Modeling of land subsidence caused by groundwater withdrawal in Konya Closed Basin, Turkey

Abstract

Land subsidence is a threat that occurs worldwide as a result of the withdrawal of fluid and also underground mining. The subsidence is mainly due to excessive groundwater withdrawal from certain types of rocks, such as fine-grained sediments. Mitigating the effects of land subsidence generally requires careful observations of the temporal change in groundwater level and ideally modeling of groundwater flow and subsidence. In Turkey, land subsidence is a crucial issue in the Konya Closed Basin. When simulating the effect of long-term groundwater withdrawal on the spatial variation of subsidence rates, various coupled numerical groundwaterflow and subsidence models have been used. Also, GPS, InSAR and ENVISAT SAR images have been used for verification of the models' parameters. In the work reported here, a novel numerical solution based on consolidation theory was developed in MATLAB to predict the land subsidence of the Konya Closed Basin. In order to adjust the model to the local conditions, historical data from the study area for the years 2011-2014 were used. The presented solution allowed for subsidence model development which can support the prediction of the ground movement for the Konya Closed Basin in Turkey.