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Water Seepage Source at the Extension of Tourah Clay Quarry, Southeastern Cairo Based on Geological and Geoelectrical Resistivity Measurements

Received: 19 April 2020    Accepted: 07 May 2020    Published: 27 May 2020
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Abstract

The cement industry depends essentially on the clay as one of the main raw materials for the industry. The Tourah clay quarry is one of the oldest and largest quarries of clays in Egypt, which is located to the southeastern of Cairo. The biggest problems that affect the clay quarries and may cause them to be closed forever is that, the water reaches them and leads to the difficulty of extracting raw materials from the quarries and ultimately leads to their closure. During the mining operations and extraction of raw materials from the extension of Tourah clay quarry, a water leak was observed that reached the bottom of the quarry, and the water began to increase and led to the difficulty of entering and exiting the equipments from the quarry. A detailed geological field study and geoelectrical resistivity survey were conducted in and around the extension of Tourah clay quarry to find out the source and cause of the water leak, which was increasing rapidly on the bottom of quarry. A geoelectrical resistivity survey was performed in the form of thirteen vertical electrical soundings and two horizontal profiling were made using the Wenner configuration in order to understand and solve the formentioned problem. The interpretation of the geoelectrical data shows three main units; surface layer from dry sand, gravel and rock fragments followed by a second layer of loose sand and is partially saturated with water and finally a clay layer which is extracted as a raw material in cement industry. Accordingly, based on the field geological observations in addition to the geoelectrical resistivity interpretations, we can conclude that, the possible water source in the bottom of clay quarry is due to the second loose partially saturated sand unit and the direction of water invasion in this particular area comes from the northeastern direction. To save the extension of Tourah clay quarry from closure it is recommended to extract the water from the sand unit before it reached the quarry bottom either by water head compensation or dewatering of the well field area.

DOI 10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13
Published in Earth Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 3, June 2020)
Page(s) 108-116
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Water Seepage, Clay Quarry, Geoelectrical Resistivity Measurements, Cairo, Egypt

References
[1] A. M. S. Abd El-Gawad, “An integrative electrical resistivity-short seismic refraction study for delineating the Quaternary water occurrences in the south of Cairo, Egypt” M. Sc. Thesis, Fac. Sci., Ain Shams Univ., 1992, 303 p.
[2] A. M. S. Abd El-Gawad, and G. Hossam, “Application of geoelectrical measurements to detect the ground-water seepage in limestone quarry of Helwan, southeastern Cairo, Egypt” 4th International Conference on the Geology of the Tethys, Cairo Univ., Nov., 2008, p. 141-148.
[3] A. M. S. Abd El-Gawad, A. S. Helaly, M. S. E. Abd El-Latif, “Application of geoelectrical measurements for detecting the ground-water seepage in clay quarry at Helwan, southeastern Cairo, Egypt” NRIAG, 2018 (7) p. 377–389.
[4] G. H. Awad, M. I Faris, and H. L. Abbass, “Contribution to the stratigraphy of the Mokattam area east of Cairo” Bull. Inst. Desert Egypte, 1953., v. 3, No. 2, p. 106-107.
[5] R. D. Barker, “Improving the quality of resistivity sounding data in landfill studies” In S. H. Ward (ed). "Geotechnical and environmental geophysics, v. 2. Environmental and ground water applications", 1990, p. 245-251.
[6] R. J. Bisdorf, “Schlumberger soundings at the Norman landfill, Norman, Oklahoma” U.S. Geological Survey 1996, Open-File Report 96-668.
[7] T. Dahlin, and B. Zhou, “A numerical comparison of 2D resistivity imaging with 10 electrodes arrays” Geophysical Prospecting, 2004, 52: p. 379–398.
[8] K. Ernstson, and R. Kirsch, “Geoelectrical methods, basic principles. -In Kirsch R (ed): Groundwater Geophysics: A Tool for Hydrology”, Springer, 2006, p. 85–108.
[9] P. Kearey, and M. Brooks, “An introduction to geophysical exploration”, Blackwell Scientific Publication, London, 1991, 254 P.
[10] A. R. Moustafa, and S. Abdel Tawab, “ Morphostructures and non-tectonic structures of Gebel Mokattam”, MERC, Ain Shams Univ. 1985, Sci. Res. Ser., v. 5, p. 65-78.
[11] A. R. Moustafa, M. A. Yehia and S. Abdel Tawab, “Structural setting of the area east of Cairo”, Maadi, and Helwan: MERC, Ain Shams Univ., 1985, Sci. Res. Ser., v. 5, p. 40-64.
[12] D. S. Parasnis, “Principles of applied geophysics”, Chapman & Hall, 2-6 Boundary Row, London SE1 8HN, UK, 1997.
[13] R. Said, “The geology of Egypt” Elsevier Sci. Pub. Co., Amsterdam, 1962, 377 p.
[14] R. Said, “Explanatory notes to accompany the geological map of Egypt” Geol. Survey of Egypt, 1971, paper no. 56, 123 p.
[15] N. M. Shukri, “The geology of the desert east of Cairo” Bull. Inst. Desert Egypte, 1953, v. 3, no. 2, p. 89-105.
[16] A. Strougo, “Eocene stratigraphy of the eastern Greater Cairo (Gebel Mokattam-Helwan) area” MERC, Ain Shams University, 1985. Sci. Res. Ser., v. 5, p. 1-39.
[17] A. A. R Zohdy, “A new method for the automatic interpretation of Schlumberger and Wenner sounding curves” Geophysics, 1989, 54 (2): 245-253.
Author Information
  • Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

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    Ahmed Abd El-Gawad. (2020). Water Seepage Source at the Extension of Tourah Clay Quarry, Southeastern Cairo Based on Geological and Geoelectrical Resistivity Measurements. Earth Sciences, 9(3), 108-116. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13

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    Ahmed Abd El-Gawad. Water Seepage Source at the Extension of Tourah Clay Quarry, Southeastern Cairo Based on Geological and Geoelectrical Resistivity Measurements. Earth Sci. 2020, 9(3), 108-116. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13

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    AMA Style

    Ahmed Abd El-Gawad. Water Seepage Source at the Extension of Tourah Clay Quarry, Southeastern Cairo Based on Geological and Geoelectrical Resistivity Measurements. Earth Sci. 2020;9(3):108-116. doi: 10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13,
      author = {Ahmed Abd El-Gawad},
      title = {Water Seepage Source at the Extension of Tourah Clay Quarry, Southeastern Cairo Based on Geological and Geoelectrical Resistivity Measurements},
      journal = {Earth Sciences},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {108-116},
      doi = {10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.earth.20200903.13},
      abstract = {The cement industry depends essentially on the clay as one of the main raw materials for the industry. The Tourah clay quarry is one of the oldest and largest quarries of clays in Egypt, which is located to the southeastern of Cairo. The biggest problems that affect the clay quarries and may cause them to be closed forever is that, the water reaches them and leads to the difficulty of extracting raw materials from the quarries and ultimately leads to their closure. During the mining operations and extraction of raw materials from the extension of Tourah clay quarry, a water leak was observed that reached the bottom of the quarry, and the water began to increase and led to the difficulty of entering and exiting the equipments from the quarry. A detailed geological field study and geoelectrical resistivity survey were conducted in and around the extension of Tourah clay quarry to find out the source and cause of the water leak, which was increasing rapidly on the bottom of quarry. A geoelectrical resistivity survey was performed in the form of thirteen vertical electrical soundings and two horizontal profiling were made using the Wenner configuration in order to understand and solve the formentioned problem. The interpretation of the geoelectrical data shows three main units; surface layer from dry sand, gravel and rock fragments followed by a second layer of loose sand and is partially saturated with water and finally a clay layer which is extracted as a raw material in cement industry. Accordingly, based on the field geological observations in addition to the geoelectrical resistivity interpretations, we can conclude that, the possible water source in the bottom of clay quarry is due to the second loose partially saturated sand unit and the direction of water invasion in this particular area comes from the northeastern direction. To save the extension of Tourah clay quarry from closure it is recommended to extract the water from the sand unit before it reached the quarry bottom either by water head compensation or dewatering of the well field area.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Water Seepage Source at the Extension of Tourah Clay Quarry, Southeastern Cairo Based on Geological and Geoelectrical Resistivity Measurements
    AU  - Ahmed Abd El-Gawad
    Y1  - 2020/05/27
    PY  - 2020
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13
    T2  - Earth Sciences
    JF  - Earth Sciences
    JO  - Earth Sciences
    SP  - 108
    EP  - 116
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5982
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.earth.20200903.13
    AB  - The cement industry depends essentially on the clay as one of the main raw materials for the industry. The Tourah clay quarry is one of the oldest and largest quarries of clays in Egypt, which is located to the southeastern of Cairo. The biggest problems that affect the clay quarries and may cause them to be closed forever is that, the water reaches them and leads to the difficulty of extracting raw materials from the quarries and ultimately leads to their closure. During the mining operations and extraction of raw materials from the extension of Tourah clay quarry, a water leak was observed that reached the bottom of the quarry, and the water began to increase and led to the difficulty of entering and exiting the equipments from the quarry. A detailed geological field study and geoelectrical resistivity survey were conducted in and around the extension of Tourah clay quarry to find out the source and cause of the water leak, which was increasing rapidly on the bottom of quarry. A geoelectrical resistivity survey was performed in the form of thirteen vertical electrical soundings and two horizontal profiling were made using the Wenner configuration in order to understand and solve the formentioned problem. The interpretation of the geoelectrical data shows three main units; surface layer from dry sand, gravel and rock fragments followed by a second layer of loose sand and is partially saturated with water and finally a clay layer which is extracted as a raw material in cement industry. Accordingly, based on the field geological observations in addition to the geoelectrical resistivity interpretations, we can conclude that, the possible water source in the bottom of clay quarry is due to the second loose partially saturated sand unit and the direction of water invasion in this particular area comes from the northeastern direction. To save the extension of Tourah clay quarry from closure it is recommended to extract the water from the sand unit before it reached the quarry bottom either by water head compensation or dewatering of the well field area.
    VL  - 9
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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