CESS NEWS - ncess.gov.in

1Committed to Our Earth Our Future

CESS NEWS ISSN 0972-3633 CESS NEWS

Newsletter of the Centre for Earth Science Studies

Vol. 21 Dec 2011 No. 1-4

The first phase of the Ocean State Forecast Sys-tem for the Kerala coast jointly established byIndian National Centre for Ocean InformationServices (INCOIS), Hyderabad and CESS atVizinjam harbour, near Thiruvananthapuramwas formally inaugurated by Shri OommenChandy, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala on16th of July 2011. The Electronic DisplayBoard facility set up at Vizhinjam harbour forthe dissemination of the sea state forecast infor-mation to the local fishermen community wasunveiled by Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Member ofParliament from Thiruvananthapuram. Smt.Jameela Prakasam, Member Legislative Assem-bly, Kerala presided over the function. Smt. K.Chandrika, Mayor, Corporation ofThiruvananthapuram, Smt. Remani P Nair,President, District Panchayat, Smt. Galdis Alex,Councilor, Vizhinjam and Dr. K. K.Ramachandran, Member Secretary, Kerala StateCouncil for Science, Technology and Environ-ment also spoke on the occasion. Dr. N. P.Kurian, Director CESS delivered the welcomespeech and Dr. Satheesh C Shenoi, Director,

INCOIS introduced the Ocean State Forcastand Fishery Information System. Dr. T. M.Balakrishnan, Head, Information ServicesGroup, INCOIS proposed the vote of thanks.The information system issues real time detailson tides, wind, waves, ocean current, etc forthe use of the coastal community, Coast Guards,National Hydrographic Office etc. Informationon Potential Fishing Zones is disseminatedthrough electronic sign boards installed at des-ignated points. The data is processed at INCOISand bulletins and forecast warnings are issuedon weather conditions, storms etc. through theirwebsite.As part of this project another coastal observa-tion station and electronic display board willbe established in Kozhikode soon. Theprogramme will be further expanded and es-tablish more coastal observation stations alongthe Kerala coast during the 12th Plan period.

A workshop was also organized after the inau-gural function to educate the coastal commu-nity about the use of sea state forecast system.

Continued in page 2

Timescales of Melting in Hot Orogens:‘Inside-out’ zircons from the Kerala Khondalite Belt

The Khondalite belt of southern Kerala repre-sents part of an extensive late Neoproterozoicsedimentary basin that formed prior to the fi-nal amalgamation of Gondwana which under-went high-temperature metamorphism duringthat amalgamation. Peak metamorphic tempera-tures varied across the Kerala Khondalite Beltand reached ultra high temperature conditionsindicated for those granulites from the north-eastern sub area near the Achankovil ShearZone. The recognition of spinel + quartz ingrain contact and high temperaturemesoperthites in metapelitic granulites of theKKB has confirmed that ultrahigh tempera-tures were attained during extreme crustal meta-morphism associated with Gondwana amal-gamation and possibly orogenic collapse in theCambrian. Various reaction textures involvingthe breakdown of garnet with sillimanite andformation of cordierite-bearing symplectitessuggest that the KKB granulites underwent iso-thermal decompression during the later stagesof their exhumation, consistent with modelsfor the metamorphism that invoke extensionalcollapse following crustal thickening and burialof the high-heat production KKB sedimentaryprotoliths. U-Th-Pb analyses of monazites fromChittikkara quarry shows that relict monazitecores shielded by garnets are as old as 1700 Maand event(s) during late Neoproterozoic-Cam-brian, resulted in the formation of Pan-Africanmantles to these monazite cores. In-situ SIMSREE and trace element analysis of garnets andzircons from leucosomes in the KeralaKhondalite Belt (KKB) shows that these min-erals grew together in the studied melts. Thedistribution of REE between zircon and gar-net in these leucosomes, D

REE(zrc/grt), corre-

lates very well with experimental data (fig.1).Monazite in these leucosomes overgrows andincludes the zircon, and so has grown in a chemi-cal environment already depleted in HREE.An integrated monazite-zircon study ofleucosomes and migmatites from the highest-T portion of the Kerala Khondalite Belt of

Shri. Oommen Chandy, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala inaugurates the ‘Ocean State Forcast and FisheryInformation System for Kerala at Vizhinjam, Thiruvananthapuram. Dr. Satheesh C. Shenoi, Director, INCOIS,Shri. Shashi Tharoor, M.P, Smt. Jameela Prakasam M.L.A, Smt. K. Chandrika, Mayor, ThiruvananthapuramCorporation, Smt. Gladis Alex, Councillor Vizhinjam, Dr. N. P. Kurian, Director, CESS are also seen.

Chief Minister inaugurated

the Ocean State Forcast System for Kerala

2 Committed to Our Earth Our Future

Director Speaks

Dr. N. P. Kurian

Continued from page 1

India is bestowed with a wide variety of valuable mineralresources. Among them, the beach placer deposits have aunique position because of their high export demand andindustrial significance. Placer or heavy minerals (specificgravity > 2.9) get concentrated in various pockets of beachas well as inland, along active and submerged channels. Infact, Kerala hosts some of the best and largest heavy min-eral placer concentrations of the world. Therefore, CESS

since its inception, has carried out a number of scientific projects to understandtheir concentration mechanism, economic potential, mineral chemistry andprovenance. The chief minerals of these reserves are ilmenite, rutile, zircon,monazite and garnet.

Recently, the attention of placer-geologists have turned into value addition ofthese minerals because of significant high-end applications, such as in aircraft,space and nuclear industries. In this context, a couple of studies carried out bythis Centre have brought out interesting conclusions. The bulk and complexbeach deposits bear specific grades of individual minerals, which belong toeither various rock types or formed due to characteristic depositional environ-ments. The inherent physico-chemical heterogeneity of minerals helps in theseparation of different grades from the raw ore. The intrinsic property of gradescould be grain size, magnetism, specific gravity, electric conductance or radioac-tivity. Since each separated grade has compositional heterogeneity, they can bebeneficiated to produce specific-quality end products.

In the case of ilmenite and zircon, crystals relatively free of intergrowths decidetheir economical value. Earlier, ilmenite was essentially used only for the manu-facture of pigments and paints. However, the demand of titanium and tita-nium based products coupled with the scarcity of natural rutile has dramati-cally increased the scope of this mineral. Similarly, zircon that has been conven-tionally used in refractories and as opacifier in tiles and sanitary ware is largelybeing used for extraction of zirconium, hafnium and several zirconium basedproduts. Further, the application of garnet in various types of abrasive and theuse of monazite in thorium-based nuclear energy plants underline the require-ment of detailed characterization of all placer minerals in terms of their physico-chemical properties. Premium prices can also be charged to the high-qualityraw grades, instead of exporting mineral concentrates in composite form.

Sorting of ilmenite and zircons of Kerala beach placers has confirmed thatindustrially viable grades exist with respect to magnetism for ilmenite andspecific gravity and texture for zircon. Mineral processing at laboratory scales,based on these two minerals, have confirmed that an initial grading followed bybeneficiation adds significant economic value to our limited coastal mineralresources. Variations of mineral grades in terms of micromorphology, colour,shape, major, minor and trace elements etc. have been documented. Parameterslike Fe/Ti ratios, Mg-Mn contents, Zr/Hf ratios and light rare earth elementscontent were found to be the key chemical indicators supporting the aboveinferences. Studies on monazite are being taken up for similar evaluation.

As various mineral processing units exist in southern India under state, centraland private ownerships, additional research intervention is warranted to takecare of the interests of all stakeholders in this important sector. Our sophisti-cated analytical tools and association with various industrial units, universitiesand institutes in the region are expected to significantly enhance our knowl-edge on this topic.

Fig. 1 CL (a, c, d) and SEI (b) images of zircon features in KUL. (a)shows the typical internal features of a zircon with a ‘complete’ core regionand outer planar-zoned material, with some invasion of one sector by lobe ofmodified zircon, circular zircon in another sector, and a preserved formermelt inclusion in another. (b) shows a nanogranite inclusion. (c) shows twograins welded together along a dissolution-reprecipitation front. (d) shows acomposite of possibly 3 zircons (indicated by the trellis features) highlymodified by invasive lobes.

southern India (P-T: 7 kbar, 930°C) has demonstrated thathigh-percentage melting (>20 vol%), leucogranitic melt mi-gration, and interaction of melt with host rocks consequent onmelt ponding and crystallisation occurred over a prolongedtime interval of at least 25 Ma, from at least ca. 560 Ma to 535Ma. Here we report results from one leucosome-rich migmatite(KUL), in which zircons preserve a remarkable textural recordof growth, dissolution and modification. We have applied REEanalysis to evaluate the growth behaviour of these unusualzircons and devised our strategy for the subsequent zircon U-Pb isotopic dating.

KUL zircons preserve complex cores, planar-sector to ‘firtree’and oscillatory zoned euhedral rim domains (‘bright planar’and ‘dark planar’), and darker-CL rinds and invasive lobes (Fig.1a). Complete ‘cores’ have square cross sections, divided intosectors by axial zones of dark-CL zircon that form trellis andfeathery structures. Intervening bright-CL sectors contain ei-ther an inclusion of quartz or finely crystalline quartzofeldspathicmaterial (Fig. 1b), or a circular to elliptical domain of markedlyzoned zircon (Fig. 1a, 1c) that may be continuous with thelobes of invasive darker-CL zircon. Fig. 1c shows a compositezircon grain pair, in which one complex core has later beendisrupted and replaced by a truncating lobe or domain of dark-CL zircon. The other complex core is mostly intact, with axialtrellis zones, 1 inclusion, 2 circular oscillatory domains and oneinvasive lobe.Structurally simpler planar-sector zoned zircon surrounds thecomplex cores. Two planar-sector zone types occur: those thatare brighter in CL (‘bright planar’) and moderately oscillatory,and those that are darker in CL (‘dark planar’) and weaklyoscillatory. Both ‘core’ and ‘planar-sector’ type zircon domainsare variably truncated, modified or replaced by lobate,curviplanar, ‘swirling’ and cuspate zircon domains (‘lobate zir-con’) that also form outermost rinds (Fig. 1d). This lobate zir-


Fig. 2. Zircon Rare Earth Element patterns. Bright-CL planar-sector and axial zircon domains are high andfractionated in HREE (Yb

n/Gd

n = 5.7 – 2.7; Dy

n = 140-520) compared with darker-CL planar, interior

lobate and modified domains, which have flat HREE (Ybn/Gd

n = 0.9; Dy

n =130). Garnet patterns (not shown)

are characterised by flat HREE (Ybn/Gd

n = 1.2) at Dy

n = 165.

V. Nandakumar and Simon L. Harley*

*School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh,

Edinburgh EH9 3JW, UK

con, whether on rims or invasive into complex cores, represents the final phase of KUL zirconformation and modification.The timing relationships between the spectacular complex core zircon domains and the planar-sector euhedral zircon zones are ambiguous. The complex cores show internal modificationsthat appear to truncate or interact with the most ‘internal’ of the planar-sector zones. This,coupled with the common observation of inclusions with negative crystal shapes, similar in

mineralogy and micro texture to ‘nanogranite’,suggests that the zircons may have grown as‘hopper’ crystals in which the planar-sectoreuhedral rims grew faster than cores. In this‘inside-out’ growth model zircon cores wouldhave contained tubes of melt, filled by late-stage zircon growth. This model is evaluatedusing the REE results, and will be tested fur-ther using zircon U-Pb datingREE and other selected trace elements withinzircons and garnets were determined using theEMMAC CAMECA ims-4f ion microprobe(University of Edinburgh). Analytical condi-tions and correction procedures follow those ofHarley & Kelly. Analyses were conducted us-ing a 6 nA O- primary beam. Secondary ionswere extracted at 4500V and measured at a120eV high-energy offset for zircon and 75eVenergy offset for garnet. Trace element abun-dances were calibrated against the NIST-610glass standard and ion yields corrected by refer-ence to zircon SL1 and garnet DDI garnet.Trace element chemistry allows distinction ofthe texturally-defined bright-CL planar zirconfrom the dark-CL, weakly zoned but undis-turbed zircon cores, elliptical / circular modi-fied core zircon, and lobate invasive zircon. Theformer shows elevated and fractionated HREE(red diamonds in Fig. 2), moderate Th/U>0.3and low U/Yb = 2.8. The latter types, groupedtogether on Fig. 2, have moderate and flatHREE, Th/U<0.3, and high U/Yb (20-64).Details of these zircon chemistries and the mea-sured garnet REE features are provided in thecaptions to Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.The REE data indicate that only the darker-zoned and modified zircon, formed in the pres-ence of melt, approached equilibrium with host-rock garnet. Initial zircon crystallisation frommelt, producing ‘hopper’ type zircon with outerplanar-sector zoning, occurred in a melt-richopen system prior to interaction of the meltwith garnet. Garnet-melt interaction later ac-companied the continued precipitation of zir-con as modified lobes and tubes filling melt-bearing zircon grains as the melt crystallised.The age of this phase of melt crystallisation,interaction and garnet-zircon-melt equilibrationshould be at least 535 Ma, the age obtainedfrom the main monazite population in KUL.

Fig. 3. Distribution of MREE-HREE between the two zircon textural types and garnet in KUL. Pairing of theplanar-sector zoned zircon with garnet yields D

HREE that range from 1.7 at Gd to 5.1 at Yb, far removed from

equilibrium. Pairing of the dark-zoned and modified zircon with garnet yields DHREE

that overlap with thepreferred empirical equilibrium values at 850-1000°C (Harley et al., 2007) and lie within range of experimentalD

REE results (Rubatto & Hermann 2007). KUL zircon has undergone its late-stage crystallisation and

modification in the presence of and in close equilibrium with garnet


Papers published in Journals

Publications

Anoop Krishnan K,Sreejalekshmi, K G, BaijuR S (2011) Nickel(II) adsorption onto biomassbased activated carbon obtained from sugar-cane bagasse pith. Bioresource Technology,DOI10.1016/ j.biortech.2011.08.069.

Jayanthi J L, Subhash N, Manju S, Philip E K,and Beena V T(2011) Diagnostic evaluationof the diagnostic performance ofautofluorescence and diffuse reflectance in oralcancer detection: a clinical study, J.Biophotonics, 4(10), 696-706, DO:10.1002/jbio.201100037, 2011.

Suresh Kumar P Nair, Shenoy K T,Muralidharan V, Vijayalakshmi N R, Nikhil S,Ancy Simon, Neethu Varghese, and VidhyaRamaswamy (2011) Study of morbidity pat-tern of a population exposed to industrial airpollution at Trivandrum and Pune, BIOINFOEnvironment and Pollution, 1(1), pp.01-04.

Udayakumar P, Jean Jose J, Rajesh B R andNarendra Babu K (2011) ‘Seasonal dynamicsof dissolved metals in surface coastal waters ofSW India, Bulletin of Environmental Con-tamination and Toxicology, DI:10.1007/S128-011-0402-0.

Sheela Nair L, Sundar V and Kurian N P(2011) Numerical Modelling Studies on theEffect of Breakwater on Coastal Processes- ACase Study along a stretch of Kerala Coast In-dia, Int. J. of Ocean and Climate Systems, Vol-ume 2, Number 4, December 2011, pp.291-302.

Sheela A M, Letha J, Sabu Joseph,Ramachandran K K and Manoj Chacko,(2011) Computation of physical characteris-tics of a lake system using IRS P6 (LISS-iii) im-agery, Int. J. Applied Earth Observation andGeoinformation, pp-222-232.

Anu Baburaj N, Subhash N,Prasanth C S andPrakash T N (2011) Laser-induced Fluores-cence spectral Signatures of Corals inLakshadweep and Palk bay, Int. J. Oceans andOceanography, Volume 5 (2), pp.143-152.

Anoop Krishnan K, Sreejalakshmi K G, SumolVarghese, and Anirudhan T S (2010) Removalof EDTA from aquous solutions using activatedcarbon prepared from sawdust of rubber wood:

Kinetic and equilibrium modeling. CLEAN –Soil, Air, Water, 38(4) pp. 361-369.

Sharreekul Ansar, Dhanya C R, George Tho-mas, Aswathy Chandran, Liji John, PrasanthiS, Vishnu R, and Zacharizh E J (2011) A Studyof Urban/Rural Cooling Rates inThiruvananthapuram, Kerala, J. Ind. Geophys.Union, 16(1): pp. 29-36.

Sudhanandh V S, Udayakumar P, Ouseph P P,Amaldev S and Narendra Babu K (2011) Dis-persion and assimilation trend of heavy metalsin coastal and estuarine sediment and its tex-tural characteristics: A case study in India, J.Human Ecology, 36(2), pp.85-90.

Sudhanandh V S, Shibu R, Ajimon V J andNarendra Babu K ( 2011) Water quality ef-fects of harbour activities accessed with inte-grated eco-toxicological parameters in Kerala,India, African J. Environmental Science andTechnology, 5(11), pp.924-932.

Vijaya Kumar & Chattopadhyay S (2011)House hold energy consumption in rural Kerala,India: Lessons from four grama panchayats,Annals National Association of Geographers,India, XXXI (1), pp.12-20.

Thomas G and Zachariah E J (2011) Urbanheat island in a tropical city interlaced bywetland’s J. Environmental Science and Engi-neering, 5, pp.234-240.

Sreeba S and Padmalal D (2011) Environmen-tal impact assessment of sand mining from thesmall catchment rivers in the south westerncoast of India: A case study. J. EnvironmentalManagement, 47, pp.130-140.

Anjali R, Mohan Kumar. G, Sreekanth T S(2011) Anomalous variations in atmosphericCarbon Monoxide associated with the Tsu-nami, Asian J. Atmos. Environ., 5(1), pp 47-55.

Jean Jose J, Udayakumar P, Chandran A,Narendra Babu K and Sudhanandh V S (2011)zooplankton diversity in Vallarpadam, India:influence of hydrochemistry, season and semidiel cycle. Asian J. Water, Environment andPollution, 8(1), pp.103-108.

Shiny Sara Thomas, Jayanthi J L, NarayananSubhash, Joji Thomas, Rupananda Mallia andAparna G N (2011) Characterization of dental

caries by LIF spectroscopy with 404 nm exci-tation, Lasers Med Sci., 26(3): pp. 299-305DOI: 10.1007/s10103-010-0771-3.

Padmalal D, Remya S I, Jissy Jyothi S, BaijulalB, Narendra Babu K (2011) Water quality anddissolved inorganic fluxes of N, P, So

4 and K of

a small catchment river in the SouthwesternCoast of India, Environmental Monitoring andAssessment, DOI:10.1007/s10661-011-2059-X.

Baba M, Jean Jose J, Udaya Kumar P andNarendra Babu K (2011) Unusual foamingalong Thiruvananthapuram coast, ScientificCorrespondence, Current Science, 100(8), pp.1121.

Sudhanandh V S, Ouspeh P P and NarendraBabu K (2011) Zooplanktons role in the dis-tributional status of autochthonousVibriocholerae, a case study using principalanalysis, J. Environmental Science and Engi-neering, 52(4), pp.321-325.

Jayanthi J L, Nisha Unni, Manju S, Philip EK, Jeemon P, Baiju KV, Beena V T and SubhashN (2011) Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy:Diagnostic accuracy of non-invasive screeningtechnique for early detection of malignantchanges in the oral cavity, British Medical Jour-nal (BMJ Open), DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000071.

Papers published in Proceedings/Books

Dhanya G, Renoy G, Ramachandran K K andMookambiga A (2011) Assessment of run-offcharcteristics in Thiruvananthapuram City us-ing Techniques of Geo-informatics. In Proc.Conference on Remote Sensing and GIS forEnvironmental Management, World Educa-tion New Delhi, pp.77-93.

Sampad Kumar Panda, Shirish S Gedam,Deepak R, Raghavendra Balerao and Sri.Sukumar B (2011) Satellite remote sensing andits applications for sustainable agricultural de-velopment in Peruvumba river basin, Kannurdistrict, Kerala Proc.2nd Nat. Conf. onGeospatial Technologies and Applications,CSRI, IIT, Mumbai, pp. 220-226.

Vishnu Mohan S, Anooja S, Baiju R S andPadmalal D (2011) Indication of sea levelchanges on sediment dispersal pattern of a tropi-cal river and estuary, SW, India. Proc.24th An-nual Convention of Indian Institute of Geo-


morphologists and Nat. Conf. on Coastal Dy-namics and Geomorphology, Anna University,Chennai, pp. 40-41.

Archana M Nair and Soumya G S (2011) Spec-tral analysis of Reiner Gamma Lunar Swirl us-ing M3 data, Proc. Conf. Planetary Sciencesand Exploration PLANEX 12-14 December2011 at PRL, Ahmedabad, pp.23-24

Mohanan C N, Thomas K V (2011) The Sta-tus of Mangroves in Kerala, In: Towards Con-servation and Management of Mangrove Eco-systems in India (Eds) Bhatt J R, Macintosh DJ, Nayar T S, Pandey C N and Nilaratna N P,IUCN, India, pp. 154-159.

Rupananda Mallia and Subhash N (2010)Photodiagnosis of Oral Malignancy-Basic,Translational and Clinical, Lap Lambert Aca-demic Publishing GmbH, Germany, 175p.

Papers Presented in Conferences

Jayanthi J L, Manju S and Subhash N pre-sented a paper entitled ‘Diffuse Reflectanceimaging: A new perspective in Oral CancerDiagnosis’ in the 23rd Kerala Science Congress2011.

Raji S Nair, Aparna G Nair and Subhash Npresented a paper entitled ‘Integration of amultispectral imaging system consisting ofEMCCD camera and liquid crystal tunable fil-ter using labview’ in the 23rd Kerala ScienceCongress 2011.

Prasanth C S and Subhash N presented a pa-per entitled ‘Effective Antimicrobial Photody-namic Therapy against E Faecalis using Endog-enous Photosensitizer’ in the 23rd Kerala Sci-ence Congress 2011.

Lekha G L and Narendra Babu K presented apaper entitled ‘Sediment interstitial water phos-phorus and the controlling factors that affectsits migration to overlying water: A case study intwo lake systems of different environments’ inthe 23rd Kerala Science Congress 2011.

Jean Jose J, Vishnu S Raj, Udayakumar P, BaijuR S and Narendra Babu K presented a paperentitled ‘Extraction of marine microalgal chlo-rophyll pigment using Soxhlet apparatus forestimation-a convenient and effortless ap-proach’ in the 23rd Kerala Science Congress2011.

Prijilal K G, Omana P K, Rajesh B R, Sajith Uand Sindhu S presented a paper entitled ‘Heavymetal Accumulation in the Estuarine FisheryResource: A case study from Vembanad Estua-rine System, Kerala, South West India’in the23rd Kerala Science Congress 2011.

Resmi R, Baburaj B, Santhosh V, Sreebha Sand Padmalal D presented a paper ‘EIA ofriver sand mining using Rapid Impact Assess-ment Matrix (RIAM)- A case study’ in Na-tional Seminar on Mining of river sand held atCWRDM Kozhikode, 18-19 February, 2011.

Anooja S, Baijulal B, Maya K, Sreeba S andPadmalal D presented a paper ‘Impact of sandmining on river bed changes and bed materialcharacteristics-a case analysis’ in National Semi-nar on Mining of river sand held at CWRDMKozhikode, 18-19 February, 2011.

Baijulal B, Jissy Jyothi S, Padmalal D, Maya Kpresented a paper ‘Environmental effects of al-luvial sand mining on the biological environ-ment of Kerala rivers’ in National Seminar onMining of river sand held at CWRDMKozhikode, 18-19 February, 2011.

Vishu Mohan S, Sreebha S, Padmalal D, MayaK and Lini Krishna presented a paper ‘Sandmining in Pamba river’ in National Seminar onMining of river sand held at CWRDMKozhikode, 18-19 February, 2011.

Narendra Babu K and Anoop Krishnan K pre-sented the following papers ‘Mapping andhydrochemical evaluation of coastal Spring ofSouthern Kerala, India, An alternate drinkingwater resource with high potential’ and ‘Im-pact of Urbanization on hydrochemical char-acteristics of three main cities,Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi & Kozhikode inKerala, India’ in International Conference Sus-tainable Water Resource Management andTreatment Technologies at NEERI, Nagpur,19-21 January, 2011.

Sukumar B presented a paper ‘Geomatic appli-cation for prioritization of watershed for water-shed management in Kannur district, Kerala’in National seminar on Emerging Frontiers inGeomatic Applications ENFROG 2011 heldat School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 21-22March, 2011.

Ahalya Sukumar and Sukumar B presented apaper ‘Growth of Chennai city and its envi-

ronmental impact: A study usiung Satellite re-mote sensing and GIS’ in National seminar onEmerging Frontiers in Geomatic ApplicationsENFROG 2011 held at School of Earth andAtmospheric Sciences, MaduraiKamarajUniversity, Madurai, 21-22 March,2011.

Deepthi B, Sukumar B and Ahalya Sukumarpresented a paper ‘Changing occupationalstructure of Kollam district, Kerala: A studyusing GIS’ in National seminar on EmergingFrontiers in Geomatic Applications ENFROG2011 held at School of Earth and AtmosphericSciences, Maduraj Kamaraj University,Madurai, 21-22 March, 2011.

Savitha Vijayan, Sukumar B and AhalyaSukumar presented a paper ‘Study of urban-ization in Kannur district, Kerala through GIS’in National seminar on Emerging Frontiers inGeomatic Applications ENFROG 2011 heldat School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences,Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, 21-22March, 2011.

Ahalya Sukumar and Sukumar B presented apaper ‘Urbanisation between Kochi andThrissur: An Integrated study using satelliteImagery and census data in GIS environment’in XXXI INCA International Conference atChandigarh, October 2011.

Sandhya S, Deepthi P, Sukumar B and AhalyaSukumar presented a paper ‘Landuse land coverchanges and its impact in Kollam district, Kerala:A study using GIS and Remote sensing’ in XXXIINCA International Conference at Chandigarh,October 2011.

Deepthi P, Sukumar B, Ahalya Sukumar andSandhya S presented a paper ‘Mapping of soilmoisture in Kollam District using NDVI andTasseled cap analysis Authors’ in XXXI INCAInternational Conference at Chandigarh, Oc-tober 2011.

Sukumar B, Ahalya Sukumar, Sulfikkar M,Savitha Vijayan and Nadheer Bin Haneef Opresented a paper ‘Land and water conserva-tion in Kannur district, Kerala: Watershed basedGIS Analysis’ in XXXI INCA InternationalConference at Chandigarh, October 2011.

Sulfikkar M, Nadheer Bin Haneef O, AhalyaSukumar and Sukumar B presented a paper‘Panchayat wise analysis of food prone area andits impacts on agriculture in Kannur district,


Kerala’ in XXXI INCA International Confer-ence at Chandigarh, October 2011.

Nadheer Bin Haneef O, Sukumar B andAhalya Sukumar presented a paper ‘Urbangrowth and planning strategies in Kannurmunicipality, Kerala using Remote sensing andGIS’ in XXXI INCA International Conferenceat Chandigarh, October, 2011.

Sudhanandh V S, Faisal A K, Vishnu S Raj,Baiju R S, Shibu R, Rajesh B R and NarendraBabu K presented a paper ‘Physico-Chemicalfactors on the association of vibrio cholerae withphytoplankton, a case study using principalcomponent analysis’ in National seminar onCurrent Trend in Biotechnology andBioinformatics held at NSS CollegeChanganassery.

Omana P K , Prijlal K G, Rajesh B R, Sajith Uand Sindhu S presented a paper ‘Effects ofVilappilsala Waste treatment Plant lechate onsurface and ground water quality status ofNearby Areas’ in National seminar on CurrentTrend in Biotechnology and Bioinformaticsheld at NSS College Changanassery.

Ravindra Kumar G R presented a paper‘Growth and evolution of the Kerala KhondaliteBelt, southern India: mineral and whole rockchemical evidence for intracrustal melting andmagmatic petrogenesis’ in American Geophysi-cal Union conference.

Jayaprasad B K presented a paper ‘FragilityMapping for a strip of the western ghats usingGIS- A case study in Amboori Gramapanchayatin Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala State’in INCA International Seminar at Chandigarh,16 October, 2011.

Padmalal D, Kumaran K P N, Nair K M, RutaB Limaye and Vishnu Mohan S presented aposter on ‘Late Quaternary Evolution ofVembanad Lagoon in the southwestern coastof India: an appraisal of sedimentary record ofsea level and climate change’ in the XVIII,INQUA Congress, held at Bern, Switzerlan22nd July, 2011.

Ruta B Limaye, Kumaran K P N and PadmalalD presented a poster on ‘How did mangrovevegetation respond to Holocene sea level andclimatic change along Konkan-Kerala coast ofsouthwestern India?’ in the XVIII, INQUACongress, held at Bern, Switzerland, 22nd July,2011.

Vandana M presented a paper ‘Apedogeomorphic analysis of Kabani river basinin Wayanad district, Kerala’ in International Ge-ography Congress held at CWRDM,Kozhikode, 6-8 May, 2011.

Arun R presented a paper ‘Feature space analy-sis for the classification of water bodies’ in In-ternational Geography Congress held atCWRDM, Kozhikode, 6-8 May, 2011.

Arunima R, Noufal K N, Faisal A K, Sreejith MI, Arya S, Liji T M, Baiju R S and AnoopKrishnan K presented a poster on ‘Naturalsprings-A promising solution for water scarcityin future?’ National seminar of Frontiers inchemistry, Held at IIST, ISRO, Valiyamala,TVM, 7-8 December, 2011.

Anu baburaj, Subhash N, Nisha Unni, Anil MK and Rani Mary George presented a paper‘Laser-induced fluorescence imaging: A poten-tial tool for early detection of coral bleaching’in 9th Indian Fisheries Forum, Chennai, 19-23December, 2011.

Visit AbradInvited Talks

Dr. Srikumar Chattopadhyay delivered a lec-ture on Sustainable management of commonproperty natural resources: macro perspectiveand micro act in the International GeographyCongress held at CWRDM, Kozhikode, May6, 2011.

Dr. Srikumar Chattopadhyay delivered a lec-ture on Disaster Management and Role of Lo-cal Self Government for the delegates fromBihar, Jharkhand & West Bengal.

Dr. K. Anoop Krishnan delivered a lecture onWater Quality status in Peninsular India-prob-lems and possible remedies in the InternationalWorkshop on Asian water Environments (JSPSAsian Core Programe) on January 26, 20111at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Ja-pan.

Sri. G Sankar delivered a talk on Natural Di-sasters of Kerala in the Disaster, Risk and Vul-nerability conference 2011 organized by theSchool of Environmental Sciences, MG Uni-versity, Kottayam, March 12, 2011.

Sri. G Sankar delivered a talk on piping in themeeting organized by Madhavan Pillai foun-dation on March 19, 2011 at Trivandrum.

Sri. B K Jayaprasad delivered a lecture on Re-mote Sensing and GIS as a toll for Bio-resourceAssessment on July 29, 2011 at Kerala Agricul-ture University.

Dr. P V S S K Vinayak delivered a lead talk onGlobal Warming on Climate Change in a na-tional seminar at Acharya Nagarjuna Univer-sity, Guntur.

Dr. A S K Nair delivered lectures on‘Water Re-sources and Irrigation Issued in Kerala’ and ‘Re-mote Sensing and GIS’ during the STP Train-ing Programme on GIS at the IMG,Thiruvananthapuram on 2nd September, 2011.

Dr. A S K Nair delivered a lecture on Participa-tory Rural Appraisal in the one day trainingprogramme under the Westernghat Develop-ment Programme on 29th September, 2011 atVJT Hall, Thiruvananthapuram.

Visit AbradMembership in Committees

Member, Project Management Board, CoastalEngineering Division, National Institute ofOcean Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences,Government of India.

Member, Board of Studies in Physical Ocean-ography under the Faculty of Marine Sciences,Cochin University of Science and Technology,Cochin.

Member, Kerala Dam Safety Authority by Wa-ter Resources (Inter State Water Cell) Depart-ment, Government of Kerala.

Member, Kerala Protection of River Banks ofRegulation of Removal of Sand Rules 2002 –State High Level Committee for River Manage-ment Fund by Revenue (P) Department, Gov-ernment of Kerala.

Member, Governing Body, LBS Centre for Sci-ence & Technology by Higher Education De-partment, Government of Kerala.

Member, Kerala Coastal Zone Management Au-thority by Ministry of Environment & Forests,Government of India.

Member, Working Group for Water Sector byWater Resources (IR) Department, Governmentof Kerala.

Dr. N. P. Kurian


Visit Abrad

Recruitments/Resignations

Smt. Indu Janardhanan,Technical Officer Grade 1joined Estate Administra-tion

Smt. Shimla D,Office Assistant Grade 1joined Stores Section

Sri. Shinaj P.HOffice Assistant Grade 1joined Accounts Section

Smt. Anju. K. SOffice Assistant Grade 1joined AdministrationSection

Sri. Sudheer Kumar K,Driver Grade 1 joinedAdministration Section

Sri. Shensha C, OfficeAssisatant Grade 1 re-signed on 31st January2011 to take up employ-ment in IIMK, Kozhikode

Sri. Subair V, TechnicalOfficer Grade 1 resignedon 6th June 2011 to takeup employment in IIMK,Kozhikode

Visit AbradObituary

Dr. P. K. Iyengar, formerChairman of the ExecutiveCommittee of CESS andformer Chairman of StateCommittee on ScienceTechnology and Environ-ment expired on 21st De-cember 2011

Dr. P. K. Iyengar

Sri. K. R Unnikrishnan

Sri. K. R Unnikrishnan,Scientist-F, attached tothe Camp Office CESSexpired on 26th June2011 after prolonged ill-ness.

Member, Governing Body, Institute of Landand Disaster Management, Revenue Depart-ment, Government of Kerala.

New Arrivals in CESS Library

Yang, Xiaojin (Ed). Remote sensing andgeospatial technologies for coastal ecosystemassessment and management. Springer, Heidel-berg, 2009.

Kalacska, Margaret and Sanchez-Azofeifa, GArturo (Ed). Hyperspectral remote sensing oftropical and sub tropical forests. CRC Press,Boca Raton, 2009.

Hall,G.Brent and Leahy, Michael G.(Eds.).Open source approaches in spatial datahandling. Springer, Heidelberg, 2008.

Hawking, Stephen. A brief history of time.Bantam Dell Publishing Group, New York,1989.

Pinker, Steven. The language instinct: the newscience of language and mind. Penguin Books,London, 1994.

Koestler, Arthur and Butterfield, Herbert.Sleepwalkers. Penguin books, London, 1989.Ball, Philip. H2O: A biography of water. Phoe-nix, Britain, 1999.

Feynman, Richard. The pleasure of findingthings out. Penguin Books, London, 1999.

Hawking, Stephen and Mlodinow, Leonard.The grand design. Bantam Dell PublishingGroup, New York, 2010.

Goldys, Ewa M. Fluorescence applications inbio-technology and the life sciences. Wiley-Blackwell, New York, 2009.

Allan, Catherine and Stankey, George H.(Eds.).Adaptive environmental management.Springer, Heidelberg, 2009.

Sullivan, Patrick J., Agardy, Franklin J. andClark, James J.J. The environmental science ofdrinking water. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005.

Boggs, Sam Jr. Principles of sedimentology andstratigraphy.4th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, NewJersey, 2010.

Grigg, Neil M. Water resourcesmanagement:principles, regulations and cases.Mc-Graw Hill, New York, 2009.

Southward, Alan J., Young, Craig M. andFuiman, Lee A.(Eds.). Advances in marine bi-ology. Vol.50. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2006.

Buchholz, Klaus and Collins, John. Conceptsin biotechnology: history, science and business.Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2010.

Nierenberg, William A.(Ed.). Encyclopedia ofrnvironmental biology. Vol.1-3. AcademicPress, Amsterdam, 1995.

Dr. Ajaykumar Varma

Chairman of the Committee constituted forassessing the damages to the properties of localpeople due to the blasting operations in a 7-kmlong tunnel of Sengulam AugmentationScheme.

Expert Member in the Assessment Commit-tee of C-DIT for the promotion of Scientist,Thiruvananthapuram.

Dr. C N Mohanan

Member, State Level EIA Authority (SEIAA)

Member, Technical Committee ofKarumpukonam Community Ecosystem Man-agement Committee constituted by Dept. ofEnvironment & Climate Change.

Dr. N Subhash

Guest Editor of a Special Issue on Fluorescencein Natural Systems being brought out by theInternational Journal of Spectroscopy (HindawiPublishing Corporation, USA)

Member of the Governing Council of STIC(Sophisticated Test & Instrumentation Centre),Cochin.

Dr. K. V. Thomas

Member, different KCZMA subcommittees tolook into various CRZ issue of implementa-tion, policies and violations and prepared re-ports.


A view of the exhibition stall of CESS at the agriculturalfair held at Thodupuzha

Visit AbradExtension

Scientists interacting with students of Bishop HodgesHigher Secondary School, Mavelikkara

Exhibition

Interaction programmes

‘National Science Day’ was observed on 28th

February, 2011. Students from the KendriyaVidyalayas visited CESS laboratories. A shorttalk on the focal theme, ‘Chemistry in our Lives’was delivered by Sri.G.Balasubramonian, Sci-entist, CESS.

National Science Day 2011

Earth Day 2011

Earth Day 2011 was observed in CESS on 28th

April 2011. Students from different schools inThiruvananthapuram visited the laboratoriesof CESS and interacted with the scientists. Anelocution competition for students was heldon the topic ‘Green Earth’. An invited talk onthe same topic was also arranged for students.The talk was delivered by Shri. P. NarayanaKurup, a noted Environmentalist. Certificates,cash awards and mementoes were distributedto the winners by Director, CESS.

Scenes from Earth Day celebration

Prof. C. Karunakaran Endowment Lecture Series

Prof. Raghuram Murtugudde, Dept. of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences of the Earth System ScienceInterdisciplinary Centre, University of Maryland, U.S.A delivering the Endowment Lecture

Prof. Raghuram Murtugudde, Dept. of At-mospheric and Ocean Sciences of the EarthSystem Science Inter-disciplinary Centre, Uni-versity of Maryland, U.S.A, delivered the 10th

lecture in the Prof. C.Karunakaran Endow-ment lecture series on 16th July 2011 at theCESS auditorium. The topic of the lecturewas ‘Earth, Life and Sustainability: A long-term perspective.Prof. Murtugudde is internationally ac-claimed for his contributions in earth systemmodelling. At present he is working on re-gional earth system prediction. The lecture

was attended by a large gathering of scientistsand students from other institutions in andaround Thiruvananthapuram. Dr. N. P.Kurian, Director, CESS welcomed the gath-ering. Shri. M. P. Muraleedharan, former Di-rector, Geological Survey of India paid trib-utes to Prof. C. Karunakaran. Dr. K.Krishnamurthy, Director, Space Physics Labo-ratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre intro-duced the speaker. Dr. SrikumarChattopadhyay, Head, Resource Analysis Di-vision proposed the vote of thanks.

CESS participated in the exhibition organizedin connection with the ‘Karshika Mela’ (Agri-cultural fair) held at Thodupuzha NewmansCollege ground from 26th December 2011 to

1st January 2012. Every day nearly 20000people visited the exhibition stall. Experts from

various fields delivered talks and conducted in-teraction sessions. CESS pavilion presentedposters and models highlighting the researchactivities. Malayalam brochure titled‘Bhuchalanam: Ariyenda vasthuthakal’ and ahand book on CESS vision were distributedamong the public.

CESS also organised and participated in theexhibition held during the 23rd Kerala ScienceCongress conducted in CESS from January29-31, 2011.

Senior secondary students from the BishopHodges Higher Secondary School, Mavelikkaravisited CESS on 27th July 2011. Scientists gavetalks on Geographic Information System, Re-mote Sensing and Natural Hazards Manage-ment.

Visit AbradHonours/Awards

Mr. Sreejesh Kumar S, Project

Fellow, Geosciences Division

won the best poster award

during 23rd Kerala Science

Congress held at Trivandrum

during January 29-31, 2011 for

the paper titled ‘Rainwater harvesting

initiatives in Mullakkara Catchment,

Chadayamangalam Block, Kollam district’,

based on a project on the Integrated Water-

shed Development Programme under


Visit AbradPh.D AwardedDr. V. R. Shamji has beenawarded Ph.D Degree un-der the Faculty of MarineSciences, Cohin Universityof Science and Technology,for his thesis ‘Studies onbeach morphological

changes using numerical models’. Dr. N. P.Kurian, Dirctor, Centre for Earth Science Stud-ies was the supervising guide for the Ph.D dis-sertation work of Dr. V. R. Shamji.

Twentythird Kerala Science Congress

Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala Sri. V S Achuthanandan delivering the inaugural address of the 23rd KeralaScience Congress at the Centre for Earth Science Studies on 29th January 2011

Earth Science Forum

The Earth Science Forum initiated interactivesessions on frontier areas of Earth Sciences forthe benefit of Post Graduate students in geol-ogy studying in different Universities in Kerala.The programme was inaugurated on 26th

March 2011. Forty six students from the Uni-versity of Kerala attended the inaugural ses-sion. Senior scientists of the Centre conductedinteractive sessions for students on fifteen iden-tified topics. The following lectures were deliv-ered:‘Quality aspects and viable remedies for the res-toration of Water Resources in Indian subcon-tinent’ by Dr. K. Anoop Krishnan, Scientist,CESS; ‘GIS Applications’ by Mr. B. K .Jayaprasad, Scientist, CESS; ‘Satellite commu-nications for societal applications’ by Dr. K. S.Das Gupta, Director , IIST, Trivandrum;‘Assessment of heavy metals in the environmen-tal compartments of the central and northerncost of Kerala, by Sri.Udaya Kumar. P, ResearchScholar, CESS and ‘ Numerical modelling oftsunami propagation in the South East Ara-bian Sea (SEAS) and inundation along theKerala coast’ by Mr. Praveen S. S , Senior Re-search Fellow, CESS.

Visit Abroad

Dr.Mahamaya Chattopadhyay visited Bremen,Germany on invitation from the Centre for

Tropical Marine Ecology(ZMT) for a period of threeweeks starting from 15th May2011 to 05th June 2011. Thepurpose of visit included de-veloping and furthering dis-cussions on the proposed col-

laborative project between CESS and ZMT,

Dr. Mahamaya Chattopadhyay

Continued in page 10

Kerala Science Congress was organized during 29-31 January 2011. The three day event wasinaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala Sri. V. S. Achuthanandan. Severalnational luminaries like Dr.K.Kasturirangan, Prof. Madhav Gadgil, Prof. Prabhath Patnaik,Prof. J. Sreenivasan were among the distinguished speakers. The Congress had around 800registered delegates and a total of around 190 paper presentations including posters. 10 youngscientist Awards and eleven best Poster Awards were presented.

Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, Vice Chairman, Kerala StatePlanning Board, delivering the Dr. P. K.Gopalakrishnan memorial lecture

Prof. Madhav Gadgil, Garware College Pune,delivering the P.T. Baskara Panicker memorial lecture

Dr. C. T. S Nair, Executive Vice President, KSCSTE handing over a memento to the Hon’ble Chief Ministerduring the inaugural function..Dr. R.V. G. Menon, President of the Kerala Science Congress, Dr. K.Kasthurirangan, National Planning Commission, Dr. G. J. Samathanam, Advisor, Department of Science &Technology, Dr. K. K. Ramachandran, General Convener, 23rd Kerala Science Congress are also seen.

Hariyali. The paper was co-authored by Sri.

John Mathai, Scientist-G, CESS.


CESS has organised a workshop with LeibnizCentre for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT),Bremen during 21- 22, February 2011. Topicof the workshop was ‘Interdependencies be-tween rivers and backwaters: consequences forwater quality, ecology, economy and environ-mental governance: A case study of Kerala, In-dia.’ The workshop dwelt upon investigationof pollution effects on the ecology of aquaticorganisms in the Vembanad lake ecosystem andits watershed through the contribution ofmulti-disciplinary approaches. Delegates fromdifferent departments of University of Kerala,Jawaharlal Nehru University, Directorate ofEnvironment and Climate Change, Govern-ment of Kerala, etc. attended the workshop.Fruitful discussions and deliberations were heldthrough two Technical Sessions.

Dr. Anoop Krishnan visiteddepartment of Civil Engineer-ing, Tokyo Institute of Technol-ogy, Japan and delivered a talkon ‘Water Quality Status inPeninsular India – Problemsand Possible Remedies’ as part of the workshopon ‘Asian Water Environments’ sponsored bythe Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Dr. Anoop Krishnan

on ‘Interdependencies between Kerala riversand backwaters: Consequences for water qual-ity, ecology, economy and environmentalgovernance’.Dr. Chattopadhyay delivered twolectures on ‘Watershed characteristics and wa-ter quality: A case study of the Kall Ar basin,Kerala’ and on ‘Terrain evaluation of the PeriyarPlateau, Kerala’.

project and the data emerging out of the pro-posed work are expected to give India a cuttingedge in its future oil exploration activities uti-lizing indigenous expertise. Dr. V.Nandakumar, Scientist, CESS is the PrincipalProject Co-ordinator and Principal Investiga-tor of the project. Sri. H. Upadhyay, GM, Ge-ology, Kesava Dev Malavia Institute of Petro-leum Exploration (KDMIPE), Dehradun, isthe Project Coordinator from the ONGC side.The study is fully supported by the Ministryof Earth Sciences, Government of India.

Continued from page 9

Centre for Earth Science Studies joins handwith Oil and Natural Gas Commission on astudy on ‘Palaeo Fluids in the Petroliferous Ba-sins of Western Offshore, India’. The study willattempt to locate the immense hydrocarbon re-serves in the South Ratnagiri and Kerala-Konkan offshore basins. The Geo Fluids Re-search Laboratory (GFRL) of CESS will analysethe drill core samples that are made available byONGC on a collaborative basis. The hydrocar-bon potential of the Kerala- Konkan offshorebasin extending from Goa in the North to CapeComorin in the South is of the order of 660million metric tonnes, according to ONGC es-timates. The exploratory wells drilled in theKerala- Konkan basin so far have not yieldedoil. The proposed fluid inclusion study to becarried out at CESS involves detailed micro-level analysis of the palaeo fluids trapped insideminerals and cements present in the reservoirrocks of the Mumbai and Kerala- Konkan Ba-sins. The study will provide valuable data aboutthe temperature, salinity, pressure and compo-sition of fluids that have migrated through thebasin in the geological past, information that isof fundamental importance to the hydrocar-bon exploration activities in the Kerala- KonkanBasin, which so far is designated as “dry” interms of oil findings.

The technologies employed for the three- year

CESS Partners with Kerala StateDisaster Management Authority tostudy hazard vulnerability and risk

assessment

CESS and ONGC joint initiativeon Fluid Inclusion Studies for Oil

Exploration

A rsearch cell to study Hazard Vulnerabilityand Risk Assessment (HVRA) was set up bythe Department of Revenue and Disaster Man-agement, Kerala State Disaster ManagementAuthority in collaboration with the Centre forEarth Science Studies and Institute of Landand Disaster Management. The first high levelmeeting of the HVRA Cell was held at Centre

for Earth Science Studies on 12 May 2011.The meeting was presided over by Dr. NiveditaP Haran, Additional Chief Secretary, Depart-ment of Revenue and Disaster Management.The objectives of the meeting were to discussmodus operandi (i) to identify the available data,(ii) to initiate HVRA related data sharing be-tween stakeholder departments, (iii) to collectand compile of data from stakeholder depart-ments and institutions, (iv) to identify NodalOfficers from each department. The Addl. ChiefSecretary in her presidential address declared

that the HVRA Cell has started functioningofficially. She opined that this being the first ofits kind in the country and the Government ofIndia looks upon Kerala as the model for HVRAalso, like many other ‘Kerala Models’. Dr. N.PKurian, Director CESS and Vice Chairman(Research) of the cell gave an invited address inthe opening session. Shri. G. Sankar, PrincipalInvestigator and Dr. Sekhar L. Kuriakose, Head(Scientist) HVRA Cell, provided a brief over-view of the general approach towards conduct-ing HVRA and the activities proposed in thefirst phase of the HVRA programme. The meet-ing had 4 rounds of expert’s interactive ses-sions. Dr. C.T.S Nair, Executive Vice President,KSCSTE chaired the afternoon interactive ses-sions. Directors and Scientists of CESS,CWRDM, NATPAC, KSDI, KSREC and se-nior officials from Police, Fire & Rescue, Health,PWD, Agriculture, Forest and Irrigation par-ticipated in the meeting. The disaster relateddata available at diferent departments were iden-tified and the delegates could arrive at a con-sensus for data sharing. Nodal officers for HVRAdata sharing were identified from all organiza-tions and departments who participated in themeeting. Smt. C. A. Latha, IAS, Hon. Secre-tary, SDMA delivered the welcome address andSri. G. Sankar proposed vote of thanks.

Dr. Nivedita P Haran, Additional Chief Secretary,Department of Revenue and Disaster Managementpresiding over the first high level meeting of the HazardVulnerability and Risk Assessment CEll at Centre forEarth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

Workshop on ‘Interdependencesbetween, rivers and backwaters:consequences for water quality

ecology, economy andenvironmental governance


Brain Storming Workshop on

Earth System Sciences and Natural Resources Management

A Brain Storming Workshop was organizedin CESS during July 21-22, 2011 with theobjectives of having a critical appraisal of thevarious research activities that have been car-ried out at CESS with special reference to thecurrent status at the national/international sce-nario and the developmental needs of thestate, and working out a broad framework forthe future agenda of research activities. Theproceedings included an overview on theCentre’s activities by the Director, presenta-tions by the scientists of the Centre under afew broad themes, giving background andgist of the work carried out until now and theprospects of future research and the percep-tions of the experts. The invited experts ofdifferent specializations who took part in theworkshop were Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Chair-man, RC, CESS & Secretary, Ministry of Earth

Sciences, Government of India, Prof. S. K.Tandon, Professor, Dept. of Geology and PVC(Retd), Delhi University, Dr. S. Sinha Roy,DDG, GSI (Retd.), Prof. V. Sundar, Dept. ofOcean Engineering, IIT Madras, Dr. P.Vethamony, Scientist-G, NIO, Dr. P.V. Joseph,Visiting Professor, Dept. of Atmospheric Sci-ences, Cochin University of Science & Tech-nology, Dr. B. Nagender Nath, Scientist-G,NIO, Dr. H.S. Sharma, Dept. of Geography,University of Rajasthan, Dr. P.C.S. Devara, Sci-entist-G, IITM, Pune, Prof. P. Ravi Gupta,Dept. of Earth Sciences, IIT, Roorkee, Prof.Baleshwar Thakur, Professor (Retd), School ofGeography, Delhi University, Dr. B.K. Saha,Member, RC, CESS & DDG, GSI (Retd.), Dr.K. Krishnamoorthy, Member, RC, CESS &Project Director, ARFI & Head, AACCR, SpacePhysics Laboratory, VSSC and Prof. V.N.

Sivasankara Pillai, Member, RC, CESS &Former Director, School of EnvironmentalSciences, CUSATThe presentations, expert opinions and theperceptions on the future research activitiescovered the following themes viz. solid- earthgeoscience studies, atmospheric electricity andminor constituents, coastal processes andcoastal zone management, sedimentologicaland mineralogical aspects of coastal zone,Quaternary geology of Kerala, environmen-tal quality and pollution, environmental stud-ies and impact assessments, natural resourcesmanagement, remote sensing of the environ-ment and geomatics for planning and devel-opment. The objectives of the workshop werefully realised and the proceedings broughtout for future reference.

Pictures taken on the occasion of the Onam celebrations organized by the CESS Recreation Club on September 2, 2011

Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Chairman, RC, CESS & Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India addressing the brain storming session


Edited by the Publication Committee & Published by the Director, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Akkulam, Thiruvananthapuram 695 031, India.Phone: 0471-2511506 Fax: 0471-2442280, E-mail: [email protected], Website: http://www.cess.res.in Printed at Akshara Offset, Thiruvananthapuram

CESS to study soil piping

Green Technology Centres in selected Grama Panchayats of Kerala

The National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA), Govt. of India, HVRA Cell of theDepartment of Revenue, Govt. of Kerala andCESS have signed a memorandum of under-standing (MoU) to take up detailed studies on“soil piping” or “tunnel erosion” – the forma-tion of subsurface tunnels due to subsurfacesoil erosion . Through this project it is proposedto document areas affected by piping in Keralaand evolve a mapping technique to determinethe extent of the underground network of pipes

using geophysical and geologic methods. Theinvestigating team shall carry out physical,chemical and geotechnical analysis of the soil inthe affected areas to understand the causes ofpiping. The subsurface mapping would requireequipments such as, imaging resistivity meters

and vibration sensing equipments. Tracer stud-ies will also be conducted to determine the pipelayout and GPR studies shall be initiated wher-ever required. Mathematical modeling will bedone to identify the most vulnerable areas. Theinvestigating team will also come up with sitespecific mitigation measures to minimize/ ar-rest the process.

Retirements

Sri. B Sukumar

Sri. B. Sukumar, Scientist-F,Resources Analysis Divisionretired on 30th September2011.

Dr. S. Muralidas

Dr. S. Muralidas, Scien-tist-F, Atmospheric Sci-ences Division, retired on28th February 2011.

Dr. K. Narendra Babu

Dr. K. Narendra Babu, Sci-entist-F and Head, Chemi-cal Sciences Division, re-tired on 31st October 2011

Sri. G. Balasubramanian

Sri. G. Balasubramanian,Scientist-F and Head, Train-ing and Extension Division,retired on 30th April 2011

Sri. R. Sivarajan Pillai

Sri. R. Sivarajan Pillai, Tech-nical Assistant Grade-5( Draftsman), Training andExtension Division, retiredon 31st January 2011

Sri. C. Surendran

The Government proposed to launch a project for establishing Green Technology Centres(GTC) in selected Grama Panchayats and it was included as a priority programme. Accord-ingly, the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology & Environment (KSCSTE) entrustedthe task of implementation to the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS). The project

envisages establishing one GTC in each local body to facilitate the installation, service andpractice of the green technology, develop and popularize green technology products andprocesses, popularize and establish the practice of ‘Reuse and Recycling’ of materials, propa-gate high efficiency (smokeless or otherwise) cooking stoves, hot boxes, solar water heaters etc,reduce waste generation and energy consumption, safeguard local environment from increas-ing pollution, toxicity and natural resource crunch, optimize the use of building materials bypromoting green building technology, promote organic farming, homestead farming, energyplantation and micro mechanization in agriculture and organize qualified and trained GreenTechnicians at local bodies in the form of Green Technology Groups.The project, to be implemented initially in selected Grama Panchayats, will be given hand-holding support during the initial period through organizations with experience in greeninitiatives and participatory actions at the local level. The project was formally launched by Dr.M. K. Muneer, the Hon’ble Minister for Panchayats and Social Welfare on 25th August 2011at CESS. A plan meeting to discuss and decide the way-forward of the project was alsoorganized on the same day. Scientists from various R&D Centres in the State, experiencednon-governmental organizations namely, Peerumedu Development Society, Kuttanad VikasanaSamithi, Mythri, Uravu, Integrated Rural Technology Centre and officials of developmentdepartments participated.

Dr. M. K. Muneer, the Hon’ble Minister for Panchayats and Social Welfare formally inaugurating the launchof the project on Green Technology Centres at Grama Panchayats at CESS

Sri. C. Surendran, SkilledAssistant, Estate Adminis-tration, retired on 30th April2011

Documents

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