Environmental Aspects of Geology
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEMINAR
Environmental Aspects of Geology
Proceedings of the Seminar
held at Trivandrum, 26th - 28th November 1984
As part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Geological Society of India, a seminar on Environmental Aspects of Geology was held during 26th November to 28th November 1984, at Trivandrum under the joi]1t auspices of the Geological Society of India and the Centre for Earth Science Studies, Trivandrum. The Semi-nar was co-sponsored by the State Committee on Science, Technology and Environ-ment, Government of Kerala; Regional Research Laboratory (CSI R), Trivandrum and the Geological Survey of India (Kerala Circle).
The seminar was organized with the object of providing a platform for a meaningful interaction and discussion among geoscientists and environmentalists to focus attention on prospects and problems related to our physical environment and its resources. This was thought, hopefully, to lead to a better understanding of our environment and, therefore, of its management. ;\ vailability of non-renewable mineral and energy resources in the context of the present day depletion rate, the growing environmental hazards, human diseases and its physical determinants also formed areas of vital interest. Besides, it was decided to expose the delegates to a series of guest lectures, which would be an overview of topics of the seminar in particular, and on environment, in general.
INAUGURAL SESSION
The inaugural session of the seminar was held on 26th November 1984, at the picturesque Kanakakkunnu Palace, Trivandrum at 10.00 a.m. Dr. Harsh K. Gupta
welcomed
the delegates, the distinguished guests and invitees to the seminar.Dr. B. P. Radbakrishna, briefly traced the history of growth and development of the Geological Society of India from its birth, 25 years ago, to the present day (this address appears separately in this issue, pp. 159-162).
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF GEOLOGY 151 land-use in agriculture and mining activities in more than 90% of our land. He stressed the need to strike a balance between development and land use. He con-cluded praising the Geological Society of India for its service to the cause of Indian
Geology.
Dr. S. Z. Qasim, in his presidential address, expressed his deep sense of satisfac-tion at associating himself with the seminar. Tracing back the history of environmental movement in the country, and the Stockholm Conference of 1972, on 'Human Environ-ment' and India's role in the same, he stress-ed the nestress-ed for proper environmental safe-guards in our developmental endeavours in
~very sphere of our activities. He emphasised
the point that there should be enough safe-guards against pollution and there is every need for recycling the waste to meet future demand. He advocated three important prin-ciples
10
be looked into for any developmen-tal project: (a) technical feasibility, (b) finan-cial feasibility, and (c) environmental feasi-bility. He also emphasised the need for environmental legislation to safeguard against environmental degradation and mismanagement.Dr. Hari Narain, releasing . the Resource Atlas of Kerala', prepared by the Centre for Earth Science Studies, said that the Atlas, containing 132 thematic maps arranged in 58 plates, is an invaluable document for planning at micro-level. Emphasising the need for resource planning for development, he indicated how best such Atlases could be made use of for harnessing natural resources to optimise production in consonance with the resource capability of the land. He hoped that the .planners as well as the general public would benefit from the Atlas.
Shri SunderJal Babuguna, the noted environmentalist releasing the Proceedings of the Seminar on 'Status of Environmental Studies in India' said, that science as a discipline and scientists as practitioners are to be worshipped. He, as a worshipper of nature, had been greatly distressed at the way mother earth is 'bleeding' in the form of soil erosion, landslide, loss of natural vegetation, etc. He was at pains to slate that man, in his greed to add to his materialistic well-being, had become a butcher and made our renewable resources non-renewable. The document he was releasing, he said, contained very informative and detailed documentation of studies on impact of human interference on nature and remedial measures to be resorted to. He felt all the more happy to dedicate the book to Prof. C. Karunakaran, the founder director of CESS.
Dr. S. Vasudev, congratulated the Geological Society of India and the CESS in organizing the seminar on Environmental Aspects of Geology as part of the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of the Geological Society of India. He was also happy to see the publication of the Resource Atlas of Kerala, a document worthy of emulation by other States. While emphasizing the need for such a document for micro-level
planning, he felt it essential to update the Atlas every now and then and also to
computerise the data.
Dr. G. Thyagarajan, in his felicitation address, pointed out that Geology, as a
natural science was intimately related to environment. Resource assessment and
development have become part and parcel of the planning process and in that respect, the role played by mineral resources and, therefore, of Geology was of para-mount importance. Mere legislation without unreserved cooperation of people would be ineffeCtive for any meaningful environmental programme. The challenge to be met, according to him, was to find means to have development without jeo-paradizing environmental quality.
The inaugural session came to an end with a vote of thanks by Dr. K. K.
Rama-chandran, Convener of the Seminar.
INVITED LECTURES
On the same afternoon, the first session started with a series of invited lectures.
Dr. Hari Narain, in his address on • Earth Science Development and
Environ-ment', stated that the problems faced by
India on pollution and environment are in many ways different from those of the ad-vanced countries and, therefore, require new approaches and methodologies to tackle them. According to him, the replenishable and non-replenishable resources, non-conventional and human resources are the determinants of the total environmental condition and ecosystem. Large-scale land, soil, water management, aforestation, exploration and exploitation of coal, minerals and petroleum, and extensive use of indigenous small-scale and medium-scale industries would provide gainful em-ployment to the youth from universities and
colleges and also to skilled, semi-skilled and labour class people of India. With
essential environmental safeguards, Dr. Narain felt, India with abundant natural
re-sources and a large human potential, coupled with appropriate technologies, can
optimistically look forward to a faster growth to meet the challenges of 2000 A. D.
and beyond.
Dr. S. Z. Qasim, in his lecture on 'Marine Mineral Potential of India, Pro-blems and Prospects', highlighted the importance of exploitation of marine re-sources, especially the mineral rere-sources, in the context of the ever-increasing need for the same for industrial development. He was quite optimistic in his assessment about our marine mineral potential within our territorial jurisdiction, more
parti-cularly so :about the polymetallic nodules of the Indian Ocean. He, at the same
time, expressed the opinion of utmost caution required in regard to its exploitation,
especially, . from the point of view of environmental issues arising out of ocean
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF GEOLOGY 153
as well as resource-wise-in the wake of the three successful expeditions to Antarc-tica, made in a short span of just three years.
Dr.
G.
Thyagarajan's talk on 'Water hyacinth-boon or bane' provided a different perspective to the proceedings. He pointed out that water hyacinth has been most alarming, producing 30 offsprings from two parent plants in just 23 days.It was interesting, he pointed out, that in terms of biomass, the hyacinth increases 50% in weight, in about 11 to 12 days. While this offers multiple use of the same for biogas, paper, pulp, etc. and also for reclamation of marshes and water· logged soils, considering the meagre availability of fresh water for human consump-tion and also because of the shelter tbe plant offers to vectors of various diseases, there is growing emphasis on its control rather than its cultivation and utilization. Dr. Thyagarajan also discussed in detail the distribution pattern of the weed and the magnitude of the problem in controlling the same.
Prof. P. Somasundaran's lecture on ' Processing of low quality ores, within the environmental constraints', started with an overview, of the nature and magnitude of mineral consumption in developed and developing countries. The growth of mineral consumption was particularly high in developing countries in recent years. Mineral and fuel availability, therefore, had become important for developing as well as developed countries. With depleted important ore-bodies, the world was looking to low quality ores for utilizatiOfl, which, unfortunately, were not responding to conventional processes of enrichment. In many cases, there were no processes to treat them within the energy and environmental constraints. Additional recovery of oil from deep reservoirs using surfactant solutions, solution mining for extraction of metals, and such other processes are beset with environmental hazards, polluting ground-waters, the effect of which, though not apparent now, may become quite serious in future. While keeping the possible hazards in view, Prof. Somasundaran discussed in detail the current research in progress in the area of beneficiation of fine and ultra fine ores.
Before the commencement of the Tech-nical Sessions of the day, there was another invited lecture on 'Deforestation and its
im-pact' by Shri Sunderfal Bahuguna. He
began his talk \Vith the emphasis that although ours is an Aranya (forest) culture - 'a culture born and nourished in the forest', what we are doing is plundering of forest' following the civilization advancing with the cement road '. Tracing the history of deforestation in preference to mono-culture, he pointed out that about 1000 species of birds and mamm-als are threatened with extinction and that when a plant species disappears, it affects 25 other species in the tropical forests. Accord-ing to one estimate, the destruction of forests is going on at an alarming rate of 11 million
Summing up the impact of deforestation, Shri Bahuguna came up with the view that deforestation had been responsible for a major share of air pollution leading to various diseases, increase in CO2 in the atmosphere making the temperature warmer by 15 per cent'in the last 50 years with possible drastic climatic changes in future, depletion of oxygen, change in hydrologic regime, and soil erosion. He felt angui-shed at the state of environment in India. He, however, had raith in science which could heal the bleeding wounds of Mother Earth.
From the afternoon of 26th to 28th November, 1984, the seminar provided a platform for presentation of 66 technical papers covering a wide spectrum of Envi-ronmental Aspects of Geology. Interspersed with the technical sessions were invited lectures.
TECHNICAL SESSIONS Enrichment studies and Environmental Geochemistry
This session had eight papers. The over-all picture which emerged from dis-cussions was:
1. That there is an added necessity for strengthening the infrastructure and trained technical man-power to meet the growing challenges of depleting mine-ral resources in the country and for developing better beneficiation techniques, to process low grade ores and minerals and alsoJor conservation and management practices of mineral resources.
2. In as much as the tailings from mines and beneficiation plants are con-cerned, research should be initiated to find out the positive and negative impacts of the same on environment and remedial measures taken up in the case of negative impacts.
3. There is an urgent need for the study, in detail, of the different proper-ties of clays and their utilization.
4. In view of the high pollution of our waters - both surface and ground-water by heavy metals, there is need to ensure adequate safeguards against such pollution and also research back-up in areas of &qua-toxicology. Equally impor-tant is to know the role played by these metals in plant and human metabolism.
5. An inventory of thermal springs of mineral waters in the country which have high therapeutic value has to be prepared. If properly managed and developed, the centres of these springs could be developed into
health-cum-tourist resorts.
6. There is a growing awareness of and increasing necessity in understand-ing the environmental health problems with a multidisciplinary approach, in which, geochemists, health specialists and epidemo\ogists should interact, and as a pre· requisite multielement atlases are required to be made,through geochemical mapping.
Water resource management - po)]ution
The following follow-up action was suggested as a result of presentation of papers and discussions held:
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF GEOLOGY 155
2. Groundwater pollution, especially, in the phreatic aquifer zones through various chemical pollutants and heavy metals requires periodic monitoring and forewarning of health hazards.
3. There is an urgent necessity to evolve methods to contain the vagaries of monsoon through enrichment of groundwater storage according to rock type, physiography, etc. The hydrologic relevance of various techniques and metho-dologies of surface and subsurface water management are to be tested to suit different situations.
4. More than half of the oil production in India is from the offshore region. Oil discharge from tankers and cargo ships plying in India's Exclusive Economic Zone and the pollution hazards posed by oil slicks in the high seas are threats to marine ecosystems. It is, therefore, vital that pollution level of our seas is monitored.
5. The role of soil in selective pollution control of surface water has got to be evaluated through experimental data and field testing.
6. In general, most of our perennial surface waters have become highly polluted in the absence of well protected sewage systems, indiscriminate waste disposal, defective and poor sanitation system. This requires to be set right on an urgent basis.
7. Industrial effluents to the rivers as well as to our marine waters are to be monitored systematically.
Mining and environmental problems
1. While mining activities have helped in the advance of urban frontiers, negative impacts due to lack of adequate environmental safeguards have caused loss of soil and forest reserves, pollution of air, destabilization of hill slopes, resulting in landslides, siltation of rivers and possible meteorological changes.
2. While vigorously pursuing the possibilities of deep sea mineral mining from the Indian Ocean, baseline studies in the mining region to assess the eco-logical impact in the deep sea environment, at the epi and meso-pelagic zones~ are to be thorough)y investigated.
3. Microbial containment of acid mine drainage appears promising, re-quiring more research input.
4. In the wake of the ever increasing utilization of coal for thermal power plants and exploitation of coal in large quantities, the pollution arising out of toxic heavy metal flux to environment would become problematic, besides waste disposal and handling of overburden, hydrologic disturbance, etc. These are areas to be investigated from environmental angle.
Environmental geological hazards
1. In the Darjeeling Himalaya, apart from deforestation, there exists a strong correlation between landslide incidence and structuralftectonic contacts of different formations.
3. The role played by groundwater and reservoir induced tremors in causing landslides in some areas of Western Ghats was emphasized.
Physical system and human impact
This session dealt with different facets of human interference on our physical system. The following facts emerged from the session:
t.
Reservoirs, located within moderately seismic zones and structurally controlled sites, could cause reservoir induced seismicity.2. Erosion and sediment transport are closely linked. The rate of erosion of sediment and, therefore, of soil, are of importance in as much as they relate in many ways to the type of land use in the catchment area and siltation of re-servoirs, lakes, etc. The rate of erosion under various land-use practices needs further study.
3. Landslip activity in highly \\-eathered areas are common. It becomes massive and aggravated when the terrain is hIghly disturbed due to human interference. Extensive and severe damages cou Id be avoided in potential areas. by providing shrubbery growth, improved surface drainage, benching, girder anchoring, incorporation of wire meshing support, etc.
4. Preparation of wave refraction models and quantification of sediment budget along any coast are essential for the identification of erosional and accre-tional zones. This would also become necessary when coastal constructions are made or contemplated.
5. Urban agglomeration tends to be most harmful not only in terms of human ecology but also in cases of sensitive ecosystems like estuaries and lakes, which are of highly sustainable utility to man. These are ecosystems requiring constant monitoring and also simulation studies.
Energy resources, exploitation and impact
This session covered an extensive area on energy resources, and also stressed the need for safeguards, to prevent pollution from conventional thermal power plants, on the one hand, to the disposal of highly active nuclear wastes in deep geological formations, on the other.
1. The method of di~posal of ash residues of coal-fired power plants by wet sluicing creates changes in water chemistry and concentration of toxic metals in surface and groundwater.
2. The smoke from super-power plants containing toxic pollutant such as sulphur-di-oxide will have highly deleterious effect on the plant community, especially of tea and coffee plantations. Increasing the height of the chimney of power plants, desulphuriLatian, etc. are to be resorted, in such cases.
3. Location of power plants ejecting sulphur-di-oxide, near monuments like Taj Mahal made of marble, would, in the long run, corrode Ihe surface of marble. In the case of the existing plants, measures ~ill have to be taken to protect the monuments through suitable coatings.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS; OF GEOLOGY
'Environmental geological mapping
157
This session generated great interest in as much as it appeared highly essential
to
map and identify areas of g~::>n1Jrphic sensiti vity for plfticular land·use, manage-ment of sensitive and dynamic eC0systems like desert, lakes. etc. and also to decipher the geo-environmental potential of any particular region. The following points emerged from the session:1. Study on the process of desertification, especially, in areas adjoining deserts should be intensified with the objective of preventing further deserti-fication.
2. In general, it is advisable to have only light irrigation and pasturing, in preference to intensive irrigation, in desert areas of Rajasthan. Minimisation of biotic interference to stabilize sand and appropriate land use are of para-mount importance for desert management.
3. Delineation of constructional and destructional land forms and adop-tion of geomorpho]ogically suited land· use practices are required for any environmental planning and management, both in urban and rural areas.
4. Knowledge of recoverable and renewable resource p)tential and carry-ing capacity of any area is necessary before planncarry-ing any developmental activity.
INVITED LECTURES
Shri P. Radhakrishnan, in his lecture on 'Remote Sensing - a new imperative presented an over view of various remote sensing techniques currently in vogue and its usefulness in the service of man, in general, and resource evaluation and environ-mental management, in particular.
Shri. Anil Agarwal's lecture on the' State of Indfa's Environment' with its socio-economic bias presented a diversion in matter content, as different from the rest of the lectures based mainly on scientific and experimental results. To him, environmental dimensions were' not just pretty trees and tigers, threatened plants and eCJsystems '. On the other hand, 'it is literally the entity on which we all sub-sist, and on which our entire agricultural and industrial development d~pends '. According to him, the pattern of environmental exploitation in India is the same as that of the Third World and, in this respect, industry has been the worst culprit. Particularly in India, near1y half of the industrial output is accounted for by indus-tries which can be called biomass based, exerting enormous pressure on our highly productive land. The other point, he stressed, was the fact that it is the poor who are always affected by environmental destruction and that environmental destruction would only intensify poverty. Fuel crisis, according to him, is the worst that can be thought of and the maximum impact of destruction of biomass source is on women, who in India, work on an average 14 - 16 hours a day. Unlike the situa-tion in the West, the quessitua-tion of environmental destrucsitua-tion is not an issue related to the quality of life but it is a question of survival. The answer to India's imme-diate problem of poverty, according to him, lay in increasing the biomass available in nature and arranging for its equitable distribution.
knowledge on induced seismicity in different parts of the world and then converged on to our own experience in India, at Koyna, where a devastating earthquake of magnitude 6.3 was recorded in 1967, and the area was still seismically active. He pointed out that detailed investigations of earthquake in the vicinity of artificial lakes have revealed that small magnitude earthquakes could be caused as a direct consequence of reservoir loading through the settlement of the basin, whereas, larger ones cannot be caused by impoundment of wat~r, as the stresses caused by reservoir impoundment are much smaller compared to the stresses released by earth-quakes of magnitude, say, 5. The reservoir impoundment provides only a trigger. While covering a wide area of study, including that of dams of the Himalayan region, Dr. Gupta stressed the necessity of having seismic surveillance in the vicinity of large reservoirs even at the planning stage. His study had shown that, statisti-cally, there is a positive correlation between the height of the water column in the reservoir and reservoir induced seismicity.
CONCLUDING SESSION
Chairing the concluding session, Dr. B. P. Radhakrishna expressed his sense of appreciation at the way the seminar was conducted and the valuable contributions by different authors representing different orgat).izations. He made a specific appeal to geologists engaged in mineral evaluation and exploitation that they should develop concern towards environmental degradation attendant upon exploitation of mineral resources. Geologists had a special role to play in this crisis-ridden environmental era. Energy and water requirements of the vast population of rural India have not merited their attention. These two fields, the field of energy and the field of water should be of particular concern during the coming decade. He concluded with the note that' in nature there is enough for everybody's need but not for everybody's greed' .
On behalf of the organizers, Dr. Harsh Gupta proposed the vote of thanks to the delegates and various chairpersons of technical sessions (Dr. A. G. Mathew~ Shri A. K. R. Hemmady, Dr. S. Vasudev, Shri K. S. Subramaniam, Dr. P. K. Rajendran Nair, Dr. K. C. Sahu and Dr. V. J. Gupta), and the rapporteurs, and all those who whole·heartedly supported the organization in the successful conduct of the seminar. On behalf of the delegates, Shri A. K. R. Hemmady thanked the orga-nizers for the excellent fare provided to them.
Centre for Earth Scince Studies
Trivandrum. K. K. RAMACHANDRAN
