Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil saliniz... more Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil salinization and water pollution in East Nile Delta region. Landsat Thematic Images were utilized to detect the environmental changes in the study area during the last three decades. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems data were integrated to monitor and measure surface areas of agricultural and urban developments. Risk assessment maps were constructed for waterlogging and soil salinization threats. The results cleared that both evaporation from logged and flood irrigation water surfaces cause up to 30% of water loss. The logged areas increased from 25km in 1984 to 180km in 2014 along the El-Tina plain which represents the most threated zone. The total changes of waterlogging cover at east Nile Delta varies between 930km in 1989, 685km in 1998 after the construction of El-Salam Canal and 1044km in 2014. The total estimated water loss by direct evaporation was up to 23.6Mm/year. Fo...
Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil saliniz... more Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil salinization and water pollution in East Nile Delta region. Landsat Thematic Images were utilized to detect the environmental changes in the study area during the last three decades. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems data were integrated to monitor and measure surface areas of agricultural and urban developments. Risk assessment maps were constructed for waterlogging and soil salinization threats. The results cleared that both evaporation from logged and flood irrigation water surfaces cause up to 30% of water loss. The logged areas increased from 25km in 1984 to 180km in 2014 along the El-Tina plain which represents the most threated zone. The total changes of waterlogging cover at east Nile Delta varies between 930km in 1989, 685km in 1998 after the construction of El-Salam Canal and 1044km in 2014. The total estimated water loss by direct evaporation was up to 23.6Mm/year. Fo...
CATRINA, J EGYPTIAN SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, 2015
Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil saliniz... more Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil salinization and water pollution in East Nile Delta region. Landsat Thematic Images were utilized to detect the environmental changes in the study area during the last three decades. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems data were integrated to monitor and measure surface areas of agricultural and urban developments. Risk assessment maps were constructed for waterlogging and soil salinization threats. The results cleared that both evaporation from logged and flood irrigation water surfaces cause up to 30% of water loss. The logged areas increased from 25km 2 in 1984 to 180km 2 in 2014 along the El-Tina plain which represents the most threated zone. The total changes of waterlogging cover at east Nile Delta varies between 930km 2 in 1989, 685km 2 in 1998 after the construction of El-Salam Canal and 1044km 2 in 2014. The total estimated water loss by direct evaporation was up to 23.6M...
Egypt has a fast-growing population rate of 2.5 % / year; consequently, there is an increase in t... more Egypt has a fast-growing population rate of 2.5 % / year; consequently, there is an increase in the water demand for living and launching different development plans. Meanwhile, there is intensive construction of several dams in the upstream Nile basin countries. Thus, it is necessary to search for new water resources to overcome the expected shortages of the Nile water supply by focusing on alternative groundwater resources. El-Gallaba Plain area is one of the most promising areas in the western desert of Egypt attaining the priority for new reclamation projects; however, its hydrogeological setting is not well understood. The present work aims at identifying the recharge potential of the groundwater aquifers in El-Gallaba Plain, as well as exploring the role of geologic structures as natural conduits, and evaluating the groundwater types, origin and distribution. The integration of hydro-geophysical studies (aero and land magnetic surveys, vertical electrical sounding), hydro-chem...
Environmental monitoring and assessment, Jan 12, 2018
Groundwater is the key for life in arid areas. Aquifer overexploitation and climatic conditions c... more Groundwater is the key for life in arid areas. Aquifer overexploitation and climatic conditions can significantly deteriorate groundwater quality. The Al-Qassim area in central Saudi Arabia is characterized by dense agricultural use and is irrigated mainly by fossil groundwater from the Saq Aquifer. Understanding the area's hydrochemistry, major factors governing groundwater quality, and alternative uses of the groundwater are the main goals of this study. Groundwater samples were collected and examined for major, minor, and trace elements. Ionic relationships, hydrochemical facies, geospatial distributions, and multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the hydrochemical processes at play. The salinity and nitrate concentrations of the Saq Aquifer's groundwater were found to increase in the outcrop areas more than the confined areas. The spatial distributions were fragmented by three main factors: (i) modern recharge by relatively brackish water, (ii) irrigation return ...
Three sets of satellite data were utilized to outline and monitor the waterlogging problems a... more Three sets of satellite data were utilized to outline and monitor the waterlogging problems along the Wadi El Tumilate basin. These data include Thematic Mapper image for year 1984, Enhanced Landsat Thematic Mapper image for year 2000 and SPOT-4 image for year 2008. Supervised classification using the maximum likelihood approach has been performed. A number of 6 classes were observed at the study sites including, Niledeposits and cultivated areas, surface water and water logged areas, salt crust, Quaternary playa deposits, fluviatile and lacustrine deposits and Miocene (gypsum and carbonate) deposits. Water logged areas expanded from9.1 km2 inyear 1984 to18.8 km2 inyear 2000 to25.3 km2 inyear 2008, with a rate of0.7 km2/year. At the same time, vegetation cover shows an increase from453 km2 inyear 1984 to719 km2 inyear 2008. The integrated data used by Geographic Information Systems specified factors controlling waterlogging problems, which are: topography, drainage pattern and water flow direction, excess of irrigation water, deficiency of drainage system, presence of impermeable clay lenses and lineaments direction. Groundwater modeling including GMS and MODFLOW programs were processed to manage waterlogging problem. Using of underground tile drain along the eastern portion of Wadi El Tumilate basin and dewatering wells along the western side was recommended to obtain the highest monetary return from the drainage investment.
Environmental isotope analyses in conjunction with the hydro-geochemical investigations and tenta... more Environmental isotope analyses in conjunction with the hydro-geochemical investigations and tentative reviewing of the paleoclimatic sea level changes are carried out to fingerprint the implications of climatic changes on the groundwater flow regime and geochemistry at the Nile Delta. Following up the footprints of groundwater flow history, it is observed that the Pleistocene, main groundwater aquifer of the Nile Delta was drained and refilled with Nile water several times due to the eustatic sea level propagations between dry and wet periods. Therefore, the present-day groundwater flow regime could be affected by the latest Holocene phase of climate changes during which no significant dramatic sea level changes were recorded. After the time slice of the Mediterranean humid phase, 8000-5500 BP, the sea level started to rise steeply from –15 m to the present-day level. Under this rising rate, the seawater invaded most of the northern delta lope and several 10ths of kilometres inland via the mouths of the ancient Nile branches. During these arid conditions, deterioration of the Pleistocene unconfined aquifer could take place. This finding matches a famine and economic instabilities during the arid periods and flourishing and economic stabilities during the humid pluvial periods along the history of the ancient Egyptian civilization. In accordance to the latest active sea level rise stage in conjunction with the delta subsidence, a contagious groundwater level rise with a recent order of 3 cm/year is taking place leading to form several lake-like lagoons, water logging and soil salinization along the coastal plain and the eastern low lands. The Nile Delta is expected to suffer extreme soil salinization and gradual merging under the groundwater logging and seawater transgression especially, along the eastern coastal zone which suffers a high subsidence rate of about 5 mm/year. In contrast to previous studies, our findings show that, the present groundwater composition and salinity in the Nile Delta aquifers cannot be attributed to a recent seawater intrusion. The physico-chemical processes that explain this composition are combination of salt dissolution (mainly from Holocene fluvio-marine aquifer), flushing by recent Nile water, ion exchange and evaporation.
Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil saliniz... more Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil salinization and water pollution in East Nile Delta region. Landsat Thematic Images were utilized to detect the environmental changes in the study area during the last three decades. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems data were integrated to monitor and measure surface areas of agricultural and urban developments. Risk assessment maps were constructed for waterlogging and soil salinization threats. The results cleared that both evaporation from logged and flood irrigation water surfaces cause up to 30% of water loss. The logged areas increased from 25km in 1984 to 180km in 2014 along the El-Tina plain which represents the most threated zone. The total changes of waterlogging cover at east Nile Delta varies between 930km in 1989, 685km in 1998 after the construction of El-Salam Canal and 1044km in 2014. The total estimated water loss by direct evaporation was up to 23.6Mm/year. Fo...
Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil saliniz... more Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil salinization and water pollution in East Nile Delta region. Landsat Thematic Images were utilized to detect the environmental changes in the study area during the last three decades. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems data were integrated to monitor and measure surface areas of agricultural and urban developments. Risk assessment maps were constructed for waterlogging and soil salinization threats. The results cleared that both evaporation from logged and flood irrigation water surfaces cause up to 30% of water loss. The logged areas increased from 25km in 1984 to 180km in 2014 along the El-Tina plain which represents the most threated zone. The total changes of waterlogging cover at east Nile Delta varies between 930km in 1989, 685km in 1998 after the construction of El-Salam Canal and 1044km in 2014. The total estimated water loss by direct evaporation was up to 23.6Mm/year. Fo...
CATRINA, J EGYPTIAN SOCIETY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, 2015
Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil saliniz... more Human activities contribute numerous hydrogeological threats including waterlogging, soil salinization and water pollution in East Nile Delta region. Landsat Thematic Images were utilized to detect the environmental changes in the study area during the last three decades. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems data were integrated to monitor and measure surface areas of agricultural and urban developments. Risk assessment maps were constructed for waterlogging and soil salinization threats. The results cleared that both evaporation from logged and flood irrigation water surfaces cause up to 30% of water loss. The logged areas increased from 25km 2 in 1984 to 180km 2 in 2014 along the El-Tina plain which represents the most threated zone. The total changes of waterlogging cover at east Nile Delta varies between 930km 2 in 1989, 685km 2 in 1998 after the construction of El-Salam Canal and 1044km 2 in 2014. The total estimated water loss by direct evaporation was up to 23.6M...
Egypt has a fast-growing population rate of 2.5 % / year; consequently, there is an increase in t... more Egypt has a fast-growing population rate of 2.5 % / year; consequently, there is an increase in the water demand for living and launching different development plans. Meanwhile, there is intensive construction of several dams in the upstream Nile basin countries. Thus, it is necessary to search for new water resources to overcome the expected shortages of the Nile water supply by focusing on alternative groundwater resources. El-Gallaba Plain area is one of the most promising areas in the western desert of Egypt attaining the priority for new reclamation projects; however, its hydrogeological setting is not well understood. The present work aims at identifying the recharge potential of the groundwater aquifers in El-Gallaba Plain, as well as exploring the role of geologic structures as natural conduits, and evaluating the groundwater types, origin and distribution. The integration of hydro-geophysical studies (aero and land magnetic surveys, vertical electrical sounding), hydro-chem...
Environmental monitoring and assessment, Jan 12, 2018
Groundwater is the key for life in arid areas. Aquifer overexploitation and climatic conditions c... more Groundwater is the key for life in arid areas. Aquifer overexploitation and climatic conditions can significantly deteriorate groundwater quality. The Al-Qassim area in central Saudi Arabia is characterized by dense agricultural use and is irrigated mainly by fossil groundwater from the Saq Aquifer. Understanding the area's hydrochemistry, major factors governing groundwater quality, and alternative uses of the groundwater are the main goals of this study. Groundwater samples were collected and examined for major, minor, and trace elements. Ionic relationships, hydrochemical facies, geospatial distributions, and multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the hydrochemical processes at play. The salinity and nitrate concentrations of the Saq Aquifer's groundwater were found to increase in the outcrop areas more than the confined areas. The spatial distributions were fragmented by three main factors: (i) modern recharge by relatively brackish water, (ii) irrigation return ...
Three sets of satellite data were utilized to outline and monitor the waterlogging problems a... more Three sets of satellite data were utilized to outline and monitor the waterlogging problems along the Wadi El Tumilate basin. These data include Thematic Mapper image for year 1984, Enhanced Landsat Thematic Mapper image for year 2000 and SPOT-4 image for year 2008. Supervised classification using the maximum likelihood approach has been performed. A number of 6 classes were observed at the study sites including, Niledeposits and cultivated areas, surface water and water logged areas, salt crust, Quaternary playa deposits, fluviatile and lacustrine deposits and Miocene (gypsum and carbonate) deposits. Water logged areas expanded from9.1 km2 inyear 1984 to18.8 km2 inyear 2000 to25.3 km2 inyear 2008, with a rate of0.7 km2/year. At the same time, vegetation cover shows an increase from453 km2 inyear 1984 to719 km2 inyear 2008. The integrated data used by Geographic Information Systems specified factors controlling waterlogging problems, which are: topography, drainage pattern and water flow direction, excess of irrigation water, deficiency of drainage system, presence of impermeable clay lenses and lineaments direction. Groundwater modeling including GMS and MODFLOW programs were processed to manage waterlogging problem. Using of underground tile drain along the eastern portion of Wadi El Tumilate basin and dewatering wells along the western side was recommended to obtain the highest monetary return from the drainage investment.
Environmental isotope analyses in conjunction with the hydro-geochemical investigations and tenta... more Environmental isotope analyses in conjunction with the hydro-geochemical investigations and tentative reviewing of the paleoclimatic sea level changes are carried out to fingerprint the implications of climatic changes on the groundwater flow regime and geochemistry at the Nile Delta. Following up the footprints of groundwater flow history, it is observed that the Pleistocene, main groundwater aquifer of the Nile Delta was drained and refilled with Nile water several times due to the eustatic sea level propagations between dry and wet periods. Therefore, the present-day groundwater flow regime could be affected by the latest Holocene phase of climate changes during which no significant dramatic sea level changes were recorded. After the time slice of the Mediterranean humid phase, 8000-5500 BP, the sea level started to rise steeply from –15 m to the present-day level. Under this rising rate, the seawater invaded most of the northern delta lope and several 10ths of kilometres inland via the mouths of the ancient Nile branches. During these arid conditions, deterioration of the Pleistocene unconfined aquifer could take place. This finding matches a famine and economic instabilities during the arid periods and flourishing and economic stabilities during the humid pluvial periods along the history of the ancient Egyptian civilization. In accordance to the latest active sea level rise stage in conjunction with the delta subsidence, a contagious groundwater level rise with a recent order of 3 cm/year is taking place leading to form several lake-like lagoons, water logging and soil salinization along the coastal plain and the eastern low lands. The Nile Delta is expected to suffer extreme soil salinization and gradual merging under the groundwater logging and seawater transgression especially, along the eastern coastal zone which suffers a high subsidence rate of about 5 mm/year. In contrast to previous studies, our findings show that, the present groundwater composition and salinity in the Nile Delta aquifers cannot be attributed to a recent seawater intrusion. The physico-chemical processes that explain this composition are combination of salt dissolution (mainly from Holocene fluvio-marine aquifer), flushing by recent Nile water, ion exchange and evaporation.
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