Multi-criteria ground water potentiality mapping utilizing remote sensing and geophysical data: A case study within Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

Abstract

Groundwater demand has dramatically increased due to the swift demographic explosion, especially in arid areas, where groundwater is considered the main source for all purposes. Thus, this research integrates climatological, lithological, structural, topographical, hydro-morphological, and geoelectrical data to explore groundwater potential zones in the central part of Sinai Peninsula, Egypt using the GIS-based Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Seven thematic layers of soil moisture, rainfall, normalized difference vegetation index, drainage density, lineament density, slope, and land use/land cover were built from different remote sensing data sets. The eighth layer represents a high-resolution lithological map of the study area, constructed utilizing the power of the support vector machine over Sentinel 2 data and accurately assessed with a previously published geological map. Ground Water Potentiality Map (GWPM) was constructed and highlighted four main areas as promising zones. Comprehensive geoelectrical analysis was executed through seventeen deep vertical electrical soundings (VESs) using Schlumberger configuration, isoresistivity mapping, and geoelectric cross-sections along five different profiles. 3D view of the studied area's subsurface geological and structural pattern with groundwater flow direction specification, and adequate aquifer characterization, revealed four main geoelectrical units. Geoelectrical data results reasonably coincided with remote sensing data findings in highlighting three freshwater potential zones. Furthermore, the study strongly recommends integrating low-cost remote sensing datasets in narrowing the zone to be intensively investigated using further costly geophysical approaches or drilling test boreholes.