Workshop on Sand Dune Accumulations and Ground-Water Basins in the Eastern Sahara, U.S.-Egypt Workshop

说明：该奖项将为“东撒哈拉沙丘堆积和地下水盆地讲习班”提供部分支助。 会议将由美国的El-Baz博士与埃及开罗沙漠研究中心副主任Ibrahim Himida博士合作组织。 参与者将包括17名高级科学家，3名博士后研究员和1名研究生。 其中，7名来自美国，5名来自东撒哈拉地区的发展中国家。 东撒哈拉是地球上最干燥的地方。 它的沙丘和沙丘区，这是由风成活动雕刻，大部分被封闭在地形凹陷。 可追溯到32万年前的多雨期循环似乎与间冰期相对应，这表明全球气候发生了重大变化，从而导致干湿交替。 人们还认为，雨水和地表水渗透到下面的岩石中，储存在多孔层和断裂带中。 这样的水首先会在内陆洼地积聚，形成湖泊。 河流和溪流携带的沉积物可能是堆积成沙丘的沙子的来源。 研讨会要回答的问题是：沙丘地能否被视为地表以下存在地下水的指标？ 讲习班将包括收集有关数据以及大地卫星图像，编写埃及和该区域其他国家的研究专题国别报告。 适用范围：该奖项支持七名美国科学家，包括两名初级科学家和一名研究生，与来自埃及和撒哈拉东部其他国家的科学家以及一些欧洲科学家一起参加一项重要研究的研讨会和实地研究，以确定观察到的沙丘与地下水存在之间的可能关系。 该项目很可能导致美国科学家和该地区科学家确定可能的联合研究，此外还获得与沙丘形成有关的有趣科学问题的答案。 该项目得到了INT和PLAN的支持。

Description: This award is to provide partial support for a `Workshop on Sand Dune Accumulations and Groundwater Basins in the Eastern Sahara.` It will be organized by Dr. El-Baz from the U.S. in cooperation with Dr. Ibrahim Himida, Deputy Director, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt. Participants will include 17 senior scientists, 3 post-doctoral fellows, and one graduate student. Of the total, seven will be from the U.S. and five from developing countries in the region of the eastern Sahara. The eastern Sahara is the driest place on earth. Its sandsheets and dune fields, which are sculptured by aeolian activity, are largely enclosed in topographic depressions. Cycles of pluvial periods that date back to 320,000 years ago appear to correspond to interglacial stages, which indicate major global climate changes and the resulting alternation of wet and dry episodes. It is also thought that the rain and surface water seeped through the underlying rocks to be stored in porous layers and fracture zones. Such water would have first accumulated in inland depression forming lakes. The sediment that were carried by rivers and streams would have served as the source of the sand that accumulated into dunes. The question to be answered by the workshop is: can sand dunes fields be considered indicators of the presence of groundwater below the surface? The workshop will include collection of pertinent data as well as Landsat images, the preparation of country reports on research topics for Egypt and for the other countries included in that region. Scope: This award supports seven U.S. scientists, including two junior scientists and a graduate student, to work with scientists from Egypt, and other countries in the eastern Sahara, and with a number of European scientists in a workshop and a field study on an important study to determine the possible relationship between the observed sand dunes and the presence of ground water. This project is likely to result in identification of possible joint research by U.S. scientists and scientists of the region, in addition to obtaining answers to the interesting scientific questions related to the formation of sand dunes. This project is being supported by INT and EAR.