UGA renewed its International Cooperative Agreement with Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt, on March 2.
At present, a major focus of the 15-year partnership is conducting research to better understand the environmental changes that have affected Egypt and that have shaped the landforms of the country, particularly during the past 150,000 years. By dating ancient lake sediments and sand dunes using optically stimulated luminescence techniques-UGA’s geography department has one of perhaps 10 such labs in the U.S.-researchers hope to understand the geologic history of the Egyptian sand seas and seek to anticipate the potential dangers to settlements in the surrounding oasis towns due to shifting sand dunes. Geography researchers plan to submit joint research proposals to National Geographic and the National Science Foundation to secure funds to support the collaborative research effort in Egypt.
The partnership began in 1996 when George Brook, UGA geography professor, was asked to join scientists from the University of Helsinki, Ain Shams University and the Egyptian Geological Survey to study Quaternary environmental change in the Western Desert of Egypt. The team took samples from the remote Djara Cave south of Bahariya Oasis, which is one of the few caves in Egypt with large stalagmites and stalactites and also decorated with Neolithic cave art.
The work resulted in a published co-authored paper with the record of wetter periods of climate going back to 500,000 years ago.
