The study area lies in the upstream of the River Atbara basin in the Kassala State,
eastern Sudan. The availability of fresh water governs the population distribution and
settlement. The objective of the study is to assess the groundwater potentialities of
the River Atbara alluvial sediments using hydrogeological and geophysical methods.
These methods were applied to detect the basin boundary and to identify the saturated
zones and the lithological variations within the basin. The main geological units in
the River Atbara watershed include the old Precambrian basement complex, Triassic
to Cretaceous Sandstone, Tertiary basalt and Pleistocene to Recent alluvial sediments.
The River Atbara alluvial aquifer is extended under the Karab land for about 2-3 Km
on each side of the river banks, it consists of alluvial deposits. The depth to basement
ranges between 50-65m below the land surface. The Transmissivity values range
between 1000 - 1500 m2
\day. The groundwater storage capacity in the study area was
estimated to be 1450 Million cubic meters. The depth to water level does not show
great variations during the year; it ranges between 30 - 40m on the western bank and
between 11 – 40m on the eastern bank. The outcome of the present study states that
there is no noticeable variation in water levels between the wet and dry seasons. The
River Atbara and its tributaries represent the main source of recharge to the aquifers.
The general groundwater flow direction is towards the NW direction with average
hydraulic gradient of 0.005.