Hydrogeochemical and Geophysical Studies on the Shallow Groundwater Aquifer at New Galala City, Northern Galala Plateau, Egypt

Abstract

Galala is a new promising city developed by the Egyptian government in the Eastern Desert above the Northern Galala Plateau, western side of Gulf of Suez. The main aim of the present study is to help decision makers in planning the new city by delineating the subsurface lineaments/faults to avoid future disasters of roads, urban areas and infrastructure. Furthermore, the thickness and facies type of the sedimentary cover was determined in order to study the shallow groundwater aquifer, which is essential to start a new urban area. Such targets have been fulfilled by geologic field studies, detailed magnetic profiles and aeromagnetic data. The chemical analyses of several water samples were used to investigate groundwater suitability for different purposes on the basis of standard guidelines. The samples were generally characterized by recent marine and deep meteoric water origins.