Geospatial Analysis of Surface and Subsurface Factors for Mapping Geothermal Potential Zones in Central-Western Taiz, Yemen

Anwar Abdullah; Ghareb Hamada; Abbas Al-Khudafi; Ibrahim Farea; Fahd Alakbari

doi:10.29017/scog.v49i3.2167

Authors

Anwar Abdullah Taiz University
Ghareb Hamada Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport
Abbas Al-Khudafi Emirates International University
Ibrahim Farea Sana’a University
Fahd Alakbari King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29017/scog.v49i3.2167

Keywords:

remote sensing, GIS, weighted overlay technique, geothermal potential mapping

Abstract

This study evaluates the application of remote sensing and GIS techniques for mapping geothermal potential areas in the central-western Taiz, Yemen. The objective is to identify prospective areas for hydrothermal water exploration. Geothermal potential mapping was based on nine factors derived from remote sensing, geological, and geophysical datasets. Several steps were used to prepare these factors such as rasterization, re-projection, re-sampling, classification and weighting. The weighted values of the classes for each factor map were assigned based on their spatial correlation with eight known hydrothermal water locations. A GIS-based Weighted Overlay Technique (WOT) was applied. The resulting geothermal potential map categorizes the area into five classes: very high, high, moderate, low, and very low, covering 5.08%, 9.65%, 14.65%, 50.46%, and 20.16% of the study area, respectively. However, 7 of the 8 hydrothermal occurrences identified (87.5%) are located in the very high potential zone. The observed concentration is approximately seventeen times greater than random expectation, providing further evidence that the model is able to identify areas favorable for geothermal occurrence. This supports logical consistency but is not proof of independent validation. Independent field data are needed to validate the predictive power of the map. Given the limited number of validation points, the results should be considered as a regional screening tool.

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