US-Benin Planning Visit: Research on Groundwater Flow through Fractured Rock Masses

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

9978192SillimanThis is a planning visit award for Dr. Stephen E. Silliman, of the Department of Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, to travel to Benin to meet with Dr. Moussa Boukari, of the Department of Earth Sciences at the Universite Nationale du Benin. The purposes of the visit are to develop a cooperative research project for the delineation of groundwater flow through fractured rock masses, and collect initial geochemical and historical data sets from ten sites. In Benin, as elsewhere in Africa, high-quality water in ample quantities for domestic use is very scarce. Much of Benin's water supply is provided by wells which are hand dug or drilled into fractured crystalline rock, but the lack of ability to identify where the best sources of water are located produces many dry wells. The proposed research activity will study the complex interrelationships among fracture location, geology, geochemistry, remote imaging, and indigenous knowledge about local water systems and drilling histories. The results are expected to produce a scientific method for locating high-quality water sources in fractured crystalline rock formations. Funding for this project is being provided jointly by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Earth Sciences.