The Corrosive Well Waters of Egypt's Western Desert
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1757-O
Prepared in cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development The Corrosive Well Waters of Egypt's Western Desert
By FRANK E. CLARKE
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HYDROLOGY OF AFRICA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 1757-O
Prepared in Cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt under the auspices of the United States Agency for International Development
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1979 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
H. William Menard, Director
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Clarke, Frank Eldridge, 1913 The corrosive well waters of Egypt's western desert. (Contributions to the hydrology of Africa and the Mediterranean region) (Geological Survey water-supply paper; 1757-0) "Prepared in cooperation with the Arab Republic of Egypt, under the aus pices of the United States Agency for International Development." Bibliography: p. Includes index Supt. of Docs. no. : I 19.16 : 1757-0 1. Corrosion resistant materials. 2. Water, Underground Egypt. 3. Water quality Egypt. 4. Wells Egypt Corrosion. 5. Pumping machinery Cor rosion. I. United States. Agency for International Development. II. Title. III. Series. IV. Series: United States. Geological Survey. Water-supply paper; 1757-0.
TA418.75.C58 627'.52 79-607011
For sale by Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 Stock Number 024-OOL-03234-1 CONTENTS
Page Abstract ______Ol Introduction ______3 Acknowledgments ______3 Environmental setting ______5 Evolution and design characteristics of Western Desert wells _____ 9 Corrosion observations and investigations ______10 Quality characteristics of New Valley well waters ______33 Causes of corrosion ______41 Control of corrosion ______47 Pumps and their problems ______50 Opportunities for further study ______53 Summary ______53 References ______54
ILLUSTRATIONS
FRONTISPIECE. Flowing well, Kharga Oasis, 1961 ______VI FIGURE 1. Map showing principal features of Egypt's Western Desert and the boundary of the New Valley Project __ O2 2. Site and well location map, New Valley area, Egypt's Western Desert ______5 3. Macrograph of Nubian sandstone showing loosely ce mented angular grains, X 34 ______6 4. Sketch of native well drilling equipment ______8 5. Photograph of Acacia wood casing from native well, Kharga Oasis ______9 6. Photograph of perforated elbow, Mut well 1, Dakhla Oasis ______14 7. Photograph of severed screen bridge, Kharga well 1A, Kharga Oasis, X 4.6 ______16 8. Photograph of corroded discharge line, Kharga well 1A, Kharga Oasis ______17
in IV CONTENTS
Page FIGURE 9. Photograph of surface line corrosion specimen?, Kharga well 1A, Kharga Oasis ______017 10. Sketch of stainless steel stress corrosion specimen used in Kharga well 1A ______18 11. Photograph of subsurface pitting, Kharga well 1A, x 5 19 12. Photograph of white corrosion tubercles, aluminum spec imen, Kharga well 1A, x 1 --- ______20 13. Photograph of corroded bridge-slotted screen, after 2- year exposure, Kharga well 1A ______--- 21 14. Photograph of downhole corrosion specimen string, Mut well 2, Dakhla Oasis ______22 15. Photograph of deep, deposit-free corrosion, steel specimen, Mut well 1, Dakhla Oasis, x 7 ______23 16. Photograph of severely corroded bridge-slotted steel speci men from down-hole string, Mut well 2 ______24 17. Photograph of corroded aluminum specimen from down- hole string, Mut well 2 ______-______- 25 18. Photograph of undamaged stainless steel screen specimen, surface line, Mut well 1, X 5 _.______26 19. Photograph of slightly corroded Monel Metal specimen down-hole string, Mut well 2 ______-______27 20. Photograph of Mohammed Shaaban, Egyptiar General Desert Development Organization, operating a corroso- meter, Kharga well 1 ______28 21. Photograph of corrosion probe and shield ______29 22. Photograph of corroded steel probe wire, Baris well 11, Kharga Oasis, x 12 ______30 23. Corrosion rate curves, Kharga Oasis wells ______32 24. Corrosion rate curves, Dakhla Oasis wells ______33 25. Photograph of etched aluminum probe, Kharga well 1A, X 10 ______- 34 26. Photograph of corroded aluminum probe, Nass^r well 1, X 11 -_-______35 27. Photograph of Hassan Mostafa, Egyptian General Desert Development Organization, and the late Paul Bieber, U.S. Geological Survey, measuring bicarbonate ion in water from a Kharga Oasis well, 1962 ______36 28. Photograph of flow cell for measuring Eh ______37 29. Trilinear diagram showing ionic balances of New Valley well waters ______41 30. Graph showing relation of sulfochloride concentration to corrosion rate ______44 31. Stability field diagram, ferric and ferrous species, as suming 2 X 10~7 molal activity of iron and based on Fe(OH) 3 ______45 32. Graph showing relation of calcium carbonate equilibrium to corrosion rate ______46 33. Photograph of key-lock joint, fiberglass well pipe ______49 34. Photograph of Kanat at nonflowing well, Kharpa Oasis__ 51 r.
FRONTISPIECE. Flowing well, Kharga Oasis, 1961. CONTENTS
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