Finding out about floods
The 2001 floods affecting various parts of Europe came closest to home for us in Lewes where flooding wreaked havoc on lives, properties and transport links. Across the Channel, the town of Abbeville in northern France suffered similar devastation when the Somme valley flooded.
These floods were unusual in that they continued even when the rain stopped and the water levels in the rock (or, in the case of Lewes, the chalk) returned to pre-flood levels.
Improvements in flood forecasting call for new ways of measuring and monitoring groundwater in rocks. Now Brighton geologists are part of a combined French and British Geological Surveys team to do just that. Their research, funded by a £2.2 million Interreg 111A grant, aims to improve understanding of the mechanisms holding water in rock or chalk and how it is released and drained.
The Brighton team (pictured) brings to the project the combined expertise of Professor Rory Mortimore, Dr David Pope, Dr Martin Smith and two research assistants (all from the School of Environment and Technology), Ian Molyneux (Environment Agency) and Neill Hadlow (Imperial College). They plan to map the geology of the Somme and the Brighton Downs and develop new ways of investigating the physics of water behaviour.
Professor Rory Mortimore said "A particular value of the joint Anglo-French investigations is the sharing of information and analysing the different methods of investigating and modelling flood events. We hope it rains over the next four years so we can monitor and model what happens to the groundwater!"
