Journal of Agricultural and Food Engineering 1 (2021) 0031 Journal homepage: www.myjafe.com DOI: http://doi.org/10.37865/jafe.2021.0031 e-ISSN: 2716-6236 Research Article Delineation of lithological formation in Bukit Merah, Semanggol, Perak using groundwater modeling Norfaezah Makzin, Mohamed Azwan Mohamed Zawawi*, Aimrun Wayayok Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. ARTICLE HISTORY Abstract Received: 1 February 2021 The knowledge of lithological formation is important to determine the potential aquifer for Received in revised form: 24 May water resources management. This study aims to delineate the lithological formation of Bukit 2021 Merah, Semanggol using geological data. The preparation of lithological formation in the study Accepted: 27 May 2021 was based on several factors such as electrical resistivity survey data, available well Available Online: 4 June 2021 lithologies, geological map, and geological-related studies in the study area. The Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) profile produced from the resistivity survey was interpreted Keywords based on previous studies to determine the subsurface materials on the location. The Lithological formation estimation of soil lithology for the remaining wells was done to generate the overall subsoil Bukit Merah Semanggol pattern in the study area. A total of 15 types of soil were classified to represent the actual Groundwater model lithology in the study area. The simplification of the actual lithology was carried out based on Resistivity survey rocks and soils group. The elevation of the ground surface and each soil layer were imported Visual MODFLOW into Visual MODFLOW software, then the interpolation of elevation points was done. Two interpolators; Kriging and Natural Neighbouring were used to generate ground surface and model layers similar to the topography in the study area. As a result, it has been identified that the study areas consist of 4 main layers of lithological formation which are unconsolidated deposit, sedimentary, metamorphic, and granite. The upper layer is dominated by unconsolidated with a maximum thickness of about 150 m in the coastal area. Hence, it is concluded that the unconsolidated deposit layer in Bukit Merah is highly potential with groundwater resources in the alluvium aquifer at the upper layer which has the potential to be developed for purpose of irrigation in a paddy field in the Kerian area. 1.0 Introduction Selangor, groundwater use is more focused on industrial purposes only (Nazri et al., 2020; Mridha et al., 2019). The urbanization and industrialization in Malaysia were led In 2016, Malaysia experienced a strong El Niño to the high demand for freshwater to meet its domestic and phenomenon which resulted in water shortage problems at industrial requirements (Anang, 2019). According to the critical levels in most areas of Malaysia. Bukit Merah Dam is one Malaysian Environmental Quality Report in 2017, a total of 258 of the worst affected when El Niño occurs (Suruhanjaya (54 %) of the 477 supervised rivers were categorized as Perkhidmatan Air Negara, 2016). The Bukit Merah Dam is polluted rivers as a result of anthropogenic activities (Goi, important for providing water resources to rice granary areas in 2020). These polluted rivers involving a high cost of treatment the Kerian district. However, the dam has reached the lowest and have an adverse impact on the sustainability of water level during El Niño and caused the Department of Irrigation and resources. Hence, exploration and utilization of groundwater Drainage (DID) Perak to stop the release of water for can be an alternative way to replace the contaminated surface agricultural purposes. Consequently, farmers in the Kerian water. district have suffered losses in their crop yield due to water Globally, the agriculture sector is the single largest user of shortage (Asrin, 2016). In order to solve this problem, the study freshwater (Siebert et al., 2010). In the United States of America of groundwater as an alternative source for irrigation purposes (USA) and Europe, groundwater is well-established as a reliable is urgently needed. Intending to manage water resources, the source hence, the utilization of groundwater for irrigation lithological of the area needs to be developed in advance to purposes is on a large scale. Farmers have been practicing the identify the potential groundwater aquifer for sustainable use of groundwater due to lower cost compared to piped water groundwater extraction. supply, as well as ensuring adequate water supply for their Several studies have been conducted using different crops. methods to determine the lithological of an area to locate Until now, the use of groundwater as a source of irrigation groundwater aquifer. Azizan et al. (2015) created a 3D model is not widely practiced in most agricultural areas in Malaysia view of lithology to identify potential groundwater aquifer in because the country is still over-dependent on surface water Block C, Sawah Sempadan, Tanjung Karang using Electrical (Saimy & Raji, 2015). Since surface water resources are easily Resistivity Tomography (ERT). Zawawi et al. (2015) used a affected by extreme weather conditions, hence water combination of resistivity and induced polarization to identify availability becomes limited in quantity (Ying, 2014). The use of the groundwater potential in Ladang 2, Universiti Putra groundwater in Kelantan has long been implemented by the Malaysia. The finding shows that the lithological formation with people but they only use for domestic purposes while in a potential fractured aquifer was found at an electrical resistivity value from 100 to 2000 Ωm and overlapped with low- *Corresponding author email: [email protected] © 2021 The Authors. Published by SixScientia Resources Makzin et al. / Journal of Agricultural and Food Engineering 1 (2021) 0031 value chargeability. Recent work by Hassan et al. (2020) applied area forms a high topographic. Alluvium sediment covers most the Induced Polarization (IP) method to identify the lithological of the coastal of Kerian up to Bukit Merah Lake. Meanwhile, formation in Selangor Basin. The study concluded that Selangor sedimentary rock lies between the granite and alluvium Basin lithological formation consists of alluvium, sedimentary, sediment in the geological map. and metamorphic rock. The main objective of this study is to delineate the 2.2 Wells Information lithological formation of the aquifer in Bukit Merah, Semanggol, Perak for groundwater abstraction. A 2D model view has been All wells located within the model region were identified built using Visual MODFLOW software based on geological data and the information of these wells was collected including the and topographic data to develop an acceptable geological well identification, coordinate, and elevation. Table 1 shows the framework of the groundwater model in the study area. information of seven wells distributed in the study area were collected from the Department of Mineral and Geoscience 2. Methodology reports. All of the seven observatory wells within the study area 2.1 Site Description were provided with limited lithological information, ranging from 5 to 25 meters only. However, the lithological over the Bukit Merah, Semanggol, Perak, Malaysia which is located in relatively deep depths is required to construct an accurate Kerian district, Perak was chosen as the study area. The study lithological formation of the model. According to Fiser-Nagy et area had a rice farming system called Kerian Irrigation Scheme, al. (2014), it is possible to extend spatially the lithological which is placed under the Integrated Agricultural Development information along certain geological sections to estimate the Area (IADA Kerian) with 28,488 hectares for rice cultivation lithological boundaries using neighbouring wells in the area. In (Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries, 2021). The main this study, the available lithological information from water source was originally collected from the Bukit Merah neighbouring wells in Larut Matang and Selama were used to Reservoir basin with a daily average discharge requirement to provide information about geological structural that build-up the irrigation area of about 28 m³/s. which among the neighbouring wells might be in relation to the Based on the Geological Map of Kerian, Selama, and Larut structural geometry of the study area. The previous study from Matang District as shown in Figure 1, three different lithologies Hassan et al. (2020) also adapted the same method to their work underlie the study area namely granite rocks, sedimentary in order to determine lithological formation in Selangor Basin. rocks, and alluvium (Department of Mineral and Geoscience, The resistivity survey was conducted to correlate with 2010). The granite rock located in the eastern part of the study lithological information of wells in the study area. Figure 1. Geological Map of Kerian, Selama, and Larut Matang District (Department of Mineral and Geoscience, 2010) e-ISSN: 2716-6236 2 © 2021 The Authors. Published by SixScientia Resources Makzin et al. / Journal of Agricultural and Food Engineering 1 (2021) 0031 Table 1. Wells information in the study area (Department of Mineral and Geoscience, 2010) Well Identification Location UTM Coordinate Elevation amsl (m) Easting (m) Northing (m) P1 Kg. Teluk Gerdu 552971 279600 5 P2 Kg. Sg Semang 560451 281485 11 P3 Kg. Batu