Assessment of the impact of contour ridge benches on the soil water content in the watershed of wadi Siliana (Medjerda basin, Northern Tunisia)

Belhaj Kilani, Amani;Khlifi, Slaheddine;Vanclooster, Marnik
(2021) 3rd Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Environmental Integration — Location: Sousse, Tunisia (10.June.2021)

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Authors
  • Belhaj Kilani, AmaniEcole Supérieure des Ingénieurs de Medjez el Bab, UR-Gestion Durable des Ressources en Eau et en Sol, Tunisia
    Author
  • Khlifi, SlaheddineEcole Supérieure des Ingénieurs de Medjez el Bab, UR-Gestion Durable des Ressources en Eau et en Sol, Tunisia
    Author
  • Vanclooster, Marnikorcid-logoUCLouvain
    Author
Abstract
Soil water content (SWC) is one of the main parameters determining crop yields in semiarid regions. SWC is characterized by high variability, both in space and time and will be strongly impacted by climate change. Soil and water conservation techniques (SWCT), such as contour ridge bench (CRB), are often used to reduce erosion and to increase available water for crops in arid and semiarid areas. In this study, the Siliana watershed in Northern Tunisia was selected as an in-vestigation area for assessing the impact of CRB on soil water content. The im-pact of CRB on SWC was evaluated at the end of the agricultural season 2017 and 2018. To assess SWC, use was made of satellite data, obtained from the Google Earth Engine platform (GEE) and observed precipitation from gauges. The thermal optical trapezoidal model (TOTRAM) was applied to draw the rela-tionship between land surface temperature (LST) and normalized difference vege-tation index (NDVI) to estimate the SWC. 22 sites were selected one half with CRB and one other without CRB. Results indicate that the estimated SWC in ar-eas with CRB is significantly higher than those without CRB, suggesting the beneficial effect of CRB on SWC. The additional SWC varies among sites be-tween 1 and 6 %, during March to early May, and drop to be in range less than 1 % during late May and June, at the end of the cropping season.
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Belhaj Kilani, A., Khlifi, S., & Vanclooster, M. (2021). Assessment of the impact of contour ridge benches on the soil water content in the watershed of wadi Siliana (Medjerda basin, Northern Tunisia). Proceedings, 91. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/112482 (Original work published 2021)