US-Egypt Cooperative Research: Towards a Better Understanding of the Hydrology of Lake Nasser, Egypt

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0243375SultanDescription: This project is to support a cooperative research project by Dr. Mohamed Sultan, Department of Geology, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York and Dr. Zeinhom El Alfy, Egyptian Geological Survey and Mining Authority (EGSMA), Cairo, Egypt. The research will build on the results of the investigators' preliminary groundwater flow models for the SW corner of Lake Nasser. Predictive analysis suggest that impedance of silting in Lake Nasser and gradually decreasing difference between the lake stage and near-lake heads are causing a general rise in Lake Nasser surface water level and a decrease in recharge rates from the lake with time. The PI's plan to develop and calibrate regional groundwater and surface water flow models (1) to examine the validity of their preliminary findings over the entire lake and its surroundings, (2) to analyze the interaction between surface water and groundwater in the study area, and (3) to evaluate and quantify the impact of decreasing recharge rate on the lake water level and on the surface water diversion scenarios in the surrounding area. The models will be constrained by observations (e.g., lithologic, physical, elevation) extracted from remote sensing datasets and by inferences made from geochemical data for groundwater and surface water samples. Scope: The PI's will conduct field work by US scientists in Egypt and joint (EGSMA/UB) analysis of data and training for the Egyptian scientists in the USA. The results of this study will have mutual scientific benefits for the US and Egyptian sides. It will have major ramifications for Egypt's national plans to develop its water resources in SW Egypt (e.g., Tushka Canal) and could potentially provide straightforward applications for monitoring storage variability with time in artificial Lakes. The project is funded jointly by the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Earth Sciences.