Geophysical data revealing the control of geological structures in the El Gouna springs in Souss river valley in Morocco

Groundwater, in the Souss-Massa Basin (South western Morocco), occurred under unconfined conditions in the Pliocene and Quaternary formations of the plain, often overlying one or several confined sub-aquifers, such as Neogene and Turonian deep aquifer. The ensemble constituted the multi-layer aquifer system of Souss-Massa Basin. The El Gouna springs emergence, flowing from the Turonian deep aquifer, was one of the natural outlets of the system, with a low flow rate in the downstream part. This study focused on the El Gouna springs area and aimed to understand its hydrogeological functioning based on geological structures and their role in the appearance/disappearance of springs in this area, then studied the relationship between deep and shallow aquifers. For this reason, vertical electrical soundings (VES) using the Schlumberger array and seismic sections using were carried out in the study area. All geophysical data were calibrated by mechanical well logging and geological outcrops, and used to build geoelectrical and seismic cross-sections and structural map.