Groundwater Exploration in Nizwa

Abstract

In sedimentary context, the groundwater is generally located in the pore space of permeable rock layers. Depending on the rock porosity, rock permeability and sometime fracture and karstic network, the number of ground water table, their thickness and their spatial heterogeneity may vary greatly. Groundwater is One of the important source of water wealth in Oman, it’s about 15% from the total annual rainfall which’s 100 ml, the other 80% is evaporated, 5% is transported and what is remain is stored as groundwater as it mentioned by Ministry of Regional Municipal and Water Resources. In order to locate the most favorable site to setup a drilling, several geophysical investigations can be performed. In this project which’s located in NIzwa (ALdhakliea), ERT surveys with six measurements line was carried out using the Syscal Pro Switch instrument in order to investigate groundwater. The recommended point to drill is 140 meter in line 6.  The depth of water reservoir is between27 – 47m and the measured resistivity is between7.78 – 13.9 which indicate pure water resistivity. Therefor Electrical Resistivity Tomography may be a good tool to assess the best location of a drilling in this context .