ORIGINAL ARTICLE Geophysical and hydrological investigations at the west bank of Nile River (Luxor, Egypt) M. Elwaseif • A. Ismail • M. Abdalla • M. Abdel-Rahman • M. A. Hafez Received: 29 July 2009 / Accepted: 9 January 2012 Ó Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Luxor, the modern Egyptian city that occupies the site of ancient Thebes, is famed for its magnificent ancient monuments. Since 1967, the Aswan high dam has prevented the annual flooding of the Nile River, resulting in excessive salt accumulation on the Nile floodplains and on exposed monument surfaces. In addition, the expansion of agricultural land within the Luxor study area has resulted in increased salinity and groundwater level. These conditions accelerate the degradation of buried and exposed monuments that were fairly well preserved in the past. To mitigate this problem, it is necessary to first understand the near-surface setting and the groundwater conditions of the Luxor area. A geophysical investigation was carried out using resistivity and electromagnetic sur- veys. In addition, a chemical analysis was conducted of some surface water samples collected from canals and the sacred lake of Memnon Temple. Based on the results of the geophysical surveys and the chemical analysis of the water samples, the shallow subsurface was characterized into four geoelecterical units. Groundwater flow directions were determined to be from the central area to the west, causing a rise in the groundwater levels and groundwater salinity in the area of monuments. Keywords Joint inversion of VES and TEM Á Hydrogeology Á Salinization Á Luxor (Egypt) Á Nile River Introduction Luxor, Egypt, occupies the site ancient Thebes, which was known for its buildings and many large gates. The west bank of Luxor (Fig. 1) contains more than 30 known limestone temples, most of them built by the rulers of the New Kingdom (1549–1069 BC). Both buried and exposed archeological features are affected by the high level of saline groundwater at the west bank of Luxor area since the construction of Aswan high dam and the resultant expan- sion of agricultural lands around the temples’ area. Saline groundwater is transported into the monuments’ founda- tions through underlying soil by means of capillary rise. When those saline waters evaporate, residual salts accu- mulate on the surface and within the pore spaces of the foundations. The pressure developed during the crystalli- zation and hydration of the residual salts exfoliates the outer layers of the foundations’ stone, increasing their susceptibility to erosion by wind and other physical pro- cesses (Rodriguez-Navarro and Doehne 1999). Figure 2 shows an example of the monuments’ degradation at Habu Temple in the west bank of Luxor. Geophysical methods have been widely applied to groundwater exploration (e.g., Asfahani 2007; Ismail 2003; Albouy et al. 2001). Asfahani (2007) employed vertical electrical sounding (VES) at the Khanasser Valley (Syria) and successfully identified the nature and geometry of a deep aquifer. Ismail (2003) conducted a study to mitigate M. Elwaseif (&) Á A. Ismail Á M. Abdalla Á M. A. Hafez National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Helwan, Cairo, Egypt e-mail: Mehrez@andromeda.rutgers.edu M. Elwaseif Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers, The State University, Newark, NJ, USA A. Ismail Illinois State Geological Survey, 615 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL, USA M. Abdel-Rahman Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, Egypt 123 Environ Earth Sci DOI 10.1007/s12665-012-1525-2