quifer Characterization of West El-Minia Area, Egypt, through the Forward and Inverse Modeling of the DC Resistivity and Transient Electromagnetic Data

Abstract

The area under study of West El-Minia is bounded between latitudes 28o 00\ 00\\ to 28o 30\ 00\\ N and longitudes 30o 05\ 0\\ to 30 o 30\ 00\\ E and, it has been studied in different aspects. Geologically, the area basically consists of two formations are Samalut Formation, which made up of limestone with shale intercalations underlined by El-Minia Formation, which also consists mainly of limestone, as well as Oligocene clastics, that made up of sand, gravel, with clay intercalations. Structurally, this area was subjected to intense uplifting, that is obvious in the ground elevations through the study area and the topographic features. From the previous hydrogeological studies, there are three main aquifers. They are Oligocene clastic aquifer, Carbonate aquifer and Nubian Sandstone aquifer. This study focuses on studying and exploring the Oligocene and Eocene carbonates aquifers as shallow and deep aquifers. The Eocene carbonate aquifer is considered the main shallow and deep aquifers and more extended than the Oligocene aquifer across the study area. At this study, the DC- resistivity method and the Time-Domain Electromagnetic method were used, as surface geoelectrical methods for exploring the previous shallow and deep groundwater aquifers and for estimating their geological and hydrogeological characteristics along the study area. The DC resistivity method in the form of 22 Vertical Electrical Soundings (VESs), using Schlumberger array configuration, with max AB/2  700m, were carried out for studying the shallow resistive depths, delineating the shallow groundwater aquifer (Oligocene aquifer) and the shallow depths from the Eocene aquifer, add to exploring the expected structural faults. The results of shallow DC resistivity soundings were