Delineation of groundwater potential zones using modified weight standardization method and GIS in arid environments: case study of Ejina Oasis, Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

Groundwater refers to a vital resource for sustainable development of the earth. As fueled by the economic development, population growth, and the expansion of irrigation area, groundwater has been increasingly demanded. It is noteworthy that groundwater seriously limits the sustainable development in the arid desert areas of Africa and Asia. To tackle down this issue, modified weight standardization (MWS) and improved fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (IFAHP) theories and geographic information system (GIS) were adopted to find the groundwater potential zones (GWPZ) in the Ejina Oasis of northwestern China. A range of thematic layers (i.e., lithology, lineament density, soil moisture, normalized difference vegetation index, rainfall, biomass, drainage density, slope, elevation, and land use/land cover) were built with the existing maps and the remote sensing data. The mentioned thematic layers were standardized using MWS. Subsequently, the IFAHP was adopted to assign weight to the thematic layers. Lastly, all the layers were integrated in GIS to map the GWPZ. The MWS-IFAHP–based groundwater potential map revealed four categories: “excellent” (13.91%), “good” (21.97%), “moderate” (34.79%), and “poor” (29.33%). As indicated from the validation of the results, GIS-based MWS and IFAHP technologies can be used to effectively generate groundwater potential map under an accuracy of 80%. The results of this study are critical to plan and develop scarce groundwater resources in arid areas efficiently at a low cost, which can ensure sustainable water supply in the future.