Hydrogeophysical Investigations Using
DC Resistivity Survey to Assess the Water
Potentialities of the Shallow Aquifer
Zone in East of Dakhla Oasis, Egypt
Khaled S. Gemail, Alaa A. Masoud, Mohamed M. El-Horiny,
Mohamed G. Atwia, and Katsuaki Koike
Abstract In the Egyptian Western Desert oases as an example of arid environment,
groundwater is considered the key source for agricultural and national development
projects. The Dakhla Oasis has been a part of the national agriculture projects in
the last years therefore, the unplanned pumping of groundwater leads to dropping
of water table in the shallow wells. In such cases, the sustainable management and
continuous assessment of groundwater is considered as a noteworthy challenge to
reduce the impact of the excessive exploitation from the upper zone of the Nubian
aquifer system. The present work aims to assess the groundwater potentialities in
the shallow aquifer which is structurally controlled by faults. In this study, the DC
resistivity sounding survey was integrated with borehole logs and TDS data to delineate the impact of the local faults on the recharge system and water quality in the
shallow wells, east of Dakhla area. Forty-Six Schlumberger resistivity soundings
were measured to determine the geometry, position, and properties of the upper
aquifer zone in the area. In addition, sixteen borehole logs were employed to adjust
the resistivity models and determine the accurate boundaries of subsurface layers. The
obtained resistivity models were integrated with TDS measurements of the collected
water samples from 60 water wells to assess water quality in the upper aquifer zone.
Geoelectric cross-sections have been developed to represent plainly the diverse lithologic units and the structural components (essentially faults). Moreover, the inferred
true resistivity map of the aquifer layer reflects the water quality and demonstrates
that this aquifer resistivity ranges from 11.4 to 337 .m indicating fresh to brackish
nature. The anomalous TDS of shallow groundwater in southern parts is referred
mainly to, the drained irrigation water (unconfined aquifer) and the low values of
K. S. Gemail (B)
Environmental Geophysics Lab (ZEGL) at Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Zagazig
University, 44519 Zagazig, Egypt
e-mail: khaledgemail@zu.edu.eg
A. A. Masoud · M. M. El-Horiny · M. G. Atwia
Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt
K. Koike
Department of Urban Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University,
615-8540 Kyoto, Japan
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Iwasaki et al. (eds.), Sustainable Water Solutions in the Western Desert,
Egypt: Dakhla Oasis, Earth and Environmental Sciences Library,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64005-7_15
261
DC Resistivity Survey to Assess the Water
Potentialities of the Shallow Aquifer
Zone in East of Dakhla Oasis, Egypt
Khaled S. Gemail, Alaa A. Masoud, Mohamed M. El-Horiny,
Mohamed G. Atwia, and Katsuaki Koike
Abstract In the Egyptian Western Desert oases as an example of arid environment,
groundwater is considered the key source for agricultural and national development
projects. The Dakhla Oasis has been a part of the national agriculture projects in
the last years therefore, the unplanned pumping of groundwater leads to dropping
of water table in the shallow wells. In such cases, the sustainable management and
continuous assessment of groundwater is considered as a noteworthy challenge to
reduce the impact of the excessive exploitation from the upper zone of the Nubian
aquifer system. The present work aims to assess the groundwater potentialities in
the shallow aquifer which is structurally controlled by faults. In this study, the DC
resistivity sounding survey was integrated with borehole logs and TDS data to delineate the impact of the local faults on the recharge system and water quality in the
shallow wells, east of Dakhla area. Forty-Six Schlumberger resistivity soundings
were measured to determine the geometry, position, and properties of the upper
aquifer zone in the area. In addition, sixteen borehole logs were employed to adjust
the resistivity models and determine the accurate boundaries of subsurface layers. The
obtained resistivity models were integrated with TDS measurements of the collected
water samples from 60 water wells to assess water quality in the upper aquifer zone.
Geoelectric cross-sections have been developed to represent plainly the diverse lithologic units and the structural components (essentially faults). Moreover, the inferred
true resistivity map of the aquifer layer reflects the water quality and demonstrates
that this aquifer resistivity ranges from 11.4 to 337 .m indicating fresh to brackish
nature. The anomalous TDS of shallow groundwater in southern parts is referred
mainly to, the drained irrigation water (unconfined aquifer) and the low values of
K. S. Gemail (B)
Environmental Geophysics Lab (ZEGL) at Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Zagazig
University, 44519 Zagazig, Egypt
e-mail: khaledgemail@zu.edu.eg
A. A. Masoud · M. M. El-Horiny · M. G. Atwia
Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, 31527 Tanta, Egypt
K. Koike
Department of Urban Management, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University,
615-8540 Kyoto, Japan
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
E. Iwasaki et al. (eds.), Sustainable Water Solutions in the Western Desert,
Egypt: Dakhla Oasis, Earth and Environmental Sciences Library,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64005-7_15
261