Sensation: Russians found underground river in Sahara!

If the method suggested by Russian scientists is effective enough, Sahara will drastically change in several dozens of years
Russian geologists helped their colleagues from Mauritania find a deep underground river, Anatoly Puchko, deputy director of the Institute of Geoinformation Analysis of the Earth representative office in Moscow told at a briefing. The briefing was dedicated to new methods of geological exploration with the help of space surveys.

RIA Novosti quotes Anatoly Puchko as saying that “a group of Russian scientists held searches of underground water reserves in Mauritania (North Africa) at the instance of the republic’s government. A new method of geological exploration involving space vehicles for surveys was used at that.”

The group showed the exact place where drilling should be done. When the first well was drilled in July, Mauritanian geologists were surprised to discovered a deep underground river at the depth of 30 meters only. “The event is the talk of the day in the Mauritanian media. At the same time, it is really surprising that the place is near the area where the incumbent Mauritanian president was born,” Anatoly Puchko says. Russian geologists offered the Mauritanian colleagues to continue drilling operations, because calculations and forecasts of the Russian specialists revealed a stronger current is at the depth of 250 meters, under the solid plutonic rock. Mauritania’s geologists broke three diamond drills before they managed to get to the mentioned depth and really discovered a much stronger current there. In the words of Anatoly Puchko, original water height in the well made up 32,000 liters per hour, it means over 0,5 tons per minute.

The know-how of Russian geologists is planned to be used in searches of raw material resources and water reserves in South African Republic, United Arab Emirates, Korea and other countries. Successful implementation of the method is hoped to solve water problems in countries mostly covered with deserts. The method is especially urgent for North African and Arabian countries where deserts are gradually swallowing up the sparse oases. If the method suggested by Russian scientists is effective enough, Sahara will drastically change in several dozens of years. Thousands of years ago Sahara was not so desert as now, it was a huge savanna which conditions suited for life perfectly. However, it is not clear yet whether the underground water supply is great enough or not. Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/02/45073.html

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