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Hydrogeological and mixing process of waters in deep aquifers in arid regions: south east Tunisia

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Abstract

This study addresses the hydrogeochemistry of thermal and cold waters from south east Tunisia. Temperature intervals are 38.5–68 °C and 22–27.8 °C for thermal water and cold water, respectively. Three distinct hydrogeological systems supply water either for irrigation or for drinking; they are: (1) the Continental Intercalaire geothermal aquifer (CI), (2) the Turonian aquifer and (3) the Senonian aquifer. A synthetic study including hydrochemical, hydrogeological and geothermal approaches have been applied in order to evaluate the inter-aquifers water transfer in south east of Tunisia. By using silica geothermometers and saturation indices for different solid phases, estimated thermal reservoir temperature varies between 52 and 87 °C and between 75 and 110 °C, respectively. Based on chemical and thermal data, mixing, which occurs between the ascending deep geothermal water and shallow cold water, is about 57 % cold water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tunis, Tunisia

    Jalila Makni, Fatma Ben Brahim, Saoussan Hassine, Salem Bouri & Hamed Ben Dhia

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  1. Jalila Makni
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  2. Fatma Ben Brahim
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  3. Saoussan Hassine
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  4. Salem Bouri
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  5. Hamed Ben Dhia
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Correspondence to Jalila Makni.

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Makni, J., Ben Brahim, F., Hassine, S. et al. Hydrogeological and mixing process of waters in deep aquifers in arid regions: south east Tunisia. Arab J Geosci 7, 799–809 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-012-0793-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-012-0793-1

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