Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approach
Flood is one of the most imperious natural hazards that can cause economic damages to infrastructures and natural ecosystems. In view of the extensive mining activities in the Tarkwa area, there has been an increase in human intervention of natural water bodies via degradation of vegetation in the w...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Environmental Challenges |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266701002100007X |
| _version_ | 1818671443959873536 |
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| author | Boakye Kwame Osei Isaac Ahenkorah Anthony Ewusi Etornam Bani Fiadonu |
| author_facet | Boakye Kwame Osei Isaac Ahenkorah Anthony Ewusi Etornam Bani Fiadonu |
| author_sort | Boakye Kwame Osei |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Flood is one of the most imperious natural hazards that can cause economic damages to infrastructures and natural ecosystems. In view of the extensive mining activities in the Tarkwa area, there has been an increase in human intervention of natural water bodies via degradation of vegetation in the watershed area, inappropriate land-use change, soil erosion and expansion of paved surface area for settlement and industrialisation. This has increased the degree of flood susceptibility within the area, with major flood incidents recorded on a timely basis. In this study, a GIS-based approach was utilised to delineate flood-prone zone within the Tarkwa mining area using Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). A DEM-derived morphologic features including local slope and streamflow network were developed using ArcGIS. The flood susceptible map was generated by merging the slope map and the stream network maps. The results indicate that about 42.59% of the study area were highly prone to flooding. The areas susceptible to flooding were mainly made up of agricultural lands with high usage of chemical fertilizers for farming, which may leach into nearby rivers, streams, lakes and groundwater during flood occurrence. It is understood from this study that the mining areas within the Tarkwa Nsuaem municipality were less susceptible to flooding. The outcome of this study provides a simplified method of mapping and assessment of flood susceptible areas which can be used as a reference for flood risk management, prevention, and reduction of natural disasters in the study area. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T07:24:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dbac15e574904025b7248bc6f6b0eaec |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2667-0100 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T07:24:06Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Challenges |
| spelling | doaj.art-dbac15e574904025b7248bc6f6b0eaec2022-12-21T21:58:42ZengElsevierEnvironmental Challenges2667-01002021-04-013100028Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approachBoakye Kwame Osei0Isaac Ahenkorah1Anthony Ewusi2Etornam Bani Fiadonu3University of Mines and Technology, UMaT, Box 237, Tarkwa, W/R, GhanaGeotechnical Engineering, University of South Australia, UniSA STEM, SA 5000, Australia; Corresponding author.Hydrogeology, University of Mines and Technology, UMaT, Box 237, Tarkwa, W/R, GhanaGeological Engineering, University of Mines and Technology, UMaT, Box 237, Tarkwa, W/R, GhanaFlood is one of the most imperious natural hazards that can cause economic damages to infrastructures and natural ecosystems. In view of the extensive mining activities in the Tarkwa area, there has been an increase in human intervention of natural water bodies via degradation of vegetation in the watershed area, inappropriate land-use change, soil erosion and expansion of paved surface area for settlement and industrialisation. This has increased the degree of flood susceptibility within the area, with major flood incidents recorded on a timely basis. In this study, a GIS-based approach was utilised to delineate flood-prone zone within the Tarkwa mining area using Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). A DEM-derived morphologic features including local slope and streamflow network were developed using ArcGIS. The flood susceptible map was generated by merging the slope map and the stream network maps. The results indicate that about 42.59% of the study area were highly prone to flooding. The areas susceptible to flooding were mainly made up of agricultural lands with high usage of chemical fertilizers for farming, which may leach into nearby rivers, streams, lakes and groundwater during flood occurrence. It is understood from this study that the mining areas within the Tarkwa Nsuaem municipality were less susceptible to flooding. The outcome of this study provides a simplified method of mapping and assessment of flood susceptible areas which can be used as a reference for flood risk management, prevention, and reduction of natural disasters in the study area.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266701002100007XFloodMappingGISDEMTarkwa |
| spellingShingle | Boakye Kwame Osei Isaac Ahenkorah Anthony Ewusi Etornam Bani Fiadonu Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approach Environmental Challenges Flood Mapping GIS DEM Tarkwa |
| title | Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approach |
| title_full | Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approach |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approach |
| title_short | Assessment of flood prone zones in the Tarkwa mining area of Ghana using a GIS-based approach |
| title_sort | assessment of flood prone zones in the tarkwa mining area of ghana using a gis based approach |
| topic | Flood Mapping GIS DEM Tarkwa |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266701002100007X |
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