Study of recharge outcrop relation of the wasia aquifer in Central Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

The Wasia formation is the most prolific Cretaceous aquifer in central Saudi Arabia.

The Recharge Outcrop Relation (ROR) is developed for calculating (he amount of water that percolates into this aquifer.

The relation provides an effective way of estimating recharge to aquifers in extremely arid regions where there is no vegetation cover at all.

The result shows that the recharge amount is about 4 mm/year in the central part of Saudi Arabia.

Furthermore, investigations by means of the Kriging method lead to Darcy velocity estimations within the aquifer in the study area.

In addition, comparison of estimates based on groundwater velocity and those based on isotope information showed that they are in good agreement.