Conveners: Bruno Campo (Università di Bologna), Maria Filippini (Università di Bologna), Beatrice Maria Sole Giambastiani (Università di Bologna), Luigi Tosi (IGG-CNR, Padova)
bruno.campo@unibo.it
bruno.campo@unibo.it
Worldwide, groundwater supplies half of the volume of water for domestic use and about 25% of the water for agricultural purposes. Under the increasing threat of global warming, groundwater must be considered one of the most important natural resources at risk and managed accordingly. A crucial step towards its sustainable exploitation is the improvement of our current understanding. Despite its great potential to provide societies with essential benefits, groundwater remains a 'hidden resource' that can only be fully understood through interdisciplinary collaboration. The aim of this session is to highlight the potential of different geological disciplines (e.g. hydrogeology, stratigraphy, structural geology, geophysics, geochemistry) in terms of groundwater studies and to propose multi-proxy approaches to enhance the exploration and evaluation of aquifer geometries, heterogeneities, volumes, flow dynamics, and water quality. In addition, this session will emphasize the discovery and characterization of new aquifers and the development of innovative methodologies for water management and exploration. This session welcomes contributions from teams of researchers (including PhD students) and specialists dealing with multifaceted case studies. We seek contributions focusing on aquifers exploration and exploitation, characterization, modelling, and monitoring. Submissions documenting how interdisciplinary cooperation between geosciences and other fields improve groundwater research are particularly encouraged.