The hydrochemical evolution of brackish groundwater in central and northern Sinai (Egypt) and in the western Negev (Israel)

Cretaceous trans-boundary aquifers in the central and northern parts of Sinai (Egypt) and the Negev (Israel), are geographically and geologically both contiguous and continuous. Hydrogeological and hydrochemical studies of these aquifers, with disregard to political boundaries, are scarce. The Lower Cretaceous Kurnub Group aquifer in Sinai and the Negev hosts paleowater mostly replenished during the Pleistocene. The objectives of this study are to elucidate the relationship between regional structural elements and the salinization of groundwater in the Kurnub Group in Sinai and further downstream in the Negev. The stable plateaus in southern Sinai and the fold structures in the north continuing into the Negev are separated by the W–E striking Minshara–Ramon shear zone. With the exception of higher salinities in the north, the chemical composition of Kurnub Group groundwater north and south of the shear zone is similar. Similarly, groundwater in the overlying Upper Cretaceous aquifer differs from Kurnub groundwater only within and north of the shear zone and is characterized by higher Cl concentrations, lower Mg/rCa ratios (due to high Ca in the calcareous aquifer) and by a “heavier” isotopic signature. Inverse hydrogeochemical modeling using PHREEQC indicates that the increase in salinity of Kurnub groundwater within the shear zone and in adjacent areas could be due to two different sources: First, the salinization process could be the result of mixing with sulfate-rich brackish groundwater occurring in Jurassic formations, which are in fault-controlled lateral contact with the Kurnub Group aquifer. Second, the salinity differences could be from unflushed seawater in the subsurface of the northern Sinai and western Negev, i.e. possible remnants of the post-Messinian (Lower Pliocene) transgression, which penetrated into northern Sinai, the western Negev and the Coastal Plain of Israel both through erosional channels, which were incised during the Neogene, and by flooding over outcrops of permeable formations.