Hydrogeological, petrophysical and hydrogeochemical characteristics of the groundwater aquifers east of Wadi El-Natrun, Egypt

The studied water-bearing formations in the investigated area are the Quaternary and the Miocene aquifers. The groundwater movement takes a direction from the eastern and northern directions where the surface water sources are located to the western and southern directions. By comparing the water level data of 1960 and 2010, up to 25 m drawdown was noticed in the southern part due to excessive pumping. On the other hand, water level rising was observed in the same period reaching up to 10 m in the northwestern part due to seepage from the irrigation channel.
Petrophysical properties of the studied aquifers were estimated from well logs. The formation water resistivity (R) averages 15.2 ohm m whereas the formation factor (F) averages 5.1. The averages of the total porosity, the effective porosity and permeability are 36.5%, 33.1% and 1126.3 mdarcy, respectively. In addition, the gamma ray logs were used to estimate the volume share of shale which showed an average value reached about 34.6%. Total porosity, effective porosity and permeability showed an increasing trend to the northwestern direction where the recharge area is located.
The concentrations of TDS and the dissolved elements are higher in the shallow groundwater compared to the deeper one, which could be related to soil salinity and evaporation processes. Ion exchange, water–rock interaction and evaporation processes are the main geochemical processes affecting the chemistry of the studied groundwater. Sodium chloride/bicarbonate types are the most common chemical types in the study area. Most of the water samples are of old meteoric origin (NaSO type) and old marine origin (MgCl type). On the basis of SAR and EC values it is concluded that most of the groundwater samples are suitable for irrigation purposes.