discovered in northern Brazil a huge reservoir of fresh water
Experts estimate it could reach be the world's largest .
By: brasilia. efe
Scientists from Brazil announced the discovery in Germany of a huge reservoir fresh groundwater that could be, according to projections, the largest in the world. This is an aquifer located in northern Brazil, under three Amazon states.
"We have specific studies and data collected over 30 years, which lead us to think that we could be facing the largest underground fresh water reserves of the planet," said the newspaper "O Estado de Sao Paulo" Milton Matta geologist, the Federal University of Pará, in charge of the investigation. The scientist said that the aquifer Alter do Chao, named in reference to a nearby resort, has an area of \u200b\u200babout 437,500 square kilometers (Slightly larger than the whole of Paraguay) and an average thickness of 545 meters.
"is smaller in area than the Guarani aquifer, but greater in thickness," said Matta. The Guarani Aquifer is a groundwater source with an area of \u200b\u200b1.2 million kilometers, shared by Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. So far, not been discovered yet another big aquifer on the continent.
respect, and the possibility that this is the case of Alter do Chao, Matta admitted that the new reserve measurements are not very accurate yet, but he is sure that the reservoir would provide water for hundreds and hundreds years to the population entire planet. Matta remarks that the porosity of the rock in which water is deposited is an indication of the potential of the reserve: "The rock is very porous, indicating a large capacity water reserve. In addition, the permeability-connection between the pores of the rock is also great. "
The scientist said that a characteristic of this new book is that the aquifer is between 300 to 350 meters deep, so it "would be much easier to get to the water," unlike the one that stands in the Guarani aquifer, which is 1,000 meters.
Brazil is the country with the largest freshwater reserve the world. According to estimates by international bodies, aquifers and river basins in the neighboring country is around 12 percent of the world's fresh water. Studies by scientists of international organizations argue that all the water in the world, only 2.5 percent is freshwater.
In the case of Brazil, half of its reserves is in the Amazonian rivers, which flow through regions with the lowest population per square kilometer of the country but still can not escape from environmental threats. The pollution of rivers in the Amazon of serious concern to environmental groups and is attributed for the most part to the activity illegal miners throwing into rivers mercury used in gold mining. Studies
Treaty Organization (ACTO), comprising Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Surinam, Peru and Venezuela, said that illegal mining uses between one and three kilos of mercury per kilo of mined gold. And in the last 50 years have been dumping 1,300 tons of mercury on the Amazon River and its tributaries
Source Clarin April 10, 2010
0 comments:
Post a Comment