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Estimating recharge from ephemeral streams in arid regions: A case study at Kairouan, Tunisia
Author(s) -
Besbes M.,
Delhomme J. P.,
De Marsily G.
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr014i002p00281
Subject(s) - groundwater recharge , ephemeral key , hydrology (agriculture) , piezometer , aquifer , infiltration (hvac) , surface runoff , environmental science , flood myth , arid , geology , groundwater , geotechnical engineering , meteorology , mathematics , geography , paleontology , ecology , archaeology , algorithm , biology
On the assumption that the behavior of an aquifer is linear, it is shown that recharge from an ephemeral stream can be computed by deconvolution of the fluctuations of the piezometers in the vicinity of the stream. First, the ‘impulse response’ of the piezometer has to be determined, either from an exceptional flood event or with the help of a digital model of the aquifer. Application of this method to the plain of Kairouan (Tunisia) proved to give estimates of recharge during a 5‐year period within the same order of magnitude as direct volume estimates obtained by an automatic contouring technique of the recovery of the aquifer after infiltration (kriging). An empirical runoff‐recharge relationship was then determined to extend the estimation of recharge to a 23‐year period.