Application of electrical resistivity for groundwater exploration in Wadi Rahaba, Shalateen, Egypt

Abstract

Shalateen area is located on the Red Sea coast at the southeastern part of the Eastern Desert. It is suffering from shortage in fresh water, where the main source of water is the rain water. Desalinated water is another source but it is more expensive. So, groundwater is the alternative solution to face the gap between the water demand and available water in this area. Vertical electrical sounding (VES) is considered as one of the most common methods in groundwater exploration. Twenty Schlumberger VES's with maximum current electrode spacing of 400 m were carried out in the coastal zone of Shalateen area at the alluvial fan of Wadi Rahaba. The obtained data were processed and interpreted qualitatively and quantitatively. The geoelectric layers that were detected in the study area are Quaternary dry alluvial sediments, Quaternary alluvial deposits and Miocene sandstone aquifer, clay lens, sill, fractured basement, non-fractured basement. The Quaternary alluvial deposits and Miocene sandstone represent the main shallow aquifer in the study area. The salt water appears at the eastern part while fresh water is concentrated at the western part. Resistivity values of the fresh to slightly brackish water ranges between 38.6 and 98.4 XÁm with thickness varies from 1.18 to 24.4 m and depth range between 1.31 and 19 m. Clay lenses appear in the alluvial fan channel with resistivity values ranges between 1.3 and 9.1 XÁm and thickness varies from 2.1 to 13.7 m. The fresh coastal aquifers are affected by set of faults. These faults appear in all profiles distributed orthogonally through the study area. In the study area, a fractured sill intrusion is intruding the groundwater aquifer. It is located near a granodiorite-tonalite exposure with resistivity values (230-315 XÁm) at (5.6-16.4 m) depth. Basement is also detected at shallow depths especially in the western part of the study area.

Evaluation of Land Capability and Suitability Crop Production: Case Study in Halaib and Shalatien Region, South East Desert of Egypt

“…It is located on the Red Sea coast at the southeastern part of the Eastern Desert. (Mohamaden and Ehab, 2017). Shalatien area received more attention as a promising region for different developmental activities, such as; tourism, fishery, animal husbandry, agriculture and mining, and for its importance as a trading route between Egypt and Sudan (Ageeb et al, 2007).…”

Groundwater Exploration in Aaba Residential Area of Akure, Nigeria

“…The electrical resistivity employing VES configuration is effective due to its simplicity (Sunmonu et al, 2012), easy interpretation, and the ruggedness of the field equipment (Adelusi et al, 2014;Sunmonu et al, 2016). The technique has been found useful both in soft rock terrain (Aizebeokhai et al, 2016(Aizebeokhai et al, , 2017Oyeyemi et al, 2017) and hard rock domain (Adagunodo and Sunmonu, 2012;Sunmonu et al, 2012Sunmonu et al, , 2015Adelusi et al, 2014;Abudulawal et al, 2015;Anomohanran et al, 2017;Mohamaden and Ehab, 2017) respectively.…”

Integration of Isotopic (2H and 18O) and Geophysical Applications to Define a Groundwater Conceptual Model in Semiarid Regions

“…Aquifers are regularly characterized by low electrical resistivity, which correlates with differences between rocks (density, shape, and porosity), water content, and temperature. Geological units are also affected by differences in humidity percentages [25]; therefore, they were separated into different geoelectrical units [21,26]. The transient electromagnetic method (TEM) is sensitive to bulk resistivity (conductivity) of the studied medium.…”

“…The final output was a set of cross-sections describing the electrical parameters of the subsurface medium and their corresponding geological material in the study area. In total, 54 VES (vertical electrical soundings) points were placed in two profiles crossing the Calera aquifer ( Figure 4); the cross-sections were traced in both West-East (25 VES along the profile) and North-South (29 25 into different geoelectrical units [21,26]. The transient electromagnetic method (TEM) is sensitive to bulk resistivity (conductivity) of the studied medium.…”