The study area lies at the distance of about 35 km west of the city of Sidi Barrani and about 50 km to the east of the Sallum city and at about 9 kilometers south of the Mediterranean shoreline covering about 32 km.2It occupies a portion of the semiarid climatic conditions area of Egypt. Geomorphologically, the study area lies on the piedmont plain having a general slope northward towards the Mediterranean Sea. Stratigraphically, deposits in the study area range in age from the Tertiary to Quaternary. The Miocene is the main aquifer in the area. It consists of different varieties from carbonate rocks, which play an important role in groundwater potentiality. The water bearing formations would be recharged from local rainfall received generally by the area and its vicinities.
The main purpose of the present investigation is finding out the shallow groundwater aquiferwhich exists in the area through the application of two geoelectrical techniques (vertical electrical sounding & two-dimensional (2D) geoelectrical imaging).
A grid pattern of 15 Vertical Electrical Sounding (V.E.S) stations has been used in the concerned area. The Schlumberger electrodes configuration was used, with current electrodes distance from 1000 to 1400m. Also, the two-dimensional (2D) geoelectrical imaging (tomography) with Wenner measurements has been carried out along a profile in West-East direction with a length of 510m at Sanyet Eshenderra with purpose of finding out the extension, depth and the thickness of the shallow aquifer. This technique can determine the fractures within the aquifer with high resolution.
The interpretation of the geoelectrical data led to the identification of the geoelectrical and geological successions comprising five geoelectrical layers (the first is surface layer, the second layer is dry and composed of limestone with clay intercalation, the third layer is a fractured limestone water bearing layer, the fourth layer is clay, while the last layer is dry limestone). Generally, the resistivity values and the thickness of the aquifer are increasing towards the east direction in the study area. This is attributed to increasing potentiality of water, good water quality and best production of wells in that direction. The results of geoelectrical data revealed that groundwater exists in the study area depending mainly on the density of fissures and fractures within these rocks.
The area is influenced by faults which affected the subsurface successions forming a graben in the central part of the area. The above-mentioned results can help the decision-maker in the process of agricultural development in the area.