SCOPE OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND THEIR INTERRELATIONS

ASSIGNMENT ON

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

GEOG/3/SC/16B

SUBMITTED BY

LALTANPUIA

ROLL NO. 22

M.SC

DEPT. OF GEOGRAPHY AND RM

Identify the scope of Watershed Management and their interrelationship.

    Watershed Management may be defined as the process of formulating and carrying out a course of action involving manipulation of natural, agricultural and human resources of a watershed to provide resources that are desired by and suitable to watershed community, but under the condition that soil and water resources are not adversely affected. Watershed management must consider the social, economic and institutional factor operating within and outside the watershed. Watershed management practices are those changes in land use, vegetative cover and other structural and non-structural actions that are taken on the watershed to achieve watershed development objectives.

    Watershed management is an integrated and interdisciplinary approach. It generally requires land use adjustment measures which contributed to the reduction in soil erosion rates resulting into increased agricultural production, generation of rural employment and balanced growth of the national economy.

SCOPE OF WATERSHED MANAGEMENT AND THEIR INTERRELATIONS:

    Watershed management usually involves the use, by the people of the watershed area, of the watersheds natural resources, especially the land, water and vegetation, with the active participation of their institutions and organizations and in harmony with the ecosystem. It includes and incorporates watershed activities into regional or area development plans, taking into account the protection and conservation measures necessary and the benefits likely to increase to the people living at the watershed outlet over a period of time.

Scope of Watershed Management includes the following:

INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOIL, WATER AND VEGETATION

    Soil, water and vegetation or plants has been interconnected to each other, soil and water, water and vegetation, soil and vegetation, each of them were interconnected and cannot be separated in the study of watershed management.

Soil serves a vital function in nature, providing a medium for plant growth as well as nutrients for plants, and habitat for millions of micro and macro organisms. Healthy soil allows them to flourish, release oxygen, hold water and diminish destructive storm runoff, break down waste materials, bind and breakdown pollutants and serve as the first course in the larger food chain. Soil and vegetation relationship is an interaction that benefits both; typically involves the exchange of substances or services. Dead plants provide energy to soil microbes through the process of decomposition. Plants shelter the soil from winds, decreasing wind erosion; the roots of plants bind the soil together, forming a more solid mass that is less susceptible to both water and wind erosion. Plants support microorganisms in the soil in different ways. Dead plants provide energy to soil microorganisms. In living plants, secretions resulting from metabolic activities of the roots support microorganisms in the root vicinity. Interaction between plants and soil is vital to life. For example, living organisms help with soil development. As a plant grows, its roots obtain mineral nutrients from the soil. The greatest influence on plant nutrition is soil pH—a measure of the hydrogen ion (acid-forming) soil reactivity (a function of the soil materials, precipitation level and plant root behavior). Soil pH strongly affects the availability of nutrients. As roots grow, they move soil particles and break up rock into small particles, helping soil formation. Decomposition returns minerals to the soil as plants die. Vegetation acts as an interface between the atmosphere and the soil, increasing the permeability of the soil to rainwater and thus decreasing runoff. It shelters the soil from wind, resulting in decreased wind erosion, as well as advantageous changes in microclimate. Plant roots bind the soil together by interweaving with other roots, forming a more solid mass that is less susceptible to both water and wind erosion. So, in the study of Watershed management, it is necessary to practice erosion control by doing check dam, embankment, proper drainage, soil conservation, irrigation terraces, regulated grazing, farming, afforestation.

Water-holding capacity is controlled primarily by soil texture and organic matter. Soil texture refers to the composition of the soil in terms of the proportion of small, medium, and large particles (clay, silt, and sand, respectively) in a specific soil mass. Water infiltration is the movement of water from the soil surface into the soil profile. Soil texture, soil structure, and slope have the largest impact on infiltration rate. Water moves by gravity into the open pore spaces in the soil, and the size of the soil particles and their spacing determines how much water can flow in. Wide pore spacing at the soil surface increases the rate of water infiltration, so coarse soils have a higher infiltration rate than fine soils.

Soil is a valuable resource that supports plant life, and water is an essential component of this system. Management decisions concerning types of crops to plant, plant populations, irrigation scheduling, and the amount of nitrogen fertilizer to apply depend on the amount of moisture that is available to the crop throughout the growing season.

Watershed management usually involves the use, by the people of the watershed area, of the watersheds natural resources, especially the land, water and vegetation, further, all the other activities under watershed management scope needs to be practice

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THORIUM IN INDIA

Assignment On

Resource Geography

THORIUM

Submitted By:

Laltanpuia

Roll No – 22

Dept. Of Geography, Mizoram University

    Thorium is a source of nuclear power. There is probably more untapped energy available for use from thorium in the minerals of the earth's crust than from combined uranium and fossil fuel sources. Much of the internal heat the earth has been attributed to thorium and uranium. When pure, thorium is a silvery white metal which is air-stable and retains its luster for several months. When contaminated with the oxide, thorium slowly tarnishes in air, becoming grey and finally black. Thorium oxide has a melting point of 3300°C, the highest of all oxides. Only a few elements, such as tungsten, and a few compounds, such as tantalum carbide, have higher melting points. Thorium is slowly attacked by water, but does not dissolve readily in most common acids, except hydrochloric. Powdered thorium metal is often pyrophoric and should be carefully handled. When heated in air, thorium turnings ignite and burn brilliantly with a white light. Thorium is named for Thor, the Scandinavian god of war. It is found in thorite and thorianite in New England (USA) and other sites.

    THORIUM DEPOSITS

    Some common minor primary constituents of igneous rocks carry uranium and thorium in isomorphous substitution for and other elements.  Monazite, apatite, zircon and sphene are some of the most abundant minerals belonging to this category.  Most of these minerals are resistant to alteration, but they differ greatly in their resistance to attrition during their transportation with clastics.  Monazite, apatite and xinotime are most easily reduced by attrition, but under favorable conditions these minerals become enriched in sands and gravels which have been transported short distances.  They are found frequently in heavy mineral resistate fraction of terrestrially deposited clastics.  Hence stream and beach monazite-bearing placers are found in many parts of the world.  Zircon, which also carries a large portion of U and Th contents of felsic rocks, is a common constituent of the resistate fraction of all kinds of clastic sediments.  These resistant minerals (monazite, apatite, xinotime and zircon) may be removed from erosional terranes of the igneous rocks and become concentrated in placer deposits in environments where rock destruction by decomposition is predominant over that by disintegration, viz. the tropical climatic zones.

    The thorium content of the minerals contained in these placers is considerably greater than the uranium content; therefore the deposits are classified primarily as thorium-­bearing placers.

    Monazite is the chief source of thorium in the world.  Though it is a constituent of some granites and pegmatites, such sources are not economically workable.  Monazite is concentrated by weathering into economically workable deposits in beach sands in the coastal tracts of Australia, Brazil, Ceylon, Malaysia and India.  India possesses the largest deposits of monazite in the world.  Recent indications are that in the near future, thorium would emerge as a fission fuel of greater potential than thorium.

    In India monazite is found in the coastal tracts of Cuttak and Ganjam districts of Orissa where the thickness of the placer is about 30 cm with a monazite content of 2.5 percent.  Minor occurrences have been noticed between Chilka Lake and Chicacole River also.

    In Andhra Pradesh thick ilmenite and monazite placers are found around Vishakhapatnam and Bhimunipatnam.  The beach sands of the coastal tracts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are also very rich in monazite.  They also contain ilmenite and rutile.  Monazite bearing sands are best developed along the beaches of the southwest coast of India between Quilon and Kanyakumari (Lipuram, Pudur, Kovalam, Varkala and Neendakarai) and between Chowghat and Ponnani.  On the east coast of India, monazite concentrations are not as good as on the western and southwestern coasts, nevertheless small deposits are found along the Vishakhapatnam and Tanjore coasts. The monazite content of placers is rarely more than 3%.  It appears that the maximum concentration of U and Th in placer type deposits are about 70 and 3000 ppm of sediment respectively, and the average concentrations are probably about 2 and 60 ppm respectively.  Sands on the Flo rida coast are reported to contain 0.09% monazite, beach sands of India average 2-5% monazite.

    Elsewhere in the country black sand deposits occur in the coastal tracts of Waltair, Bimlipatnam and Narasipatnam.

THORIUM RESERVES IN INDIA

    In year 2010-2011, India met a deficit of 8.5% on base electricity load. For a country like India, it might look a small number. However, this is above and over the fact that 300 million people in India are already outside the electricity grid (out of 1.4 billion global). Hence, along with expanding the power grid the country actively needs to go further in producing electricity.

    Historically, India was kept outside the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty from 1970 because of its nuclear weapon development program. Due to these trade restrictions, its nuclear program went through a slow evolution. However, at the same time, it was able to develop its own nuclear reactor designs and aware of its Thorium reserves, it has been uniquely developing Thorium nuclear reactors.

    Of the currently known world thorium reserves, India has a large number of share - ranging from 25-30% of the total of 1,160 thousand tonnes. This coupled with the growing need for energy and restrictions on Uranium trade had made India's inclination towards Thorium reactors obvious. Its main source is the Monazite deposits, which occur essentially in the entire peninsula. There are also inland resources in the Ranchi plateau. Apart from there are scattered deposits in the Gujrat region, Bihar and inner Tamil Nadu. However, the bottom line remains that the estimation of the distribution of these deposits demands considerable improvements and there is large incentive for further exploration.

   

    India has recently demonstrated world's first prototype of reactor using this fuel. Although, the title of a "safer" fuel remains controversial, India believes it to be a safer fuel. "The basic physics and engineering of the thorium-fuelled Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) are in place, and the design is ready," said Ratan Sinha, director of Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) in Mumbai.

    Energy demand of the current world is only going to get higher. With more and more industrialization and people, energy demand is going to be higher than ever. With world's manufacturing sector moving into India and China, there is an immense amount of energy need in Asia's sphere. There has also been a dramatic increase in price of coal and petroleum in recent years especially in India. In such a scenario, a constant price offered by abundant Thorium fuel and Nuclear Energy can be nothing short of a boon for a country like India. India plans to expand its nuclear sector to provide about 63GW of power by 2032 and gradually increase it to 25% by 2050.

    Though, it looks like an ideal picture, India still has to successfully demonstrate a working Thorium based reactor, being able to deal with nuclear waste disposal with minimum environmental affect, and built successfully an energy grid to support this supply.

References:

    Bookins, D.G., (1981) : Earth Resources; Energy and the Environment, Charles E. Morril     Co., Coloumbus.

    Holechek, J.L., (1990) : Natural Resources : Ecology, Economics and Policy, Prentice Hall,     New Jersey.

    http://www.webelements.com/thorium

    http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/90/thorium

    http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2012/ph241/bordia1

   

   

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MAJOR AGRICULTURE HEARTHS OF THE WORLD

ASSIGNMENT ON

AGRICULTURE GEOGRAPHY

(GEOG/3/SC/16A)

MAJOR AGRICULTURE HEARTHS

LALTANPUIA

ROLL NO – 22

M.SC

DEPT. OF GEOGRAPHY & RM

    Agriculture hearths are the areas of settlement during the neolithic period, especially along major rivers, from where farming and cultivation of livestock started. Accumulated late evidence since Vavilov’s time has suggested the following eight major genecentres (geographical locales of wild ancestors of modern cultivated plants) origin and domestication:

    1. The South West Asian genecentre.

    This stretches over Asia Minor, Greece, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Turkistan, the Arabian Peninsula up to the foothills of Hindukush in the east. This is one of the oldest genecentres where domestication of cereal plants was started. Cultivated plants of South West Asia including the large grained emmer, ancestral to all the other species of wheat except einkorn genetical descendant of other small grained wild wheat. By about 10,000 BC people who relied upon hunting and gathering were reaping wild barley and wild wheat. About 6000 BC, there seems to have been both farming villages and nomadic encampments, probably with trade and other concentrations among them. A major advances in the agriculture came with the development of irrigation. Evidences of the period about 6000 BC are available to show the village communities growing wheat and barley in Southern Turkey, the eastern uplands of Mediterranean and Zagros mountain of Iran and Iraq. Some of the important crops like cabbage, leek, lettuce, onion and garlic have their origin in South West Asia.

    2. The South East Asian Genecentre.

    The South East Asian genecentre occupied the greater parts of the mainland of South East Asia, India, Burma, Thailand, Indo-China, Malaysia and Indonesia. A large number of plants like banana, sugarpalm, coconut, bamboo, tro, yam, turian, rice sugarcane, legumes, mangoes and citrus fruits were domesticated in this region. Moreover, cucumber, eggplant, cowpea also had their origin in India and South East Asia. Carl Sauer is of the opinion that the most ancient domestication of plants appeared within this genecentre near what is known as the North East India and Indo-China. The earliest archaeological evidence about the domestication of plants is available from Thailand where legumes possibly have been domesticated about 9000 BC. Very little is known about the methods of farming in South East Asia during the prehistoric period. But it is likely to have been primitive, relying upon stone axes, tire and digging sticks.

    3. The China-Japan Genecentre.

    The first known farmers in Northern China lived in the Loess uplands in the Middle Hawang Ho between 6000-5000 B.C. these farmers domesticated fox-tail millet, kept pigs and probably practiced shifting cultivation. From here agriculture diffused towards Machuria, Korea and Japan in the North and the valley of Yangtze Kiang in the south. There are reasons to believe that in China and Japan, probably wheat, barley, sheep, goat and cattle were acquired from the south West Asia, whilst soyabean, mulberry and pig were locally domesticated. The chief implements were digging sticks, hoes and spades. Plough was acquired from south West Asia. By 5000 B.C for the maintenance of soil fertility a number of practices were adopted. The main aim of the farmers was moisture conservation rather than irrigation.

   

    4. The Central Asian genecentre.

    This genecentre of Vavilov includes Afghanistan, Tajakistan, Uzbekistan and the area lying to the west of Tien Shan. To the east of the Caspian Ser in Turkistan, an agriculture community based on irrigation grew up between 5000-3000 BC. They adopted mixed agricultural based on the combination of crops and livestocks which characterized Mesopotamia. In this genecentre, peas, flax, carrot, onion, almond, walnut, grapes, alfalfa, garlic musk-melon, spinach and a number of fruits including berries were domesticated.

    5. The Mediterranean Genecentre.

    The genecebtre of Mediterranean extends from Portugal in the west to Greece in the east. Domestication of plants in this region took place on the Coastal undulating areas of Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Greece and Cyprus. Primarily it is the genecentre of oats, flax, olive, cabbage, rutabaga and lavender etc. By 4000 BC the crops which give traditional Mediterranean much of its distinctiveness e.g olive, fig and vine had been domesticated in the eastern parts of the Mediterranean. Vegetables which have their origin in this genecentre are atrichokas, asparagus, cabbage, celery, chicory, olive, cress, endive, beat, garlic, leek, lettuce, onion and peas.

    6. The African Genecentre.

    Egypt being close to the land of South East Asia, derived agriculture from this region. In Egypt the first evidence of agriculture is on the edge of the delta where wheat and flax were grown by 5000 BC. The origins of agriculture in Africa, South of the Sahara, are still a matter of dispute. In Ethopia and the West Coast Africa, vegeculture developed along the margins of tropical forest and Savanna lands where climate was warm and moist. West Africa, in fact, still remains one of the few areas of the world where root crops form a major part of the agricultural economy. Tropical Africa is the primary genetic centre of sorghum, African rice, oil-palm, Castor beans, cotton, water-melon, cowpea, coffee and kola-nut and secondary genetic centre for the many varieties of barley and oats.

    7. South American Genecentre.

    Extending over Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Chile seems to be the most ancient focus of lant domestication and pre-historic agriculture of the new world. It is guessed that it starts between 7000-3000 BC. Here the first domesticated plants of tuberous species like the manioc, arrowroots, waternuts, sweet potatoes, sorrel, ochira, beans tuper and squash were vegetatively propagated. Later seed peanuts, groundnut and pineapple were also domesticated in South America. In Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, vegetables like lima-beans, potato, pumpkin and tomato were domesticated. Axe and digging stick were the main equipments of the pre-historic farming societies of South America. Slash and Burn, irrigation, terracing, and the use of elama-dung for manure were practiced.

    8. The Central American Genecentre.

    This centre spreads over the sea area of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama. Settled agriculture in this area developed only about 2000 BC, but domestication of plants like pumpkin and peppers had started in about 6000 BC. The central American area is the genecentre of plants like maize, kidney-bean, avocados, zapotes, pumpkin and cotton. A series of potatoes was also domesticated in the same region. It is the homeland of red-pepper, bean, avocado, sunflower, agave, cocoa and tobacco.

References:

    Hussain, M. (1996) : Systematic Agricultural Geography, Rawat, New Delhi.

    Singh, J. & Dhillon, S.S. (1998) : Agricultural Geography, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi.

    http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-agricultural-hearth

    http://quizlet.com/2096662/human-geography-agriculture-unit-v-flash-cards

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PARKS AND SANCTUARIES OF INDIA (SLIDESHOW)

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DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL AND IT’S CARTOGRAPHIC APPLICATION

                 DIGITAL ELEVATION MODEL AND IT’S CARTOGRAPHIC APPLICATION

    Digital Elevation Model is the data used by Geographical Information System to represent the shape or part of the earth’s surface. It usually refers to data in raster format where each raster cells stores the height of the ground above sea level or some known datum. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a numerical representation of the Earth’s surface that contains actual height points representing the topography, as well as the method to calculate elevations between the height points. Typically, DEM is stored in a data system as a regular grid or a triangulated irregular network (TIN).

    Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are a type of raster GIS layer. Raster GIS represents the world as a regular arrangement of locations. In a DEM, each cell has a value corresponding to its elevation. The fact that locations are arranged regularly permits the raster GIS to infer many interesting associations among locations: Which cells are upstream from other cells? Which locations are visible from a given point? Where are the steep slopes? One of the most powerful applications of DEMs is adding synthetic hillshading to maps so that the map reader may see the relationship between terrain and other things you may be mapping.

    DTM model is mostly related as raster data type (opposed to vector data type), stored usually as a rectangular equal-spaced grid, with space (resolution) of between 50 and 500 meters mostly presented in cartesian coordinate system – i.e. x, y, z (there are DTMs presented in geographic coordinate system – i.e. angular coordinates of latitude and longitude). For several applications a higher resolution is required (as high as 1 meter spacing). A DTM can be used to guide automatic machinery in the construction of a physical model or even in computer games, where is describes the relief map.

   

                                 Fig. Grid DTM terrain relief representation

Fig. TIN terrain relief representation

    Methods for obtaining elevation data used to create DEMs:

    1. Stereo photogrammetry from aerial surveys, 2.Block adjustment from optical satellite imagery, 3.Interferometry from radar data, 4.Real Time Kinematic GPS, 5.Topographic maps, 6.Theodolite or total station, 7.Doppler radar, 8.Focus variation, 9.Inertial surveys, 10.Surveying and mapping drones.

    IT’S APPLICATION

    The DTM data sets are extremely useful for the generation of 3D renderings of any location in the area described. 3D models rendered from DTM data can be extremely useful and versatile for a variety of applications.

    DTMs are used especially in civil engineering, geodesy & surveying, geophysics, and geography

    Common uses of DEMs include:

1. Extracting terrain parameters

2. Modeling water flow or mass movement (for example avalanches and    landslides)

3. Creation of relief maps

4. Rendering of 3D visualizations.

5. 3D flight planning

6. Creation of physical models (including raised relief maps)

7. Rectification of aerial photography or satellite imagery

8. Reduction (terrain correction) of gravity measurements (gravimetry, physical geodesy)

9. Terrain analysis in geomorphology and physical geography

10. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

11. Engineering and infrastructure design

12. Global positioning systems (GPS)

13. Line-of-sight analysis

14. Base mapping

15. Flight simulation

16. Precision farming and forestry

17. Surface analysis

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Role Of North Eastern Council as a Regional Planning Body (SLIDESHOW)

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PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER NEED FOR DRINKING

ASSIGNMENT ON

ROCK WATER INTERACTION

(GEOL/3/OE/22)

PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER NEED FOR DRINKING

SUBMITTED BY

LALTANPUIA

GOEG/12/206

All living things, from the smallest insect need water to live. Experts predict that by 2025, 1/3 of the world’s population will not have water due to the increase in population and water contamination. Each person discharged about 200,000,000,000 coliforms per day. Coliform bacteria are therefore very numerous-and the most common ad widespread health risk associated with drinking water is microbial contamination, the consequences of which mean that its control must always be of paramount importance. Earth currently has estimated 6.9 billion populations as of July 1, 2011 by the United States census bureau.

The uses of water:

Our world is a planet that is dominated by water and through the years the development in the study of water has been improved and practically tested. There are a lot of uses of water and the following are just a few of its examples.

1. The water is one of the most important sources of a human life.

2. Water is the habitat of several species.

3. Water serves as our main course for the human hygiene.

4. Water is the base of all drinks and beverages. Etc.

THE WATER AND ITS PROPERTIES: THE PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES:

Water has several other unique physical properties. These properties are:

1. Water has a high specific heat. Specific heat is the amount of energy required to change the temperature of a substance. Because water has a high specific heat, it can absorb large amounts of heat energy before it begins to get hot.

2. Water in a pure state has a neutral pH. As a result, pure water is neither acidic nor basic. Water changes its pH when substances are dissolved in it.

3. Water conducts heat more easily than any liquid except mercury. This fact causes large bodies of liquid water like lakes and oceans to have essentially a uniform vertical temperature profile.

4. Water molecules exist in liquid form over an important range of temperature from 0 - 100° Celsius. This range allows water molecules to exist as a liquid in most places on our planet.

5. Water is a universal solvent.

6. Water has a high surface tension. In other words, water is adhesive and elastic, and tends to aggregate in drops rather than spread out over a surface as a thin film. This phenomenon also causes water to stick to the sides of vertical structures despite gravity’s downward pull.

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES:

Water’s chemical formula is H2O. The water molecule is odd shape with both hydrogen atoms occurring on the same side of the oxygen atom gives water its ability to “stick” to itself and to other surfaces. The hydrogen atoms create a positive electrical charge while the oxygen atom creates a negative charge. The attraction to one another is what causes water to form droplets. The chemical properties make water essential to the functioning of living things including human beings. We must ingest or drink water in order to maintain good health.

   This model of a water molecule shows the arrangement of one oxygen atom bound to two atoms of hydrogen and their positive and negative charges. Arranged water molecules positive to negative charges make water “sticky” and form drops or beads on a smooth surface. Water beads on hood of a car are because of the arrangement of water molecules.

Some chemical properties of water are:

1. ph

2. Alkalinity

3. Total hardness

4. Iron, manganese,

5. metal-zinc, copper, chromium, lead

6. Nitrate/nitrite

7. Arsenic, fluoride

8. Chloride

9. Total and free chlorine

BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES:

1. Adhesion: water tends to stick unlike substances. Example is water sticking to blood vessels.

2. Cohesion: Which water molecule clings together due to Hydrogen bonding; the surface film (top layer of water) is held by surface tension. Example is spilled water forming a puddle.

3. Solvency:  Water is considered a universal solvent for its ability to dissolve a wide range of substance since it is a polar molecule. Example is salt or sugar dissolving in water.

4. Chemical reactivity: water can participate in chemical reactions. Example: involvement of water molecules in dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis.

5. Thermal stability: water has a high heat capacity, so it requires a lot of energy to heat up; requires 1 cal to raise 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. Example: stability of the oceans temperature during summer and winter.

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