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NUMERICAL MODELING OF THE DAMMAM
AQUIFER IN
Yazicigil, Hasan,
Al-Layla, Rashid I.,
de Jong, Remy L.
University of Petroleum &
Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Univ of Petroleum
& Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
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Abstract
During
the past two decades the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia has experienced rapid
development of its agricultural and urban areas and of associated industries,
with consequent increased reliance on local aquifers to satisfy most of the
current and future needs. The Eocene Dammam Formation is one such aquifer and
it has experienced rapid declines in groundwater levels in recent years. A
numerical groundwater model of the Dammam aquifer was constructed to assess the
regional hydraulic properties of the aquifer and to investigate its development
potential in the near future. The model results indicated wide variations in transmissivity within the aquifer system, and relatively
small contributions by releases from storage and by leakage.