Groundwater Exploration in Northern Mali
The 'Sustainable Development Project of the Kidal Area' (DDRK) aims to reduce poverty in the Adrar des Iforas region of Northern Mali by assisting livestock development. One of the key challenges facing the people of the region is that many grazing grounds cannot be exploited due to the large distances between existing hand-dug wells. Implementing new water points is a challenge not only because of the difficult hydrogeological environment, but also because of the remoteness of the sites.
Geophysical and hydrogeological surveys were conducted in remote areas up to two days drive from the base camp in Kidal. DC resistivity and magnetic surveys were successfully employed to locate new drill sites.
Four days drive north of Bamako, life for this Tuareg tribesman revolves around finding good pastures for his herds of goats. Camels are still an important means of transport, although 4*4 wheel drive vehicles are becoming increasingly common.
The sporadic rainfall events in the Adrar des Iforas mountains results in flash floods that can flow down hundreds of kilometers of wadis. In the year 2000, eight people were reported drowned from these floods.
Vegetation grows quickly in the depressions where the floods passed. The main challenge facing the herdsmen is that a goat can only walk about 25 kilometers per day and needs to drink at least every two to three days.
Where there are no wells good pastures such as these near the Algerian border are left ungrazed.
Our challenge was to find groundwater in pasture areas where nobody had succeeded before. e.g. one recent drilling campaign had only 2 successful wells out of 200 drilled...
From our base in Kidal (3 days drive from Bamako) we went on four to five day trips through the desert, navigating by aerial photographs taken in 1954 and GPS.
We used resistivity surveys to verify if the lineaments identified on the aerial photographs were potential water-bearing, subsurface fractures.
Magnetic surveys were critical in identifying the contacts between different geological units.
Catching a lift with Aviation Sans Frontieres....
to check out the drilling site from the air....
Red dust marks the fracture zone!
"The ground is my bed
The sky is my roof....."
Where's the coffee?.... waking up at the crack of dawn....
Baking bread in the sand for breakfast...
The desert....
