TITLE:
Hydrogeochemical Assessment of Groundwater in the Precambrian Rocks, South Eastern Desert, Egypt
AUTHORS:
Ashraf Embaby, Moumtaz Razack, Mathieu Lecoz, Gilles Porel
KEYWORDS:
Eastern Desert, Pre-Cambrian Rocks, Groundwater, Hydrochemistry, Principal Components Analysis, Egypt
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Water Resource and Protection,
Vol.8 No.3,
March
23,
2016
ABSTRACT: This work refers to the characterization of the hydrochemistry of the southern
part of the Eastern Desert in Egypt, on the basis of physico-chemical properties
of groundwater occurring in the fractured Precambrian rocks inland and in sedimentary
formations on the coastline of the Red Sea. Thirty-five groundwater samples have
been collected from the study area for hydrochemical investigations to understand
the sources of dissolved ions and assess the chemical quality of the groundwater.
Several methods were used to interpret the hydrochemical data, i.e. graphical methods, principal components
analysis, ions exchanges indices and saturation indices of various minerals. The
results show that the major ionic relationships are Na+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+ and Cl- > > HCO3- and that groundwater chemical
characteristics are controlled by natural geochemical processes but also, to a lesser
extent, by anthropogenic activities. Natural minerals dissolution, ion exchanges
and evaporation play a prominent role in the ion enrichment of groundwater. A comparison
of groundwater quality in relation to WHO water quality standards proved that most
of the water samples are not totally suitable for drinking water purpose.