Contribution of Electrical Resistivity and Ground Penetrating Radar Techniques for Tracing Sea Water Invasion and Industrial Effluents in the First Industrial Zone, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) were conducted in several locations within the first industrial area in Jeddah to trace the zones probably invaded with sea water and/or the zones of accumulated landfill pollutants. Five VES's were carried out within the study area; the Schlumberger array with a maximum electrode spread of 300 m was employed in all the points. The GPR survey was conducted using SIR3000 instrument with the 100 MHz antenna, 8 GPR lines with average length 150m, each GPR was measured at different localities in the study area based on the results of the VES`s results. The electric resistivity data were interpreted using the IX1D V2 software. The constructed geoelectric cross section based on the results of sounding data show that the area is generally underlain by four geoelectric layers: the first geoelectric layer has a resistivity ranging from 28 – geoelectric layer has a resistivity ranging from 2.3 – saturated with sea water); the third geoelectric layer shows a resistivity ranging from 0.5 – and average thickness 24.5 m (wadi deposits highly saturated with sea water); and the fourth geoelectric layer shows a resistivity ranging from 7.7 – to the maximum depth of exploration (fractured basement). The significant GPR signature of the saturated layers was well characterized indicating the shallowness of ground water level in the study area. In addition, it showed trace contaminated zones in the study area caused by defects in the drainage system of heavy factories. It is also observable the compatibility of the electrical resistivity and ground penetrating of radar survey. Electrical resistivity, Ground penetrating radar, sea water, ground pollutants, industrial zone.