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Military Aspects of Hydrogeology: an Introduction and Overview

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Military Aspects of Hydrogeology: an Introduction and Overview Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 Military aspects of hydrogeology: an introduction and overview JOHN D. MATHER* & EDWARD P. F. ROSE Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK *Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]) Abstract: The military aspects of hydrogeology can be categorized into five main fields: the use of groundwater to provide a water supply for combatants and to sustain the infrastructure and defence establishments supporting them; the influence of near-surface water as a hazard affecting mobility, tunnelling and the placing and detection of mines; contamination arising from the testing, use and disposal of munitions and hazardous chemicals; training, research and technology transfer; and groundwater use as a potential source of conflict. In both World Wars, US and German forces were able to deploy trained hydrogeologists to address such problems, but the prevailing attitude to applied geology in Britain led to the use of only a few, talented individuals, who gained relevant experience as their military service progressed. Prior to World War II, existing techniques were generally adapted for military use. Significant advances were made in some fields, notably in the use of Norton tube wells (widely known as Abyssinian wells after their successful use in the Abyssinian War of 1867/1868) and in the development of groundwater prospect maps. Since 1945, the need for advice in specific military sectors, including vehicle mobility, explosive threat detection and hydrological forecasting, has resulted in the growth of a group of individuals who can rightly regard themselves as military hydrogeologists. Water is essential to life, and it is not by chance that Africa and into Europe with the spread of Arab many Palaeolithic implements, which demonstrate culture (English 1968). the antiquity of man, come from river gravels, as Significant early written references to ground- the lives of early human hunter-gatherers were prob- water and wells come from the Middle East, ably conducted in close proximity to rivers and notably from books of the Bible. Meinzer (1934) springs. The first wells may have been created as has noted that the 26th chapter of Genesis, describ- primitive man dug into the drying beds of rivers or ing events arguably dating from c. 2000 BC, reads pools, following the water as it disappeared below like a water supply memoir. In Genesis the patriarch the surface. Subsequently, as agriculture developed, Abraham and his son Isaac (revered successively by villages were built adjacent to perennial streams or the Jewish, Christian and Islamic faiths) are credited around groundwater sources consisting of flowing with ordering the digging of wells in what is now springs or dug wells. southern Israel, notably at Beersheva (Fig. 1), and The sinking of such wells has a long history, with both became renowned for their success in well the oldest known well, discovered in China, having construction (Tolman 1937). The earliest recorded been dug at least 5700 years ago (Chen 2000). tribal disputes between Abraham (Genesis, Even earlier examples have been claimed from the chapter 21) and Isaac (Genesis, chapter 26) with Middle East (Issar 1990). In Egypt, by c. 2980– their neighbours concerned rights to groundwater 2750 BC, the technology existed to sink shafts use – evidence of a potential source of conflict through weak rocks such as poorly cemented from early times. limestones and sandstones, and records exist from Humans can survive for only a short period of 2160–2000 BC of well-sinking to supply water to time without water, and it has long been the practice men cutting monumental stone (Murray 1955). Sub- in time of warfare for an invading army to cut off or terranean aqueducts or qanats, constructed as a poison the water supply to the enemy. To cite a Bib- series of well-like vertical shafts connected by lical example, the prophet Elisha is reported to have gently sloping tunnels, originated in the highlands urged the kings of Israel, Judah and Edom, to ‘stop up of western Iran, northern Iraq and eastern Turkey all the wells’ in their campaign against the kingdom from c. 1000 BC. Groundwater filters into these of Moab in c. 850 BC (2 Kings, chapter 3, as trans- gently sloping tunnels, and is carried from its lated in the King James Version). Beleaguered cities upland source to be used for drinking and irrigation could be particularly vulnerable to such means of in settlements located perhaps tens of kilometres attack. In c. 680 BC, King Hezekiah averted the away. Subsequently, the technology spread to adja- danger to Jerusalem by the construction of a tunnel cent countries throughout the Middle East and North running from the spring at Gihon outside the city From:Rose,E.P.F.&Mather, J. D. (eds) Military Aspects of Hydrogeology. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 362, 1–17, DOI: 10.1144/SP362.1 # The Geological Society of London 2012. Publishing disclaimer: www.geolsoc.org.uk/pub_ethics Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 2 J. D. MATHER & E. P. F. ROSE Fig. 1. ‘Abraham’s Well’, Beersheva, Israel: an ancient well site re-developed for 20th-century use, arguably the site of the earliest known dispute over groundwater rights, and one of the objectives of the British military advance from Egypt in World War I (Rose 2012a ). Photograph from E.P.F. Rose. walls to the Pool of Siloam within them (2 Chron- becoming a seven-month siege because the fortified icles, chapter 32), a tunnel that exists to this day. city of Megiddo had a secure water supply. Megiddo Although conflicts grading into battles have (approximately 100 km north of Jerusalem) had a doubtless been fought since time immemorial, the main well outside its defences, to which its garrison first recorded conflict about which historians can had access via an 18 m vertical shaft sunk from the write with a degree of confidence (MacDonogh citadel and into a horizontal tunnel. The siege ended 2010) was the Battle of Megiddo in 1456 BC only when the garrison was starved into submission. between Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt and Water supply has long been associated with conflict Durusha of Kadesh. This battle was prolonged, more widely in this semi-arid ‘Holy Land’ region Downloaded from http://sp.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW 3 (Issar 1990) and the final paper in this book This review puts work described in all subsequent (Mansour et al. 2012) provides an example of papers in this volume into a broader context. In so current tensions there over groundwater allocation. doing, it provides a comparative account of ground- The provision of front-line water supplies to water use by armed forces of both the UK and USA defensive positions or invading armies has led to and those of Germany/Austria–Hungary, while innovations by the armed forces of many nations, outlining the historical development of ‘military but this is not the only way in which groundwater hydrogeology’ as the technology of warfare has is of concern to the military. All military sites, become increasingly sophisticated. including airfields, naval dockyards and barrack blocks, sometimes thousands of miles from scenes Provision of water supplies of potential or actual conflict, require a water supply, and secure water supplies are commonly Historically, as human population densities rose, our provided from groundwater (cf. McCaffrey & ancestors increasingly chose defendable positions Bullock 2012). The moisture content of soils and for their settlements: earthworks dating from the the presence of marshland and boggy ground as a first millennium BC are still a common and some- consequence of a high water table affect ‘going’, times spectacular feature of the landscape of much the ease with which men and vehicles can move of Europe, particularly England. These hill forts other than on roads, and this may greatly influence needed a water supply, but there is little evidence the course of a battle. Soil moisture content and of groundwater exploitation. Few were built more groundwater at a shallow depth can be important than one mile (1.6 km) from a surface water factors in the detection of landmines and other supply, and it has been suggested that natural buried targets using airborne imagery. The manu- ponds, dew ponds or rainwater from hut roofs facture of munitions and military equipment channelled into clay-lined storage pits may have requires a water supply and, perhaps more impor- provided short-term alternative sources (Dyer tantly, generates effluents and solid wastes that 1992). Later, stone-built forts were constructed in need to be disposed of without contaminating Europe, North Africa and the Middle East by the local groundwater resources. The use of munitions, Romans, and subsequently in circum-Mediterranean either during conflicts or as part of training or regions by the Byzantine and Islamic empires, and testing programmes, can leave a legacy of contami- many of these are known to have obtained water nation that can impact groundwater. The develop- from wells. ment of innovative technologies by the armed In England, following the departure of the forces can contribute to the development of ground- Roman legions in 410 AD, there was a lull in the water supplies and the cleanup of contamination. construction of stone fortifications until the Norman Wartime demands can also highlight problems in conquest of 1066. After this, castles became a home countries, acting as a catalyst to bring feature of the landscape, changing over the next forward legislative change. Finally, disputes over 500 years to reflect advances in weapon technology. groundwater use can be a source of conflict, particu- To survive a lengthy siege, each castle garrison larly where major aquifers straddle political required a secure water supply, commonly provided boundaries.
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