Groundwater condition based on geoelectrical technique and Dar Zarrouk parameters between El Alamein and El Dabaa—Egypt

Abstract

El Alamein-El-Dabaa area lies in the western Mediterranean coastal zone of Egypt with about 50 km long. The aims of the present study are the shallow groundwater aquifer determination and calculate the electric parameters of the overburden to achieve the easiest way for detecting groundwater contamination and considered it during the planning of new development project(s). To attain this target, 44 vertical resistivity soundings using Schlumberger array of the maximum AB/2 = 1000 m in the form of four profiles were carried out. From the interpretation results, six geoelectrical layers have been established in the area, and iso-resistivity, depth to water, and isopach contour maps are presented. Four geoelectrical cross-sections (two geoelectrical cross-sections are parallel to the Mediterranean shoreline and the other two are normal to the Mediterranean shoreline) have been constructed. According to this work, the upper part of the Oolitic Limestone represents the shallow groundwater aquifer in this area and can be distinguished into two zones. The upper zone is brackish, whereas the lower one is saline. The geoelectrical succession reveals that the aquifer is free type. The depth to water ranges between 20 and 63 m; therefore, it is the choice as the best sites for groundwater exploitation. In the area under study, the depth to water and the thickness of the brackish increase towards the south side as well as the depth to the brackish water. The Dar-Zarrouk parameters clarified that there are some parts that may contaminate pathways and other parts are not.