Eynot Tzukim Nature Reserve (Ein Feshcha) located on the western shore of the Dead Sea is the major outlet of the Eastern Mountain aquifer. Previous Studies show that the decline level of the Dead Sea, result in a southward springs displacement. This displacement is probably due to the Dead Sea shoreline dynamics, which change south-eastward and the extensive clay plains of the Tze'elim formation that extend in the north area but narrower next to the southern part of the reserve. After two decades of spring displacement, during the last few years the springs stopped changing their location. We hypotheses that the current stop is due to a buried alluvial fan of Samra stream. However, in the following years the groundwater will find a new outlet through continuous layers of pebbles towards the alluvial fan of the Kidron Wadi which cross the clay Tzeelim formation and the springs will migrate south, outside of the reserve area.
In this study we acquired seismic and Time Domain Electromagnetics method (TDEM), which are a non-invasive geophysical technique, in order to delineate the subsurface water bodies from the south part of the reserve up to the Kidron Wadi as a basis for understanding the hydrology in this area in order to generate more reliably predictions of the possibility of the system migrating to the Kidron fan.
The TDEM results show at the east side of the fan, a high resistivity anomaly (around 1 Ohm-m), interpreted as the ‘Sinkholes Salt’. In the Northern part of the fan, much higher anomalies found (5-10 Ohm-m), interpreted as fresh water. Yet, there is no indications of Fresh water in further south.