Town/City:
|
Khartoum
|
State/Province:
|
Khartoum
|
Country:
|
Sudan
|
Latitude/Longitude:
|
16N 32E
|
Information supplied by
Magdi Widaatalla
magdi@zircon.geology.utoronto.ca
Graduate studies Department of Geology, Earth Science Centre, University
of Toronto, 22 Russell Street , Toronto , Ontario, M5S 3B1 CANADA
Dated Fri Nov 26 14:00:26 1999 |
Information Topics:
City Description:
The arid capital city (pop. 1,800,000) of Sudan. It is one of three sister
cities, built at the convergence of the Blue and White Niles: Omdurman
to the northwest across the White Nile, North Khartoum, and Khartoum itself
on the southern bank of the Blue Nile (Sudan page @Sudan.net, 1999). Khartoum
has a relatively short history. It was first established as a military
outpost in 1821, and is said to derive its name from the thin spit of land
at the convergence of the rivers, which resembles an elephant's trunk (khurtum).
Khartoum grew rapidly in prosperity during the boom years of the slave
trade between 1825 and 1880(Sudan page @Sudan.net, 1999). In 1834, it became
the capital of the Sudan, and many explorers from Europe used it as a base
for their African expeditions. Today's Khartoum is a quiet, unremarkable
city. It has peaceful, tree-lined streets, and in some ways still bears
the unmistakable mark of an outpost of the British Empire. Its expansion
to accommodate a rapidly growing population, however, has added very little
in terms of charm or atmosphere.
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Climate:
In this arid region, the main annual precipitation is 140 mm (1899-1989)
most of which falls mainly in the period of July – September. The long
hot summer extends from April to October with mean maximum temperature
of 40°c (1950- 1995) (Farah, 1997). The monthly mean evaporation and
relative humidity ranges are 14 – 23 mm and 16 – 49% respectively.
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Basic Hydrogeology:
Khartoum area is a part of Khartoum basin that is situated at the northern
periphery of the Blue Nile rift basin. The Pan African basement complex
partially bounds this sedimentary basin and forms its bottom limit at more
than 500 m. The Ummdurman and Gazzira formations occupy most of the area,
and they are the main utilized sedimentary formation for groundwater extraction.
The Ummdurman formation occupies most of subsurface except the area between
the two Niles, which is covered by Gazzira formation. The aquifer system
of Khartoum area is composed of an upper aquifer, which occurs mainly in
the upper part of Gazzira and Ummdurman formations, and a lower aquifer,
which is located at the deeper part of these formations. The upper aquifer
is partially confined and its thickness increases in the south up to 120
m. The lower aquifer is mostly confined and its thickness varies from 150
m to 200 m. The depth of the potentiometric water level ranges from a few
meters near the Niles to more than 140 m at northwestern part of the area.
Isotopic investigations showed that groundwater filtered from the Niles
under the present arid climate, with grater contribution from the White
Nile compared to the Blue Nile.
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Water Use:
Although, 45% of water supplies for Khartoum area come from direct pumping
from the Niles (Farah, 1999), underground water plays a great role in many
part of the city. Water is needed for physical consumption to sustain a
large increasing population. The edge area communities obtain water from
shallow wells. These sources of water are not treated and generally polluted.
Water is needed locally for farming, cattle ranging, and industry.
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Groundwater Issues:
With the exception of a few saline pockets in the upper aquifer, underground
water in Khartoum area is free from unacceptable properties in relation
to drinking and irrigation demands. The saline pockets are localized within
ground water troughs localized with high content mudstone, clay, and calcrete.
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Groundwater Problems:
The annual extraction through the drilled wells in the Khartoum area can
reach double the estimated annual recharge from the Nile River. Lowering
of the water table in many areas is the result. Groundwater is also threatened
by contamination of human and industrial wastes.
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Solutions:
Most of the conducted studies recommend rational utilization policy to
preserve the finite groundwater resources. Other studies recommend (i)-
the construction of a new sewage system to replace the small old exiting
one, and (ii)- new design of water tanks for human and industrial wastes.
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References and Other Author(s):
Farah, E. A. (1994) Groundwater geology of the northern part of Khartoum
Basin (central Sudan) M.Sc.thesis. Dept.of geology, University of
Khartoum, Sudan.
Farah, E.A., Abdullatif, O.M., Kheir, O.M., and Barazi N. (1997) Groundwater
resources in semi-arid areas, a case study from central Sudan. Journal
of African Earth Sciences v.25 pp. 453 – 466.
Farah, E.A.1999. Groundwater quality and hydrogeology conditions in
the Khartoum area, Sudan. Journal of Geosciences, Osaka University, Japan.v.42
pp. 45 – 53.
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Contacts:
Magdi Widaatalla
Graduate studies, Department of Geology
Earth Science Centre
22 Russell Street, Toronto , Ontario, M5S 3B1
CANADA
Dr. Al Fatih A. Farah
1602 - 135 Marlee Avenue Toronto, Ontario M6B 4C6
CANADA
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