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Les zones arides abritent 35% de la population mondiale et affichent parmi les plus hauts niveaux de pauvreté. La faible quantité et l’hétérogénéité spatio-temporelle des précipitations et des écoulements compliquent non seulement l’exploitation de la ressource mais aussi la compréhension de ces hydro-systèmes. Cependant, depuis les origines de l’histoire humaine, les populations ont su domestiquer l’eau des zones arides, tant superficielle, que souterraine. Mais les dernières décennies ont vu certaines zones arides devenir le théâtre du développement d’activités industrielles aux usages d’eau intensifs qui posent des problèmes de gestion et d’accès à l’eau des usagers, en particulier des populations vulnérables. Dans le nord du Chili, le Désert d’Atacama est l’une des zones les plus arides au monde. Depuis les années 90, avec l'installation de grands projets miniers, la région a connu une croissance démographique et économique constante. L’eau souterraine y est intensivement utilisée pour les activités minières, l’approvisionnement des populations et l’agriculture. Afin de comprendre si les problèmes d’accès à l’eau souterraine de l’aquifère Pampa del Tamarugal, région de Tarapacá, sont dus au fait que la ressource est limitée, que la gestion des eaux souterraines doit être améliorée, ou encore à un manque d’information scientifique sur cette ressource, une approche multi et interdisciplinaire a été mise en place. Cette approche est constituée de deux grandes parties : d’une part, la caractérisation des ressources en eau souterraines de l’aquifère Pampa del Tamarugal. Pour cela, les données brutes existantes et leurs conditions de production ont été analysées et un nouveau réseau hydrométrique a été conçu grace à l’analyse multicritère couplée à une analyse SIG. Ensuite, la réalisation d’une carte piézométrique actualisée et la comparaison de cette carte avec les données piézométriques des dernières décennies ont permis de comprendre l’évolution de l’aquifère. L’étude géologique détaillée et l’analyse hydrochimique et isotopiques de sources et forages a permis de caractériser la recharge de l’aquifère, entre autres de définir le rôle prépondérant du substratum mésozoïque sur les écoulements notamment dans la couverture cénozoïque. Pour pallier au manque de données historiques, une approche complémentaire a été mise en place consistant en l’intégration des connaissances des populations locales indigènes pour l’élaboration du modèle hydrogéologique conceptuel. D’autre part, la gestion des ressources en eaux souterraines de l'aquifère Pampa del Tamarugal a été analysée, en s’attachant notamment à comprendre le rôle de l’information scientifique et technique et les stratégies et discours des acteurs sur cette gestion et sur les usages. Finalement, l’étude d’un système ancestral de gestion de l’eau a permis de générer l’information nécessaire à sa préservation en tant que patrimoine hydraulique de zone aride mais également à sa réutilisation pour la gestion actuelle de l’aquifère. Ces travaux de recherche ont permis d’améliorer la compréhension des mécanismes de recharge, ainsi que des écoulements et de l’évolution de la ressource en eaux souterraines sous pression anthropique dans une zone aride et montagneuse telle que le nord du Chili. Ils ont aussi permis de préciser les contraintes limitant l’accès à l’eau des populations vulnérables dans la zone d’étude, et le rôle de l’information scientifique dans la gestion de la ressource en eaux souterraines. / Drylands are home to 35% of the world's population and have among the highest levels of poverty. The small quantity and spatio-temporal heterogeneity of rainfall and runoff complicate not only the exploitation of the resource but also the understanding of those hydro-systems. However, since the origins of human history, in arid areas, people have been able to domesticate both surface and ground water the water. But the last decades have seen some arid areas become the scene of the development of industrial activities with intensive water uses that pose problems of management and access to water for users, particularly vulnerable populations. In the north of Chile, the Atacama Desert is one of the most arid areas of the world. Since the 1990s, with the installation of major mining projects, the region has experienced constant demographic and economic growth. Groundwater is extensively used for mining, domestic supply and agriculture. In order to understand if the problems of access to the groundwater of the Pampa del Tamarugal aquifer, in the Tarapacá region, are due to a limited resource, management issues, or to a lack of scientific information, a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach has been put in place. This approach consists of two main parts: first, the characterization of the groundwater resources of the Pampa del Tamarugal aquifer. For this, the existing raw data and their production conditions have been analysed and a new hydrometric network has been designed with a multi-criteria analysis coupled with a GIS analysis. Then, the realization of an updated piezometric map and the comparison of this map with the piezometric data of the last decades allow to understand the evolution of the aquifer. Based on a detailed geological study and hydrochemical and isotopic analysis of sources and boreholes, the recharge of the aquifer has been characterized with the preponderant role of the Mesozoic substratum on the flows especially in the Cenozoic cover. To compensate for the lack of historical data, a complementary approach has been put in place consisting of integrating the local and indigenous knowledge for the development of the conceptual hydrogeological model. On the other hand, the management of the groundwater resources of the Pampa del Tamarugal aquifer was analyzed, with particular attention to understanding the role of scientific and technical information and the strategies and discourses of the actors on this management and on uses. Finally, the study of an ancient water management system has generated the information necessary for its preservation as a water heritage an arid zone but also in order to reuse this system for the current management of the aquifer. This research has improved the understanding of the Pampa del Tamarugal recharge mechanisms, as well as the flow and evolution of groundwater resources under anthropogenic pressure in an arid and mountainous area such as northern Chile. They also clarified the constraints limiting access to water for vulnerable populations in the study area, and the role of scientific information in the management of groundwater resources.

Many rural communities in arid areas of the world make extensive use of perennial water supplies retained within the sediment of a river channel. This naturally filtered water provides for their basic subsistence. A general term applied to the abstraction of water from river sediment is sand-abstraction. Ephemeral and seasonal rivers primarily drain the dryland regions of the world. These arid regions are typically subject to extensive environmental degradation with a consequent high degree of surface erosion. As a result, many of the rivers have become sand rivers, filled with copious amounts of sediment. Most arid areas are subject to occasional rainstorms and flash floods that immediately drain to waterways and saturate the sediment within the river channel. In larger rivers a perennial supply of water is maintained within the sediment. Despite a perceived potential for this water resource there has been little development of any small-scale technology that is suitable for use at a basic rural level. A research and study programme was instigated to assess fully, the potential of such a resource. Field research was undertaken to characterise typical sand rivers and to assess the water storage and water loss and retention factors within river sediment. A check list for identifying possible sand-abstraction sites was devised. In the process of this study the advantages of storing water in sand was fully appreciated and attention given to the development of initially less suitable sites in serious water deficit areas. Systems for efficient abstraction of water were reviewed and designs formulated for the fabrication of equipment to mechanically draw water from river sediment. A series of well-screens, well-points, infiltration galleries and caissons have been designed and initial tests have been conducted under field conditions. Simple technology handpumps that it was considered could be operated, maintained and repaired by rural communities using locally available materials have been developed in conjunction with the abstraction equipment. In consultation with rural people an analysis was made of the technical and sociological requirements that are considered essential for the sustainability of technology suitable for use by disadvantaged rural communities. Both practical and literature research has indicated the latent possibility of this technology. Interaction has been maintained with four communities throughout the research and development period and contributions and indications received are that there is a need to develop such a water source with an upgraded technology. The conclusion from the work undertaken is that development of the technology is worthwhile and that greater efforts should be made to promote it at a small-scale, rural level. In addition the potential to provide clean water in arid regions from such a lowtechnology application should be drawn to the attention of professional water engineers.

Dans les environnements semi-arides la ressource en eau est soumise aux irrégularités du climat. Les eaux de surface sont très irrégulièrement réparties dans le temps et dans l'espace. Le cumul annuel des précipitations est généralement faible et les évènements sont rares et intenses, causant des crues violentes et une forte érosion. Les eaux souterraines constituent souvent la principale ressource pérenne utilisable et elles sont largement mises à contribution. Pour pallier aux conséquences néfastes de ces régimes hydrologiques, des projets de grands barrages ont été menés dans ces zones pour favoriser le stockage d'eau. Paradoxalement, la mise en place de ces ouvrages crée un déficit en eau dans certaines zones en induisant des pertes par évaporation et la diminution de la recharge des nappes. Des situations complexes nouvelles sont ainsi créées, nécessitant des modes de gestions adaptés. En Tunisie centrale, le bassin versant du Merguellil fournit un exemple de processus hydrologique profondément modifié par la construction d'un grand barrage. Le bassin revêt une importance stratégique pour la région. Il alimente la plaine de Kairouan qui constitue le plus fort potentiel de développement agricole du pays et dont la nappe alluviale est surexploitée. Les écoulements intermittents de l'oued rechargeaient autrefois la nappe phréatique de la plaine. Le barrage d'El Haouareb construit en 1989 bloquant désormais les écoulements de surface, la recharge se produit plus en amont via le socle calcaire fissuré de l'ouvrage. Cette modification du fonctionnement hydrologique entraine une perte significative d'eau par évaporation et concentre la recharge à l'extrême amont de la plaine, au pied du barrage. Le but de cette thèse est d'identifier les mécanismes de recharge qui s'opèrent au niveau du seuil d'El Haouareb. L'infiltration depuis le lac de barrage a été quantifiée d'après le bilan hydrologique de la retenue et cet état de 56 % de perte par infiltration, 24 % de perte par évaporation, 14 % utilisés pour l'irrigation et 6 % relâchés depuis 1989. Le bilan a été fait à des pas de temps plus fin pour permettre de modéliser les entrées dans le système aquifère.L'identification des flux transitant à travers le seuil calcaire a été menée en croisant des approches hydrodynamiques (analyse du signal) et géochimiques (profils et chronique de CE et températures, chimie des ions majeurs, isotopes stables de la molécule de l'eau). La confrontation des différentes méthodes a permis de consolider les résultats et de pallier aux imperfections de certaines données de terrain dans un contexte hydrologique et hydrogéologique complexe. Un modèle simplifié de l'aquifère fracturé et un schéma de fonctionnement du seuil ont ainsi pu être établis, permettant d'anticiper l'évolution des mécanismes de recharge dans le bassin du Merguellil sous des contraintes climatiques futures. / In semi-arid environment, surface waters are unevenly distributed in time and space and particularly vulnerable. The total annual rainfall is generally low and the rain events are rare and intense, causing severe flooding and erosion. Therefore, the groundwater resource is widely exploited, often inducing overexploitation problems.To overcome the negative consequences of these hydrological regimes, large dam have been built to increase the water storage. These structures can paradoxically create a water deficiency in some areas by inducing evaporation losses and reducing aquifer recharge. In central Tunisia, the Merguellil catchment provides an example of hydrological processes profoundly changed by the construction of a large dam. The basin is of strategic importance for the region. It feeds the great agricultural plain of Kairouan which suffers f overexploitation for decades. Before the building of the El Haouareb dam, the Merguellil intermittent flows were the main source of recharge to the Kairouan plain aquifer. Dam El Haouareb built in 1989 now blocking surface runoff, recharge occurs further upstream through the cracked limestone base of the structure. This modification of the hydrological causes a significant loss of water by evaporation and concentrate recharge of the plain at the foot of the dam.The purpose of this thesis work is to identify the recharge mechanisms occurring at the threshold of El Haouareb. Infiltration from the lake was quantified calculating the water budget of the reservoir. The total water budget between 1989 and 2006 was made up by: infiltration 56%, evaporation 24%, abstraction 14% and dam releases 6%. Calculations had been conducted for smaller time scale to allow the quantification of the entries in the aquifer system.The identification of flows passing through the calcareous threshold was conducted by crossing hydrodynamic approaches (signal analysis) and geochemical (profiles and records of electrical conductivity and temperature, major ions, stable isotopes of the water molecule). The comparison of different methods helped to consolidate the results and to overcome the imperfections of some field data in a hydrological and hydrogeological complex context.A basic model and a simplified diagram of the El Haouareb aquifer have been established and allow anticipating the evolution of recharge in the Merguellil catchment under future climatic pressure.

In a populated region with very high potential evapotranspiration, where the rainwater falls only during the winter and mostly in the mountains, the need for sustainable water management and fair distribution is crucial. In the West Bank, Palestine, the main potable water source is a karst mountain aquifer system. Precipitation occurs usually in the form of rainfall in the mountainous regions during winter period and recharges the groundwater systems. The water either reaches the surface as spring water, or is extracted through pumped wells. But the scarcity of drinking water in Palestine is not due to lack of water resources or technical knowledge of water extraction but a direct consequence of Israeli policies, water management, breached water rights and the occupation of Palestinian territories. Because of such restrictions, ground water is not an option to provide more freshwater, instead it is suggested to collect rainwater runoff in reservoirs. In 2011, the first surface water dam was built in Palestine in Al Auja, just north of Ariha. It was built as an experimental project for future dams and is therefore a small earth fill dam which will be expanded to collect water also from an adjacent watershed, much larger than the current one. The purpose of this study is to determine how much bigger the reservoir needs to be to safely store the inflowing rainwater runoff in the future. This was achieved through hydrological modelling using the HEC-HMS software which is a physical based model. The data used in this study were: 25 m DEM, land use data, soil data (both from remote sense and field visit), river network map, precipitation data, location of the gauges and geological formations. Field visits and soil tests were also great contributions of insights and knowledge crucial for the project. Hourly time-series data for precipitation for the winters 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 and monthly evapotranspiration for 2010-2011 were used as input to the model. Water level data in Al Uja reservoir with 20 minutes intervals were used to evaluate the simulations. Simulations were first optimized for the current scenario to find sets of parameters that match the changes in water level in the dam reservoir. This was done both for single rainfall events as well as for the whole seasons. The parameters creating the most matching results were used in additional simulations with the adjacent watershed included. The difference in results between the simulations with the current watershed and the expanded one was used to answer how much more water the reservoir would have received during 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 if the larger watershed were included. The model results reveal that the reservoir should have been able to hold about three times as much water as today. Installation of an inflow meter is suggested for the future along with an evaluation of local climate change in precipitation and evapotranspiration.

Ce travail de thèse a pour objectif principal de comprendre la dynamique de l’espèce fondatrice de l’écosystème de la région de Bled Talah, ainsi que les mécanismes susceptibles de mieux comprendre ses interactions avec la végétation compagne. Des mesures dendrométriques accomplies par des essais de détermination d’âge, ont fait ressortir que le peuplement de la forêt du Bou Hedma semble naturellement suivre plutôt une certaine dynamique régressive. C’est ainsi que nos résultats démontrent plutôt la dominance des individus de grandes circonférences (des individus âgés). Les obstacles à la faible régénération naturelle de ce taxon sont, essentiellement, l’infestation des graines par les bruches, la possibilité d’un éventuel effet autoallélopathique et la dominance des interactions négatives (compétition) entre la végétation du Parc National du Bou Hedma et les jeunes plants d’Acacia. Concernant, les interactions biotiques, nos résultats ont permis d’enrichir les débats actuels sur l’importance et la direction des interactions le long des gradients de stress et de perturbation. Une dominance des interactions négatives (compétition), le long des deux gradients a été démontrée, avec une chute de l’importance de la compétition en présence d’herbivorie. Les mesures environnementales et biologiques ont permis de conclure, qu’Acacia tortilis subsp. raddiana, a un effet globalement bénéfique pour le sol, ainsi que pour la végétation naturelle environnante. Compte tenu du rôle clef de cette espèce sous les conditions contraignantes du bioclimat aride, la nécessité de minimiser le risque de la faible régénération naturelle de ce taxon est prioritaire dans les grands programmes de reboisement et de restauration des écosystèmes arides. / The main aim of this work were to understand the dynamics of the founding species of the ecosystem of the region of Bled Talah, as well as the mechanisms to understand better its interactions with the vegetation partner. Dendrometric parameters were measured for each tree then determination of age were estimated. This work improves general understanding of the factors explaining the structure of the Acacia tortilis subsp. raddiana. These species naturally seems to follow rather a certain regressive dynamics. The possible reasons for regeneration failure natural regeneration of Acacia tortilis subsp. raddiana were especially the high infestation of seeds by Bruchidius raddianae, the autoallelopathic effetcs and the dominance of the negative interactions (competition) between the vegetation of the National park of Bou Hedma and the young plantations of Acacia tree. The importance and direction of biotic interactions along environmental gradients is still a major debate in plant ecology. Through the study of biotic interactions, our results suggests the dominance of competition between nurses and target species used in this work.The results of this study confirmed the positive effect of Acacia tortilis subsp. raddiana on the understorey vegetation composition and diversity in arid ecosystems. Once, established in the dry area, this species ameliorates microclimate including soil conditions that may be suitable to the regeneration and the growth of other species. In this way, this species will provide beneficial effects to the generating seedlings in the vicinity and therfore will help rehabilitating degraded areas.

Multi-temporal remotely sensed data (MSS, TM and ETM+)were used for monitoring and mapping the desertification processes in North Kordofan State, Sudan.A liear mixture model (LMM) was adopted to analyse and the desertification proccesses by using the image endmembers. interpretation of ancillary data and field observation was adopted to verfiy the role of human impacts in the temporal changes in the study area. The findings of the study proved the powerfull of remotely sensed data in monitoring and mapping the desertification processes and come out with valuable recommendations which could contribute positively in reducing desert encroachment in the area.

Multi-temporal remotely sensed data (MSS, TM and ETM+)were used for monitoring and mapping the desertification processes in North Kordofan State, Sudan.A liear mixture model (LMM) was adopted to analyse and the desertification proccesses by using the image endmembers. interpretation of ancillary data and field observation was adopted to verfiy the role of human impacts in the temporal changes in the study area. The findings of the study proved the powerfull of remotely sensed data in monitoring and mapping the desertification processes and come out with valuable recommendations which could contribute positively in reducing desert encroachment in the area.

Radar Sounders (RSs) are active sensors that transmit in the nadir electromagnetic (EM) waves with a low frequency in the range of High-Frequency and Very-High-Frequency and relatively wide bandwidth. Such a signal penetrates the surface and propagates in the subsurface, interacting with dielectric interfaces. This interaction yields to backscattered echoes detectable by the antenna that are coherently summed and stored in radargrams. RSs are used for planetary exploration and Earth observation for their value in investigating subsurface geological structures and processes, which reveal the past geomorphological history and possible future evolution. RS instruments have several parameter configurations that have to be designed to achieve the mission science goals. On Mars, radargram visual analyses revealed the icy layered deposits and liquid water evidence in the poles. On the Earth, RSs showed relevant structures and processes in the cryosphere and the arid areas that help to monitor the subsurface geological evolution, which is critical for climate change. Despite the valuable results, visual analysis is subjective and not feasible for processing a large amount of data. Therefore, a need emerges for automatic methods extracting fast and reliable information from radargrams. The thesis addresses two main open issues of the radar-sounding literature: i) assessing target detectability in simulated orbiting radargrams to guide the design of RS instruments, and ii) designing automatic methods for information extraction from RS data. The RS design is based on assessing the performance of a given instrument parameter configuration in achieving the mission science goals and detecting critical targets. The assessment guides the parameter selection by determining the appropriate trade-off between the achievable performance and technical limitations. We propose assessing the detectability of subsurface targets (e.g., englacial layering and basal interface) from satellite radar sounders with novel performance metrics. This performance assessment strategy can be applied to guide the design of the SNR budget at the surface, which can further support the selection of the main EORS instrument parameters. The second contribution is designing automatic methods for analyzing radargrams based on fuzzy logic and deep learning. The first method aims at identifying buried cavities, such as lava tubes, exploiting their geometric and EM models. A fuzzy system is built on the model that detects candidate reflections from the surface and the lava tube boundary. The second and third proposed methods are based on deep learning, as they showed groundbreaking results in several applications. We contributed with an automatic technique for analyzing radargram acquired in icy areas to investigate the basal layer. To this end, radargrams are segmented with a deep learning network into literature classes, including englacial layers, bedrock, and echo-free zone (EFZ) and thermal noise, as well as new classes of basal ice and signal perturbation. The third method proposes an unsupervised segmentation of radargrams with deep learning for detecting subsurface features. Qualitative and quantitative experimental results obtained on planetary and terrestrial radargrams confirm the effectiveness of the proposed methods, which investigate new subsurface targets and allow an improvement in terms of accuracy when compared to other state-of-the-art methods.