Hydrogeological Characteristics of the Quaternary aquifer in Beni Suef area, Egypt

Albadr, Mohammed; El-Kammar, Ahmed Mohamed; El-Kammar, Mohamed Mohamed; Yehia, Mohamed Mokhtar; Abu Salem, Hend Saeed

doi:10.21608/egjg.2021.93986.1005

Hydrogeological Characteristics of the Quaternary aquifer in Beni Suef area, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ El-Minya Company for Drinking Water and Wastewater, Egypt

² Geology Department, Science Faculty, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

³ Central Laboratory for Environmental Quality Monitoring, National Water Research Centre, Kanater El-Khairia, Egypt

10.21608/egjg.2021.93986.1005

Abstract

Groundwater exploitation in arid and semi-arid areas lead to several hazards such as water level decline, aquifer salinization, water quality deterioration, and waterlogging. The study area is represented by El Fashn District, Beni Suef Governorate, Egypt. The objective of this study is the investigation of the hydrogeological properties of the Quaternary aquifer in Beni Suef area based on the data obtained from the technical reports of REGWA for the years 1996, 2003, 2014 and 2017. In addition, the waterlogging phenomena is considered to allocate the areas that adversely affected by soil salinization. Two main aquifers characterize the study area: The Middle Pleistocene and the Early Pleistocene aquifers. The Holocene sediments act as aquitard of the Middle Pleistocene whereas the Early Pleistocene is lacking the Holocene aquitard. Accordingly, the study area is classified based on aquitard thickness into four zones. The Middle Pleistocene aquifer has a maximum thickness of 200 m in the middle parts of the Nile valley near Beni-Suef and diminishes in both the eastern and western directions, whereas the Early Pleistocene aquifer thickness ranges from 81 m to 85 m with a saturated thickness of 64 to 82 m in the study area. The transmissivity of the aquifer is obtained using Cooper-Jacob method. It varies from about 769 to 4796 m2/d for the Early Pleistocene aquifer, and from 656 to 28602 m2/d for the Middle Pleistocene aquifer. Accordingly, the Quaternary aquifer in the study area is characterized by high potentiality according to Gheorghe classification.
Comparison between the water level maps indicate that there is no change in the groundwater flow direction (from west to northeast direction with the general slope). Although, the slight rise of the groundwater level is apparent in the west part of the study area which may be related to flooding irrigation technique. The waterlogging phenomena is studied in the study area where bad effects on soil are recorded. The investigated area was classified into three areas based on the Indian Ministry of Water Resources classification for water logging, which are waterlogged, potential and safe areas.

Keywords