A Concise Textbook of

ENVIRONMENTAL

GEOLOGY

B S Rathore, PhD

NOTION PRESS

NOTION PRESS

Contents PREFACE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

CONCEPTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY ------------------------------------------- 1 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION --------------------------------------------------------10 IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITIES -----------------------------22 IMPACTS OF MINING ACTIVITIES------------------------------------------------------28 EARTH’S HEAT BUDGET ---------------------------------------------------------------34 WATER RESOURCES IN INDIA ---------------------------------------------------------41 INDUSTRIALIZATION – URBANIZATION AND WATER QUALITY ----------------------50 WETLAND ------------------------------------------------------------------------------56 SOIL -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------63 DROUGHT AND DESERTIFICATION ----------------------------------------------------73 BADLANDS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------85 NATURAL HAZARDS AND PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES -----------------------------91 CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPACTS ON HIMALAYAN GLACIERS -------------------------- 106 MARGINAL MARINE ENVIRONMENTS ---------------------------------------------- 116 OCEAN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES --------------------------------------------------- 126 ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT (EPA) ------------------------------------------ 141 GIS IN ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ------------------------------------------ 144

Preface The content of this book covers topics useful for readers who are pursuing their graduation and also for those who are preparing for specific competitive exams. Various published literatures are available in the different forms for indepth study. Those classical works are extensive and deeply researched, but sometimes a curious reader, in the beginning, avoids going through the elaborate texts. This idea led me to assemble things concisely under the current title 'A Concise Textbook of Environmental Geology’ to introduce them to diverse topics related to this book. To enable the reader to access more information on a topic, corresponding references are made in the footnote. Excerpts of classic texts have been duly attributed in quotation marks. Environmental science deals with the Earth's systems lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere (includes all waters–solid, liquid, and vapour), and atmosphere. These systems interact with each other. These are naturally influenced by internal and external factors and by anthropogenic activities also. Topics such as global warming, climate change, drought, land, and natural resources, natural hazards, and environmental pollution are introduced to the readers. B S Rathore महाशिवराशि (शव.सं. 2078) March 1st, 2022

Environmental Geology Environmental Geology: Study of the problems resulting from natural hazards and human exploitation of the natural environment. The geologic techniques used include those of engineering geology, economic geology, hydrogeology, etc., as applied to waste disposal, water resources, transport, building, mining, and general land use.1 _ MICHAEL ALLABY

Environmental geology, as the name suggests, deals with two broad aspects, the environment, and geology. The environmental aspect is that, since human activities affect the earth in many ways such as mining activities and mine waste, urbanization and transportation, waste disposal of industries in solid, liquid, and gaseous release, agricultural activity mainly soil degradation and irrational use of fertilizers and pesticides are some of the concerns that adversely affect the earth. From the geology point of view, natural hazards affect not only humans but also the biosphere in totality. Natural hazards include earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and landslides. These are the main factors that affect all areas of life, including geology. Natural hazards are more assumptive than quantitative in measures. Some geological phenomena are diastrophic that occur abruptly while others are slow processes whose effects are sometimes immeasurable in a short time such as plate tectonics, and rock cycles, hydrological cycles, etc. Disaster management is an important task. It includes planning, development, and management of those aspects of the environment that are related to geology. Hence, it may be stated as it deals with the practical aspect of the principles of geology to understand and solving of environmental problems arising of natural or artificial.

1.

Concepts of Environmental Geology

Environmental Geology mainly focuses on Earth systems that are working both endogenous and exogenous. Earth resources such as soil, water, minerals, and energy provide us with the necessary life-support systems; 1

MICHAEL ALLABY "environmental geology." A Dictionary of Ecology. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Apr. 2021,

Environmental Geology

while earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, landslides, etc. are dangerous to life and property. It is the aim of environmental geologists that, if we all understand these systems better, we can live a more secure life with greater harmony with our environment. Surrounding factors, such as

physical, chemical, and biological that act on an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and existence, are called the environment. The natural environment is a dynamic equilibrium between the components of biotic and abiotic regimes that sustain for a long geologic period. Our natural environment is a natural landscape, such as a forest, river, mountain, desert, or a combination of these, being heavily modified or altered by humans. Its naturalness generally varies in a range, which depends on one hundred percent natural in one extreme to zero percent natural in the other, which completely disturbs it converting into artificial surroundings such as urbanisation. Understanding the environment, we must first identify it as an ecosystem, which is dynamic, and its condition changes naturally or by the influence of humans. As mentioned earlier, the environmental factors that make up an ecosystem or ecological system are a distinct and identifiable landscape area such as a forest, grassland, desert, wetland, or coastal area. The nature of the ecosystem is based on geographical features such as hills, mountains, plains, rivers, lakes, coastal areas, etc. It is controlled by the climatic conditions of the region. The ecosystem broadly comprises the lithosphere (soil and rocks), hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. Matter and energy flow in cyclic or linear order between two or among all of the above domains. Ecosystems are broadly classified into two main categories, one in terrestrial and the other in aquatic. As the name suggests, there are terrestrial ecosystems on the land parts of the Earth, which are further subclassified into mountainous, desert, grassland, forest ecosystems, etc. based on a combination of components and ecological components of the forest. On the other hand, aquatic ecosystems are mainly water bodies‘ areas such as saltwater and lagoon; and freshwater areas like rivers, lakes, ponds, etc. From the environmental geology point of view, the environments are natural domains covering a large area on Earth. And the environmental domain maintains sustainability about various natural phenomena such as the geological cycle, the geochemical cycle, the biogeochemical cycle and 2

B S Rathore

biological processes, and the natural processes between them. These natural environments are broadly classified into two, one is terrestrial, and the other is aquatic. These environmental domains are created, influenced, and controlled by various natural conditions— climate, topography, vegetation, and other organisms, the elevation, latitude, and geology of the region or domain. Grasslands, deserts, tropical forests, tundra fields, high altitude, and glacial environments, etc. fall in the terrestrial environment category. The aquatic environments are marine, fluvial, lacustrine, wetland; and delta, estuarine brackish, saline, and other transition zones and marine environments. In an ecosystem, all the flora and fauna that live in the area live in their communities. Each community interacts with its abiotic environment at different times for various reasons. Life on Earth can only exist in a small proportion of land, water, and its atmosphere. On a global scale, land, sea, and air combine to form a thin layer called the biosphere. On a sub-global scale, it is divided into a biogeographical realm, such as the Palaearctic Realm of Eurasia; Oriental Realm of South and South-East Asia; Arctic Realm of North America; The Neotropical Realm of South America; Ethiopian Realm of Africa; and Australia Realm of Australia. At the national or state level, it forms a biogeographical zone. India has many geographical regions – the Himalayas, the Gangetic Plains, the Highlands of Central India, the Western and Eastern Ghats, the semi-arid deserts in the west, the Deccan Plateau, the coastal plains, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Plants and animals in these geographical regions are adapted to live in these areas. Ecological Perspectives of Environment Ecology studies relate the relationship between organisms and their habitats, and the functional processes of organisms on land and in water. The environment is the environment or condition in which animals or plants live, interact or operate among themselves and with abiotic components. Ecosystems have two major components–abiotic and biotic; the geographical, climatic and soil characteristics make up the abiotic component of the ecosystem. These characteristics create conditions that support the community of plants and animals that evolution has adapted to live in these specific conditions. The living part of the ecosystem is known 3

Environmental Geology

as its biotic component; all flora and fauna are biological or biotic components. Ecology covers all living organisms on Earth, including their physical and chemical surroundings. Abiotic components are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect the functioning of living organisms and ecosystems. Abiotic factors and their associated phenomena support the life of both the forms- flora and fauna, and influence living organisms in terms of growth, maintenance, and reproduction. The abiotic factors in terrestrial ecosystems include water, light, radiation, temperature, humidity, atmosphere, acidity-alkalinity, and soil. Climate conditions often influence each of the above; in contrasting examples, there are the rain forest areas or the desert region. In the marine environment, abiotic factors include air contact, substrate, water clarity, solar energy, tides, and waves, and ocean currents. The Sun energy is the only important energy source for an ecosystem. The inorganic components, such as carbon, phosphorus, nitrogen, etc. that are always available are known as the permanent available state. Abiotic factors are the basic life support component in an ecosystem. Initially, all basic nutrients required which are supplied by animals or any organism or made available from abiotic components. Biotic factors or components in terms of trophic (nutrition) can be classified into two categories, one in autotrophic component and the other in heterotrophic component. Autotrophic components include all green vegetation that absorbs the Sun's energy and grows on its own. Heterotrophic components include all animals that receive food from the autotrophic component. Classification of Biotic components: 1. 2. 3.

Producer/manufacturers (Autotrophic Component), Consumer, and Decomposer or reducer and transformer.

Autotrophic elements: Primarily green plants are autotrophic elements. They use the Sun's energy in the photosynthesis process that absorbs carbon dioxide and converts the energy into chemical energy. During photosynthesis processes, oxygen is released into the atmosphere as a by-product of green vegetation. 4

B S Rathore

Oxygen is used by all organisms in respiration. All types of vegetation fall under the category of producers. Chemosynthetic bacteria and carotenoidcontaining violet bacteria also assimilate CO2 with the Sun's energy, but only in the presence of organic compounds; these also fall under the category of the manufacturer. Consumers: The living members of the ecosystem that consume the foods synthesized by producers are called consumers. This category includes all types of animals that are found in an ecosystem. Following are the different categories or classes of consumers: (a) Primary or first-order consumers, (b) Secondary or second-order consumers, (c) Tertiary or third-order consumers, and (d) Parasites, dead scavengers, and dead-eaters. (a) Primary consumer: These are purely herbivorous animals which depend on the producers, i.e., the vegetation for their food. Goats, cows and other domestic animals, and insects, rodents, rabbits, deer, and some other wildlife are common herbivores in the terrestrial ecosystem. Small crustaceans, molluscs, etc. are aquatic herbivore animals. Herbivore animals serve as the main food source for carnivores. (b) Secondary consumers: They are carnivores and omnivores. Nonvegetarians are meat-eating animals and omnivores are those that adapt to vegetarian food and non-vegetarian food. Examples of secondary consumers are the sparrow, crow, fox, wolf, dog, cat, snake etc. (c) Tertiary Consumers: These are the top carnivores that prey on other carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. Lion, tiger, eagle, vulture, etc. are considered tertiary or top consumers. (d) In addition to the above categories, parasites, dead-scavengers, and detrivores also fall in the category of consumers. Parasitic plants and animals use living tissues of various types of plants and animals. Deadscavengers and dead-eaters consume flora and fauna as their food on the remains of dead organisms and dead plants. Decomposers and Transformers: They are living components of the ecosystem, such as fungi and bacteria. Decomposers dissipate dead remains of vegetation and organisms and decompose complex organic materials into simple compounds. They are of great importance in maintaining the dynamic nature of ecosystems. 5

Environmental Geology

Environments are classified variously based on factors and parameters such as social environment, educational environment, industrial environment, natural environment, etc. Gaia Hypothesis The Gaia hypothesis was formulated in 1972 by a chemist James Lovelock. He has named the idea after Gaia, the goddess of the Earth in Greek mythology. The hypothesis suggests that organisms evolve in harmony with their environment; that organisms affect their abiotic environment, and the environment affects the biota by the evolutionary processes. The hypothesis prominently includes some factors and processes such as how the biosphere and the evolution of organisms affect the stability of global temperature, the salinity of seawater, atmospheric oxygen levels, the maintenance of liquid hydrosphere, and other environmental variables that affect the habitability of Earth. ―The theory, formulated by English scientist James Lovelock (born 1919), that the earth and everything on it constitutes a single self-regulating living entity‖. 2

Formulation of the hypothesis: In 1965, while working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California on methods of detecting life on Mars, Lovelock began defining the idea of a self-regulated Earth controlled by a community of its living organisms. The chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere was taken as the main concept so that life could be detected on the planet. This difference in the atmosphere of a planet with the Earth's atmosphere is assumed that no life exists on this planet. Lovelock explained the fact that a combination of chemicals, including oxygen and methane, remains at constant concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere. He suggested that detecting such a combination of gases in the atmospheres of other planets is another way of detecting life. The concept of co-evolution of biota and the physical environment has never been strongly advocated as by Gaia. Before the Gaian concept, all geological and biological processes were operative; the only difference is that the science community is trying to understand the interactions between the biosphere and physical ecology. The pioneer of the hypothesis has never pushed the idea that the biosphere 2

www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/gaia-hypothesis 6

B S Rathore

consciously awaits environmental change, but only that it automatically responds to it. The sentiments are in tune with the Survival of the fittest phrase. Earth systems science takes a holistic approach in understanding the Gaia hypothesis. The Gaia hypothesis covers topics that affect Earth's inhabitability such as the stability of global temperatures, the salinity of seawater, atmospheric oxygen levels, maintenance of liquid water in the atmosphere, and other environmental variables. The originality of the Gaia hypothesis relies on the assessment that such homeostatic equilibrium, any self-regulating process by which biological systems have to maintain stability, is actively pursued to keep the optimal conditions for life sustenance. Different variables of Gaia     

Regulation of global surface temperature Daisy-world simulations: Mathematical model to sustain the Gaia hypothesis Regulation of oceanic salinity Regulation of oxygen in the atmosphere Processing of CO 2

Regulation of global surface temperature: The planet Earth is heating up; temperatures have been rising worldwide since the Industrial Revolution, and the cause is a combination of human activity and some natural variability. According to a temperature analysis conducted by NASA scientists, the average global temperature on Earth has risen slightly above 1°C since 1880. The global average surface air temperature for the period 1951–1980 was 14°C. Since phanerozoic life came into existence on Earth (500 Myr), the EMR energy reaching the Earth from the Sun has increased by about 30%, but the Earth's global surface temperature remains at the level of habitability. CO2 plays an important role in the maintenance of Earth's temperature within the range of habits, despite an increase in solar radiation reception. The CLAW hypothesis, named after the Gaia hypothesis-inspired proposers (Charlson, Lovelock, Andreae, and Warren), proposes a feedback loop that operates between ocean ecosystems and the Earth's climate. The CLAW hypothesis specifically suggests special phyto7