Details of Award

NERC Reference : NER/B/S/2002/00540

Seismic survey of Lake Tana, northern Ethiopia, and the palaeohydrology of the Blue Nile.

Principal Investigator:: Professor HF Lamb, Aberystwyth University, Inst of Geography and Earth Sciences
Co-Investigator:: Dr SJ Davies, Aberystwyth University, Inst of Geography and Earth Sciences
Co-Investigator:: Dr CR Bates, University of St Andrews, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Grant held at:: Aberystwyth University, Inst of Geography and Earth Sciences

ENRIs:: Natural Resource Management; Global Change; Environmental Risks and Hazards
Science Topics:: Quaternary Science; Hydrological Processes; Climate & Climate Change

Abstract:: Lake Tana in is the source of the Blue Nile, which contributes ~66% of the total Nile discharge and most of the sediment that reaches Egypt and the Mediterranean. Climatic changes in the Blue Nile headwaters therefore have a profound effect on the main Nile, and are likely to have influenced ancient Egyptian civilizations. This proposal seeks funding to carry out high-resolution shallow geophysical survey of the depth and distribution of sediments in Lake Tana, and to undertake preliminary analyses of sediment cores. We shall construct an acoustic stratigraphic framework for the interpretation of the sedimentary history of Lake Tana, map sedimentary structures resulting from lake-level change, and identify optimal core sites for multiproxy palaeoenvironmental investigations of the late Pleistocene and Holocene climatic history of the Blue Nile headwaters.

Authorised funds only

This grant award has a total value of £22,698

Total - T&S	Total - Other Costs
£17,690	£5,007

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