Surface Basins Evaluation of the Southern Desert, West Iraq

Ali Hussein Ali,Kamal K Ali,Ayser M Al-Shamma'A

doi:10.24996/ijs.2021.62.7.16

Abstract

The results of the present study show that the highest elevation point is (912) meters (a.s.l.) inside Wadi Al-Khur basin while the lowest elevation point is (6) meters (a.s.l.) inside Wadi Abu-Talha basin. The biggest catchment area is represented by Wadi Al-Khur (48840 km²) whereas the smallest catchment area is Wadi Taqtaq (1748 km²). The stream direction of all streams trends from South-West towards North-East. The soil available water capacity (AWC) (Moisture Deficit) in the studied area was15 mm. The average annual rainfall was133.11 mm, the average annual temperature was 25.65 Co, the total depth amount of E Apanwas 3691.85 mm/year, the relative humidity was 40 %, the average annual sunshine is 7.9 hrs., and the average annual wind speed is 2.7 m/s. The water surplus of the total studied area 46800 km) was about 488.592 m³⁄year, while the runoff amount was about 442.190 m³ ⁄year.

Highlights

The studied area is located within the Iraqi western desert, where the geographic coordinates are the longitudes of 43°00' - 46°13' East and the latitudes of29°09' - 32°01' North, with a total area of about 46800 km2
The corrected potential evapotranspiration values are high during the months of April to October while they are low during the months of November to March. This variation is related to seasonal changes, where summer and winter are long whereas spring and autumn are short (Table- 4)
The total volume amount of water surplus can be determined by multiplying the water surplus (5.1 mm) by the total area of the studied area (46800 km2), which was about 488.592 M m3⁄year

Summary

Introduction

The studied area is located within the Iraqi western desert, where the geographic coordinates are the longitudes of 43°00' - 46°13' East and the latitudes of29°09' - 32°01' North, with a total area of about 46800 km2 It is located along the Southern Desert, within Salman subzone in the stable shelf (according to the Iraq tectonic divisions). Flow simulation algorithms were applied to determine the catchment area of each grid cell and the watershed boundary was defined to be analyzed. The calculation of the studied area’s watershed was based on outlet points which were divided into several surface sub-basins, while the main channel was plotted from elevation vs horizontal distance, which is an indicator of the channel’s gradient for each drainage basin. The physiographic result demonstrated an effective watershed and an accurate hydrological simulation, which enabled water development projects to be accomplished such as construction of dams and groundwater recharges, (Table- 1)

Taqtaq

Conclusions