Abstract

The aim of present work is to study the hydrogeological and hydrochemical assessment of the quaternary aquifer in area south Qena city, Upper Egypt. Quaternary aquifer is the most important source of water, not only in study area, but also in most of desert fringes new reclaimed areas along Nile valley in Egypt. Hydrogeological assessments include study the aquifer system conditions, composition, water level, groundwater flow, depth, recharge, and discharge. The Quaternary aquifer is made up of successive layers of fluvial sands and gravels with minor clay intercalations and it capped with Neonile silt and fine-grained sand in floodplain area, which are replaced by recent sediments in desert fringes. Therefore, the aquifer is under semi-confined condition in the floodplain, but it is under unconfined condition in the desert fringes. All chemical constituents have shown an increase under the desert fringes related to leaching processes of highly soluble minerals, which has high effect in the geochemistry of groundwater in its flow path. The geochemical composition of groundwater indicates direct relation between the lithology and relative abundance of ions. The floodplain area has lower ions concentrations than desert fringes, due to the continuous recharge of fresh water from the Nile River through the irrigation conveying system. The hypothetical salt combination revealed the presence of different salts arranged in terms of their predominant as NaCl, Na₂SO₄, NaHCO₃, Mg(HCO₃)₂, Ca(HCO₃)₂, MgSO₄, and KCL. The groundwater qualities were assessed, and the results revealed that all groundwater, at the floodplain and desert fringes areas, are suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. However, the floodplain water parameters closer to acceptable limits of the WHO, EPA, and EHCW.

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