Front CoverThe cover page is a mosaic of Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) sensor images from the Oceansat-1. The Oceansat-1 is part ofthe Indian Remote Sensing Satellite program primarily built for ocean applications and launched by ISRO’s PSLV onMay 26, 1999. The OCM is an eight channel sensor operating in the visible and NIR regions of the electromagneticspectrum, with a push broom technology for achieving higher radiometric performance. The spatial resolution is 360meters with a swath of 1420 km and a temporal repetivity of two days. The image covers the Indian subcontinent with theHimalayan ranges in the north and Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The great diversity of physicalfeatures over the Indian sub continent is seen in the image. This is a digital mosaic of scenes acquired during summer 2000with vegetation seen in the river basins of Ganga, the Western Ghats, and North East region. In the west, the Sind basincuts across the deserts and joins the Gulf of Kutch. Kindly supplied by National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad.

Back CoverFalse color composite of a remotely sensed image from Indian Satellite Kalpana–1, taken on July 11, 2008 at 930AM usingvery high resolution radiometer. Kindly supplied by the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad.

“So far as I am able to judge,“So far as I am able to judge,“So far as I am able to judge,“So far as I am able to judge,“So far as I am able to judge,

nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,

either by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to make

IndiaIndiaIndiaIndiaIndia

the most extraordinary countrythe most extraordinary countrythe most extraordinary countrythe most extraordinary countrythe most extraordinary country

that the sun visits on his rounds.that the sun visits on his rounds.that the sun visits on his rounds.that the sun visits on his rounds.that the sun visits on his rounds.

Nothing seems to have been forgotten,Nothing seems to have been forgotten,Nothing seems to have been forgotten,Nothing seems to have been forgotten,Nothing seems to have been forgotten,

nothing overlooked.”nothing overlooked.”nothing overlooked.”nothing overlooked.”nothing overlooked.”

– Mark TwainMark TwainMark TwainMark TwainMark Twain

GLIMPSES OFGEOSCIENCE RESEARCH IN INDIA

THE INDIAN REPORT TO IUGS2004 – 2008

Compiled and Editedby

Ashok K SinghviAbhijit Bhattacharya

Satyabrata Guha

INDIAN NATIONAL SCIENCE ACADEMYBahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi - 110 002

July 2004

Published by SK Sahni, Executive Secretary, Indian National Science Academy, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, NewDelhi-110002 and printed by him at Aakriti Graphics, B 66, Sector-6, Noida - 201 301, Phones: 0120-2422446, 9910161199

Preface

Recent high-end researches on climate change and its impact on human civilization has made it obligatory to understandthe Earth system and its multidimensional attributes. Global initiatives like the International Year of the Planet Earth andthe Global Change Programs make it imperative for us to understand the dynamics of the Earth processes. The Indianpeninsula is poised at the crossroad of human endeavor, geared towards improving the living standards of its vast populationwith the judicious use and conservation of resources for a sustained economic growth.

The Indian peninsula is the home to some of the oldest rocks and events, large volumes of mineral deposits and fuelresources (much yet unexplored), expansive fossil-rich marine and terrestrial sediments that demonstrably preserve acomprehensive record of past climate and tectonics, a desert with high-amplitude variability in aeolian dynamism, anda long coastline. Besides, the Himalayan mountain range is a classic example of active orogen; its unique climate systemprovides an exclusive setup to understand the temporal-spatial interplay between tectonics, orography and climate. Overthe years, and especially of late, India has invested profoundly on Earth science centric research in all its dimensions.These include creation of new infrastructure for improved monsoon prediction, installation of tsunami early-warningsystem and development of analytical and computational facilities specific to geoscience research. New national programsare being launched and aggressively implemented by the new Ministry of Earth Sciences, in addition to those of theDepartment of Science and Technology, Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Theseefforts have created a positive impact on human lives in this part of the globe.

This report provides a glimpse into how geoscience research in India evolved during the past half-a-decade. Theadvancements are only suggestive, because many geo-scientific aspects could not be accommodated in this short volume.We have however included inputs from some of the key research institutions specializing in geoscience research. Thisdocument will be available on the INSA website and we hope the effort will help people and researchers, within and outsideIndia, to connect and collaborate on geoscience research in general, and societal aspects of geoscience research, in particular.

In making this report, a sincere effort was made to reach out to the entire community. We thank all authors andinstitutions for their contributions. The range and depth of the articles is truly remarkable and this had made the editorialeffort a pleasant experience. We take this opportunity to compliment and applaud all who have contributed to the Indiangeosciences. During the editing process, care was taken to ensure an error-free text. We apologize to all contributors andreaders for any inadvertent omissions that still may have crept in.

We thank Prof. M. Vijayan, President and Prof. T.P. Singh, Vice-President (Foreign affairs), Indian National ScienceAcademy for their help, prompt approvals to our requests, and sage advice at all stages. We thank Dr. P.S. Goel (formerSecretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences) and Dr. T. Ramasami (Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, andSecretary-in-change, Ministry of Earth Sciences), for their support. The Geological Survey of India and the NationalGeophysical Research Institute provided substantive help and we will like to place on record our appreciation for the helpof DG, GSI, Shri B.K.Bandyopadhyay, Dy. DG, GSI and the Director, NGRI. We thank National Remote Sensing Agencyfor providing the image for the cover page. Shri S. K. Sahni, Executive Secretary, Dr. Alok Moitra, Officer on SpecialDuty and Dr. B. Chattopadhyay, Assistant Executive Secretary, INSA, helped in coordinating and facilitating preparationof this report. Ms. K. Vadhvani coordinated the flow of manuscripts efficiently; her corrections made the work of editorseasy. We thank Drs. Y.C. Nagar, R.J.G. Perumal and M/s. A.K. Tyagi, R.H. Biswas and N. Chauhan for their help withthe proof reading. Mr. P.G. Thomas took care of the correspondences. Mr. M.K. Toppo helped with the initial typesettingof the manuscripts and the figures. We thank M/s Aakriti Graphics for their efficient help.

Ashok K. SinghviPhysical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad

Abhijit BhattacharyaIndian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Satyabrata Guha Geological Survey of India, Kolkata

Deformation and Metamorphism of the Himalayan Orogen v

Contents

Antarctic Earth Sciences: Indian Perspective ....... 1RASIK RAVINDRA, MELOTH THAMBAN, RAHUL MOHAN AND M.J. D’SOUZA

Glaciers ....... 7DEEPAK SRIVASTAVA

National Programme on Isotope Fingerprinting of Waters of India (IWIN) ....... 10R.D. DESHPANDE and S.K. GUPTA

Hydrological Studies ....... 17S.N. RAI

Holocene Indian Monsoon Variability ....... 28ANIL K. GUPTA

Erosion in River Basins of India ....... 32S. KRISHNASWAMI and SUNIL K. SINGH

Research on Floods in India ....... 41VISHWAS S. KALE

Research on Palaeofloods in India ....... 44VISHWAS S. KALE

Indian Contributions on Late Quaternary Fluvial Records ....... 46PRADEEP SRIVASTAVA

Late Quaternary Climatic Studies in Himalaya ....... 51NAVIN JUYAL and Y.P. SUNDRIYAL

CO2 Sequestration: Recent Indian Research ....... 56MALTI GOEL, S.N. CHARAN and A.K. BHANDARI

Studies on Indian Soils ....... 61D.K. PAL

Knowledge Systems, Socio-ecological System Resilience and Coping with EnvironmentalUncertainties in the Context of Global Change ....... 64P.S. RAMAKRISHNAN

Geoenvironmental Studies in India ....... 71S.K. WADHAWAN

Medical Geology in India ....... 77D.K. MUKHOPADHYAY

Marine Geology ....... 80V.P. RAO

Micropalaeontology ....... 87PRATUL KUMAR SARASWATI

Sedimentary Basins and Fossil Records ....... 90G.V.R. PRASAD

Early Evolution of Life in India and its Astrobiological Implications ....... 97V.C. TEWARI

Landslide Studies in India ....... 98Y.P. SHARDA

New Research Initiatives in Earth Sciences: Shallow Subsurface Studies ....... 102V. RAJAMANI

Glimpses of Geoscience Research in Indiavi

Geodetic and Geophysical Studies in India ....... 106R.S. TANWAR and B. NAGARAJAN

Seismic Microzonation: the Indian Scene ....... 113PRABHAS PANDE and IMTIYAZ AHMED PARVEZ

Active Tectonics, Tsunami and Palaeoseismic Studies in Indian Context ....... 119ANSHUMAN ACHARYYA

Earthquake Precursors ....... 129R.K. CHADDHA

Heat-Flow Studies in India ....... 131SUKANTA ROY and R. SRINIVASAN

Deep Crustal Seismic Studies Over the Indian Shield ....... 137V. VIJAYA RAO and H.C. TEWARI

Recent Subsurface Mapping of the Himalayan Region ....... 144B.R. ARORA, V.M. TIWARI and A.K. PANDEY

Geophysical Modelling Studies ....... 147S.N. RAI. V. CHAKRAVARTHI and R.N. SINGH

Glimpses of Experimental Structural Geology in India ....... 153NIBIR MANDAL

Deformation and Metamorphism of the Himalayan Orogen ....... 158SOMNATH DASGUPTA

Plutonism and Precambrian Magmatism in India ....... 160T. AHMAD and M. JAYANANDA

Geodynamic Model on the Evolution of the Eastern Indian Shield: a New Perspective ....... 174ABHINABA ROY

A-Type Malani Magmatism, NW Peninsular India ....... 176NARESH KOCHHAR

Imprints of the Pan-African Event from India and Antarctica- A Contribution to the IGCP-470 ....... 182N.C. PANT, A. JOSHI, AMITAVA KUNDU and SONALIKA JOSHI

Geochronology and Radiogenic Isotope Geochemistry ....... 188Y.J. BHASKAR RAO

Luminescence and Electron Spin Resonance Studies in India ....... 193A.K. SINGHVI

Mineral Prospecting ....... 199S.K. BISWAS

Ore Geology and Mineral Resources ....... 207BISWAJIT MISHRA and MIHIR DEB

Mineral Physics, Experimental Mineralogy and Nano-geoscience ....... 213G. PARTHASARATHY

Indian Oil and Gas Potential ....... 218P.K. BHOWMICK and RAVI MISRA

Status of Coal Bed Methane Investigations in India ....... 229M.P. SINGH and RAKESH SAXENA

India Enters a New Energy Arena – Coalbed Methane ....... 241N.K. PUNJRATH

Gas-Hydrates – Future Potential Source of Energy in India ....... 244KALACHAND SAIN and HARSH K. GUPTA

Hydrocarbon Potential of India ....... 251V.K. BHARDWAJ and S.S. SAINI

Phanerozoic Petroliferous Basins of India ....... 253P.K. BHOWMICK

Deformation and Metamorphism of the Himalayan Orogen vii

INSTITUTIONAL REPORTS

Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany ....... 271

Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology ....... 274

National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) ....... 283

Geological Survey of India ....... 292

National Institute of Ocean Technology ....... 299

Keshav Dev Malviya Institute for Petroleum Exploration ....... 305

Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory ....... 307

Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar: AMS Radiocarbon Facility ....... 311

National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research ....... 314

New Analytical Facilities for Earth Science Research in India– Initiatives of the Department of Science & Technology ....... 319

ISRO-Geosphere Biosphere Programme (GBP) Contributions to Climate Change Studies ....... 324

Glimpses of Geoscience Research in India10

* E-mail: desh@prl.res.in

A National Programme on Isotope Fingerprinting ofWaters of India (IWIN) has recently been launched. Theprincipal objectives of this programme are: (i) to generateisotope data for addressing important hydrological questionsrelated to origin of water sources and the processes ofredistribution by evapo-transpiration, stream-flowgeneration, groundwater recharge and discharge fromwatershed to continental scale; and (ii) to give quantitativeestimates of residence time of the water and vapour in eachhydrological reservoir and the fluxes across them intemporally and spatially distributed manner.

Extracting the quantified information about the water-related processes requires, in addition to isotope signatures,information on water fluxes across hydrological boundaries– real or perceived. Therefore, several national agencies thatcollect and compile such information routinely are alsoparticipating in this programme. The total programme thusinvolves thousands of measurements from differenthydrological reservoirs in a short time span of a few yearsand interpretation of results in conjunction with conventionalmeasurements of meteorological and geographicalparameters, river discharges, groundwater pumping,shallow subsurface geology, etc.

This paper presents evolution of this Nationalprogramme, its specific objectives, mode of execution anda list of deliverables. The programme is expected to betterconstrain quantified information on the various componentsof the hydrological cycle in the country to aid water resourceplanning and sustainable development. This will have long-term benefit in terms of improved preparedness to face,mitigate and adapt to undesirable consequences of manmadeinterventions and natural variability.

INTRODUCTION

Our water resources are subjected to perpetual demandstress due to increasing population, growingindustrialization and rising requirement of food grains.This demand stress is further aggravated by increasingpollution load from domestic sewage, solid waste andindustrial effluents. This rising water demand has been, andis being, addressed by large-scale modifications of the naturalhydrological cycle through engineering interventions andstructures. New schemes involving harnessing of water atdifferent scales from local to inter-basin transfer are beinglaunched in an effort to secure sufficient water of reasonablequality to meet the anticipated requirements.

Since various natural systems are intricately interlinked,any human intervention in one may, in the long term, haveunpredictable, non-linear and possibly non-trivial

environmental consequences for safety and sustainabilityof people. For example, increase in on-land water utilizationthrough engineered structures, can profoundly affectinterception of rainfall, evapo-transpiration, albedo, erosion,runoff and nutrient fluxes. Collectively, these changes willalter local humidity and temperature regimes withinwatersheds and in coastal and marine systems. As theseimpacts accumulate, they have potential to alter metabolicpatterns and processes within the watershed.

Often the natural and socio-economic repercussions ofsuch interventions become noticeable only after it is too lateto undo their impacts. Therefore, in the context ofhydrological systems, it is essential to have an integratedscientific understanding of various processes/factors(geography, climate, soil-cover, vegetation, etc.) controllingseasonal and spatial distribution of water in variouscomponents of the natural hydrological cycle during rainyseason and its redistribution during non-rainy season.Conventionally, these issues have been addressed using alarge number of volume and flow-rate measurements acrossactual or perceived boundaries, for example, by measuringriver flows at various reaches, estimating atmosphericmoisture flux using radiosonde and estimating groundwatermovement using water-level measurements and models.Further, it is also equally important to understand thelinkages of hydrological consequences with other naturalsystems and cycles (such as nutrient cycle, crop cycle,phenological cycle, etc.).

Conventional approach can be strengthened by tracingwater molecules through their annual hydrological cycleand identifying the vapour and water sources and theirtemporal evolution in response to changes in meteorologicaland geographical controls. This can be achieved throughinvestigating stable-isotopic composition (oxygen isotopes-16O and 18O, and hydrogen isotopes- 1H and 2H or D) ofwater molecules in different reservoirs in conjunction withvolume and flux data. While the term “stable isotopes”includes stable isotopes of all the elements, the term “waterisotopes” is also in vogue in the isotope hydrology literature,which refers only to stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogenconstituting water molecules.

WATER ISOTOPES - RATIONALE

The physics behind the isotope techniques and theirapplications in hydrological systems have been describedat length in some of the reference books (Clark and Fritz,1997; Kendall and McDonnell, 1998). A summary of themost relevant and important aspects is presented here.

The heavier isotopic molecular species (with 18O and/or 2H in H2O molecule) react slowly in chemical reactions(exchange and phase change) compared to lighter isotopic

National Programme on Isotope Fingerprinting ofWaters of India (IWIN)

R.D. DESHPANDE* and S.K. GUPTAPhysical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad - 380 009

National Programme on Isotope Fingerprinting of Waters of India 11

molecular species. This results in the higher concentrationof heavier species in the denser phase during phase change(water to vapour or ice and vice versa). This fractionationis due to minute differences in the molecular masses andconsequent difference in their vapour pressure.

The isotope fractionation is expressed by a fractionationfactor (α) which is the ratio of the isotope ratios for reactantand product (α = Rreactant/Rproduct). For example, in caseof water ➝ vapour system, the fractionation factor is givenby;

α18O(water➝vapour) = (18O/16O)water/(18O/16O)vapour...Eq 1

Conventionally, isotopic compositions are expressedin δ notation as deviations of ratio (R) of heavy to lightisotopes (18O/16O and 2H/1H or D/1H) in sample relativeto an international standard of known composition, in unitsof parts per thousand or per mil (denoted as ‰) as thesedeviations are small. The δ-values are calculated as

δ18(in ‰) = (Rsample/Rstandard–1)x1000 ...Eq 2

Rstandard is the corresponding ratio (18O/16O or D/1H)in the Standard Mean Ocean Water (SMOW) or the equivalentVienna-SMOW or VSMOW. The water isotopic ratios aremeasured by using high-sensitivity Stable Isotope RatioMass Spectrometer (SIRMS). Modern SIRMS are capable ofmeasuring δ18O to <0.1‰ and δD to <1‰.

Craig (1961) showed that in spite of the great complexityin different components of the hydrological cycle, δ18O andδD in fresh waters correlate on a global scale. Craig’s globalmeteoric water line or GMWL defines the relationshipbetween δ18O and δD in global precipitation as:

δD = 8 x δ18O + 10 (‰SMOW) ...Eq 3

The evolution of δ18O and δD values of meteoric watersbegins with evaporation from the oceans, where the rateof evaporation controls the water - vapour exchange andhence the degree of isotopic equilibrium. Increased ratesof evaporation impart a kinetic or non-equilibrium isotopeeffect to the vapour. Kinetic effects are influenced by surfacetemperature, wind speed (shear at water surface), salinityand, most importantly humidity. At lower values ofhumidity, evaporation becomes an increasingly non-equilibrium process. Thus, formation of atmospheric vapourmasses is a non-equilibrium process due to effects of lowerthan saturation humidity. However, the reverse process –condensation to form clouds and precipitation – takes placein an intimate mixture of vapour and water droplets withnear-saturation humidity so that equilibrium fractionationbetween vapour and water is easily achieved. As a result,isotopic evolution of precipitation during rainout is largelycontrolled by temperature. Because of this, the slope ofGMWL (8) is largely in agreement with that given by theratio of equilibrium fractionation factors for D and 18O.

However, the slopes of various local meteoric waterlines vary from 9.2 to 8.0 with average temperature ofcondensation between 0 to 30°C. It is thus seen that therelationship between 18O and D in meteoric waters arises

from a combination of non-equilibrium fractionation fromthe ocean surface (at ~85% humidity) and equilibriumcondensation from the vapour mass. However, duringrainout, further partitioning of 18O and D between differentregions is governed by the Rayleigh distillation equation.

As an air mass moves from its vapour source area alonga trajectory and over continents, it cools and loses its watercontent through the rainout process. During rainout, 18Oand D in vapour and the condensing phases (rain or snow),within the cloud, partition through equilibrium fractionation.But along the trajectory, as each rainout removes the vapourmass, the heavy isotopes from the vapour are preferentiallyremoved so that remaining vapour becomes progressivelydepleted in 18O and D. Each rainout gives isotopicallyenriched rain (or snow) with respect to its immediate parentvapour. It will, however, be depleted with respect to earlierrainout, because the vapour from which it formed wasisotopically depleted with respect to the vapour of theearlier rainout. One can model this isotope evolution duringrainout according to Rayleigh distillation equation as.

Rv = Rv0 f(α–1) ...Eq 4

where ‘f’ is residual fraction in vapour reservoir. (Clark andFritz, 1997). Because Rl / Rv = α = Rl0/Rv0, this equataioncan also be written in terms of liquid water.

Along the trajectory, when part of the rained out vapouris returned to the atmosphere by means ofevapotranspiration, this simple Rayleigh law, however, isnot applicable. Whereas evaporation returns precipitatedwater with significant fractionation, the transpiration returnsit essentially un-fractionated back to the atmosphere, despitethe complex fractionation in leaf water (Forstel, 1982;Zimmermann et al., 1966).

The isotopic imprints of evaporation are also recordedin the form of a parameter d-excess in the evaporating waterbody, the evaporated vapour and the precipitation from theadmixture of atmospheric vapour and the evaporated flux.Since the kinetic fractionation for 18O is more than that forD (Gonfiantini, 1986), the relative enrichment of the residualwater for an evaporating water body is more for 18O thanfor D. Correspondingly, for the resulting vapour thedepletion is more for 18O than for D. The extent to which18O is more fractionated compared to D can be representedby a parameter d-excess defined by (Dansgaard, 1964) as

d–excess = d = δD–8 x δ18O (‰) ...Eq 5

The known relationships (Eq 1 to Eq 5) between degreeof phase change and the extent of isotope fractionation thusprovide a tool for direct measurement of the extent to whichevaporation and/or condensation has proceeded. Becausethis signature is preserved conservatively during partitioningand mixing, a given mass of water actually retains thehistory of its origin. Further, because of their fractionationduring evaporation process and ‘no fractionation’ duringtranspiration, water isotope measurements are best suitedto make reliable estimates of the relative proportions ofevaporation and transpiration, which are rather poorlyconstrained at present.

Glimpses of Geoscience Research in India12

Additionally, because the primary input of water onland is via precipitation, the isotope labelling is over relativelylarger spatial scales. The isotopic signatures of subsequentpartitioning into stream flow, groundwater rechargeprocesses, etc. though occurring on a local scale and oversmall time intervals get integrated both temporally andspatially as water from different parts of the catchmentoriginating at different times accumulate and mix throughoperative hydrological processes. Therefore, isotopes ofwell-mixed environmental reservoirs, such as theatmosphere, streams and aquifers, often represent anintegration of source inputs to the system that extend overlarge spatial scales. Thus, isotopes indicate, record, integrateand trace water movement and hydrological processes fromsmall geographic scales (metres to hectares) and shorttemporal scales (minutes to hours) to large spatial scales(regions and the globe) and long temporal scales (decadesto centuries). Therefore, isotopic data on water sources atdifferent spatial and temporal scales can be used to calibratehydrological models, to provide internal quantitative checkon the assumptions of various hydrological models and tobetter constrain unmeasured water fluxes acrosshydrological boundaries.

WATER ISOTOPES - INDIAN SCENARIO

Use of water isotopes as a tool both for water resourcedevelopment, planning and management and also foraddressing specific hydrological problem has now becomevery common in several countries. In India, however, theisotopic investigations in piece meal manner have provideda synoptic picture of the isotopic content of some watersources (rainwater, river water, groundwater, lake water,brine water, etc.) in the country (Bhattacharya et al., 2003;Bhattacharya et al., 1985; Dalai et al., 2002; Datta et al., 1994;Datta et al., 1996; Datta et al., 1991; Deshpande et al., 2003;Gupta and Deshpande, 2004; Gupta et al., 2005;Krishnamurthy and Bhattacharya, 1991; Kumar et al., 1982;Nachiappan et al., 2002; Navada et al., 1993; Navada andRao, 1991; Pande et al., 2000; Ramesh and Sarin, 1992;Sengupta and Sarkar, 2006; Shivanna et al., 2004; Sukhijaet al., 1998; Yadav, 1997). In addition to these, importantdatasets of the isotopic composition of rainwater from alimited number of stations (Delhi, Mumbai, Shillong, etc.),forming part of the Global Network of Isotopes inPrecipitation (GNIP) also became available on the IAEAwebsite (http://isohis.iaea.org).

Gupta and Deshpande (2003) described the hydrologicalprocesses responsible for characteristic isotopic compositionof precipitation and its geographical distribution for differentseasons over the Indian subcontinent based on the regionalmaps of amount weighted precipitation isotopic dataavailable from the GNIP database. It was shown that thecharacteristic isotopic signal is imparted to precipitationinitially by the two principal sources of vapour influx,namely, the Arabian Sea (AS) and the Bay of Bengal (BOB)during both the summer and the winter monsoon seasons.Subsequently, the processes of evaporation and transpirationredistribute and recycle the water between the atmosphereand the land surface. Gupta and Deshpande (2005a), basedon the compilation of all the published isotope data, have

also described geographical distribution of the isotopiccomposition of ground- and river water over some partsof India and have also identified some of the hydrologicalcontrols for observed distribution.

EVOLUTION OF THE PROGRAMME

Gupta and Deshpande (2003; 2005a) suggested thatthat primary vapour sources, namely, the AS and the BOBinfluence the isotopic character of precipitation in coastalregions. These isotopic signatures get modified farther inlandby topographic elevation, Rayleigh distillation, evaporationfrom falling raindrops and recycling by evapotranspirationof the precipitated water during principal rainy seasons.Most of the groundwater recharge also takes place duringand soon after the rainy seasons. Significant deviations inisotopic composition of groundwater from the precipitationaverages were indicated. These were qualitatively relatedto evaporation during groundwater recharge processgoverned by varying soil cover and potentialevapotranspiration value. As the dry season approaches,the streams carry increasingly significant proportion ofgroundwater discharge. During the dry season thegeographic distribution of isotopes in stream waters almostmimics the local groundwater.

Limited availability of isotope data (on precipitation,stream- and ground waters) mandated only qualitativeprocess-related interpretation. Further, there was noinformation whatsoever about the isotopic composition ofatmospheric water vapour. It came to fore that the availableisotopic data, together with ground-based and air- bornemeteorological data, are inadequate to describe thehydrological cycle in terms of exchanges and interactionsbetween its various components, namely, oceanic source,atmosphere, precipitation, surface and groundwater. A needfor nationwide system for temporal and spatial monitoringof isotopic composition of water in all the component ofhydrological cycle (atmospheric water vapour, rain, stream,lake, ground and surface waters of the AS and BOB) emergedprominently in order to quantify the hydrological processesand their controls. Therefore, a periodic monitoring networkfor isotopes in water sources of India was conceived.

Specific knowledge gaps that could be quantified usingsuch a water isotope monitoring network are:(i) quantification of sources of water vapour during differentseasons; (ii) quantitative partitioning of incoming vapourinto rain and its re-partitioning as evapo-transpiration, soilmoisture, stream flow and groundwater; (iii) quantificationof interactions between these components; and(iv) quantitative influence of factors such as geography,climate, soil-cover, vegetation, etc., on seasonal distributionof water in different parts of the country and in differentcomponents of hydrological cycle.

With a view to fill the specific knowledge gapsmentioned above, a multi-institutional collaborative nationalprogramme was planned in consultation with all the activeisotope hydrology research groups within the country andthe central agencies concerned with various water sources(ground, river water, precipitation) and water-related issues(pollution, agriculture, meteorology, etc.). The National

National Programme on Isotope Fingerprinting of Waters of India 13

Agencies already have their own network of water samplecollection for water quality/meteorological data/rivergauging/groundwater level monitoring. It was decided tolatch on the isotope monitoring programme to the existingmonitoring programmes of these National Agencies. Someresearch Institutions and National Laboratories wereapproached to participate in the Programme and share theload of water isotope analyses. It was also realised thatcommercial shipping operative in the northern BOB linkingPort Blair with the mainland across Chennai, Visakhapatnamand Kolkata could be utilised for sampling the surface waterof the BOB. In the AS, the National Institute of Oceanographyoperated research cruises that could be utilised for samplingthe surface water.

The need for an isotope monitoring network and itspotential applications were highlighted by Gupta andDeshpande (2005b) which helped mobilize the scientificopinion in favour of such a nationwide network This hasbecome a reality now in the form of the National Programmeon Isotope Fingerprinting of Waters of India (IWIN). Thesalient features of this programme are discussed in thefollowing.

THE PROGRAMME – IWIN

The Programme IWIN intends to isotopically fingerprintvarious water sources of India representing the entirehydrological cycle comprising atmospheric moisture,precipitation, stream runoff, groundwater, and finally, seawater from the AS and the BOB. This isotope monitoringis to be done both temporally and spatially, and will involveisotopic analyses of about 20,000 water/vapour samplesover the next 5 years.

The Modus Operandi

The functional structure of the IWIN is depicted inFigure 1. Water samples from precipitation, ground andriver water from across the country will be collected atfortnightly intervals by various National Agencies. Theconcerned agencies for this purpose are: Central WaterCommission (CWC) and Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) for river water; India Meteorology Department(IMD) and Central Research Institute for DrylandAgricultural (CRIDA) for precipitation and atmosphericmoisture; and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) forgroundwater. Surface water samples of the AS and BOBwill be collected by National Institute of Oceanography(NIO), Goa-and Anna University (AU), Chennai,respectively. Daily precipitation and daily atmosphericmoisture samples will be collected from 15 locations acrossIndia, namely, by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL),Ahmedabad, National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkeeand Sagar, National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI),Hyderabad, National Institute of Oceanography NIO (Goa),Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP), BhabhaAtomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, and NuclearResearch Laboratory (NRL), Delhi, and at 8 out of 26 agrometstations by CRIDA.

Isotopic analyses of these samples will be carried outat Physical ResearchLaboratory (PRL), National Institute ofHydrology (NIH), National Geophysical Research Institute

(NGRI), Indian Institute of Technolgy-Kharagpur (IIT-Kgp),National Instittue of Oceanography (NIO), Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre (BARC) and Nuclear Research Laboratory(NRL). A new Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometerlaboratory is being set up at PRL exclusively for IWIN,where more than 50 % of the total samples under IWIN willbe analysed. The remaining samples will be analysed bythe existing analytical facility with participating isotopehydrology research institutes. The salinity measurementsof surface water samples from AS and BOB will be carriedout at AU and NIO respectively. Additionally, tritium (3H)concentration will be measured by BARC and NIH. PeriodicRadiosonde measurements of atmospheric parameters willbe carried out from NIO and PRL. A new Radiosondefacility is being developed at NIO, Goa, exclusively forIWIN, from where majority of the Radiosonde measurementswill be done. The existing Radiosonde facility at PRL willbe used for a limited number of Radiosonde measurementsfrom Ahmedabad.

Fig. 1: Functional Structure of the National Programme IWIN,depicting sampling strategy and the role of participatingInstitutions

PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE

While this National Programme will generateconsiderable new knowledge/information/data, itsimportance lies in how best this new data could beadvantageously used to facilitate water resourcedevelopment and management of the country moreefficiently. Whichever way the growing water demand inthe country is met, there will be a large-scale modificationof the natural hydrological cycle in the country not just dueto engineered structures and controlled stream flows butalso by changing the residence time of water in aquifersand by increasing water vapour content of the atmosphere,particularly during non-monsoon months. In this context,the data collected or generated during the first 2-3 yearsof this National programme could form a baseline againstwhich it will be possible to monitor the impacts ofanthropogenic interventions on local/regional hydrologicalcycle at later date.

In water-balance studies, evapotranspiration is the mostuncertain parameter estimated either from empirical

Functional Structure of the National Programme–IWINTo isotopically fingerprint various water sources of India representing the entire hydrological cycle over India

Precipitation and Atmospheric MoistureIndia Meteorology Dept.

Central ResearchInstitute for Dryland AgricultureRivers, Streams and Surface Reservoirs

Central Water CommissionCentral Pollution Control Board

GroundwaterCentral Ground Water Board

Sea Surface WaterArabian Sea - NIO and Bay of Bengal - AU

Atm. MoisturePrecipitationStream runoffGroundwaterArabian SeaBay of Bengal

IWINResearch Team

Radiosonde

NIO/ PRL

DataWeather, Volume Flow,

Quality, Water Level>20,000 Samples

>40,000 Isotopic Results

PRL, NIH, IIT-Kgp, NGRI, BARC, NRL, NIO, AUIsotopic and Salinity Analyses

0 000 Sam

Ar

>20,000 S

eameam

Glimpses of Geoscience Research in India14

formulae or by applying a fractional coefficient to the pan-evaporation data. Isotopic investigations provideindependent estimates based on degree of isotopefractionation which in turn depend on the progress of thehydrologic process. Identifying dominant sources of seasonalvapour influx to India is also vital to improve understandingof (i) continental-scale hydrological circulation and (ii) land-ocean-atmosphere interaction as Indian monsoon is animportant component of global atmosphere circulation andsource of all important water resources in India.

Both coastal AS and the north BOB undergo largeseasonal fluctuations in salinity. Whereas salinity and isotopevariations represent the same parameter if dilution andmixing are the only two components involved. If there aremulti-component, multi-process interactions, particularlythose involving atmospheric transport via rain, stream waterand through evaporation, the two parameters may not varyin parallel. The north BOB is an important source of vapourfor the storms that bring in rains to the Himalayas and theIndo-Gangetic plains during SW monsoon therebysuggesting a regional hydrologic cycle involvingatmospheric transport from BOB to land and return viastreams draining the Himalayas. The proposed isotopicinvestigations are specially designed to understand suchland-ocean-atmosphere interactions.

The interaction/exchange between rainwater andatmosphere is estimated by Craig-Gordon model (1965).This programme proposes to measure isotopic compositionof the atmospheric vapour throughout the year and will,therefore, help in verifying/improving the modelapplicability over India where conditions vary from near-dry to saturated atmosphere during the course of the year.Modelling of isotopic fractionation effects in terms offractions involved may challenge some of the currenthypotheses, as for example, some studies of tropical cyclonesusing short-term isotope variations in rain and water vapourhave already indicated that isotopic ratios of the two inorganised storms are not in equilibrium and that isotopicratios in vapour continue to decrease for 1-2 days after thecessation of the storm activity (Lawrence et al., 2004). Onecan expect to improve the understanding of meteorologicalprocesses from similar studies over India by combiningRadiosonde data with isotope data and the process models.

Knowledge of the hydrologic pathways by which watermoves over land, percolates and moves underground to re-emerge as streams is important to understand thehydrogeology of a terrain. Stream-flow generation is a keycomponent of the hydrologic cycle. This knowledge,mediated by isotope measurements, can be useful indesigning computer models for stream flow prediction, thatare important for landuse planning, flood contingencyplanning and dam construction and operation. One shouldalso expect better conceptualisation of stream-flowgeneration mechanisms and improved model calibrationand parameter identification while keeping the modelstructures quite simple. Quantifying evapo-transpirationrecycling is critical to the quantification of the hydrologiccycle and is of great importance when considering naturalor anthropogenic climate change, or effects of changingvegetation pattern on precipitation.

Determining the origin, movement, mixing and flushing ofvarious pollutants particularly in soils and ground waterscan significantly improve by using chemical analyses andflow-path modelling through more accurate estimation ofthe travel time using isotopes. Several studies havedemonstrated that regardless of whether plants inhabitarid, semiarid or mesic regions, there can be strongrelationship between water source (easily identified usingisotopes) and water use pattern. At catchment scale, thisinformation has a number of potential importantapplications. First, it means that more water moves throughthe ‘soil-plant(s)-atmosphere’ continuum than would beexpected otherwise. Secondly, a hydraulically lifted watersource could have a strong influence on the distributionand abundance of all plant species and in turn on theamount of water movement within a catchment. Third,estimates of evaporation and transpiration are 1.5-to 3–foldhigher for large trees “mining” deep water sources.

DELIVERABLES

This programme is intended to generate significantnew knowledge/information/data but at minimum it isexpected to achieve:1. Baseline data on spatial distribution and temporal

variation of water isotopes in different components ofthe hydrological cycle over India. These will help assessthe regional hydrological impact of actions such as,increase in on-land water utilization throughengineered structures.

2. Delineation of seasonal relationships of salinity-isotopedistribution in the AS and BOB. These will provideinputs for surface oceanic circulation/modelling of air-sea interaction.

3. Quantification of relative water vapour contributionfrom different oceanic and land sources to differentregions in different seasons.

4. Estimation of the proportion of rain contributed byevapo-transpiration over land areas in differentseasons.

5. Estimation of relative proportion of plant transpirationin the land-derived vapour.

6. Spatial and temporal contribution of rain/surfacerunoff and groundwater to stream flow in differentcatchments.

7. Contribution of groundwater drainage to differentstreams and other surface water bodies in differentseasons and vice-versa.

8. Contribution of water draining into the BOB to vapourinflux in a large-scale hydrological cycle involvingHimalayan river system and the BOB during the laterpart of the rainy season.

9. Mixing of heavy runoff draining the Western Ghatsinto AS.

10. Contribution of snow melt to Himalayan rivers indifferent seasons.

11. Estimate of subsurface groundwater discharge incoastal regions or oceanic influx in salinity ingressedareas.

National Programme on Isotope Fingerprinting of Waters of India 15

12. Improved understanding of cloud hydrology and otherprecipitation-controlling factors over India during themonsoon season. Together with better understandingof water movement across atmosphere/surface water/groundwater continuum the programme willcontribute to better water resource management.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The project is being funded jointly by the Department ofScience and Technology, Government of India vide GrantNo. IR/S4/ESF-05/2004 dated 17th July, 2007 and thePhysical Research Laboratory (PRL).

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The cover page is a mosaic of Ocean Color Monitor (OCM) sensor images from the Oceansat-1. The Oceansat-1 is part of theIndian Remote Sensing Satellite program primarily built for ocean applications and launched by ISRO’s PSLV onMay 26, 1999. The OCM is an eight channel sensor operating in the visible and NIR regions of the electromagnetic spectrum,with a push broom technology for achieving higher radiometric performance. The spatial resolution is 360 meters with aswath of 1420 km and a temporal repetivity of two days. The image covers the Indian subcontinent with the Himalayanranges in the north and Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The great diversity of physical features over theIndian sub continent is seen in the image. This is a digital mosaic of scenes acquired during summer 2000 with vegetation seenin the river basins of Ganga, the Western Ghats, and North East region. In the west, the Sind basin cuts across the deserts andjoins the Gulf of Kutch, kindly supplied by National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad.

Back pageFalse color composite, remotely sensed image from Indian satellite Kalpana–1, taken on July 11, 2008 at 930AM usingvery high resolution radiometer. Kindly supplied by the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad

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nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,nothing has been left undone,

either by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to makeeither by man or nature, to make

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