Assessing the level of living condition in Bundelkhand region of Central India: a households level analysis

The study assesses the level of development and disparities in terms of living conditions of the households in the districts of Bundelkhand region. To measure actual scenario of living conditions of the HHs, a Composite Index was developed on the basis of 18 indicators. Even to assess living conditions of the HHs, four indices have been developed namely Housing Index, Physical Capital Index and Asset Index. The level of development of the districts has been categorized on the basis of Composite Index value. The results show that there is a wide disparity in terms of conditions of living in different districts of Bundelkhand region. The results also shows that northern part of Bundelkhand region is more developed as compared to southern part. From the result, it was recorded that the districts belonging in Madhya Pradesh having better condition of living in comparison to Uttar Pradesh in Bundelkhand region. The research study suggests that authorities should focus on the proper implementation of the existing policies and more effective planning and policies should be implemented to enhance the better living conditions of the households in Bundelkhand region.

     

Socioenvironmental issues of river bed material extraction in the Himalayan piedmont (India)

The present study focuses on the Balason river running through the Himalayan piedmont zone (near Siliguri, India). The objective of the study is an assessment of the environmental effects of river bed material extraction by humans and the dependence of indigenous people on the river and its ecosystem services. The analysis is based on results of field work consisting of geodetic measurements of the river channel and interviews among the local community from the Nimtijot village. Historical hydrological data were also used for the study. The results of the investigation show that the Balason river is heavily affected by excessive exploitation of river bed material during dry season and the replenishment of extracted material in a monsoon season is not always sufficient. It leads to channel deepening. The local community working in the river heavily depends for its livelihood on continuing this activity. A decreasing amount of bed material to be extracted may lead to degradation of the strong relationship between the local community and their natural environment (river).     

Hydrochemical status of groundwater in district Ajmer (NW India) with reference to fluoride distribution

High fluoride in groundwater has been reported from many parts of India. However, a systematic study is required to understand the behaviour of fluoride in natural water in terms of local hydrogeological setting, climatic conditions and agricultural practices. Present study is an attempt to assess hydrogeochemistry of groundwater in Ajmer district in Rajasthan to understand the fluoride abundance in groundwater and to deduce the chemical parameters responsible for the dissolution activity of fluoride. Ajmer district falls in the semi-arid tract of central Rajasthan and is geologically occupied by Precambrian rocks (granites, pegmatites, gneisses, schists etc) where groundwater occurs under unconfined condition. A total of 153 well-water samples, representing an area of 8481 km² (further subdivided into eight blocks), were collected and chemically analyzed. The results of chemical analyses (pre-monsoon 2004) show fluoride abundance in the range of 0.12 to 16.9 mg/l with 66% of the samples in excess of permissible limit of 1.5 mg/l. Presence of fluoride bearing minerals in the host rock, the chemical properties like decomposition, dissociation and dissolution and their interaction with water is considered to be the main cause for fluoride in groundwater. Chemical weathering under arid to semi-arid conditions with relatively high alkalinity favours high concentration of fluoride in groundwater. Dental and skeletal fluorosis are prevalent in the study area which can be related to the usage of high fluoride groundwater for drinking. The suggested remedial measures to reduce fluoride pollution in groundwater include dilution by blending, artificial recharge, efficient irrigation practices and well construction.     

Landscape level analysis of disturbance regimes in protected areas of Rajasthan,India

There is an urgent need to identify the human influence on landscape as disturbance regimes was realized for prioritization of the protected areas. The present study has attempted to describe the landscape level assessment of fragmentation and disturbance index in protected areas of Rajasthan using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Geospatial analysis of disturbance regimes indicates 61.75% of the total PAs are under moderate disturbance index followed by 28.64% and 9.61% under low and high respectively. Among the 28 protected areas- National Chambal WLS, Jaisamand WLS, Kumbhalgarh WLS, Sawai Man Singh WLS, Kailadevi WLS and Bandh Baratha WLS are representing high level of disturbance. The present study has emphasized the moderate to low disturbance regimes in protected areas, which infer low biotic pressure and conservation effectiveness of PA network in Rajasthan. The spatial information generated on PAs is of valuable use for forest management and developing conservation strategies.     

Magnetic studies and elemental analysis of river sediments: a case study from the Ponnaiyar River (Southeastern India)

The Ponnaiyar River is one of the largest rivers of the Tamil Nadu state (India), flowing a distance of 430 km from its point of origin to the sea. This work contributes with new data of magnetic and elemental composition of river sediments, and improves the knowledge obtained by preliminary and previous studies of rivers from Southeastern India. Magnetic susceptibility, anhysteretic and isothermal remanent magnetization and chemical determinations (major and trace metals) were measured. Magnetic results reveal the predominance of magnetite-like mineral with magnetic grain size variations along the river and in depth. Most of the uppermost samples have the major presence of trace metals and higher values of magnetic concentration. Magnetic and chemical variables were also analysed as potential pollution indicators using multivariate statistical techniques: canonical correlation and fuzzy c-means clustering analyses, which confirmed the existence of relationships, but not in a simple way, between magnetic and chemical variables. Furthermore, fuzzy analysis allows classifying the data in different well-differentiated groups regarding the trace metal load, concentration and feature-dependent parameters. The most polluted samples show high concentration of trace elements and magnetic carriers, softer and coarser magnetic minerals; on the contrary, the unpolluted samples (from the deepest sediments) have the opposite characteristics.     

From bifurcation to failure in a granular material: a DEM analysis

The question of diffuse failure in granular media such as soils is treated by numerical modelling with a discrete element model. Two numerical samples are considered, one dense and the other loose. A criterion based on the sign of the second-order work is applied to the numerical model to detect bifurcation points related to diffuse failure. The notions of loss of controllability and loss of sustainability are taken into account to simulate diffuse failure at bifurcation points detected. Therefore, the failures predicted based on the second-order work criterion are numerically verified.     

Heavy metals in bottom sediments of great slave lake (Canada): A reconnaissance

Near the shores of Great Slave Lake, natural sources of heavy metals include gold and base metal deposits, mineralized greenstone belts and sedimentary bedrock, and uraniferous granites. Potential anthropogenic sources of heavy metals (As, Zn, Pb) include large gold and base metal extraction -processing facilities on the shores of the lake. Six sediment cores were collected on a traverse of the lake. Heavy metal concentrations and distributions are related to the regional bedrock geochemistry in the drainage basin. Higher uranium concentrations in the northernmost core are attributed to extensive uraniferous areas north of the lake. More subtle variations of concentration are related to sedimentologic characteristics and processes in the lake. The west basin is a natural sink for most of the heavy metals determined. Two centrally located west basin cores had mean zinc concentrations of 145 ppm, whereas cores closer to the north and south shores had mean concentrations of 80–110 ppm. Mn, Ni, and Pb were enriched in some of the cores from the area of shallower water near the MacKenzie River outlet, rather than in the central west basin. The enrichment is related to Mn-, Ni-, and Pb-rich amorphous coatings on quartz grains. Elevated zinc or lead levels from anthropogenic activities were not detected but elevated levels are suspected for arsenic. In the two cores from the center of the west basin, surface sediment contains up to 12 ppm arsenic, not high in comparison with noncontaminated freshwater lakes elsewhere in Canada but considerably elevated relative to concentrations of 1 ppm found deeper in the same cores. Contribution from the National Water Research Institute, Western and Northern Region. Presented at the 10th International Sedimentological Congress, Jerusalem, Israel, 1978.     

The effects of inequality on total factor productivity across districts in South Africa: a spatial econometric analysis

GeoJournal - This study builds on the fundamentals of the new economic geography and the skill-biased technological change argument, to empirically investigate whether increasing income/earning...     

Crustal structure from deep seismic soundings along the Koyna II (Kelsi-Loni) profile in the Deccan Trap area, India

The crustal depth section obtained from deep seismic soundings along the Koyna II (Kelsi-Loni) profile, which lies near latitude 18°N roughly in the east-west direction in that part of the Deccan Trap Maharashtra State, India, shows a number of reflection segments below the Deccan Traps down to the Moho discontinuity. A deep fault below the Deccan Traps 13 km east of Mahad divides the entire cross-section including the Moho boundary into two crustal blocks. The reflection segments show updip towards the west coast in the western block. The Moho discontinuity which is at a depth of 39 km near the deep fault starts rising towards the coast, reaching a depth of 31.5 km at the west coast. The eastern block is thrown up by 1.5 km with respect to the western block along the deep fault. A structural contour map of the Moho discontinuity for the Koyna reservoir area has been prepared from the present results and the crustal information obtained along the Koyna I profile (Kaila et al., 1979a), shows that the deep fault in the Koyna area is aligned in the NNW-SSE direction.Refraction seismic data analysis by the wave front method reveals that the thickness of the Deccan Trap increases towards the west coast. The Deccan Trap is 600–700 m thick in the eastern region between Nira (SP 130) and Loni (SP 200) and attains a thickness of 1500 m at 10 km east of the west coast. The longitudinal wave velocity in the Deccan Traps along the profile varies from 4.8 to 5.0 km/sec and in the crystalline basement from 6.0 to 6.15 km/sec. A tentative isopach contour map of the Deccan Traps and a tentative structural contour map of the Pre-Deccan Trap contact have been prepared for the Koyna reservoir area from the results along the Koyna II and Koyna I profiles. A flexure aligned in a NNW-SSE direction, in the Pre-Deccan Trap contact, which is an expression of the deep fault into the basement, has been clearly brought out. The flexure coincides in general with the orientation of the Deccan volcanic scarp in this area.     

Microfacies analysis of larger benthic foraminifera-dominated Middle Eocene carbonates: a palaeoenvironmental case study from Meghalaya,N-E India (Eastern Tethys)

Larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) show significant abundance and diversity in the Palaeogene carbonate sediments of Meghalaya, N-E India, but have previously received less attention from the palaeoenvironmental perspective. LBF are important contributors to recent as well as fossil shallow marine, tropical carbonate settings. They find wide application in biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. The larger foraminiferal turnover (LFT) during the Palaeocene-Eocene transition is very important with respect to their evolution in several parts of the world including the Eastern Tethys. The present microfacies analysis documents the status of LBF in the Middle Eocene sediments from the Prang Formation of the Sylhet Limestone Group in Meghalaya, N-E India. Five major facies types (MFTs)—miliolid grainstone-packstones, alveolinid-rotaliid grainstone-packstones, nummulitid-alveolinid grainstone-packstones, coralline algal-nummulitid packstone-wackestones and coralline algal wackestones have been recorded in the current study. Evaluation of the palaeoenvironmental parameters aids in understanding the seascape of this Eastern Tethyan domain. It is suggested that an oligotrophic nutrient regime supported the rapid evolution and dominance of the LBF. Most notable is the prolific augmentation in Alveolina and Nummulites populations. High surface water temperatures during the Late Palaeocene-Early Eocene global warming episode possibly persisted to a certain level during the Middle Eocene and continued to favour the larger foraminifera as the major carbonate producers instead of the vulnerable corals.     

Paleocurrent analysis of the athgarh sandstone (upper Gondwana), Cuttack District,Orissa (India)

The Athgarh Sandstone (Upper Gondwana) of Jurassic age exposed in Orissa on the southeastern margin of India comprises almost horizontal medium- to coarse-grained pebbly sandstone interbedded with thin layers of white clay and carbonaceous shale. The cross-bedded sandstone beds within the formation display tabular cross-bedding, having an average thickness of 30 cm and average inclination of 13°. The mean foreset azimuth is 128° (nearly southeast). A total of 537 measurements of cross-beddings from 28 localities, over an area of 500 sq.km, were taken.The study of cross-bed data indicates transportation of sediments by water currents flowing in a southeasterly direction during the deposition of the Athgarh Sandstone. The mean azimuth, thickness and inclination of the cross-beds and sample variance of the area indicate a fluviatile environment of deposition. The dispersal pattern of the currents in the southeastern part of the area suggests proximity to the shore line.     

Structural position of large gold ore districts in the Central Aldan (Yakutia) and Argun (Transbaikalia) superterranes

Gold ore districts in the Siberian (North Asian) craton and bordering terranes have been studied. Studies showed the long duration of gold concentration processes (Early Cambrian to Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic) and the influence of structural geological, magmatic, and metallogenic factors on the formation of ore districts. The largest Late Mesozoic (J–K) accumulations of gold deposits in southeastern Russia were discovered in the Aldan–Stanovoi Shield and at the northern margin of the Argun superterrane in the Aldan (Yakutia), Balei (Transbaikalia), and Gonzha (Upper Amur area) ore–placer districts.The geological and geophysical positions of these three districts have been compared. All of them are situated in zones of influence of variously trending long-lived deep faults, bordered by large Precambrian uplifts, and spatially (paragenetically) related to local magma chamber domes of Late Mesozoic (J–K) intrusive, subvolcanic, and extrusive–effusive bodies, dikes, and terrigenous pyroclastic blankets. The areas of Jurassic–Cretaceous volcanoplutonic rocks are related to the influence of the East Asian sublithospheric “superplume.”All this confirms the important ore-controlling role of large long-lived deep faults (in the form of global and regional gravity gradient zones) in the distribution of highly productive precious-metal ore–magmatic systems. This suggests that the junctions between gravity gradient zones of different trends and ranks are important to the identification of gold prospects in metallogenic prediction studies and small-scale prospecting. The Archean–Proterozoic age and the great occurrence depth of the tectonic zones suggest that extensive long-lived mobile zones (before the post-Cambrian breakup of the Siberian craton) significantly affected further evolution of the orogenic belts bordering the craton and their metallogeny, including the distribution of precious- metal deposits.     

Reservoir Triggered Seismicity (RTS) and well water level response in the Koyna–Warna region, India

Water level fluctuations in twenty-one observation wells have been monitored for the last 10 years around the seismically active Koyna–Warna region, western India where earthquakes continue to occur even after four decades of the initiation of the seismic activity in the region. Fourteen of the observation wells act as volume strain meters as their water levels show earth tidal signals. Our analysis suggests three types of response of the well water levels to seismo-tectonic effects, i) one to local earthquakes, ii) to regional and teleseismic events, and iii) to local fluctuations in rock strain on regional scale. We observed five cases of co-seismic step-like well water level changes, of the order of few centimeters in amplitude, related to earthquakes in the magnitude range 4.3 ≤ M ≤ 5.2. All these earthquakes occurred within the network of wells drilled for the study and within 25 km distance of the recording wells. In three cases, drop in well levels preceded co-seismic step-like increases, which may be of premonitory nature. The second type of response is observed to be due to the passing of seismic waves from regional and teleseismic earthquakes like the M 7.7 Bhuj event on January 26, 2001 and the M 9.3 December 26, 2004 Sumatra earthquake. The third type is a well level anomaly of centimeter amplitude coherently occurring in several wells. The anomalies are similar in shape and last for several hours to days.From our studies we conclude that the wells in the network appear to respond to regional strain variations and transient changes due to distant earthquakes. The two factors which are important to co-seismic steps due to local earthquakes are the magnitude and epicentral distance. From the limited number of events we found that all local earthquakes exceeding M ≥ 4.3 have produced co-seismic changes. No such changes were observed for earthquakes below this magnitude threshold.     

Vertisols (cracking clay soils) in a climosequence of Peninsular India: Evidence for Holocene climate changes

Smectitic parent material from the weathering Deccan basalt has been deposited in the lower piedmont plains, valleys and microdepressions during a previous wetter climate. The cracking clay soils (Vertisols) were developed in such alluvium during drier climate of the Holocene period. In India they occur in humid tropical (HT), sub-humid moist (SHM), sub-humid dry (SHD), semi-arid moist (SAM), semi-arid dry (SAD) and arid dry (AD) climatic environments and thus indicate an array of soils in a climosequence.The soils show a change in their morphological, physical, chemical and micromorphological properties in the climosequence. Soils of HT climate are dominated by Ca⁺⁺ ions in their exchange complex throughout depth. However, in the sub-humid climates Mg⁺⁺ ions tend to dominate in the lower horizons. The sub-humid moist to aridic climatic environments caused a progressive formation of pedogenic calcium carbonates (PC) with the concomitant increase in Na⁺ ions in soil solution. This facilitated the translocation of Na-clay in the soil profile. This is responsible for the increase in pH, decrease in Ca/Mg ratio of exchange sites with depth and finally in the development of subsoil sodicity. The reduction in mean annual rainfall (MAR) from sub-humid moist to arid climates accelerated the formation of PC and thus the soils of semi-arid and arid climates (SAM, SAD and AD) are more calcareous and sodic than soils of other climates (SHM and SHD).Formation of PC, illuviation of clay and the development of subsoil sodicity are concurrent, contemporary and active pedogenetic processes operating during the climate change of the Holocene period. These processes impaired the hydraulic properties of soils in general, and in soils of drier climates in particular. As a result, cracking pattern, chemical composition and plasmic fabric were more modified in soils of the drier climates. Such modifications in soil properties have a place in the rationale of Vertisol order of the US Soil Taxonomy. The soils of wetter climates (HT, SHM and SHD) are grouped in Typic Haplusterts whereas the soils of drier climates (SAM, SAD and AD) are classified as Aridic Haplusterts, Sodic Haplusterts and Sodic Calciusterts. The present study demonstrates how the intrinsic soil properties of the cracking clay soils in a climosequence may help in inferring the change in climate in a geologic period.     

Exclusion (and seclusion): geographies of disowned widows of India

Geographies of disowned Indian widows are highly under-researched. This case study seeks to understand the lives of 21 of the many diverse widows across India. These 21 widows were driven out by their families, who sought refuge in the two Briddhha Ashrams (old-age hermitages) namely Rajkya and Birla, both located in the heritage city, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Drawing upon ethnographic research and building on 21 semi-structured interviews, the research aims to understand the lives of these widows in the two ashrams and their everyday coping strategies. The findings suggest that each woman has negotiated with ‘widowhood’ in order to build individual identities as ‘self’. Using the threads of analysis, we urge for the passing of the draft Bill on widows’ protection, welfare and maintenance prepared by Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, the architect of sanitation charity, Sulabh International, who has adopted widows of Varanasi and Vrindavan by providing a dole of INR2000/month.