Application of remote sensing data and geographic information system for identifying potential areas of groundwater storage in middle Moulouya Basin of Morocco

Abstract The main objective of this study is to identify the groundwater storage areas in the middle Moulouya Basin by using Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) methods which are the prominent supports of groundwater modeling. Five thematic maps of lithology, rainfall, drainage, lineaments , and slope; which were respectively categorized as they were weighed. Capaciously, they have been used to generate the map of potential groundwater storage zones. The results have shown that the area of very low to low potential surfaces represents approximately 10% of the total area, indicating that the middle Moulouya Basin is rich in groundwater, where more than 2200 wells and boreholes have been drilled. The obtained results have been validated with specific yield of springs in the study area. It indicates a clear correlation between the groundwater potential zones and the specific yield, this correlation is particularly obvious in light of yield of water points and their locations, indeed, most of water points with high yield are located in excellent potential zones, while poor potential zone includes the majority of water points with low yield.