Groundwater Inspection and Aquifer Assessment Using Magnetotellurics and Magnetic Data at the Reclamation Area Around New Sphinx City, Egypt

Abstract

Nine Magnetotelluric stations and 198 Land-Magnetic points were conducted within reclamation regions at the western and southwestern areas of the New Sphinx City, Egypt. The main target is to explore the deep groundwater aquifer (Nubian Aquifer), and its reserves. This was interpreted with integrated data available from thirteen water wells within the studied area. Their depths range from 160 to 773 m. We noticed that the wells don’t reach the Nubian Aquifer and the groundwater in the area comes from the Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous, the Upper Cretaceous-Eocene Limestone, and the Oligo-Miocene aquifers, which contain brackish/saline water. The groundwater table ranges between 128-170 m from the topographic-controlled ground surface. Structurally, the area is dissected by two major thrust faults trending in the NE-SW direction, while there is one major normal fault trending in the NW-SE direction. The results showed that the basement relief ranges between -2250 to -4650 m below mean sea level. The Nubian Aquifer extends through the central region within the area according to the results of Nine Magnetotelluric data. It is bounded by the two inverted faults within the Kattaniya inverted basin which is gradually thinning in the southward direction to disappear completely at the Gindi basin. It is partitioned into two units; the upper one was found at an average depth range between -1760 to -2245 m with an average thickness of about 485 m, while the lower unit depth ranges between -2800 to -3825 m with an average thickness of about 1025 m.