South American experiment may help India
By Ajit Patowary
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=oct2007\City1
GUWAHATI, Oct 19 An American history and culture teacher could solve the
water-related woes of the people living between Peruvian Trujillo and Chilean
Arica in the South American coastal deserts by consistently studying the
various geometric shapes and the geological and hydrological data he gathered.
The predecessors of the indigenous people of Peru and Chile drew these
geometric shapes thousands of years back.
The findings of this teachers project South Americas Coastal Geoglyphs and
their correlation to ground water have proved many researchers wrong as far
as availability of ground water in the South American coastal deserts is
concerned. It is to be noted that the geoglyphs here stand for the diagrams
indicating the water-containing faults in the rock structures.
Though his venture is seemingly connected with archaeology, the research done
by this teacher David Johnson, is connected with geology and hydrology too.
However, this teacher does not have a formal degree in any of these three
subjects. He is a self-taught man.
Talking to this Correspondent during his visit to the city recently, Johnson
observed that since Indians too have an ancient civilization, like the Peruvian
and Chilean people, they too might have a traditional system indicating such
water sources. The theory that proved right in Peru and Chile can be applied
all over the Himalayan foothill areas of India. Large water sources should be
flowing beneath the surface, particularly in North Western part of India, he
said.
It is pertinent to mention here that applying remote sensing technology, the
subterranean existence of the historic Saraswati River was discovered recently
in the western part of India. The Saraswati was missing for centuries.
Johnson, who also used the remote sensing technology to cross verify his
assertions, started his investigation in the Rio de Nasca Drainage located near
Nasca, Peru, in 1996. Today, his efforts cover an area between the Pacific
coast from Trujillo, northern Peru, to Arica, northern Chile, a distance of
1,750 km or 1,087 miles.
It took him three years to decode the ancient hydrographic language written in
the form of enchanting geometric diagrams, which use to attract a huge number
of tourists to these areas for visiting these archaeological marvels. During
his search for the solution to the problem, Johnson found the, Puquios (the
ancient infiltration galleries), also known as aqueducts.
He found that while the trapezoids of the diagrams were oriented in line with
and directly above concentrated veins of groundwater, the bases of such
patterns were equal to the respective width of those veins.
The triangles of the diagrams point towards faults in the hills, while the
spirals are located where veins of groundwater change direction.
The beak of the humming birds drawn on the surface reached out and touched
geoglyphs mapping a groundwater vein. Line centres were drawn where several
geoglyphs intersected.
Studying the geoglyphs, Johnson formulated the hypothesis a correlation
exists between geology, hydrology, archaeology and geoglyphs.
Meanwhile, in 1997, Johnson had requested the scientists of the University of
Massachusetts to assist him in either proving or disproving his maturing
theory. They examined the geology and hydrology from 1997 to 2003. And after
examining the samples of groundwater and river waters, the scientists found
that both the waters reacted to rock in a similar manner. But the samples
differed in evaporation fractions. Though the river waters showed slightly
different chemistry due to evaporation than groundwaters, yet they undergo
similar reactions with the surrounding geology.
Johnson and Massachusetts scientists found that precipitation on the Andes
Altiplano was the predominant source of water. Physical evidence for occasional
precipitation events in the lower elevation watersheds was there. They
concluded that river waters were similar to ground waters with the exception of
evaporation rates.
By using the evaporation rates we can distinguish between the two sources of
water, said Johnson.
Coming to the geoglyphs again, he said that the lineaments of the geoglyphs are
naturally occurring linear features visible on remotely sensed imagery, and
result from alignments of topography, vegetation, soil patterns and structural
features in bedrock. The triangles of these diagrams point to the locations of
the faults in the hills. These faults can conduct shallow or deep groundwater
veins.
Several wells have been excavated in Peru and Chile based on Johnsons theory.
In each case the wells produced a year round source of water in places other
researchers predicted to be dry.
Umesh Sharma
Washington D.C.
1-202-215-4328 [Cell]
Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005
http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/index.html (Edu info)
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/ (Management Info)
www.gse.harvard.edu/iep (where the above 2 are used )
http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/
http://jaipurschool.bihu.in/
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