Application of Remote Sensing and Ground Penetrating Radar for Evaluating the Groundwater Potentiality of West Qena Area, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Port-Said University

2 Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Mansoura University

Abstract

Mapping the structural lineaments/fractures is of great importance for evaluating the groundwater potentiality, especially in hard rock terrains where they play as conduits and control the hydrogeological processes. This study demonstrates the efficiency of remote sensing imagery for mapping the lineaments in the Western Limestone Plateau and the low desert alluvial floodplain of the Nile west of Qena City. Different remote sensing data were used, including the SRTM DEM, Landsat-8, ALOS/PALSAR, and Sentinel-1 InSAR coherence images. They were processed to enhance the edge linear features by applying the hillshade algorithm on the DEM using ArcMap, the Sobel directional filter on the Landsat-8 image using ENVI, and the Pauli classification on the ALOS PALSAR image using SNAP. The lineaments were extracted from the processed images through on-screen digitizing in the ArcMap to produce the final lineament map. The lineaments have been confirmed from the Sentinel-1 InSAR coherence image. Moreover, GPR profiles have been acquired and carried out at discrete localities at the low desert alluvial floodplain. The extracted lineaments were statistically analyzed, and the results were displayed in the form of a rose diagram and a lineaments density map. The rose diagram has indicated that the area is affected by fractures of different lengths and structural trends; mostly NW-SE and some NE-SW. All of them occupy the plateau, while the low desert floodplain is free of lineaments. The plateau has a lineament density ranging from 0 to 1.21 km/km2. The high-density zones are of a high fracturing degree reflecting their high groundwater potentiality compared to the low-density zones. The study led to the classification of the area into zones of different groundwater potentiality ranging from very poor to very good. The potentiality of the plateau increases eastward as the lineament density increases

Keywords