Importance of remote sensing data in investigating potential groundwater zones in semi-arid areas

The Tagragra-Akka region, located in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas, is mainly composed of crystalline and crystallophyllian rocks. In this area, agricultural activities are primarily based on oasis cropping, which is essentially irrigated by surface water resources. This area belongs to an arid/semi-arid climate and has been living, over the last few decades, with a very severe drought. This has led to a water irrigation shortage and made groundwater a unique alternative source. However, investigating potential groundwater zones is financially demanding and time-consuming. Hence, remote sensing data and GISs are essential tools for precisely determining these zones. We used these tools to study fracturing and its spatial relationship with potential groundwater zones. Therefore, a Landsat-8 image was acquired and processed to extract three pieces of information, namely a fracturing map using the Sobel filtering technique, the fracturing density, and a lithology Support Vector Machine classifier. The main concept of using fracturing network mapping is of fundamental importance in hydrogeological investigations since they represent the preferred route for the infiltration and circulation of groundwater. Additionally, we used an image from a digital elevation model (DEM) to generate the slope, hydrological network, and drainage density maps. The resulting raster maps were integrated into a GIS workflow to identify places with high-potential groundwater resources. This approach made it possible to identify the most promising zones for establishing wells to provide sufficient water irrigation. The produced maps could be used for future hydrogeological investigation campaigns. This study also highlights interest in remote sensing and GISs to aid in resolving problems related to drought and water irrigation management in zones exposed to climate change effects. This approach could also be used in areas suffering from similar issues.