Hydrogeophysical Assessment of Wadi El-Sheikh Aquifer, Saint Katherine, South Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

Abstract Over the last few years, Saint Katherine, South Sinai has seen large scale development in connection with building new cities, land reclamation, and tourism. The Wadi El-Sheikh aquifer constitutes one of the major freshwater recourses in the Saint Katherine area. In that regard, ten Schlumberger vertical electrical soundings (maximum AB/2 = 682 m) associated with a number of measured and/or calculated geoelectric and petrophysical parameters of the aquifer were conducted to delineate and assess the aquifer. Furthermore, subsurface stratigraphic data and measured hydrological parameters of shallow boreholes in the study area were integrated with the geoelectrical results. The integration of the sounding results, borehole data, and geoelectric and petrophysical parameters effectively delineated the alluvial fresh water aquifer with true resistivities ranging between 206 and 255 Ohm-m and thickness ranging between 32 and 66 m. The northern part is characterized by a gradual decrease in porosity, electrical anisotropy coefficient, and total dissolved solid (TDS) concentrations. On the other hand, the northern part is characterized by a gradual increase in grain size, tortuosity, permeability, and transmissivity reflecting high aquifer potential. Moreover, the downward gravitational movement of groundwater is greater in the northern direction as well. Based on these findings, deep wide-spaced development water wells (30 ∼ 35 m depth) are recommended to be drilled in the northern area.