Caratterizzazione spettrale delle aree interessate da salinizzazione nel bacino del Oued Biskra in Algeria a supporto delle politiche di gestione dell'acqua nell'ambito del progetto WADIS-MAR

The study is part of the project activities WADIS -MAR, a demonstration project funded by the
European Commission through the Sustainable Water Integrated Management (SWIM) Programme
http://www.wadismar.eu). The overall objective is to achieve an integrated system of aquifer
recharg , also based on the enhancement of the traditional methods of water harvesting in two
areas of the region of the Maghreb in Algeria and Tunisia. One of the strong local interest is the
phenomenon of salinization of soils , characteristic of arid and semiarid climatic regions and
particularly felt by local communities as a limit for agriculture. The understanding of the dynamics
related to the phenomenon is strongly connected to the knowledge of the geological environment in
the broadest sense and therefore the availability of thematic mapping and integration of these
aspects with the use of the soil. In the area of Oued Biskra in Algeria geological data are not
available with the thematic and spatial detail necessary for the planning of interventions and therefore were acquired remotely sensed data intended for the preparation of maps updated and
evolution over time of land cover and geology. Based on this initial information a methodology of
investigation into the phenomenon of salinization was developed, based on the spectral
characterization of the salt crusts by processing of remotely sensed data. The first result is the
mapping of the distribution of salt crusts according to a Decision Tree classifier compared with the
land cover classification on the basis of CORINE Land Cover methodology.