supplies in developing countries, Ground Water 24 (4): 497-506.


10. Jamali I A, Bo Olofsson B, Mörtberg U (2013) Locating suitable sites for the construction of subsurface dams using GIS, Environmental Earth Sciences 70(6): 2511–2525.


11. Janardhana Raju N, Reddy TVK, Munira Thnam P (2006) Subsurface dams it Harvests rainwater- a case study of the Swarnamukhi River Basin. Southern India, Hydrology Journal 14: 526-531.


12. José RB, Cantalice Victor C, Piscoya Vijay P, Singh Yuri JAB da Silva, Maria de FC Barros, Sergio MS Guerra, Moacyr C Filho (2016) Hydrology and water quality of an underground dam in a semiarid watershed, African Journal of Agricultural 11: 2508-2596.


13. Kheirkhah Zarkesh MM, Naseri HR, Davodi MH, Salami H (2008) Using the analytical hierarchy process for the ranking of a suitable location for groundwater dams construction, case study: Northern slopes of Karkas Mountains in Natanz. Pajouhesh and Sazandegi 79: 93-101 (in Persian).


14. Kordi R, Faramarzi M, Karimi H, Garaei P, Yarmohammadi E (2016) Mapping underground dam in the arid and semi-arid region in western Iran (case study: Mehran, Ilam province), Watershed Management Research 7(13): 164-172 (in Persian).


15. Laa A, Kampanart M, Kriengsak S (2005) Approachability of subsurface dams in Northeast Thailand. International Conference on Geology, Geotechnology, and Mineral Resources of Indochina, Khon Kaen, Thailand 1: 149-155.


16. Nilsson A (1988) Groundwater Dam for small-scale water supply. Intermediate technology publication Ltd. 69 p.


17. Onder H, Yilmaz M (2005) Underground dams, Journal of European Water 11(12): 35-45.


18. Pirmoradi R, Nakhaie M, Asadian F (2010) Site selection for underground dams construction using GIS techniques (case study: Malayer plain in the Hamedan province), Journal of Physical Geography 3(8): 51-66 (in Persian).


19. Rangzan K, Monjezi N, Taghizade A, Nyamdpor A (2013) Identification of suitable area for underground dam using GIS and MCDM in Betvand plain, Khuzestan province, 2th International Conference SMPR, University of Tehran, Tehran (in Persian).


20. Saaty TL (1990) How to make a decision: The Analytic Hierarchy Process, European Journal of Operational Research 48: 9-26.


21. Salami H (2006) Determining suitable sites for underground dam construction in volcanic regions using remote sensing (Case Study: Northern Mountains of the Mountains Vulture), Hydrology Master Degree, Shahid Beheshti University, 143 P (in Persian).


22. Schoeller H (1962) Les Eaux Souterraines. Masson et Cie. Paris, France.


23. Strahler A (1952) Dynamic Basis of Geomorphology, Geological Society of America Bulletin 63: 923-938.


24. Taleghania M A, Talabakhshib F (2013) The Role of Geomorphology in Locating Underground Sandy Dams (Case Study: Gilan-e-Gharb), Desert 18: 145-152.


25. Telmer K, Best M (2004) Underground dams: a practical solution for the water needs of small communities in semi-arid regions, Scientific Communications, Terrae 1(1): 63-65.


26. Wilcox L V (1955) Classification and Use of Irrigation Waters .U.S. Department of Agriculture, Circular 969, Washington DC.