Analysis of groundwater potential zones using electrical resistivity, rs & gis techniques in a typical mine area of odisha

Despite sufficient rainfall, large part of India suffers from water scarcity. Ground water occurs in weathered or semi-weathered/fractured layers in hard-rock areas whose thickness varies, in general, from 5m to 20m. Satellite pictures are widely being used for groundwater exploration because of its ability to identify various ground features, which may serve as an indicator of groundwater’s presence, Study and analysis of remote sensing data is a fast and economical way of finding and exploring. Present study, for assessment of groundwater availability in Tensa valley (Sunderghar District, Odisha) shows various groundwater potential zones. India had been delineated using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The groundwater availability at the valley was roughly divided into different classes (i.e., Excellent, very good, good, moderate, and poor) based on its hydrogeomorphological condition. Toposheets by Survey of India and IRS-1C satellite imageries are used for preparing various thematic maps viz. geomorphology, slope, land-use, lineament density, drainage density, and soil map, were transformed to raster class data using feature to raster converter tool in ArcGIS. All the raster maps were allocated to a fixed percentage of influence and weighted their after weighted overlay tool or technique was used. For getting the groundwater potential zones, each weighted thematic layer was computed statistically. The results thus obtained were later verified with resistivity survey test data. The results obtained were integrated with the different thematic maps on GIS platform which yielded a good match with the obtained resistivity test result. Further, a low cost soil moisture meter has been designed and developed in the Department of Civil Engineering to monitor the surface moisture which also acts as the indicator of possible groundwater potential sites, different crops and plants/trees located in the region

Observed rainfall changes in the past century (1901–2019) over the wettest place on Earth

Changes in rainfall affect drinking water, river and surface runoff, soil moisture, groundwater reserve, electricity generation, agriculture production and ultimately the economy of a country. Trends in rainfall, therefore, are important for examining the impact of climate change on water resources for its planning and management. Here, as analysed from 119 years of rainfall measurements at 16 different rain gauge stations across northeast India, a significant change in the rainfall pattern is evident after the year 1973, with a decreasing trend in rainfall of about 0.42 ± 0.024 mm dec ^−1 . The wettest place of the world has shifted from Cherrapunji (CHE) to Mawsynram (MAW) (separated by 15 km) in recent decades, consistent with long-term rainfall changes in the region. The annual mean accumulated rainfall was about 12 550 mm at MAW and 11 963 mm at CHE for the period 1989–2010, as deduced from the available measurements at MAW. The changes in the Indian Ocean temperature have a profound effect on the rainfall in the region, and the contribution from the Arabian Sea temperature and moisture is remarkable in this respect, as analysed with a multivariate regression procedure for the period 1973–2019. The changes in land cover are another important aspect of this shift in rainfall pattern, as we find a noticeable reduction in vegetation area in northeast India in the past two decades, implying the human influence on recent climate change

Contaminant transport and fate in freshwater systems - integrating the fields of geochemistry, geomorphology and nanotechnology

This special issue of the Groundwater for Sustainable Development “Contaminant Transport and Fate in Freshwater Systems – Integrating the fields of geochemistry, geomorphology and nanotechnology” provides an update of the current knowledge on the sources, pathways, and movement of anthropogenic and geogenic contaminants in the environment, the holistic interactions between biotic and abiotic components of the ecosystem, and the avant-garde technologies as innovative strategies for environmental management. We aims to provide a future platform for interaction and collaborative efforts between different workers in the scientific field. As this issue highlights the three keywords: hydro-geochemistry, geomorphology and nanotechnology; therefore, it will facilitate a unique amalgamation of pure as well as applied scientific ideas. Therefore, this combined effort will be much more beneficial and will lead to great developments in the near future. This will result in a better understanding of the background processes and the factors controlling the contamination process and therefore contribute to the development of more efficient and sustainable technologies and management options. This issue also has the broader purposes to influence the policymakers which in turn may lead to greater investments and research grants in the fields covered by the said volume, which can ultimately lead to more quality research in these fields.by Manish Kumar,Vikrant Jain, Tsutomu Yamanaka, Yusong Liand and ProsunBhattachary