Climate Change and Groundwater

Climate Change and Groundwater
Author: Walter Dragoni
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2008
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781862392359

There is a general consensus that for the next few decades at least, the Earth will continue its warming. This will inevitably bring about serious environmental problems. For human society, the most severe will be those related to alterations of the hydrological cycle, which is already heavily influenced by human activities. Climate change will directly affect groundwater recharge, groundwater quality and the freshwater-seawater interface. The variations of groundwater storage inevitably entail a variety of geomorphological and engineering effects. In the areas where water resources are likely to diminish, groundwater will be one of the main solutions to prevent drought. In spite of its paramount importance, the issue of 'Climate Change and Groundwater' has been neglected. This volume presents some of the current understanding of the topic.

Groundwater in Ethiopia

Groundwater in Ethiopia
Author: Seifu Kebede
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2012-08-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3642303919

This book provides a comprehensive description of groundwater resources in Ethiopia and its various dimensions (groundwater as resource, environmental functions, and socioeconomics). The prevailing knowledge of groundwater resources in Ethiopia (or elsewhere in Sub Saharan Africa) was based on geological and stratigraphic framework known nearly four decades ago (mainly 1960's and 70's). Thanks to the substantial geoscientific research since the 70's a new set of relevant geological/stratigrahpic data has been created that helps to re-define our understanding of groundwater resources in Africa as a whole and in Ethiopia in particular: a) For the first time the basement aquifer of Ethiopia has been described hydrogeologically based on genesis of regoliths (deep weathering and striping history); clear regional difference in groundwater potential is shown for the first time; comparative accounty has been given regarding groundwater occurrence in the generally low grade basement rocks of Ethiopia (Arabian Nubian shield) and high grade basement rocks of the rest of Africa. b) For the first time groundwater occurrence in multilayred sedimentary rocks account for spatial variation in degree of karstification; deformation history, and stratigraphy. c) The vast volcanic aquifers of Ethiopia which have previously classified based on their ages are now reclassified based on age, morphology (eg. groundwater in plateau volcanics, groundwater in shield volcanics) and aquifer structure. d) The loose alluvio lacustrine sediments which were known as least extensive in previous works based on areal cover are in fact shown to host the most voluminous groundwater resources in Ethiopia. These aquifers have now been described based on their geomorphology, extent, and genesis. The aim of this book is to use these newly created knowledge to redefine the understanding of groundwater resources in Ethiopia.