STRUCTURAL CONTROLS ON DRAINAGE PATTERN USING INTEGRATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND STRUCTURAL DATA: INSIGHTS FROM CAIRO-SUEZ PROVINCE, EGYPT

Abstract

The Cairo-Suez Province (CSP) is one of the highly deformed settings in northern Egypt that includes a complex structures and drainage network. The scope of this paper is to present the results of investigation as how far can geological structures control and/or affect the distribution of drainage networks based on insights from several selected sites along CSP. High resolution satellite images are used with field extracted structural data in order to clarify the structural setting of the studies areas. Moreover, hill shaded digital elevation maps (DEMs) are set up for the studied sites in order to compare the structural features with the resulted structural maps. Additionally, GIS based tools are used for extracting drainage network from DEMs. Trend analysis is used for comparing the drainage network to the main resulted structural elements. As a result, nine different structural models are suggested to control the drainage pattern along CSP. These models are placed under main three structural categories which are; simple fault(s), linked faults and fault-related folds. Additionally, the resulted structural models show main controls on sedimentation as well as groundwater accumulation. The findings of the research are helpful as preliminary step for groundwater studies, sedimentation, and geo-hazard assessment.