HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING OF UNGAUGED ARID VOLCANIC ENVIRONMENTS AT UPPER BATHAN CATCHMENT, MADINAH, SAUDI ARABIA

Authors

  • Fahad Alahmadi Department of Hydraulic and Hydrology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru Johor, Malaysia
  • Norhan Abd Rahman Department of Hydraulic and Hydrology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru Johor, Malaysia
  • Zulkifli Yusop Department of Hydraulic and Hydrology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru Johor, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v78.9676

Keywords:

Rainfall-runoff modelling, SCS method, arid regions, ungauged, volcanic catchments

Abstract

Hydrological modelling of ungauged catchments is still a challenging task especially in arid regions with a unique land cover features such as highly fracture volcanic basalt rocks. In this study, upper Bathan catchment (103 km2) in Madinah, western of Saudi Arabia is selected. The aim of this paper is to simulate the hydrological responses of volcanic catchment to daily design storm events. The weighted areal average of two daily design rainfall depth scenarios are computed, which are 50 years and 100 years return period and correspondent predicted rainfall are 80.6 mm and 94.1 mm, respectively. SCS Type II temporal synthetic distribution of daily rainfall is selected to disaggregate the daily rainfall into smaller time interval. Excess rainfall is computed using Soil Conservation Services Curve Number (SCS-CN) method based on Land Cover and Land Use (LCLU) and hydrological soil groups (HSG) maps, while direct runoff hydrograph is developed using Soil Conservation Services dimensionless unit hydrograph (SCS-UH) method using lag time equation. HEC-HMS software is used, and it showed that the runoff volumes of the two rainfall scenarios are 50% and 54% of the total rainfall depth, and the peak discharges are 123 m3/sec and 158 m3/sec. This study provided an indication of the hydrograph characteristics of basaltic catchments and the result of this paper can be used for further flood studies in arid ungauged volcanic catchments.  

References

Pilgrim, D. H., Chapman, T. G., And Doran, D. G. 1988. Problems Of Rainfall-Unoff Modelling In Arid And Semiarid Regions. Hydrological Sciences Journal. 33(4): 379-400.

Mcintyre, N. And Al-Qurashi, A. 2009. Performance Of Ten Rainfall–Runoff Models Applied To An Arid Catchment In Oman. Environmental Modelling & Software. 24(6): 726-738.

Subyani A. M. And Al-Ahmadi F. S. 2011. Rainfall-Runoff Modelling In The Al Madinah Area Of Western Saudi Arabia. Journal Of Environmental Hydrology.19: Paper 1.

El-Hames, A. S. 2012. An Empirical Method For Peak Discharge Prediction In Ungauged Arid And Semi-Arid Region Catchments Based On Morphological Parameters And SCS Curve Number. Journal Of Hydrology. 456: 94-100.

Aquaveo. 2014. The Watershed Modeling System (WMS) Ver. 9.0. A Reference Manual.

Feldman, A. D. 2013. Hydrologic Modelling System HEC-HMS: Technical Reference Manual. US Army Corps Of Engineers. Hydrologic Engineering Center.

Subyani, A. M., Al-Modayan, A. A. And Al-Ahmadi, F. S. 2010. Topographic, Seasonal And Aridity Influences On Rainfall Variability In Western Saudi Arabia. Journal Of Environmental Hydrology. 18(2).

ESRI. 2014. Arcgis Software User Manual Ver. 10.3. Redland, California.

Sen, Z. 2008. Wadi Hydrology. Taylor And Francis Group. CRC Publishers. 423.

Alahmadi, F. S. And Abd Rahman, N. 2015. Daily Rainfall Prediction Of Bathan Catchment, Al-Madinah, West Of Saudi Arabia Comparing Different Data Series Models. Journal Of Asian Earth Sciences.(Submitted)

NEH. 2004. National Engineering Handbook, Part 630 Hydrology, Chapter 9. Hydrological Soil-Cover Complexes. 20.

Downloads

Published

2016-09-28

How to Cite

HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING OF UNGAUGED ARID VOLCANIC ENVIRONMENTS AT UPPER BATHAN CATCHMENT, MADINAH, SAUDI ARABIA. (2016). Jurnal Teknologi, 78(9-4). https://doi.org/10.11113/jt.v78.9676