US-Ghana Cooperative Research: Assessment of Groundwater Vulnerability to Pesticides Contamination in Farmlands Within Nsawam District, Ghana: An Integrated Approach

该奖项支持杜克大学土木与环境工程系的Fred K. Boadu教授与加纳库马西夸梅·恩克鲁玛科技大学地质工程系的Emmanuel a. Owusu先生开展的一项为期三年的合作研究项目。调查人员将进行一项研究，以调查和评估可能受到滥用杀虫剂影响的断裂地形中地下水的潜在脆弱性。研究区域位于Nsawam地区的一个农业社区。在许多发展中国家，大量和常规使用农药是一种常见做法，但对许多地区来说，对地下水资源的影响尚不清楚。结晶岩裂缝是地下水流动和地下污染物运移的主要水力管道。在加纳，农民经常使用滴滴涕等农药，这些农药很容易进入用于家庭用途的地下水中，从而对周围社区居民的健康构成潜在风险。研究人员将采用一种创新的方法，将人工神经网络与标准的野外测绘技术和地球物理测量方法相结合，绘制地下裂缝图，以预测和绘制受污染地下水的潜在流向。该项目将利用Boadu博士在开发和使用地球物理模型来预测裂缝地形的地下运输特性方面的专业知识，以及Owusu先生在野外构造测绘方面的背景。双方将合作分析和解释从实地获得的结构信息。该项目的结果有望推进当前环境和工程地球物理学的理论知识，并将为过去构造变形期间裂缝参数和方向的变化提供新的信息。此外，该项目将为加纳这一地区和类似环境建立一个宝贵的地质和地球物理信息数据库。该项目由国际项目司和地球科学司共同支持。

0114767BoaduThis award supports a three-year cooperative research project between Professor Fred K. Boadu, with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University, and Mr. Emmanuel A. Owusu, with the Department of Geological Engineering at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Kumasi, Ghana. The investigators will conduct a study to investigate and assess the potential vulnerability of groundwater in a fractured terrain that is subject to indiscriminate use of pesticides. The study area is located in a farming community in the Nsawam district.In many developing countries the heavy and routine use of pesticides is a common practice, but for many areas the impact on groundwater resources is unknown. Fractures in crystalline rock serve as the main hydraulic conduits for flow of groundwater and transport of contaminants in the earth's subsurface. In Ghana farmers routinely use pesticides such as DDT, and these can easily end up in the groundwater that is used for domestic purposes, thus posing potential health risks to inhabitants in surrounding communities. The investigators will use an innovative approach that combines artificial neural networks with standard field mapping techniques and geophysical survey methods to map subsurface fractures in order to predict and map the potential flow directions of contaminated groundwater. The project will utilize Dr. Boadu's expertise in the development and use of geophysical models to predict subsurface transport properties of fractured terrain and Mr. Owusu's background in field structural mapping. Both will collaborate on the analysis and interpretation of the structural information obtained from the field. Results of this project are expected to advance current theoretical knowledge in environmental and engineering geophysics, as will as provide new information on variations in fracture parameters and orientations during past tectonic deformation. Additionally, the project will result in a valuable database of geological and geophysical information for this part of Ghana and similar environments. This project is being jointly supported by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Earth Sciences.