Review: Carbonate aquifers and future perspectives of karst hydrogeology in India

About 3 % of India’s total land surface is occupied by carbonate rocks which are mostly karstified and constitute a significant source of groundwater. The groundwater drawn from these aquifers matches the water demand of ~35 million people living in 106 districts of the country and also the water needs of livestock, irrigation and industry. The studies on karst in India carried out so far have mostly addressed geology, hydrology and groundwater contamination. A literature survey suggests that there is a need for detailed research, applying new approaches and techniques for proper carbonate aquifer identification, characterization and management. Such specific approaches will improve modeling, exploitation and protection of karst groundwater. An overview of the research carried out on groundwater resources of karst formations in India is presented, which also throws light on the protection of karst aquifers from existing anthropogenic activities such as mining and groundwater over-exploitation.     

Enhanced subsurface mixing due to near-inertial waves: observation from Seychelles-Chagos Thermocline Ridge

Ocean Dynamics - The Seychelles-Chagos Thermocline Ridge (SCTR) is a key region which plays a major role in various regional climatic processes at all time scales. The vertical mixing at the base...     

Disposition of aquifer system, geo-electric characteristics and gamma-log anomaly in the Kuttanad alluvium of Kerala

Kuttanad near the western coast of Kerala is a low lying area below mean sea level. The hydrogeological scenario in this wet land dominated tract, known as kole lands, was investigated by using the lithological and geophysical data generated under the R&D exploration programme of Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) during the year 2000, as also other related data generated till the year 2009. The hydrogeology of the tract is complex, and the presence of carbonaceous and organic matter in the soil and sub-soil influences the geochemical and geo-electric characteristics of the sub-surface geological formations as reflected by SP and resistivity logs. The lithologs and geophysical logs of bore wells were used to define the aquifer geometry. While the lateral and vertical variations of the aquifer systems identified were high, the bottom aquifer was relatively brackish over a large area. The gamma log behavior in these granular zones is anomalous and misguiding in nature. The radioactivities recorded against clay horizons were in the range of 130 to 200cps and in the granular zones 150 to 350 cps. The presence of monazite bearing sands at certain depths was responsible for anomalously high gamma counts against granular zones. The water quality in the granular zones was inferred from the electrical logs. The depth of occurrence of high radiation sand beds was also demarcated.     

Normalisation of multi-date digital remote sensing data using scene statistics

Some of the studies involving digital temporal data require normalisation. Many of the normalisation methods need information on prevailing atmospheric conditions, sensor-related details etc., whereas some other methods use only the information which are within the data set. A study was conducted in Kudremukh Iron Ore miningsite, Karnataka using multi-date data from Landsat MSS of 1976 and 1985. A normalisation method using only the scene statistics of the images is suggested which brings the multi-date data at par. This method is compared with some of the other methods which use only the information content of the data set. Comparison of these methods was made by scattergrams, distance measure etc. By generating scattergrams for various combinations of non-normalised and normalised images, different methods were compared. Based on ground information, some changed and unchanged classes were noted on the various normalised and original images. Using the distance measure for classes in different images, the normalisation procedures were compared. The proposed method turned out to be the best among the methods compared.     

Generation of spectrum compatible accelerograms

In this paper a new method is presented for generating earthquake accelerograms which have pre-established response spectra. The non-stationary random nature and other salient features of the accelerograms can be taken care of by the procedure developed. The method leads to a sample spectrum which lies above the given spectrum. The generation of records to suit several spectra simultaneously can also be handled by this approach. The method is detailed first. This is followed by several numerical examples.     

Rb-Sr age of the Sivamalai alkaline complex,Tamil Nadu

The Sivamalai alkaline complex comprises ferro-, pyroxene-hornblende- and nepheline-syenites. Field relations show that the nepheline syenites followed the emplacement of non-feldspathoidal syenites. Mineralogical data on the syenite suite have been reviewed. The Sivamalai alkaline rocks are not strongly enriched in rare-earth elements like most miaskites. Rb-Sr isotopic analyses of a suite of six samples from the various members of the complex define an isochron corresponding to an age of 623 ±21 Ma (2σ) and initial Sr ratio of 0.70376 ±14 (2σ). This is consistent with a model of fractional crystallization of a parent magma derived from an upper mantle source with apparently no isotopic evidence for more than one magma source for the complex. The Sivamalai alkaline complex represents a Pan-African alkaline magmatic event in the southern granulite terrane of Peninsular India.     

Chemical weathering and carbon dioxide consumption in a small tropical river catchment,southwestern India

Aquatic Geochemistry - Studies done on small tropical west-flowing river catchments located in the Western Ghats in southwestern India have suggested very intense chemical weathering rates and...     

Geochemistry and Origin of Early Proterozoic Dongargarh Rapakivi Granite Complex, Central India - An Example for Magma Mixing and Differentiation

Early Proterozoic Dongargarh granite complex of Central India, intruding the tonalitic to granodioritic Amgaon gneisses and the Nandgaon Group bimodal volcanic suite, comprises three different textural and compositional types, viz., porphyritic granodiorite (PG), coarse equigranular granite (EG) and microgranite (MG). Synplutonic mafic dykes are common in the granite complex. The PG is characterised by rapakivi texture and the EG is the dominant facies and exhibits sporadically developed rapakivi texture. Microgranular enclaves are common in the EG while they are rare in PG. Major and trace element geochemistry of PG shows marked I- type and some occasional A-type granite characters unusual for a rapakivi granite while the EG shows A-type granite signatures. The field, petrographic, chemical and isotopic data of these granites suggest their derivation by mixing of mantle derived basic magma with a crustal-derived partly crystalline granitic magma. Episodic mafic magma underplating caused the anatexis of the Archaean lower continental crust in a continental margin tectonic setting resulting first in the formation of the I-type granodiorite followed by A-type granite. The I-type granodiorite is mixed with the basic magma (synplutonic dykes) while the EG is formed by mingling of A- type granite magma and the intruding basic magma.     

Geochemistry and Origin of Megacrystic Granitoid Rocks from Eastern Ghats Granulite Belt

The Eastern Ghats Granulite Belt (EGGB) forms part of a continuous Precambrian metamorphic terrain in Gondwana. It is characterised by widespread development of an Archaean khondalite suite of metasedimentary rocks, Archaean to Late-Proterozoic charnockites and Late Proterozoic anorthositic, granitic and syenitic emplacements. A 1900 Ma megacrystic granitoid suite, containing varying proportions of charnockites and granites, forms an important and widely distributed litho-unit in the central khondalite and eastern migmatite zones of the EGGB. It contains metasedimentary enclaves, megacrystic K-feldspar, quartz, plagioclase ovoids, biotite, garnet (porphyroblasts and coronas), apatite, zircon, ilmenite, magnetite, etc. Hypersthene is present in the charnockite phase. Monazite is present in some garnet-free granites. It is characterised by low Na₂O/K₂O ratios, high alumina saturation index, CaO, MgO, and ÝREE, negative correlation of TiO₂, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃^t, MgO, MnO, CaO, P₂O₅, Ba, Sr, Zr and V with SiO₂, positive correlation of K₂O, REE, Th and Rb with SiO₂, fractionated LREE, relatively flat HREE and negative Eu anomalies.The data suggest S-type nature of the suite. Fractionation of the granitic magma and local variations in pH₂O and fCO₂ caused the formation of megacrystic charnockites. Formation of the corona garnet is related to the reworking of the suite during late Proterozoic (ca. 1250 Ma) isothermal decompression associated with channelised CO₂-rich fluid flux along narrow shear zones.     

The politics of defining and alleviating poverty: State strategies and their impacts in rural Kerala

This paper presents a relational approach to the study of poverty (Mosse, 2010), and uses this to critically evaluate state strategies for identifying and alleviating poverty in Kerala, India. It traces these from national planning documents through to their point of implementation, drawing on qualitative research in two of Kerala’s poorest Districts. Ideas of participatory poverty classification, economic self-reliance and political empowerment are laudable national policy goals, and Kerala has shown innovation in its adaptation of these within the State’s devolved structures of local governance. However, both the framing of policy and its implementation reproduce ideas of individual transitions out of poverty which indicate that the state pays insufficient attention to the highly unequal social and economic relationships reproducing poverty in contemporary Kerala – in short, to poverty’s inherently political nature.