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Natural Landscapes- Brian Blankespoor, Sebastian Naslund, Othman Sharkas, Salem Thawaba, Beth VandenBerg
- Summary and Purpose
- Methodology
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
1. Summary and Purpose
The natural environment sector aims to better understand the physical
and natural environment of the Wadi el-Far'a. This study of the natural
environment includes the sub-disciplines of geology, physical geography,
hydrogeology, and biology. Due to an extremely limited access to the
study area, the majority of information is based on previously published
reports and tests done in the Wadi el-Far'a, and the maps produced were
based on synthesizing available map data.
Geographically, the Wadi el-Far'a study area is located in the northern
region of the West Bank. It is notable that the topography of the region
changes from -300m to 700m above sea level.
Geologically, the Wadi el-Far'a is part of the larger regional Dead
Sea Rift Zone that has formed a number of horsts and grabens that confine
the surface water drainage system of the Wadi Fará. The structural
geology of the Wadi el-Far'a is a complex system with the Faria Anticline
that trends NE/SW acting as the primary controlling feature. The dominant
lithology is various forms of limestone and secondarily, evaporites
and volcanic deposits. The area is dominated by hills and basins with
a steep descent from the mountain ridges to the valley floor.
Because only one climate station is located within the Wadi el-Far'a
study boundary, the climate and meteorological information relied on
the use of other stations with a similar climate to get a complete picture.
The climate is dominantly a Mediterranean semi-arid, with mild rainy
winters and moderately dry, hot summers. The highly variable rainfall
and temperature are influenced by both elevation and the circulation
of the air-stream.
The Wadi el-Far'a study area is almost completely contained within the
Eastern Mountain Aquifer, one of the three main West Bank aquifers.
The regional direction of ground water flow is toward the Jordan River.
Because springs provide the base flow component of the system, the Wadi
el-Far'a stream does not dry up in the summer. Gaining a firm understanding
of the hydrogeology is complicated by the regular interaction between
groundwater in the fractured limestone aquifer and by the poorly defined
aquifer boundaries. The large variations in transmissivity have, to
date, been presumed to be a result of a more interconnected network
of fractures as well as more solution activity in the lower part of
the study area near the Jordan River discharge location.
The beginning stages of the biology study of the Wadi el-Far'a and Wadi
Badan has ended with a successful creation of a large inventory of base
line data concerning the vegetation in the study area. Cuttings were
taken throughout the wadi in all seasons and then put into a database
catalog with the sample collection number, the Latin scientific name,
English name, Arabic name, Arabic transliteration into English, and
other known plant characteristics. With the creation of this base line
data of vegetation, other studies can be conducted according to accepted
methodology so that continued surveys can track any significant changes
to the vegetation in the Wadi el-Far'a.
One key recommendation is to continue the work in future years in order
to obtain a current set of data that does not contain an unsatisfactory
amount of discrepancies.
The purpose of the Natural Environment sector is to understand and map
the physical and natural environment. This sector includes the disciplines
of physical geography, geology, hydrology, hydrogeology and biology.
Physical geography and geology of the Wadi el-Far'a are analyzed to
understand the physical characteristics and parameters of the Wadi el-Far'a
as well as which geologic factors significantly affect the local water
resources. Hydrology and hydrogeology are combined as a single study
to gain insight into the surface and subsurface (aquifer) water characteristics
to accurately be able to determine the water budget and water availability
for the Wadi el-Far'a region. To develop a water budget in the Wadi
el-Far'a study area, it is necessary to incorporate climate information.
Therefore an individual study of the climate has been included with
information regarding: general climatic data, rainfall, temperature,
evapo-transpiration, and specific climatic zones in the study area.
The vegetation and biological resources information is preliminary baseline
data concerning biota particularities found in the Wadi el-Far'a, because
until this time a baseline set of information did not exist.
2. Methodology
The methods used by Palestinian team members, located in the West Bank, and the team members located in the United States differ as a result of physical location and the political situation. The Palestinian members retrieved available geologic, topographic and hydrologic maps and data, which were uploaded onto the group website. This information was downloaded by the team members in the United States to be analyzed. While the Palestinian members were collecting and transferring data, the team members in the United States were conducting additional library research while studying the available data collected during the field season. In the following sections the exact methods have been outlined for each of the disciplines in the Natural Environmental Studies.
3. Conclusions
In summary, the primary recommendation
is to continue the work and most emphatically in some cases begin field
work in the study area according to the standard methods of analysis.
The field component of the study is essential to confirm previously
published data and then make concrete recommendations concerning the
use of water as well as water quality and quantity in the study area
as well as in the Wadi el-Far'a drainage basin.