The 15 PhD students from the S2S-Future ITN project and 15 European academic and industrial partners will be in Namibia from 5 to 20 May for a training on "source-to-sink" approaches (S2S). As a reminder, the project "S2S-Future", "Signal propagation in source-to-sink for the future of Earth ressources and energies" is coordinated by François Guillocheau and Cécile Robin, professors and researchers at the University of Rennes and the Laboratoire Géosciences Rennes (CNRS/UnivRennes), member of the Observatoire des sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR).
The aim of this two-week training trip to Namibia, entitled "Inside Africa", is to train 15 PhD students in Earth and Environmental Sciences and, in particular, the dynamics of the Earth’s surface, by linking (1) erosion processes and sediment production (source) and (2) transport to final deposition (wells). These studies, carried out on a watershed or continental scale, are known as "source-to-sink" approaches.
Namibia is a unique place for the training of PhD students in the field of source-well approaches because of its distinctive features.
We will focus on three areas:
1. Orange River Alluvial S2S Systems and Diamond Bearing S2S Systems (Sperrgebiet);
2. Wind S2S systems through a comparison between modern Namib systems and the two fossil systems of Miocene (Namib) and Lower Cretaceous (Twyfelfontein);
The growth of the anorogenic relief (escarpment, plains and plateaus) in response to glaciation (upper Paleozoic glacial period), an oceanic opening (Great igneous province of Parana-Etendeka), and mantle-controlled uplift (Southern African Plateau).
We will also briefly look at the modern and hyperarid Kuiseb River (frequency of flooding, sediment transport).
