Geophysical Investigation for Detecting the Groundwater Occurrence along Qift ElQuseir Road, Eastern Desert, Egypt

Abstract

Surface geophysical survey was performed along Qift EL-Quseir Road between the Red Sea coast at the east and Qift town at the River Nile westward, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt, to delineate its groundwater situation. The groundwater in this hyper-arid area has a precious value for the different development objectives. The study area is characterized by presence of several aquifers (fracture basement, Nakheil formation, Nubian sandstone and Quaternary aquifers). These aquifers represent the main source of groundwater that used in tourist activities, mining and agriculture projects. The integration between surface geophysical techniques (land magnetic profiles, vertical electrical soundings (VES's) and electric resistance tomography), cover all gaps in study area. These surveys determine the horizontal and vertical extensions of the lithological succession, estimate the aquifers dimensions, the depth to water, the water level, estimate the characteristics of the water bearing formations, detect the basement relief, geological structures that affect the groundwater occurrences, locate the best sites for drilling productive water wells and finally Assess the groundwater potentialities in the study area. From this geophysical study, it can be mentioned that the promising sites for digging new productive water wells are, the delta of Fawakheir–Mathula basin, the Nubian sandstone plateau area (between km 15 to km 65 East the Nile), localities of El Sid and the downstream portion of W.Um Slimat, location of the delta of Abu Zeran-Ambagi basin (between km 2 to km9 from the Red Sea coast) and the downstream of W.El Nakheil sub-basin. Some exploratory drilling wells can be recommended in downstream portions of W.Kareem, El Beida area, W.Hamad and El Sheikh Abd Al'al region.