Hydrogeology of Sudan
Africa Groundwater Atlas >> Hydrogeology by country >> Hydrogeology of Sudan
Authors
Abdel Hafiz Gadelmula, University of Khartoum, Sudan
Kirsty Upton, Brighid Ó Dochartaigh, British Geological Survey, UK
Geographical Setting
General
| Estimated Population in 2013* | 37,964,306 |
| Rural Population (% of total) (2013)* | 66.5% |
| Total Surface Area* | 2,376,000 sq km |
| Agricultural Land (% of total area) (2012)* | 47.4% |
| Capital City | Khartoum |
| Region | Northern Africa |
| Border Countries | Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Libya. |
| Annual Freshwater Withdrawal (2013)* | 26,930 Million cubic metres |
| Annual Freshwater Withdrawal for Agriculture (2013)* | 96.2% |
| Annual Freshwater Withdrawal for Domestic Use (2013)* | 3.5% |
| Annual Freshwater Withdrawal for Industry (2013)* | 0.3% |
| Rural Population with Access to Improved Water Source (2012)* | 50.2% |
| Urban Population with Access to Improved Water Source (2012)* | 66% |
* Source: World Bank
Climate
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Koppen Geiger Climate Zones -
Average Annual Precipitation -
Average Temperature
Rainfall time-series and graphs of monthly average rainfall and temperature for each individual climate zone can be found on the Sudan Climate Page.
For further detail on the climate datasets used see the climate resources section.
Surface water
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The Nile rivers are the major perennial rivers in the country. The Blue Nile is joined by the Dinder and Rahad rivers between Sennar and Khartoum, and joins the White Nile at Khartoum to form the River Nile. There are several dams on the Blue and White Niles, including the Sennar and Roseires Dams on the Blue Nile, and the Jebel Aulia Dam on the White Nile. There is also Lake Nubia on the Sudanese-Egyptian border. The Ministry of Irrigation monitors river flows, and stores dataset going back several decades.
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Soil
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Land cover
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Geology
This section provides a summary of the geology of Sudan. More detail can be found in the references listed at the bottom of this page. Many of these references can be accessed through the Africa Groundwater Literature Archive.
The geology map on this page shows a simplified version of the geology at a national scale (see the Geology resources page for more details). The map is available to download as a shapefile (.shp) for use in GIS packages. Other published geological maps are listed in the Geology; key references section, below.
Summary
Sudan's geology ranges from Precambrian crystalline basement rocks to Quaternary unconsolidated alluvial deposits. The geological history saw a long period of erosion at the end of the Precambrian to the late Palaeozoic, removing most of the previously deposited sedimentary cover with the exceptions of a few isolated outcrops, such as at Wawa (Kordofan), near the Chad border, near the Jabal Uweinat and in northwest Sudan (UN 1988).
During the Mesozoic, Nubian Sandstone deposits were laid down, and survive particularly in basins within the basement and Palaeozoic cover. Tectonic movements of the Rift system in the middle and late Tertiary led to the formation of vast structural basins, such as the Bara, Dinder and Baggara. A volcanic phase throughout the late Tertiary and into the early Quaternary produced the Jabel Mara and Meidobe basalts and the basaltic flows of the Bayoda desert and the Gedarif region. In the Plio-Pleistocene period, these Tertiary basins received thick alluvial and lacustrine deposits, of the Um Ruwaba formation (UN 1988).
A major shear zone, the Central African Shear Zone, runs through the central part of Sudan.
| Key Formations | Period | Lithology | Structure |
| Unconsolidated sedimentary deposits | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gezira Formation, Alatshan Formation, Gash deposits, Um Ruwaba Formation | Late Tertiary to Quaternary | The youngest sediments in Sudan include alluvial silts and clays with occasional sands of the Nile and other major valleys; Red Sea coastal gravels, sands, silts and clays; Kordofan aeolian dune sands; and black clay plains (UN 1988). They include the Gezira and Alatshan and Gash formations, and have thickness ranging up to just less than 100 m.
The Um Ruwaba Formation covers about 20% of the country, within two large trenches in the centre and south: the Bara (including the Kordofan, Darfur and southern regions) and the Blue Nile/Rahad/Dinder area, and comprises unconsolidated alluvial and lacustrine sands, silts and clays (UN 1988). It is between 150 m and 500 m thick. |
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| Tertiary | |||
| Sedimentary Rocks: Hudi Chert, Jabya Formation, Red Sea littoral zone deposits, Mukwar Formation, Hamamit Formation, Abu Imamma Formation, Dungunab Formation, Abu Shagra Formation | Tertiary | The consolidated Hudi Chert Formation is non-marine and fossiliferous, containing very thin cherts - not more than a few metres - and found in and around the Atbara region.
The other named formations are a series of undeformed sedimentary rocks occupying 10-40 km width along the coast. Their thickness can exceed 2 km. |
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| Volcanic Rocks: Gedaref, Jebel Mara, Meidobe and Bayoda basalts | Tertiary | Basic volcanic rocks. | Horizontally to gently dipping beds. |
| Mesozoic Sedimentary Rocks | |||
| Nubian Sandstone, Kabbabish and Wadi Hower formations, Gedaref Sandstone, Bentue Aradaiba, Zarga, Abu Gabra | Mainly Cretaceous | The Nubian Sandstone covers almost one third of Sudan, and comprises largely horizontal or gently dipping, well stratified sandstones with layers of conglomerate and siltstone (UN 1988). It is found in the Khartoum basin, Kufra basin, Atbara basin, Blue Nile basin, Gedaref basins, Sag Elnaam basin and in Darfur. In the Khartoum basin, it exceeds 3 km in thickness. In the south, it is overlain by thick unconsolidated sediments of the Um Ruwaba Formation, while in the rest of the country it outcrops in plateaus or sub-crops below variable thicknesses of unconsolidated surface cover (UN 1988).
The Kababish Formation is composed of siltstones, mudstones and fine grained sandstones, and is around 100 m thick. The Wadi Hower Formation is composed of sandstones, and is around 200 m thick. The Gedaref Sandstone Formation is located in northwest Sudan. Their thickness exceeds 100 m. There are some basic igneous intrusions within the sandstones. The Bentue, Aradaiba and Zarga formations are sandstones and mudstones of continental origin, and their thickness can exceed 5 km. The Abu Gabra is a sedimentary formation found in central-western Sudan. |
Major faults are recognised in the Nubian Sandstone, sometimes displacing more than 2 km of sedimentary rocks, including the Jaulia fault.
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| Palaeozoic Sedimentary Rocks | |||
| Erde Ente, Nawa Formation, Sedimentary rocks of NW Sudan | Palaeozoic | Outcrops of unmetamorphosed sandstones occur in the west of the country, along the Chad border.
Argillaceous sedimentary strata overlie the basement complex in central Kordofan. Silurian deposits, alrgely fluvial-deltaic sandstones (UN 1988) occur in northwestern Sudan. Devonian and Carboniferous rocks, including the Nawa Formation, occur around Uweinat, Sudan. They consist mainly of sandstones with schists (UN 1988). |
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| Precambrian Basement | |||
| Precambrian | Undifferentiated basement rocks are exposed over almost half of the area of Sudan, composed of metamorphosed igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Rocks include acid gneisses, quartzites and schists. They are intruded by igneous rocks and ring complexes, mainly granites. | NE-SW and NW-SE fractures are common | |
Hydrogeology
This section provides a summary of the hydrogeology of the main aquifers in Sudan. More information is available in the references listed in the Hydrogology: key references section at the bottom of this page, particularly unpublished MSc theses available through the University of Khartoum. More information on groundwater is also available from the Ministry of Irrigation and Ministry of Dams, and through bulletins of the Geological Research Authority of the Sudan (GRAS).
Other references can be accessed through the Africa Groundwater Literature Archive.
The hydrogeology map on this page shows a simplified version of the type and productivity of the main aquifers at a national scale (see the Aquifer properties resource page for more details). The map is available to download as a shapefile (.shp) for use in GIS packages.
File:Sudan Hydrogeology.png
Unconsolidated
| Named Aquifers | General Description | Water quantity issues | Water quality issues | Recharge |
Igneous Volcanic
| Named Aquifers | General Description | Water quantity issues | Water quality issues | Recharge |
| Gedaref basalts and Jebel Mara volcanics | Groundwater occurs in fractured and weathered zones in these volcanic rocks. They form variably thick and variably productive aquifers depending on the degree of permeability developed by fracture and weathering, frmo a few metres to several hundreds of metres thick, and from very low to high aquifer productivity. The aquifers are typically unconfined. Boreholes abstracting water from the aquifer range from 10 m to 300 m deep. | Groundwater quality is typically fresh in shallow zones to brackish in deeper aquifer zones. | Recharge is variable depending on rainfall and surface runoff. |
Sedimentary - Intergranular Flow
| Named Aquifers | General Description | Water quantity issues | Water quality issues | Recharge |
| Nubian Sandstone Formation, Gedaref Sandstone Formation | The Nubian and Gefaref Sandstone formations have relatively high intergranular permeability, and form moderately to highly productive aquifers. Aquifer thickness ranges from 100 m to 2000 m. Transmissivity values range from 100 to 300 m²/day. Specific yield ranges from 0.01 to 0.2, and storage coefficient from 10-3 to -410. The aquifers are semi confined to confined. Piezometric (potentiometric) groundwater head varies from 6 m below ground surface at Wadi Howar to 100 m deep at Baggara Basin. Boreholes are generally between 40 m and 400 m deep. | Groundwater storage in the Nubian Sandstone aquifer in the Baggara basin is estimated at 1,300,000 million m³, and in the Bara basin estimated at 45,000 million m³. | Groundwater quality is generally fresh. | Annual recharge to the Nubian Sandstone aquifer in the Baggara basin is estimated at 30 million m³, and to the Bara basin esatimated at 15 million m³. |
Sedimentary - Intergranular & Fracture Flow
| Named Aquifers | General Description | Water quantity issues | Water quality issues | Recharge |
Sedimentary - Fracture Flow
| Named Aquifers | General Description | Water quantity issues | Water quality issues | Recharge |
Basement
| Named Aquifers | General Description | Water quantity issues | Water quality issues | Recharge |
| Fractured and weathered Precambrian basement rocks | Groundwater occurs in fractures and/or in shallow weathered zones, where permeability has been increased. These aquifer zones are typically between 5 m and 20 m thick, but can be thicker. Water table depths range from 4 m to 60 m depth, and groundwater is typically unconfined. Abstraction boreholes range from 10 m to 70 m, and borehole yields are generally low. | The fractured/weathered aquifers have low storage potential and do not contain large amounts of groundwater. | Groundwater quality ranges from fresh to brackish. | Recharge is variable depending on rainfall and surface runoff. |
Groundwater Status
Groundwater quantity
Groundwater quality
Groundwater use and management
Groundwater use
Groundwater management
Groundwater monitoring
Transboundary aquifers
For further information about transboundary aquifers, please see the Transboundary aquifers resources page
References
The following references provide more information on the geology and hydrogeology of Sudan. These, and others, can be accessed through the Africa Groundwater Literature Archive
Geology: key references
Maps:
GRAS (Geological Research Authority of the Sudan). 1964. Geological map of Sudan. Scale 1:10,000,000
GRAS (Geological Research Authority of the Sudan). 1980. Geological map of Sudan. Scale 1:5,000,000
Robertson Research Institute. 1981. Geological map of Sudan, Scale 1:1,000,000
Vail, jr. 1971. Geological map of Sudan. Scale 1:2,000,000
GRAS (Geological Research Authority of the Sudan). 2005. Geological map of Sudan.
SFB. 1991. Geological map of Northern Sudan.
Hydrogeology: key references
Most of the following are MSc theses from the University of Khartoum and can be accessed through the university.
More information on groundwater is also available from the Ministry of Irrigation and Ministry of Dams.
Adam HAM. 2007. Assessment of Ground Water Quality in Khartoum and Khartoum North. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Al Haj MMI. 2014. Determination and Removal of Nitrates from Ground Water of Kassala Town - Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Al Hasana K. 2011. Assessment of Ground Water Quality of Balola Area in South Kordofan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Ali ALM. 1977. Geology and Hydrogeology of the Sedimentary Basin of the Blue Nile and Its Tributaries between Wad Medani and Abu Huggar. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Ali AOH. 2011. Assessment of Ground Water Quality in Al Kalakla - Al Shagra, Khartoum State, Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Babiker EM. 2008. Characteristics, Assessment and Management of Ground Water Resources of the Coastal Aquifer in Tokar Delta, Eastern Sudan. PhD Thesis, University of Khartoum
Babiker SSA. 1991. Removal of Nitrates from Groundwater by Granular Activated Charcoal in Rural Area. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Bakhit NAAE. 2010. Impact of Ground Water Quality on Soil Properties and Okra Productivity in Three Locations in Khartoum State. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
El Dali M. 2003. Aspects of the Geology and Hydrogeology of Omdurman Formation. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
El Hasan REM. 2011. Assessment of Ground Water Quality in East Kassala Town - Kassalla State - Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
El Karim AA. 1995. The Hydrogeology of the Area Between Abu Qouta and Managil (Central Sudan). MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Godat MDS. 2008. Groundwater Resource Assessment of the Area Between Medani and Sennar. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Haddad Maha A. 1996. Ground water pollution of the Khartoum State. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Ibrahim ASH. 2012. Groundwater Quality and Suitability for Irrigation in Khartoum State, Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Ibrahim SME. 2004. Groundwater as a Source of Water Supply in Eastern Khartoum State, Geological Control and Quality Constraints. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Imad F. 1993. Chemical Characteristics and Quality of Groundwater in Khartoum Province and Northern Gezira. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Kaskos H. 1991. Hydrogeology of Sag El Naam Basin, Western Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Kheir OM. 1981. Contribution to the hydrogeology of the Gefaref Basin, Eastern Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Klitsch, Sonntag, Weistroffer and Elshazely. 1976. Grundwasser der zentralsahara Fossile vorraete. Geol.Rdsch, 65, 264-287, Stuttgart.
Magboul AB. 1993. Hydrogeology of the Northern Gezira Area (Central Sudan). MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Medd MEMA. 2007. Assessment of Ground Water Quality in Omdurman City. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Medani AYA. 2004. Determination of Trace Elements in Ground Water by Two Precocncentration Methods Using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Mohammed FKE. 2008. Appraisal of Ground Water Used for Irrigation in Khartoum State. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Mubarak BM. 1973. Geology and Hydrogeology of East Kordofan arae. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Mukhtar IAH. 2000. Impact of Urbanization and Land-Use on Quality of Ground Water for Drinking Use Nitrate Content as Indicator. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Ragab ER, Mustafa E and Adam OA. 1983. Groundwater investigation Elseleim and Al Khawi basin project, Northern State, Sudan. Ground water Administration unpublished report.
Rahman HIAA. 2009. Groundwater Management of Wadi Nyala Using Visual Modflow Model. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Rahman MGAA. 2013. Impact of Effluent from Wad Dafiaa (Khartoum North) Wastewater Treatment Plant on Soil and Ground Water Quality. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Razig SA. 1999. Groundwater, hydrogeology and sanitation, Northern Sudan. PhD Thesis, University of Khartoum
Razig SAA. 1990. Assessment of Groundwater Potential in Lower River Atbara and its Role in Combating Desertification. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Rodwan Rashid A. 2000. Hydrogeology of the area between Kamlin and El Masid, east of the Blue Nile. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Saeed EM. 1976. Hydrogeology of Khartoum province and northern Gezira. Bull no. 29, Geological Research Authority, Khartoum.
Sheriff YA. 1993. An Investigation Into the Principal Causes of Groundwater Depletion at Wadi El Bangadeed, El Obeid Area, Kordofan State. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Suluiaman OASI. 2014. Groundwater Assessment in the State of Khartoum Using Water Quality Index. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Tayall AM. 1995. Ground water hydrogeology east of Sennar. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Tear Fund / GAD Consult. A Geophysical study for siting water wells at Abu Hadid Region in Eastern Darfur State.
UN. 1988. Sudan, in Ground water in North and West Africa. United Nations Natural Resources/Water Series No. 18, ST/TCD/5, Department of Technical Cooperation for Development and Economic Commission for Africa. http://www.bgs.ac.uk/africagroundwateratlas/fulldetails.cfm?id=AGLA060049
Wani NHO. 1994. A Study on Groundwater Quality in the Eastern Bank of the White Nile - Khartoum State - Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
Yousif TYM. 2002. Ground water quality and pollution in Sinnar State, Sudan. MSc Thesis, University of Khartoum
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