The SADC Groundwater Data and Information Archive, Knowledge Sharing and Co-operation Project. Final report

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Groundwater Data and Information Archive, Knowledge Sharing and Co-operation Project, funded by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and Department for International Development, UK (DFID), was initiated in September 2009 to identify, catalogue and subsequently promote access to the large collection of reports held in the UK by the British Geological Survey (BGS). The work has focused on a wealth of unpublished so-called “grey” data and information which describes groundwater occurrence and development in Southern Africa and was gathered by the BGS over its many decades of involvement in the region. The project has four main aims: To catalogue and describe the "grey data" documents on SADC groundwater held by the BGS within a digital metadatabase. To identify a sub-set of scanned documents to be made freely available to groundwater practitioners and managers in the SADC region by electronic distribution. To link the metadatabase and digital sub-set of documents via a web portal hosted by the BGS, to enable download of documents by SADC groundwater workers. To strengthen links between BGS hydrogeologists with counterparts in SADC, and provide an example of groundwater data sharing which could be emulated by other European Geological Surveys with substantial data holdings on SADC groundwater. The project has successfully met these aims. The assessment of BGS archived material produced an electronic meta-database describing 1735 items held in hard copy. Of these, 1041 have been scanned digitally to searchable Portable Document Format (PDF) format. A subset of 655 PDFs including partial documents related to groundwater development from the colonial and post independence period as well as BGS internal project reports and reports approved for web dissemination by host countries are now available to download (free of charge) at http://www.SADCgroundwaterarchive.com . Initial results indicate a good deal of interest both from within SADC and elsewhere, accessed by directly addressing the website and via a search engine such as Google. The information presented has already been used by in-region projects such as the SADC Hydrogeological Mapping project and the Malawi Water Assessment Project. This is essentially a pilot project providing an example of how Web delivery of the archive is an important step forward for the well-being of the SADC region. It permits access to documents few even new existed and will, it is hoped, provide a valuable dataset that should inhibit the temptation to waste scarce resources by ‘re-inventing the wheel’

The metamorphic petrology and structure of the district north west of Clifden, CO Galway

In the course of the present study the area has been mapped in detail on the six inch scale and a stratigraphical succession has been suggested. The regional metamorphism has been investigated and found to be of amphibolite facies. Metamorphic zones demarcated in pelitic rocks by staurolite, staurolite + sillimanite, and sillimanite + muscovite, have been recognised and the zonal isograds have been mapped. Two post-kinematic granites were intruded into the metasediments, they are adamellitic in composition and are, together with veral other small granite bodies, related to the Galway Granite. The metasediments have been thermally metamorphosed and zones of thermal metamorphism have been mapped, an inner zone of andalusite hornfels, (hornblende hornfels facies), and an outer zone of spotted schist, (epidote actinolite hornfels facies).Fourteen chemical analyses of the metasedimentary rocks were made with the purpose of investigating the question of metasomatism in the regional and thermal metamorphism, and for comparing the metasediments with unmetamorphosed sedimentary rocks. It has been concluded that metasomatism did not occur during either the regional or thermal metamorphism. Chemically the metasediments compare closely with sediments carried into a shelf sea from an adjacent land mass of moderate or low relief and it is concluded that the metasediments were deposited under similar conditions. Three periods of folding have been recognised: 1. East - West, syn-metamorphic 2. East - West, post-metamorphic 3. North - South, post-metamorphic. The first east-west folding resulted in the formation of recumbent, isoclinal nappes. These were subsequently cross folded about an east-west axis to give the present - Connemara anticline which was then deformed by gentle folding about a north-south axis. A swarm of north-south trending dykes was intruded in association with the granite emplacement, and at the same time the area was fractured by a system of faults striking north west - south east, and north east - south west. The area was finally subjected to sub-aerial erosion and glaciated in Pleistocene times

Developing groundwater for rural water supply in Nigeria : a report of the May 2005 training course and summary of groundwater issues in the eight focus states

The British Geological Survey was commissioned to strengthen the capacity of the rural water supply and sanitation agencies in eight states in Nigeria to undertake groundwater resource evaluation and development. These states (Jigawa, Benue, Enugu, Eketi, Zamfara, Kwara, Borno and Ebonyi)are the focus of a current FGN/UNICEF WES Project, supported by DFID. The opportunity was also taken to assess the hydrogeological issues facing the eight states and to suggest ways to help meet this need

Reconnaissance visit to assess the hydrogeology of the Oku area, Sekyere West District, Ashanti Region, Ghana

The Oku area of central Ghana experiences severe water shortages during the October to March dry season. Surface water in the form of rivers and ponds is widely available in the wet season, but tends to dry up during the remainder of the year. Diseases associated with contaminated drinking water are prevalent. A large proportion of boreholes drilled into the well-lithified low permeability sandstones fail after two or three years, because despite the high seasonal rainfall, rates of recharge to the aquifer are very low. Boreholes typically yield only a few basins of water a day, and need to be left overnight to recharge. This leads to long queues, and forces some people to turn to potentially contaminated surface water sources. Successful boreholes have been sited along shallow river valleys and on structural lineations, but these boreholes are often not near settlements. Several options exist for improving the water supply in the Oku area, including the following: 1. Small dams or bunded ponds. 2. Large diameter shallow wells constructed in alluvium. 3. Further boreholes. 4. Rainwater harvesting. 5. The artificial recharge of existing boreholes using rainwater or filtered surface water. The last option would allow existing water points to be used, and would contribute towards avoiding the problems of contaminated surface water. However, the permeability of the aquifer may be so low that recharge rates would not be able to meet the water needs of the community. It is likely that a system of seasonal conjunctive use involving some or all of the above options will prove to be most effective

Structural Controls on Crustal Fluid Circulation and Hot Spring Geochemistry Above a Flat‐Slab Subduction Zone, Peru

Hot spring geochemistry from the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Huayhuash, Peru, reveal the influence of crustal‐scale structures on geothermal fluid circulation in an amagmatic region located above a flat‐slab subduction zone. To test the influence of contrasting modes of faulting in these regions, springs were targeted along the Cordillera Blanca detachment fault, within its hanging wall, in the footwall of the detachment, and in the Cordillera Huayhuash. Hot springs along the Cordillera Blanca detachment fault zone are associated with recent extension and normal faulting, and those in its footwall and the Cordillera Huayhuash are located in the Marañon fold and thrust belt where compressional structures dominate. Springs along and in the hanging wall of the Cordillera Blanca detachment fault yield brackish‐saline, alkaline‐chloride waters, with oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and chlorine stable isotope values that suggest mixing between meteoric groundwater and saline brine affected by high water‐rock interaction. Geothermometry reservoir temperature estimates (RTEs) of 91–226°C indicate maximum flow path depths of 8.7 or 11 km, depending on geothermal gradient, associated with the Cordillera Blanca detachment fault. In contrast, springs in the footwall and in the Cordillera Huayhuash exhibit a wide range of water types with an isotopic affinity to meteoric water, suggesting a greater influence from shallow groundwater and less water‐rock interaction. For these springs, RTEs of 40–98°C correspond to much shallower circulation (1.6–4 km). Results indicate that the Cordillera Blanca detachment system accommodates significantly deeper circulation of crustal fluids compared to other regional compressional structures

The epidemiology of injury and illness amongst athletes at the Indian Ocean Island Games, Mauritius, 2019

BACKGROUND: The Indian Ocean Island Games is a multi-sport event that occurs every four years and includes athletes from seven islands of the Indian Ocean, namely, Comoros, Reunion, Mayotte, Madagascar, Maldives, Seychelles, and Mauritius. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to describe the injury and illness epidemiology of the athletes participating during the 2019 Indian Ocean Islands Games. METHODS: This prospective cohort study recorded injury and illness cases from athletes who competed in these Games. All medical physicians received detailed instructions and training on data collection using an injury report form. All athletes (minors and adults) who provided consent, or consent given from the minors’ guardians, were included in this study. Athletes who did not provide consent for this study were excluded. RESULTS: Athletes (n = 1 521; 531 women and 990 men) reported 160 injuries (injury incidence rate of 11%) and 85 illnesses (illness incidence rate of 6%). The percentage of distribution of injuries were highest in football and basketball. Most injuries occurred during competition, compared with training, joint sprains were the most common type of injury (28%), followed by muscle strains (19%). Men suffered most of the injuries (79% vs. 21% for women). Similarly, men sustained more illnesses than women (57% vs. 43%). Most illnesses affected the respiratory system (67%), and infection was the most common cause of illness (84%) in participating athletes. CONCLUSION: These findings are similar to previous events in other parts of the world. However, unique ailments, not previously reported on, were discovered. Epidemiological data from this study can be inferred to athletes who compete in similar multisport events in the Indian Ocean region.http://sajsm.org.za/index.php/sajsmPhysiotherap

The timing of strike-slip shear along the Ranong and Khlong Marui faults, Thailand

The timing of shear along many important strike-slip faults in Southeast Asia, such as the Ailao Shan-Red River, Mae Ping and Three Pagodas faults, is poorly understood. We present 40Ar/39Ar, U-Pb SHRIMP and microstructural data from the Ranong and Khlong Marui faults of Thailand to show that they experienced a major period of ductile dextral shear during the middle Eocene (48–40 Ma, centered on 44 Ma) which followed two phases of dextral shear along the Ranong Fault, before the Late Cretaceous (>81 Ma) and between the late Paleocene and early Eocene (59–49 Ma). Many of the sheared rocks were part of a pre-kinematic crystalline basement complex, which partially melted and was intruded by Late Cretaceous (81–71 Ma) and early Eocene (48 Ma) tin-bearing granites. Middle Eocene dextral shear at temperatures of ~300–500°C formed extensive mylonite belts through these rocks and was synchronous with granitoid vein emplacement. Dextral shear along the Ranong and Khlong Marui faults occurred at the same time as sinistral shear along the Mae Ping and Three Pagodas faults of northern Thailand, a result of India-Burma coupling in advance of India-Asia collision. In the late Eocene (<37 Ma) the Ranong and Khlong Marui faults were reactivated as curved sinistral branches of the Mae Ping and Three Pagodas faults, which were accommodating lateral extrusion during India-Asia collision and Himalayan orogenesis