Subsidence risk due to groundwater extraction in urban areas using fractal analysis of satellite images

Abstract

Agriculture in urbanized areas of semi arid regions without surface water bodies depends on an intense use of groundwater. In Irapuato City, Mexico, there is a great concentration of agriculture and urban supply wells. The intense regional pumping regime is inducing subsidence. Eighteen subsidence fault systems were found with a total length of 27 km. More than 200 houses present damages. The presence of toluene in groundwater suggests that faults facilitate the migration of contaminants. A morphological analysis of agriculture land distribution in the urban area was carried out using satellite images. This morphological analysis shows the relevance of agriculture terrain distribution within the urban area. The morphological analysis is applied on previously segmented crop fields as derived from the satellite image. This analysis allowed calculation of agricultural land distribution and confirm the presences of wells used for irrigation.