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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