ÉVALUATION DE LA SENSIBILITÉ À L'ENSABLEMENT PAR L'APPROCHE MEDALUS DANS LA RÉGION DE GHARDAÏA (ALGÉRIE)

Abstract

The region of Ghardaïa, located in the northern Algerian Sahara has experienced for many constraints related to silting which continue to grow over the years. This problem is an obstacle to the development of the region, which is facing a large erg (Erg El Anaguer). The MEDALUS model is used in this work to assess the sensitivity of areas to silting. The mapping of the sensitivity index is developed following the weighted combination of four major indicators directly related to the phenomenon studied. The quality indices for each layer of information (climate, soil, vegetation and management) are compiled to obtain a thematic map of synthesis. The sensitivity map results show that 86.31% of the area mapped is considered fragile (sensitive to silting), while 9.30% of the areas are critical (very sensitive to silting). Potential zones represent only 4.39% of the total area in this study.