Table of content
|
|  Yüklə 13.41 Mb.
|
Indicators of STATUS of Biodiversity and EcosystemsIndicator: Ecoregions in Iraq
Indicator: Water Resources in the Tigris-Euphrates River BasinsMuch of the following information is taken from the New Eden Master Plan for Integrated Water Resource Management in the Marshlands areas. Groundwater –The main aquifers of the country, in descending order of importance, include: Recent and Pleistocene Alluvium, the Bakhtiari formations, Paleocene to Eocene limestones of the desert, possibly the Euphrates limestone, the Upper Fars formation, and the Dibdibba formation (Holwerda in New Eden, 2006). Groundwater recharge is from rainfall and snow during the winter as well as from waters of the Tigris-Euphrates were influent (rivers recharging groundwater) and their levels exceed that of the water table. During low flow periods of summer, the rivers become effluent (groundwater discharging to the river). There are also a number of important springs throughout the country such as Ahmed Awa, Jundyan and Bakhal in the north and along the base of the western plateau west of the marshlands and south of the Euphrates River. Surface water- Iraqi surface water resources are centered around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and their tributaries. The Tigris is one of the largest rivers of the Middle East stretching over 1,900 km, of which 1,415 km are within Iraq with a catchment area of 235,000 km2. The river emerges from south-western Turkey (from Lake Hazar) and is joined by the Khabour, Big (Greater or Upper) Zab, the Little (Lesser or Lower) Zab, the Adhaim, the Diyala, and the Karun as well as several other lesser or seasonal flows. The Euphrates is the largest river in the Middle East in terms of catchment areas (388,000 km2) and length (2,940 km, 1,159 km in Iraq) and the second largest in terms of water volume. It originates in the mountains of Turkey on the Armenian plateau where the Karasy and Murad Rivers join. It runs through Turkey and Syria travelling through several large dams until it enters Iraq near the Husaiba Village. At Qurna it joins the Tigris River to form the Shatt al Arab, which carries both waters to the Gulf. Numerous wadis flow into the Euphrates Rivers, mostly providing water during periods of prolonged rain. 
Major Reservoir systems in the Tigris-Euphrates Watershed (Levent Kavvas et al. 2006)
As mentioned in the body Report above, one of the most significant impacts on water resources and biodiversity in Iraq was the drainage of the Mesopotamian Marshlands that occurred in the 1990s and the partial reflooding that occurred after 2003.
Indicator: Change in habitat boundariesAdditional remote sensing data on the Central Marshes (proposed National Park area) is provided below.
Additional information is available from the Iraqi Marshlands Observation System (UNEP) website at: http://imos.grid.unep.ch/
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
