Updating Geological Cross-Sections of Gaza Aquifer (North, Gaza and Middle Governorates)

Abstract

The study was carried out in the three Governorates of Gaza Strip coastal aquifer which are represented by North Gaza, Gaza, and Middle Area in order to look into the geological properties of this area. The study aimed at updating geological cross sections in the study area to identify the subsurface lithological structure. This study was conducted of Gaza Strip because there is a lack of geological information of Gaza Strip. There are no complete geological reports for Gaza Strip but some studies carried out for specific purposes by some researchers, engineering consulting offices, ministries or government authorities such as the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA). Most of these researches are special reports and not published. This study was conducted using soil descriptions of the surface and subsurface layers, 300 boreholes or wells that have been collected from PWA. Thirteen geological cross sections has been drawn in different locations. The sections presents soil, and rock types along these locations. Some of these proposed sections correlated wells with previous sections. The study gives recommendation for creating internet data bank that contains geological and geotechnical characteristics to get them on demand and collect more data to be as for building 3D model and adding new data to get more accuracy in description, Selecting new geotechnical characteristics to conduct similar studies and standardize the geological terminology during drilling wells and description. The results show that the small change between old and new sections in the study area at top soil texture, the soil type on the sea side beach areas is sandy pure soil and on the northern to middle areas, begin to change gradually as we head east to turn into a silt and clay. In additions geological characteristics of the soil, water levels can be integrated to gain more information about water resources with more areas.