REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON HARDROCK HYDROGEOLOGY

1. Background

The IAH Commission on Hardrock Hydrogeology (HyRoC) was established in 1994 with the aim to stimulate international co-operation and facilitate exchange of information between hydrogeologists and other specialists interested in groundwater issues of hard rocks – fractured crystalline (igneous and metamorphic) and consolidated sedimentary rocks. The Commission is a flexible group of scientists and other professionals willing to co-operate and interested in theoretical and applied issues of hydrogeology of hard (fractured) rocks.

The Commission enables contacts between specialists from about 50 countries all over the world. In regions where the members of the Commission are willing to cooperate more intensively and in

continuous way Regional (national or international) Working Groups (RWG) were established. The system of RWGs has proved to be a very effective tool of international co-operation in the field of hardrock hydrogeology. In Europe RWGs regularly convene workshops on different topics of hardrock hydrogeology starting from 1994. The existing RWGs in Europe are:

• the RWG of the Bohemian Massif - Central Europe (INFO Jiri Krásný - krasny@natur.cuni.cz),
• the Iberian RWG (INFO in Portugal: Antonio Chambel - achambel@uevora.pt, in Spain: Fermin Villarroya - ferminv@geo.ucm.es)
• the Fennoscandian RWG: steering Committee consists of representatives of the three involved countries - Finland (Jussi Leveinen – jussi.leveinen@gt.fi), Norway (Atle Dagestad - atle.dagestad@ngu.no) and Sweden (Bo Olofsson - boolof@kth.se).
• the RWG of the Middle and East Mediterranean: INFO: George Stournaras from Hellas(Greece) – stournaras@geol.uoa.gr

The HyRoC looks also for partners who could help to establish RWG in other parts of the world with extended hardrock terrains as India, Brazil, some parts of Africa, Canada, Australia and other countries/groups of countries to foster a worldwide co-operation within the Commission.

Ten Workshops have been organised by the RWGs in Europe between 1994 - 2005. Results of all the workshops were published in the Proceedings (more INFO on Workshops and the respective Proceedings can be found on the Commission web sites www.natur.cuni.cz/iah or www.iah.org/. In addition to regional workshops International Conference on "Groundwater in Fractured Rocks" was held in Prague in September 2003. Proceedings of the Prague Conference (published as UNESCO´s SERIES ON GROUNDWATER No. 7, Eds. Jiri Krasny, Zbynek Hrkal and Jiri Bruthans) of 440 pp. consist of 206 accepted extended abstracts selected from 286 previously submitted abstracts of authors from 52 countries. The volume of Selected Papers from this Conference was accepted for publication by Taylor & Francis as an IAH / UNESCO-IHP volume and is now (Jan. 2006) being edited by Krásný and Sharp.

The members of the Commission and specialists interested in hydrogeologic issues of hard (fractured) rocks hold their annual meetings during the top IAH events of the respective year.

2. Activities in 2005

2nd Workshop of the Iberian RWG - Évora, Portugal, May 18-21, 2005

The Workshop was organized by the Organizing Committee led by the President of the IAH Portuguese Chapter António Chambel (achambel@uevora.pt)

The program consisted of a two-day meeting and a two-day excursion to the hardrock aquifers of

Alentejo, in the southern part of Portugal.

The Workshop was attended by 40 specialists from Portugal, Spain, CzechRepublic, Germany, Poland, Finland, Russia, Morocco and Mexico, who delivered 24 oral presentations and 7 posters. Four invited lectures were delivered by Jiri Krásný (Czech Republic), Luís Ribeiro (Portugal), Lurdes Martínez-Landa (Spain) and Esa Rönkä (Finland).

During the excursion the participants visited different hardrock environments where various problems were demonstrated and discussed, among others groundwater studies in quartzite ridges for water-bottling plant Vitalis, in the Spa Cabezo de Vide and hydrogeologic issues of two pyrite mines – one active and another abandoned where acid waters cause severe environmental problems.

The main goal of the meeting was the exchange of information on achieved results and experience, regarding adequate methodological approaches in the field of hardrock hydrogeology. Other objectives were the assessment of the state-of-art in hardrock hydrogeology in different areas of the Iberian Peninsula and its comparison with other countries.

Proceedings from the Workshop are in the process of publication.

2nd Workshop of the RWG of the Middle and East Mediterranean (MEM) - Athens, Hellas, October 5-6, 2005

The Workshop was held as the joint 7th Hellenic Hydrogeological Conference and the 2nd Middle and East Mediterranean Workshop. The programme was prepared by the Hellenic IAH National Chapter (president George Stournaras (stournaras@geol.uoa.gr), in co-operation with the Cyprus Association of Geologists and Mining Engineers.

Participants from 14 countries and representatives of UNESCO delivered eighty-eight presentations and five special lectures, pre-published in two Volumes of Proceedings (approx. 900 pp. in total).

The event was organized as a multi-disciplinary meeting extending the attention of participants to the role of water in engineering-geological problems, in geomorphology, geophysics, geoarchaeology, agricultural applications, natural monuments and cultural heritage, etc. and to the surface water and groundwater interrelation. Other specific problems were discussed as those connected with transboundary aquifers, rational water management (elimination of drought caused by land use modification, esp. tourism), environmental problems due to human activities (greenhouse and ozone effects), illegal groundwater withdrawals (esp. in sensitive areas, as in the small islands), role of the fissured (hard) rocks as the last “water solution” in many areas, including the Aegean Sea islands. Within the last subject, the role of the IAH Commission on Hardrock Hydrogeology and the role of the Hellenic co-ordination for the Middle and East Mediterranean region have been recognized.

3. Activities planned in 2006 and in the following years

2006, June 21-23, 4th Workshop of the RWG of the Bohemian Massif will be held in Jugowice in Sowie Góry Mts., Poland

INFO: Henryk Marszalek, University of Wroclaw, Poland.

Web sites: http://www.zhs.ing.uni.wroc.pl/hardrock

E-mail: hmar@ing.uni.wroc.pl)

During the Workshop the meeting of the IAH Commission on Hardrock Hydrogeology will be held.

The next meetings of the HyRoC are intended during the next IAH Congresses:

• in Beijing, China (Oct. 9-13, 2006)
• in Lisboa, Portugal (Sept. 17-24, 2007).

As the next step to extend the activities of the Fennoscandian Regional Working Group tentative suggestion was made to Russia, to convene the next workshop in 2008 to St Petersburg. Organisers would be St PetersburgStateUniversity (Arkadiy Voronov) in cooperation with other Russian research organizations. Possible visit of the up to now world deepest borehole in Kola, having reached over 13 km depth in crystalline rocks, might be included into the workshop programme.

Additional information on the activities of the IAH Commission on Hardrock Hydrogeology can be found at its web sites: www.natur.cuni.cz/iah or www.iah.org/.

Submitted by

Jiří Krásný

krasny.hg@seznam.cz, krasny@natur.cuni.cz