2D resistivity inversion of 1D electrical-sounding measurements in deltaic complex geology: application to the delta Wadi El-Arish, Northern Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

This study is an application of the 2D resistivity inversion of Schlumberger electrical sounding. The 2D resistivity inversion was performed using a code based on the finite-element technique and regularization method. Twenty-nine electrical soundings collected in the delta of Wadi El-Arish, Northern Sinai, were used as a case study. The main objective is to compare the 1D and 2D inversion results of the subsurface resistivity distribution in areas where the lateral resistivity variation cannot be neglected. The examination of the resulting 2D, 1D resistivity models and geological cross-section built from borehole information approximately at the same location showed a significant reliability of 2D models. Some subsurface geological and hydrogeological features could be interpreted such as the identification of clay lenses, potentiometric surface of the quaternary aquifer, potentiometric depression due to over-pumping, the high resistivity contrast due to lateral facies change, and basin-like structural features.