Symposium on Remote Sensing for Resources Development and Environmental Management / Enschede / August 1986 
and coal-poten- 
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Lublin. The Geo- 
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Geologiczna Pol- 
Logical Map of 
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Inst.Geol. 
L;500 000. In At- 
mineral deposits 
szawa, Inst.Geol. 
Photo-interpretation of landforms and the hydrogeologic bearing 
in highly deformed areas, NW of the gulf of Suez, Egypt 
E.A.Korany 
Qatar University, Doha 
L.L.Iskandar 
Secondary Schools, Cairo, Egypt 
ABSTRACT: West of the gulf of Suez, the area is highly deformed. The Precambrian Shield was 
developed into an elongated fault block. It is overlapped on both eastern and western margin- 
s by thick sequences of younger sedimentary rocks. They are all broken by five sets of faults 
trending N-S, NE-SW, NW-SE, E-W, and WNW-ESE. 
The surface is developed into a higher Plateau occupies the Red Sea Range of the Basement 
rocks. The coastal strip is covered by Miocene and younger sediments and occupies the outlets 
of the dissects drainage arteries shedding from the higher plateau. 
An image interpretation of landforms is carried out on the bases of, qualitative and quant 
itative studies of relief criteria, the drainage network and the hydrographic features. 
More attentions are focused on the hydrogeologic bearings, the control upon water flow eit 
her on the surface or in subsurface, and the impacts upon the groundwater conditions in the 
Miocene aquifer. 
The study approach is based on the stereoscopic examination of aerial photographs, the stu 
dy of photo-mosaics and landsat imageries, and the field check and measurements. 
LOCATION OF THE AREA 
The area of study is located in the Eastern 
Desert of Egypt along the coast of the gulf 
of Suez. It is bounded by latitudes 27° 45' 
and 28° 25' N, and longitudes 32° 45' and 33° 
45' E (Fig. 1). 
GEOLOGIC CONDITIONS 
The gulf of Suez lies within the stable belt 
of Egypt. It runs in a NW-SE direction forming 
an elongated depression seperating the massi 
ve central Sinai fron those of the Eastern 
Desert. It is being regarded as a complicated 
rift type graben structure initiated during 
Oligocène time and controlled by NW-SE norm 
al faults( Shalom,1954; Said,1962; Youssef, 
1968; Said ,1969; and Abdeine,1§81). 
West of the gulf of Suez, the area is devel 
oped into NW-SE parallel fault blocks forming 
successive grabens and horsts. The horsts ha 
ve the form of anticlines and the grabens ha 
ve the form of synclines (El-Tarabili,1970, 
and Iskandar, in preparation). 
Five systems of faults are recognized in the 
area. They are trending N-S, NE-SW, NW-SE, 
E-W, and WNW-ESE. They are responsible for 
the development of certain géomorphologie lan 
dforms and the hydrographic features. 
The surface is built of the Basement rocks 
in the higher Plateau, while it is formed of 
younger sedimentary rocks along the coast. 
The Miocene section is the thickest single 
stratigraphic unit. The record culminated wi 
th thick evaporites of Middle Miocene age. 
The Rudeis Formation represents the wider 
distributed unit in the Middle Miocene secti 
on in the area. It is built of sands and sand 
stones at base, and shales at top. It maintai 
ns the main aquifer in the area. It yields 
brackish water having higher concentrations 
of Ca, Na+K, Cl, SO4, and HCO3 (Iskandar,in 
preparation). 
Figure 1. Location of the studied area, with 
an index of aerial photos and mosaics. 
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS 
The area is characterised by arid conditions. 
It has very low rainfall intensities (avera 
ge of 12.7 mm/ year) and high intensities of 
evaporation and évapotranspiration (average 
of 8.1(10)5 mm/year). 
Nevertheless, the occassional heavy showers 
during winter months along the higher Plateau 
and slopes represent possible routs for seas 
onal contribution to the water budget either 
on the surface or in subsurface (Korany,1980).