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Time of India
05-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
In 3 decades, Guj improves its lake, reservoir areas by 577 sq km: Study
1 2 Ahmedabad: A recent study by IIT Roorkee indicated that Gujarat recorded a rise in lentic water bodies (LWB) by 577 sq km from 1990 to the 2020s. Water bodies with still water, such as ponds, lakes, and reservoirs, are identified as LWB, reports Parth Shastri. Based on satellite data analysis along with other parameters, researchers indicated Gujarat had 308 sq km area of LWB in 1990, which increased to 885 sq km, marking a rise of 187%. The study, 'Exploring the Intersection of Socioeconomic and Environmental Changes and Their Impact on India's Lentic Water Systems,' by Pooja Singh, Tanya Nema, Basant Yadav, Abhay Raj, and Ilhan Özgen from IIT-R and Germany-based Technical University of Braunschweig, is in preprint of Elsevier journal Environmental and Sustainability Indicators. The study considered four major states in four regions of India – Punjab in the north, Gujarat in the west, Kerala in the south, and West Bengal in the east. According to the study, Gujarat recorded the highest rise in LWBs among the four states. The study collected three decades of data for parameters such as social, economic, and meteorological data and their impact on LWBs. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like No dark spots, 10 years younger! Just take this from Watsons URUHIME MOMOKO Learn More Undo According to the study, LWBs in Punjab fluctuated from 21.2 sq km to 30.9 sq km over three decades, whereas in West Bengal, the range was 557.3 sq km to 459.8 sq km. The LWB area in Kerala grew from 44.5 sq km to 72.3 sq km over three decades, the second highest among the four states after Gujarat. More importantly, the study highlighted that the LWB trend can be attributed to the overall positive trend of total water - growing from 27,225.3 sq km to 36,231 sq km in three decades. 'Overall, the total water area exhibited differing trends throughout states, with Gujarat showing the most substantial positive growth and Punjab showing the highest drop, despite an ongoing rise in the number of LWB,' indicated the study. " Narmada water scheme in various regions earlier not part of the scheme is considered to be the biggest factor for the phenomenon where the waters are now reaching up to the Kutch region," said an Ahmedabad-based water resources expert. "Along with that, the sustained campaigns, especially in the Saurashtra region, have yielded results in the form of a rise in check dams and smaller reservoirs." Researchers also pointed to the state's rise in the share of water in the total surface area at about 3.7 percentage points in three decades. Three other states recorded a not-so-significant rise. 'Gujarat had a 3.7% rise in water area, a 0.93% gain in built-up area, and a 2.75% drop in barren land area, while agricultural land went up by 0.18%. LULC changes were constant across the study states, with built-up regions expanding, barren lands contracting, and agricultural and dense vegetation areas showing mixed patterns,' added researchers. It is notable that in 2024 the state govt mentioned in a report on water sources that the available water in Gujarat is 55,608 million cubic meters (MCM), out of which 38,100 MCM (68.5%) is surface water, and the rest is groundwater. Interestingly, 80% of the surface water is located in the south and central Gujarat regions.
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Chandrayaan 3 gives world insight into 4.3bn-yr-old material on moon
1 2 Ahmedabad: In a major breakthrough in understanding the formation and composition of the Moon, scientists at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad analysed volatiles from an area around the South Polar region. This region is believed to host lunar primitive mantle materials ejected from a basin about 4.3 billion years ago. It is the first time a space agency analysed samples this old in this region of the Moon, reports Parth Shastri. The findings were recently published in the Nature journal 'Communications: Earth and Environment'. The study, ' Primitive lunar mantle materials at the Chandrayaan-3 landing site', is authored by Rishitosh Sinha, Neha Panwar, Neeraj Srivastava, Dwijesh Ray, and Anil Bhardwaj, among others. You Can Also Check: Ahmedabad AQI | Weather in Ahmedabad | Bank Holidays in Ahmedabad | Public Holidays in Ahmedabad Anil Bhardwaj, director of PRL and a co-author of this study, said that this new finding makes the Chandrayaan-3 landing site a promising location to access primitive mantle samples, which are otherwise lacking in the existing lunar collections. The concentrations of volatile elements were measured at the Shiv Shakti Point in the South Pole region of the Moon using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) onboard the Pragyan Rover of the mission. The readings from the volatile elements from the Shiv Shakti Point in the South Pole region were analysed by a PRL team. The results at the site showed a very different composition of elements such as sulphur, sodium, and potassium compared to the results of earlier missions such as Apollo, Luna, and Chang'e. The major result included relatively high sulphur content and relatively low sodium and potassium levels, primarily due to the location of the lander. Researchers said that the location of Chandrayaan 3 's landing in 2023 was close to the SPA basin, whereas the majority of the other missions landed near the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT), an area rich in potassium and other incompatible elements, providing a limited view of the Moon's composition. Most importantly, the findings support the idea that the Chandrayaan 3 site holds some of the oldest and most primitive materials from the Moon's deep interior. The researchers at PRL said that the data not only reinforces the lunar magma ocean hypothesis but also opens new opportunities for studying ancient mantle materials. 'A comparison of the APXS measured abundances with the other available data revealed anomalous depletion in sodium and potassium, but enrichment in sulphur in the soils at the highland landing site. This study has revealed the potential presence of primitive lunar mantle materials at the landing site, which was excavated during the formation of the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin 4.3 Ga (4.3 billion years) ago and redistributed by subsequent impacts on the SPA basin ejecta,' read a release by ISRO on the groundbreaking discovery. The primitive mantle contributed to the excess sulphur, which mixed with the materials at the landing site, said Rishitosh Sinha, the lead author of this study. The low levels of sodium and potassium at the landing site suggest that the KREEP (potassium, rare earth elements, and phosphorus) might not have existed at the place and time of SPA basin formation, said Neha Panwar, a co-author of this study. Neeraj Srivastava, a co-author of this study, said that the primitive mantle samples are crucial for studying the early evolution of the Moon. Ahmedabad: In a major breakthrough in understanding the formation and composition of the Moon, scientists at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad analysed volatiles from an area around the South Polar region. This region is believed to host lunar primitive mantle materials ejected from a basin about 4.3 billion years ago. It is the first time a space agency analysed samples this old in this region of the Moon, reports Parth Shastri. The findings were recently published in the Nature journal 'Communications: Earth and Environment'. The study, 'Primitive lunar mantle materials at the Chandrayaan-3 landing site', is authored by Rishitosh Sinha, Neha Panwar, Neeraj Srivastava, Dwijesh Ray, and Anil Bhardwaj, among others. Anil Bhardwaj, director of PRL and a co-author of this study, said that this new finding makes the Chandrayaan-3 landing site a promising location to access primitive mantle samples, which are otherwise lacking in the existing lunar collections. The concentrations of volatile elements were measured at the Shiv Shakti Point in the South Pole region of the Moon using the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) onboard the Pragyan Rover of the mission. The readings from the volatile elements from the Shiv Shakti Point in the South Pole region were analysed by a PRL team. The results at the site showed a very different composition of elements such as sulphur, sodium, and potassium compared to the results of earlier missions such as Apollo, Luna, and Chang'e. The major result included relatively high sulphur content and relatively low sodium and potassium levels, primarily due to the location of the lander. Researchers said that the location of Chandrayaan 3's landing in 2023 was close to the SPA basin, whereas the majority of the other missions landed near the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (PKT), an area rich in potassium and other incompatible elements, providing a limited view of the Moon's composition. Most importantly, the findings support the idea that the Chandrayaan 3 site holds some of the oldest and most primitive materials from the Moon's deep interior. The researchers at PRL said that the data not only reinforces the lunar magma ocean hypothesis but also opens new opportunities for studying ancient mantle materials. 'A comparison of the APXS measured abundances with the other available data revealed anomalous depletion in sodium and potassium, but enrichment in sulphur in the soils at the highland landing site. This study has revealed the potential presence of primitive lunar mantle materials at the landing site, which was excavated during the formation of the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin 4.3 Ga (4.3 billion years) ago and redistributed by subsequent impacts on the SPA basin ejecta,' read a release by ISRO on the groundbreaking discovery. The primitive mantle contributed to the excess sulphur, which mixed with the materials at the landing site, said Rishitosh Sinha, the lead author of this study. The low levels of sodium and potassium at the landing site suggest that the KREEP (potassium, rare earth elements, and phosphorus) might not have existed at the place and time of SPA basin formation, said Neha Panwar, a co-author of this study. Neeraj Srivastava, a co-author of this study, said that the primitive mantle samples are crucial for studying the early evolution of the Moon.
