El Kalaeet - El Foula Area Cracks in the West Kordofan State, Sudan: Environmental Impacts and Geological Hazards

Hassan Abdelslam Mustafa; Ahmed Dawelbait; Mushaal Abdelgadir Salih; Saif Eldeen Hussein; Abutalib Mahmoud; Elnazeer Haroun Tawer; Badereldeen Elnour Elnaeir

Hassan Abdelslam Mustafa Faculty of Science, University of Kordofan, EL Obeid, P. O. 160, Sudan.
Ahmed Dawelbait Faculty of Science, University of Kordofan, EL Obeid, P.O 160, Sudan.
Mushaal Abdelgadir Salih Faculty of Science, University of Kordofan, EL Obeid, P.O 160, Sudan.
Saif Eldeen Hussein Faculty of Science, University of Kordofan, EL Obeid, P.O 160, Sudan.
Abutalib Mahmoud Faculty of Science, University of Kordofan, EL Obeid, P.O 160, Sudan.
Elnazeer Haroun Tawer Faculty of Science, University of Kordofan, EL Obeid, P.O 160, Sudan.
Badereldeen Elnour Elnaeir Faculty of Science, University of Kordofan, EL Obeid, P.O 160, Sudan.

Abstract

Nemours surface cracks appeared suddenly in the West Kordofan State in the southwestern part of Sudan. These cracks demonstrated from El Foula town to El Kalaeet area about 10 km north Babanosa city. The occurrence of these cracks resulted from a heavy rainfall gives preliminary indications of the relationship of these phenomenon with the (surface or subsurface) water. Their actual depth reach to six meters, the three-fold shapes attributed to the precise cracks that originally existed in the affected layers. Cracking zones reflect areas in which water is easier to penetrate into deeper zones, indicating their connection with the subsurface water.
The cracks had different sizes ranging from few centimeters to several meters and orientations generally from north to south, and some where they characterized by triangular forms. These phenomena were resulted due to the internal leakage and horizontal groundwater movement from the runoff of the rainfall in the surface towards the main basin in the area.
The detailed investigations indicated that there is no problem for this event, but there are some precautions people must have to take into consider. In addition, people should avoid the distribution of the opening cracks and fissures for any reason as far as they could to avoid any geological hazards and environmental impact in the area that resulted due to these cracks.

How to cite this article: Mustafa HA, Dawelbait A, Salih MA et al. El Kalaeet - El Foula Area Cracks in the West Kordofan State, Sudan: Environmental Impacts and Geological Hazards. J Adv Res Geo Sci Rem Sens 2022; 9(1&2): 1-7.

References

1. Alrowaimi MM. Experimental Study of sinkhole failure related to groundwater level drops. Doctoral thesis, University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida 2016.
2. Alrowaimi MM, Yun H, Chapra M. Sinkhole Physical Models to Simulate and Investigate Sinkhole Collapses. Nckri Symposium 2015; 5: 559-568.
3. Cai H, Zhang J, Liu R. The feature and researching significance of the ground fissures formed by Zhangbei 6.2 earthquake. Journal of North China Earthquake 2001; 19(4): 47-53.
4. Coppersmith KJ, Youngs RR. Data needs for probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis. Journal of Geodynamics 2000; 29(3&5) 329-343.
5. Chang Z, Zhang Y, Zhou Q. Intensity distribution characteristics and active tectonic background in area of the 2013 Eryuan MS 5.5 earthquake Earth quake Research China 2014; 30(4): 560-570.
6. Eislameil S. Sedimentological Investigation in En Nahud Area in West Kordofan State, (Sudan). Master Thesis, University of Kordofan, Sudan 2016.
7. El Mansour AA, Elhadi MA, Abdelsamad MI et al. Hydro-geophysical Investigations in Western Bara Basin, Kordofan Region, Sudan. African Journal of Geosciences 2019; 2(2): 66-76.
8. Fellows LD. Ground-Water Pumping Causes Arizona to Sink. Arizona Geological Survey. Newsletter: Arizona Geology 1999; 29(3):1-4.
9. Ghinaya MA. Groundwater Assessment of En Nahud Basin, Thesis of Master Degree. Juba University, Sudan 2001.
10. Holmes A. Physical geology. Thomas Nelson and Sons LTD. London 1944.
11. Jones LL, Warren JP. Land Subsidence Costs in the Houston-Baytown Area of Texas. American Water Works Association Journal 1976; 68: 597-599
12. Kaufmann JE. Catastrophic Sinkhole Collapse in Missouri. Fact Sheet 2007, 3060.
13. Tang M, Liu J, Shao Y. Analysis about the minimum magnitude earthquake associated with surface ruptures. Journal of Seismology Geology 2015; 37(4):1193-1214.
14. Wells DL, Coppersmith KJ. New empirical relationships among magnitude, rupture length, rupture width, rupture area, and surface displacement. Journal of Bulletin Seismological Society of America 1994; 84(4): 974-1002.
15. Zhong D, Tappo P. Geophysical large strike slip fault an important form of intracontinental deformation after collision. Journal of Chinese Science Bulletin 1989; 34(7): 526-529.