You weigh me down

Gaathier Mahed on Gravimetry and The PhD experience 

Who would have thought that after the discovery of gravity, just like Columbus discovered America even though people already inhabited the continent, we would be applying the principal in the realm of the hydrological sciences. The fundamental change in mass movement in the subsurface alludes to the total water storage change and in turn has an impact on the water balance of a catchment/basin/aquifer/soil body.

Example of the gravitational force structure of the Earth (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/ 1412/geoid2005_champgrace_2362.jpg)

When one delves into the literature regarding the topic of gravity, we find that it has evolved as a research topic mainly covered by geomatics professionals in the past, to an area of interest for hydrologists today. Classical geophysical literature also highlights applications to prospecting for ore bodies, but that is of no interest to people studying advanced courses in plumbing. I mention this due to the fact that I have received phone calls to fix geysers of people I know who thought I studied plumbing instead of hydrogeology. I still fail to understand this link, but it makes me never lose hope in life throwing me a curve ball.

The principle related to mass storage change was the point of departure for a PhD thesis. I embarked on the struggle and whilst travelling to Europe for training realised that many other research scientists have already completed their dissertations on the exact same topic. This was a cause for concern and all panic stations were alerted and were in full control of my already worried mind. The question arose.....How do you do something new that somebody else already done in a different way?

PhD problems (https://makingbones.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/picture12.jpg)

After shifting to open source software for the entire project, as if my life was not difficult enough already, and travelling all over the world to find enlightenment, because I realised I needed it, I reached my Eureka moment whilst standing in the middle of nowhere with a cigarette in my mouth and looking at clay, not kaolonite for the pedalogists but something else. This was coupled with the readings, ramblings and rants of many Professors and actually meant that I had to change my outlook and challenge the status quo, please don’t tell my psychologist or my mother, they will not be happy. The realisation that something was staring you in the face all this time and all you need was a gear change can be frustrating yet liberating. This is why the gravity of the situation, no pun intended, was overwhelming. The aforementioned fact coupled with the statement by my project leader related to no funding being available put my backside in gear and led to the completion of the treatise in 3 years. It is amazing what money, or the lack thereof can achieve.

What I am saying is ....do the PhD, not for your mother to have bragging rights or your for your family to ask you strange questions, but for yourself and for you to realise that you can push your limits beyond what is humanly possible.  Ok Ok maybe it is humanly possible, but it is still a great achievement and can be done by anyone who has the will, determination, patience and consistency in their work ethic.  Choose a topic you have an interest and passion for, otherwise it will weigh you down and overcoming it will be even more of a challenge.

www dot

A Special post by Gaathier Mahed on Hydrogeology

www dot. No it is not a website address for a 9 gag type site or even the latest geological software/books/techniques. It is three of the w’s which many of the hydrogeologists are passionate about. These are water, obviously, waqf, which is the Islamic term for sustainable development and the third w could be your wife or work, either way you are married to both. Some academics lost their wives due to loving their work, but that is not a topic we will delve into....yet.

Overview of a hydrological groundwater aquifer (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/ thumb/0/04/Aquifer_en.svg/2000px-Aquifer_en.svg.png)

The father of hydrogeology, not Moses because he struck a rock and water came spilling out of it, but the Frenchman Henry Darcy could be thanked for the science we have today. Hydrogeology is a mere 150 odd years old, which truly makes it an infant in comparison to other sciences. We see great works penned by research scientists like Jacob Baer, which push the boundaries of porous media as a science. It shows that the limits of knowledge are unknown and we do not know what groundwater has in store for us over the next 150 years. This is particularly true with Shale Gas fever hitting South Africa.

A former Professor of mine said something very profound about aspects of Hydrogeology many years ago. “This is part art part science”, is what he told us in a lecture on pump test analysis. One could also say that experience plays a major role in analysing and interpreting data. In other cases the trained eye could be blinded by external factors unrelated to the science. Hydrogeology is partially observational and partially numerical, and more recently everyone seems to want to be a hydrogeologist due to the previously mentioned shale gas boom. This third w for water is partially skewed towards subsurface fluid flow as hydrogeologists never really received the attention the science deserved. I say this due to the fact that it was the Cinderella of the water sciences, to loosely quote a former Professor of mine, and now has risen to fame and popularity like a rugby prodigy waiting to be injured.

Example of an ancient leather bucket used to collect water from an underground well (http://upload. wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Leather_bucket_of_a_well.jpg)

The second w for waqf can actually be traced back 1400 years to the Arabian Peninsula where one of the first charitable endowments, which is a loose translation for waqf, was actually a well. The well of Rumah was used for community development purposes and was a true reflection of the application of social entrepreneurship for sustainable development purposes. The owner of the well saw it not as work, but a sacrifice for the greater good. This leads us into the final w, it could be your wife or work, but we will focus on the professional.

Work is work, but if love what you do you will never have to work a day in your life. This age old adage still holds true, especially for hydrogeologists. This could be attributed to the combination of skills we have and situations we find ourselves in on a day to day basis. From the back office to the bush and everything in between, it truly never is a dull moment. Initially my thoughts on the science and work in this field were dreams of data mining, or being a desktop hydrogeologist as a former co-worker of mine said. That bubble burst very quickly when I realised that during my Masters I was merely a cog in the machine at a Chinese sweatshop. I never knew that my passion, hard work and determination for a subject matter could be turned into a financial venture for somebody else.

At the end of the day, the size of the packet you take home is of little importance when compared to the great experiences one gains from working in this arena. Travelling the world, major cities and remote locations included, meeting new people, some of them seemingly strange, and having coffee and croissants in cafes around small research facilities with some of the greatest minds are some of the perks.

 Keep  drilling, pumping, sampling, logging and mapping and don’t forget to have some fun along the way too.

Gaathier Mahed completed his PhD in 2013 with a project titled: "Analysis of temporal and spatial variations in water storage by means of gravimetric and hydrologic methods in the region around the South African Gravimetric Observation Station". He is currently working as a hydrogeological lecturer and researcher at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. As an executive board member of Awqaf South Africa, his passion includes charitable endowments and the intersections between water and good corporate governance.