| Title | Delineation of a Geothermal Reservoir by 2D Inversion of Resistivity Data at Hamam Faraun Area, Sinai, Egypt |
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| Authors | Gad El-Qady, Keisuke Ushijima and El-Sayad Ahmad |
| Year | 2000 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | geothermal, Resistivity, 2D inversion, Hamam Faraun, Sinai |
| Abstract | The Sinai Peninsula is one of the main geographic units of Egypt. Also, the Sinai Peninsula is considered to be an unstable shelf due to frequent earthquake activity and its relationship to the geologic setting of the area. Because of this, we directed the main aim of this work towards exploring the geothermal resources, and ground water aquifer at Hamam Faraun area, which is considered to be the hottest spring (72?C) in Sinai and in all of Egypt. A geoelectrical resistivity survey was conducted in terms of 17 VES using a Schlumberger array, of the maximum AB/2 =1000 m. Interpretation of a 1D inversion was performed to give a layered resistivity earth using a nonlinear least squares method. However, some resistivity sections of the 1D inversion are not fully understood because of the complicated geological structure. Therefore, we have carried out a 2D inversion based on ABIC least squares method for the same data set. The general distribution of resistivity shows a very low value near the Hamam Faraun hot spring. However, the cross section derived from the 2D inversion still shows a rough spatial resistivity distribution which corresponds to the abrupt changes of resistivity distribution between two neighboring blocks. It clearly elaborates the subsurface structure at Hamam Faraun area as well as elucidates and gives an explanation for the hot water source in the area. It is concluded that the hydrothermal system at Hamam Faraun area is derived from 1D and 2D inversion results of vertical electric sounding data with Schlumberger electrode array. However, other geoelectrical methods such as MT or EM are recommended to overcome seawater intrusion and topography problems. |