Hydrogeology Map
Africa Groundwater Atlas >> Resource pages >> Hydrogeology Maps of Africa
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Quantitative Groundwater Maps of Africa
A series of quantitative groundwater maps for Africa was developed by the British Geological Survey as part of the Quantitative Groundwater Maps for Africa project (MacDonald et al., 2010, 2012).
This project produced three new digital groundwater maps for Africa, based on a geology map of Africa at 1:5 million scale (Persits et al., 2002, Furon and Lombard 1964). The three groundwater maps are:
- Groundwater (aquifer) productivity
- Groundwater storage
- Depth to groundwater
These three maps can be freely downloaded in digital form as a 5 km resolution grid (xyz tab-delimited text file), which can be used in GIS. They are also available as high resolution PDF files. Download the Africa groundwater maps here.
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More information on these Africa-wide maps can be found here:
MacDonald, A M, Bonsor, H C, Ó Dochartaigh, B É, and Taylor, R G. 2012. Quantitative maps of groundwater resources in Africa. Environmental Research Letters, 7 (2), 024009. 10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024009
MacDonald, A M, Ó Dochartaigh, B É, Bonsor, H C, Davies, J, and Key, R. 2010. Developing quantitative aquifer maps for Africa. British Geological Survey Internal Report, IR/10/103.
The hydrogeology maps in the Africa Groundwater Atlas
The country hydrogeology maps in this Atlas are a further development of the quantitative groundwater maps for Africa described above. Each map is at 1:5 million scale, and combines key hydrogeological information to show:
- aquifer type (based on the geological environment and groundwater flow/storage type); and
- aquifer productivity (relative aquifer productivity, or groundwater potential).
For some countries, the maps have been developed in collaboration with Atlas co-authors to ensure that the maps represent the national scale hydrogeology of the country as well as possible.
You can read more detail about the information shown by these maps, and how they were developed, on the Developing the Africa Groundwater Atlas Hydrogeology Map page.
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Benefits of the Atlas country hydrogeology maps
These maps provide an essential national overview of the groundwater resources of each country. For some countries in Africa, the Atlas hydrogeology map is the only available digital hydrogeology map.
Limitations of the Atlas country hydrogeology maps
The large scale of the original map (1:5 million scale) means that the maps provide a country-scale overview - they do not show local scale detail. These maps are not based on field mapping and they have not been ground truthed. They may be different from other available hydrogeology maps.
Like all maps, these country hydrogeology maps are a two-dimensional representation of the complex three-dimensional hydrogeological reality. In most cases, these maps show the uppermost aquifer only. If there are other aquifers at depth, these are not shown. In some cases, where a major aquifer is overlain by relatively low permeability unconsolidated sediments (that don't form an important aquifer), the overlying unconsolidated sediments are not shown on the map.
Other hydrogeology maps for Africa
WHYMAP
The World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP) was launched in 2000 to provide summary information about global groundwater resources.
Several global and continental scale maps related to groundwater resources, groundwater basins, large aquifer systems, and transboundary aquifers are available to download (as pdf or image files) from the WHYMAP website.
These maps include a groundwater resources map of Africa; and scans of national hydrogeological maps across Africa through the WHYMIS application. These national maps are also indexed in the Africa Groundwater Literature Archive.
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BRGM
In 2008, BRGM published a hydrogeological map of Africa at a scale of 1:10 Million, the first of its kind at this scale. The map is produced as a hard copy and in GIS form. It was developed by combining two categories of data: groundwater reservoir (or aquifer) type; and the proportion of precipitation available to recharge to aquifers. BRGM used extensive data to develop the map, which distinguishes eleven major hydrographic units.
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International Hydrogeological Map of Africa
This map, at 1:5 Million scale, is not available digitally but is described in the report by Gilbrich and Struckmeier (2014).
Gilbrich, W H, and Struckmeier, W F. 2014. 50 Years of Hydro(geo)logical Mapping Activities. German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) and UNESCO International Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP).
Africa Groundwater Atlas >> Resource pages >> Africa Hydrogeology Maps