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Ground water origin and movement in the upper Yarmouk Basin, Northern Jordan

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Environmental Geology

Abstract

The Upper Yarmouk basin in northern Jordan has become an increasingly important groundwater resource in recent years. Despite this, studies of groundwater recharge and movement in the area are limited, and mostly parts of larger scale regional data syntheses. Detailed analysis of the hydrogeology, hydrochemistry and isotopic data indicate a more complex system than previously presented. Whereas earlier studies suggested that groundwater is derived from a single aquifer, this study suggests abstraction from multiple aquifers. Moreover, faults and lineaments in the area may be causing segmentation and limited flow within individual aquifers. The isotopic and hydrochemical data suggest that local recharge plays a significant role in the hydrogeologic situation in the study area. This appears to be mostly happening in the hilly zone in the central part of the study area.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the staff of the Water Authority Labs in Amman for their help. Thanks are also due to Khaldoon Mahafza and Sana’a Khasawneh for their help with the chemical analyses, to Mohammad Khawajah and Abdallah Rawabdeh for their help with the figures and to Dr. Khaldoon al Qudah and an anonymous reviewer for reading and improving the manuscript. This project was funded by the Scientific Research Council at Yarmouk University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Yarmouk University, Irbid, 21163, Jordan

    Nizar Abu-Jaber & Alaa Kharabsheh

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  1. Nizar Abu-Jaber
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  2. Alaa Kharabsheh
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Correspondence to Nizar Abu-Jaber.

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Abu-Jaber, N., Kharabsheh, A. Ground water origin and movement in the upper Yarmouk Basin, Northern Jordan. Environ Geol 54, 1355–1365 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-007-0917-1

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