Sediment yield variability in central Tunisia: a quantitative analysis of its controlling factors

Abstract

This paper refers to the quantification and prediction of the sedimentation rate of 26 hillside-dam reservoirs in Central Tunisia. The objectives of the study are to develop a simple and practical methodology to identify controlling factors of sedimentation, and to propose a regionalization from the study sites. Principal component analysis (PCA) and complementary multi-dimensional statistical methods are used to relate highly variable area-specific sediment yield to hydro-morphometric, lithological, geomorphological and anthropogenic characteristics of catchments. It appears that catchment area is not the main controlling factor of sedimentation in the studied area. The overall slope index, drainage network characteristics and runoff parameters are also important in characterizing sediment yield. Applied to the annual sedimentation rate series, PCA resulted in retaining the first three principal axes, explaining 65% of the total variance. Statistical methods showed that the overall slope index, the total drainage length, the compacity index and the runoff parameters are as important for the sedimentation quantification. This allowed a graphical clustering of the study zone into three distinct groups having similar behaviours: (i) watersheds characterized by high sediment transport rates and high runoff coefficients, (ii) basins distinguished by relatively low values of both flow discharge and sediment transport rates, and (iii) watersheds with an intermediate sediment yield, especially characterized by relatively high relief. In a second step, a multiple regression model including the four characteristic catchment properties was developed, presenting a valuable tool to predict area-specific sediment yield from catchments in central Tunisia. This model shows reasonable efficiency with an absolute prediction error of 81%.

Citation Ayadi, I., Abida, H., Djebbar, Y. & Mahjoub, M. R. (2010) Sediment yield variability in central Tunisia: a quantitative analysis of its controlling factors. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(3), 446–458.     

Monte Carlo simulation-aided analytical hierarchy process (AHP) for flood susceptibility mapping in Gabes Basin (southeastern Tunisia)

Flash floods are among the most severe hazards which have disastrous environmental, human, and economic impacts. This study is interested in the characterization of flood hazard in Gabes Catchment (southeastern Tunisia), considered as an important step for flood management in the region. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and geographic information system are applied to delineate and characterize flood areas. A spatial database was developed based on geological map, digital elevation model, land use, and rainfall data in order to evaluate the different factors susceptible to affect flood analysis. However, the uncertainties that are associated with AHP techniques may significantly impact the results. Flood susceptibility is analyzed as a function of weights using Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and Global sensitivity analysis. AHP and MC–AHP models gave similar results. However, compared to AHP approach, MC–AHP confidence intervals (95%) of the overall scores had small overlaps. Results obtained were validated by remote sensing data for the zones that showed very high flood hazard during the extreme rainfall event of June 2014 that hit the study basin.     

Sea level in the Mediterranean Sea: seasonal adjustment and trend extraction within the framework of SSA

The sea level change is a crucial indicator of our climate. The spatial sampling offered by satellite altimetry and its continuity during the past years are the major assets to provide an improved vision of the Mediterranean sea level changes. In this paper, an automatic signal extraction approach, based on Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA), is utilized for analysis and seasonal adjustment of the Mediterranean Sea level series. This automatic approach enables us to overcome the difficulties of visual identification of trend constituents that sometimes we encounter when using the conventional SSA method. The results indicate that the Mediterranean mean sea level is dominated by several harmonic components. The annual signal is particularly strong and almost covers 73.62 % of the original sea level series variation whiles its amplitude is about 15 cm. The extracted trend also indicates that the Mediterranean main sea level has significantly been raised during the period 1993–2012 by 2.44?±?0.4 mm yr^?1. As an important consequence, considering the current situation, if this trend continues, the Mediterranean Sea level will be raised about 22 cm by the end of this century, which makes a dramatic effect on several issues such as land, flora, fauna, and people activities established along the Mediterranean coastlines.     

Impacts of wastewater irrigation in arid and semi arid regions: case of Sidi Abid region,Tunisia

Impacts of irrigation with treated wastewater effluents on soils and groundwater aquifer in the vicinity of Sidi Abid Region (Tunisia) are evaluated. The groundwater aquifer was monitored by several piezometers, where monthly water levels were registered and groundwater salinity was evaluated. This resulted in characterizing the spatial and temporal evolution of the hydrochemical and hydrodynamic properties of the aquifer, showing thereby the impact of artificial recharge. Piezometric maps for pre-recharge and post-recharge situations were developed and a comparison study of both piezometric situations was considered. The piezometric evolution map showed a generalized rise of the piezometric level in the vicinity of the irrigation zone. The extent of recharge was shown to increase with time as the groundwater level increase, which was localized in the vicinity of the irrigation area, reached more extended zones. Several groundwater samples were withdrawn from wells and piezometers and analyzed. Examining the corresponding physical and chemical parameters showed an increase in the concentrations of nutrients (28 mg/l for NO₃ and 3.97 mg/l for NH₄) in the groundwater aquifer below the irrigation zone, which confirms again the infiltration of treated wastewater effluents. The evolution of soil salinity was examined through chemical analysis of soil samples. Electric conductivities of soils were generally shown to be less than 4 mS/cm while the irrigation water has an electric conductivity that may reach 6.63 mS/cm. This might be explained by the phenomenon of dilution and the capacity of soils to evacuate salts downward.     

Analysis of China vegetation dynamics using NOAA-AVHRR data from 1982 to 2001

The authors derived the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the NOAA/AVHRR Land dataset, at a spatial resolution of 8km and 15-day intervals, to investigate the vegetation variations in China during the period from 1982 to 2001. Then, GIS is used to examine the relationship between precipitation and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in China, and the value of NDVI is taken as a tool for drought monitoring. The results showed that in the study period, China’s vegetation cover had tended to increase, compared to the early 1980s; mean annual NDVI increased 3.8%. The agricultural regions (Henan, Hebei, Anhui and Shandong) and the west of China are marked by an increase, while the eastern coastal regions are marked by a decrease. The correlation between monthly NDVI and monthly precipitation/temperature in the period 1982 to 2001 is significantly positive (R2=0.80, R2=0.84); indicating the close coupling between climate conditions (precipitation and temperature) and land surface response patterns over China. Examination of NDVI time series reveals two periods: (1) 1982–1989, marked by low values below average NDVI and persistence of drought with a signature large-scale drought during the 1982 and 1989; and (2) 1990–2001, marked by a wetter trend with region-wide high values above average NDVI and a maximum level occurring in 1994 and 1998.     

Coupling of phytoplankton and ciliate biomasses to environmental factors along the north coast of Sfax (Tunisia,Eastern Mediterranean Sea)

The phytoplankton and ciliate biomasses coupled with environmental factors were investigated in 15 transects in north coasts of Sfax (Tunisia, Eastern Mediterranean Sea) in July 2007. The phytoplankton biomass was dominated by Bacillariophyceae (89.66%), followed by Dinophyceae (10.07%), Coccolithophorideae (0.96%), Cyanobacteriae (0.21%), Chlorophyceae (0.03%) and Euglenophyceae (0.01%). Coscinodiscus sp. (93.26%) was the most abundant species of Bacillariophyceae group and associated with a high nutrient availability. Ciliate biomass was highly variable, with a large dominance of Spirotrichea, up to 96.2%. Biomass followed distinct patterns because of differences in the observed organism biovolumes. The spatial distribution of the ciliates biomass seems to be dependent on environmental factors and probably on their capacity to exploit a wide range of food resources including phytoplankton. The pollution generated by the phosphate-treating manufactory influenced the spatial phytoplankton and ciliate community’s distribution and their diversity along the north coast of Sfax.     

Saltwater intrusion modelling in Jorf coastal aquifer,South‐eastern Tunisia: geochemical,geoelectrical and geostatistical application

Marine intrusion is the most serious problem facing the coastal Jorf shallow aquifer, located in south‐eastern Tunisia on the Mediterranean Sea. Jorf Aquifer is intensively exploited to supply the growing needs of agriculture and domestic sectors. This work proposes a multidisciplinary investigation, involving hydro‐geochemical, geoelectrical survey and geostatistical techniques for modelling the saltwater intrusion. For this purpose, 36 water samples were conducted and analysed. Electric conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids and major ions were measured and analysed. Pie and Durov Diagrams, Q‐mode hierarchical cluster and geostatistical analysis were considered to identify the main groundwater mineralization processes. Results revealed that the Na‐Cl‐Ca‐SO₄ is the dominant water type suggesting that dissolution of halite and gypsum was the main mineralization source of groundwater in the central and southern part of study area. However, saltwater intrusion was shown to control groundwater quality essentially in coastal areas. Variographic analyses were used to select the variographic model that best fits the spatial development of apparent resistivity. Kriged apparent resistivity profiles showed an abnormal decrease of resistivity values in the coastal zone, implying highly saline water because of seawater intrusion. Apparent resistivity values also decrease considerably in the faulted areas, suggesting a contribution of faults to seawater intrusion. Finally, saltwater mixing ratio was computed for each sample, and a refined seawater intrusion map was developed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geochemical behaviour of the Tunisian background aerosols in Sirocco wind circulations

This study examines spatial and time evolutions of the principal constituents of the Tunisian background aerosols under Sirocco wind circulations. Aerosols coming from the Sahara Desert were found to be loaded with particulate matter, especially silicon. The aerosols were shown to have varying geochemical behaviour along the ``South-North" displacement of the Saharan plumes, depending on the wind flow characteristics, geomorphologic features and the nature of soils swept by the wind. In the south and the center part of the country, the transfer of aerosol constituents to the soil (by gravity and/or impaction) was probably predominated by localized enrichment phenomena. The latter are reinforced by the effect of turbulent winds over bare soils, wind wakes and probably selective disintegration, especially in the vicinity of the geomorphologic features of central Tunisia. These relatively high features, extending over important distances, appear to be of paramount importance for the phenomena of redistribution of aerosol constituents even during periods without Sirocco wind circulations. In the northern section of the country, aerosol constituent concentrations dropped to almost 50%, in spite of the abundance of localized turbulent winds. This may be explained by the effect of forests and the relatively dense vegetation cover, which clearly reinforces the transfer phenomena to the soil and the attenuate of dust entrainment.