Assessment of Sedimentation Characteristics and Capacity Curve for Mosul Dam Reservoir, Iraq

The sedimentation process is the most important problems that affect directly the performance of reservoirs due to the reduction of the storage capacity and possible problems effecting the operation. Thus periodic assessment of the storage capacity and determining sediment deposition patterns is an important issue for operation and management of reservoirs. In this study, bathymetric survey results had been used to assess the characteristics of sedimentation of Mosul Reservoir. It is located on the Tigris River in the north of Iraq. The water surface area of its reservoir is 380 km2 with a designed storage capacity of 11.11 km3 at a maximum operating level (330 m a.s.l). The dam started operating in 1986. No detailed study was yet carried out to assess its reservoir. The present study indicated that the annual sediment deposited in the reservoir is 45.72 × 106 m3year-1 which is divided into 23.2 × 106 and 22.52 × 106 m3year-1 for dead and live zones respectively. This implies the annual reduction rate in the dead and live storage capacities of the reservoir is 0.786% and 0.276% respectively. Furthermore, the stage-storage capacity curves for the future periods (prediction curves) were assessed using 2011 bathymetric survey data.Godkänd; 2013; 20131004 (nadhir)