Reduction of water storage capacity of the Wadi Arab Dam (Jordan)‎ due to reservoir sedimentation

الملخص EN

Wadi Al-Arab dam is a rock fill dam located at the south of Yarmouk River in the northern parts of Jordan.

It drains an area of 267 km2 and at construction had a maximum storage capacity of 20MCM.

The nature of sediments and their rate of accumulation have been investigated through the analysis of 36 bottom sediment samples and by constructing a new bathymetric map for the reservoir.

The results showed that mainly fine sand covers the bed of the reservoir (80.5%) with minor amounts of silt and clay (19.5%).

Saltation and suspension are the main transport mechanisms of the sediments.

The new bathymetric map suggests that the maximum storage capacity of the dam is now only 13.744 MCM.