BOSTON — The discovery of a “Massachusetts-sized” underground lake in the parched, war-torn Darfur region of Sudan happened at Boston University by a research team studying satellite images, according to an article in the October 17 Christian Science Monitor.

Egyptian-born geologist Farouk el-Baz, who discovered a similar lake beneath Egypt in the 1980s, and his research assistants at Boston University’s Center for Remote Sensing were studying satellite images of Darfur last year when they noticed dark, narrow lines indicating gravel deposits and a possible ancient water source, according to the article. Further studies of the region’s topography showed what appeared to be the shore of a huge lake that disappeared 5,000 to 11,000 years ago but whose waters may have seeped into a deep sandstone layer.

The lake will be confirmed next month when the first wells are drilled on the site, and Baz will be there, the article said. The similar region he discovered in Egypt now has 500 wells supporting 150,000 acres of agriculture.

Baz said that after the Darfur discovery, he personally briefed United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon by phone. “He doesn’t have 10 minutes for some heads of state,” Baz told the Monitor, “but I gave him a 10-minute presentation, and then he asked questions for 40 minutes. He loved it.”

Eman Ghoreim, the research assistant who first called the dark lines on the images to Baz’s attention, told the newspaper of Baz, “He is very patient and has trained eyes to look for certain things that others wouldn’t notice.” A former oil geologist, Baz has trained NASA astronauts in lunar and earth geology and joined Boston University in 1986.

To read the full article, click here.