Iran Oil, Flowering Plants, India Aquifers

Some readings and a podcast from the past few weeks- 

1) The Geological controls on Iran Oil- Geology lovers who like to explore satellite imagery would have surely noticed the landscape of southern Iran. The crust is wrinkled up into unending fold mountains. These have resulted due to the collision of the Arabian plate with the Eurasian plate. And that convergence earlier in history created a depression which filled  with organic rich mud, the source of all that Iranian oil reserves. Stephanie Pappas has written a nice primer on the quirk of geology that explains Iran’s oil bounty.

2) How Flowers Transformed Planet Earth-  “Both in the evolution of life on this planet, and in human culture, flowers have been a critical engine of connection and cooperation”. I had enjoyed David George Haskell’s earlier book, “The Forest Unseen”, in which he observed one square meter of forest floor through different seasons to track changes in fauna and flora and what that teaches us  about ecologic relationships. Viviane Callier talks to him about his new book on flowering plants and their significance in science and society.

3) Indian Hydrogeology- Groundwater is the lifeline of Indian agriculture. That makes understanding aquifers a critical aspect of exploring and utilization of this resource. Recently, Pune based groundwater researcher Dr. Himanshu Kulkarni was awarded the International Water Prize by the University of Oklahoma for his contributions to Indian hydrogeology. They span nearly 4 decades of work in the Deccan basalts, as well as other Indian geologic terrains. His work includes not just the science of aquifers, but also efforts on involving local communities in sharing and managing this resource.

Veena Srinivasan of Well Labs has a long conversation with Dr. Kulkarni about his life’s work. On a personal note, Himanshu was my senior in University. It was really good to hear about this recognition for his important contributions to Indian groundwater science.

LInks: India Aquifers, Early Bipedalism, Mars Geology

 Here are some interesting articles I read recently.

1) Mapping India's Aquifers.  Indian agriculture depends heavily on groundwater. To understand and manage this resource we need a good idea of the nature and extent of aquifers. Subodh Yadav, Joint Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, has written an informative article on the National Aquifer Mapping Program. Detailed reports are available to the public through the Central Ground Water Board, Aquifer Information and Management System page. Mapping and report availability is still work in progress.

2) Is Sahelanthropus the earliest biped? A good article by Brian Handwerk on the many questions spawned from a recent analysis of a 7 million year old femur fossil. Fossil remains named Sahelanthropus tchadensis were found nearly 20 years ago in Chad, and various studies have come to conflicting conclusions on whether Sahelanthropus could walk on two legs. Bipedalism is considered to be one of the key traits distinguishing members of the human branch from other apes and so there is a vital interest in understand the timing and circumstances of its evolution. 

3) Ground Penetrating Radar images from Mars Perseverance Rover. The indefatigable Mars Rover loaded with geological instruments is currently exploring the edge of the Jezero Crater on Mars. Here, rivers emptied into a large lake depositing sediment and building a delta. The first radar images show inclined sedimentary layers which could be the classic sign of a delta architecture or something else, scientists suspect. Read on! By Holly Ober, University of California, Los Angeles.

Groundwater Must Be The Focus Of India National Water Policy

India's Water Management Crisis

A piercingly clear essay by Himanshu Thakkar on why India must realign its water resources priorities from big dams and river linking projects to protecting, managing, and regulating ground water.

Just take a look at the numbers:

"Most of the water that India uses today comes from over 30 million wells and tubewells. Irrigation is India’s biggest user of water and over two thirds of irrigated area gets water from groundwater. 85% of rural domestic supply, over 55% of Urban and Industrial water supply comes from groundwater. The graph of % of water in each sub sector coming from groundwater has been going up for at least four decades. In fact, some estimates show that over 90% of additional water India used in last four decades have come from groundwater. It sounds like an immitigable blessing. That’s not how blessings work, unfortunately.

Central Ground Water Board’s data shows that in about 70% of areas, groundwater is depleting and at many places it has exhausted or is on verge of exhaustion. The quality is deteriorating. Warnings have been available for decades now, but the government has done little to address the emerging crisis.

In fact, India’s water resources establishment, lead by the Big dam ideologues at Central Water Commission have ensured that the government do not even acknowledge that groundwater is India’s water lifeline"....

Scary.

Some States have taken initiatives to manage ground water. Maharashtra recently passed the Maharashtra Ground Water Act which provides a framework for management and regulation of ground water. How much diligent enforcement of the rules actually takes place remains to be seen.

Additional Reading:

The Maharashtra Groundwater (Development and Management) Act 2009 - Shashank Deshpande, Deputy Director GSDA.

A Decade Of The Maharashtra Ground Water Legislation: Analysis Of The Implementation Process - Sanjiv Phansalkar and Vivek Kher.

Article: Groundwater Worries In Maharashtra

Pune based groundwater researchers Dhaval Joshi and Uma Aslekar write about the need to understand the geology of aquifers and the importance of governance in managing this resource:

Understanding the Triggers of Groundwater Competition in Maharashtra

an excerpt-

The recent vagaries of rainfall and the resultant water scarcity and drought-like situation in Maharashtra has resulted in a series of supply-side programmes being implemented across the state. Be it the promotion of farm ponds or dug-wells through various government programmes, the approach has largely been supply-side interventions. The assumption behind this seems that increasing the number of sources would help resolve the crisis around water. There is a misplaced judgment when it comes to making such assumptions. One, it is perceived, even today, that it is the question of access, and that many of the users still do not have any access to any water source, be it in the form of dug-well and bore-well. etc. Second, it also justifies the understanding that users are efficient in their use of water resources, and that limited supply in itself, is a problem. These two points fuel the approach of supply-side interventions.

They identify these focus areas:

1) Granularity of data
2) Integrating hydrogeological in water security programmes
3) Need for stakeholder participation
4) Effective implementations of legislation on groundwater
5) Larger role for groundwater institutions

Open Access

Understanding Aquifers For Sustainable Groundwater Management

This essay  (open access) is a timely reminder from Rajiv Sinha from IIT Kanpur on the role basic geology plays in sustainable groundwater management plans.

He gives the example of the Haryana and Punjab plains where recent decades has seen large amounts of groundwater withdrawal, so large that it can be captured by satellite borne instruments measuring  changes in the earth's gravity field.  Aquifers in this region occur mostly in bodies of sand of Pleistocene and Holocene age. These sands are remnants of river channels which have built large alluvial fans, aprons of sand and finer sediments in front of the Himalayan foothills. They form lenticular bodies surrounded by finer sediment which may not be prolific aquifers. Understanding this spatial heterogeneity of aquifers is crucial for coming up with a workable aquifer management plan.

He recommends the following -

1) Replace state boundaries with aquifer boundaries
2) Integrate all available groundwater data from the Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) and State Groundwater Boards into an integrated database for water-level characterization
3) Update the ways in which subsurface aquifer data are combined and analysed
4) Registration of all tube well locations
5) Update training for subsurface aquifer analysis and characterization

Besides basic sedimentological and stratigraphic studies to delineate aquifer boundaries, Sinha makes another extremely important  point. Data needs to be shared by institutions, and research findings made by Universities and other Research Institutes need to be translated into effective management plans by the respective State Groundwater Boards (groundwater comes under State control in India). This means a culture of strong institutional  linkages  and of transparency and openness needs to evolve. This has been India's stumbling block in the past. I have witnessed enough frustration expressed by some of my groundwater researcher friends here in the Deccan Basalts that their research has long been ignored by State Groundwater Agencies. This does remain a challenge, but hopefully new groundwater policies recommended by the Center and realized by the State Governments via their Groundwater Agencies (example: see this interview on Maharashtra Groundwater Act and for links to the Act. ) will provide new impetus for research and collaboration in understanding aquifers as a crucial component of sustainable groundwater management plans.