Geophysical investigation on Wadi El Assiuti Basin, Eastern Desert, Egypt

Abstract

ABSTRACT Communities in North Africa and the Middle East are suffering from a lack of water supplies. In Egypt, this problem will be severe due to the expected shortage in River Nile supply. Therefore, looking for and investigating groundwater aquifers are the target. The current study is an attempt to investigate the Wadi El Assiuti area’s deep groundwater aquifer, which has been identified as a potential development, establishing new community. In this study, the available geophysical data were the gravity and aeromagnetic data. The interpretation of these data has been filtered using different filters. Also, Euler deconvolution and 2D gravity modeling were applied. The actual outcome of the interpretation is presented through the depth of the contour map of the basement surface and Nubian sandstone aquifers map. The primary structure directions are WNW-ESE, NW-SE and NE-SW, according to the maps. The patterns match the distribution of geomorphological units in Wadi El Assiuti. This means that the principal geomorphological units in the area are controlled by trends that originate in the bedrocks and extend upwards within the sedimentary layers. Basement rock depths range between 1.5 and 3.7 km. The Nubian sandstone aquifer has a thickness ranging from 300 to over 2000 m.