163ECO-CHRONICLE

THE EFFECT OF FIRING TEMPERATURE AND MOLARITY ON THE STRUCTURAL ANDELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF NANO PARTICLES OFNICKEL- COBALT OXIDE.

Nisha J. Tharayil1, R. Raveendran1 and Alexander Varghese Vaidyan2

1Department of Physics, Sree Narayana College, Kollam, Kerala.2Department of Chemistry, St.Stephen’s College, Pathanapuram, Kerala.

ABSTRACTNano particles of Nickel-Cobalt Oxide were prepared by chemical co-precipitation method bydecomposition of their respective metal chlorides, sodium carbonate and Ethylene Diamene Tetraacetic Acid (EDTA).The metal chlorides were taken in different molar ratios but the total molarityremains the same as 0.5M. The influences of molarity on the formation of nano particles of Nickel-Cobalt oxide were analyzed. The heat treatment of the ground precursor powders at their respectivedecomposition temperatures and beyond, resulted in the evolution of heat from the combustion of theresidual carbonaceous material. This facilitated the reaction among the constituent metal ions andthe formation of the desired oxide phase at low temperature. The average particle size was determinedfrom X-ray diffraction line broadening and the diffractogram was compared with JCPDS data to identifythe crystallographic phase of the particles. The shift in the d-value due to the nano nature was alsoanalyzed. The effect of sintering on the particle size was also analyzed. The low temperature DCconductivity studies of the samples were carried out and it was seen that for Spinel structure, theactivation energy was found to be 0.14552eV for the temperature range 100K-250K and 0.09030eV forthe temperature range 250K-350K and for the cubic structure, it was found to be 0.5145eV for thetemperature range 100K-245K and 0.5836eV for the range 245K-350K. The conductivity in thetemperature range 250K-350K was much larger than in the range 100K-250K.

Key words: Nano particles, Chemical co-precipitation, Thermogravimetric analysis, SEM, Lowtemperature DC conductivity

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, 163 - 170

INTRODUCTION

Nano crystalline materials are solids composedof crystallites with characteristic size (at least onone dimension) of a few nanometers (Richardand Earl, 2005). The discovery of these materialsby Gleiter can be viewed as one of the mostfascinating ones of the past decades. Researchinto the synthesis and properties of nano scalematerials has exploded over the past decadedue to their unique size dependent propertiesthat often differ considerably from their bulk phasematerials. Research in the field of fine grainmixed oxide systems have gained immenseimportance because of their potentialapplications in many areas of technology (Slick,1980). The present study deals with thepreparation and characterization of mixed spineloxide systems with the general formula AB2O4where A and B represent divalent or trivalentcations such as Ni and Co respectively. The ionsat both A and B sites can be tetrahedrally andoctahedrally co-ordinated by the oxygen atoms.

Thus these types of compounds can displaymany complicated chemical and physicalproperties (Dimitar et. al., 2003). Nickel-CobaltOxide is one of the transparent conductingoxides. It is a P-type conducting material and apromising infrared transparent conducting oxidebecause of its infrared transparency, stability inoxygen, ease of preparation, phase purity andhigh conduction. Nickel doped cobalt oxideshows p-type semi conducting behavior, similarto intrinsic spinel cobalt oxide (Tareen, 1989).Spinel nano crystals are important technologicalmaterials because they have a wide range ofapplications ranging from ultra high magneticdata storage, magnetic resonance imaging,sorbents, drug delivery, battery materials,catalysts, biosensing to nano electronicmaterials etc. (Zhang and Chen, 2006). In thispaper, investigations were carried out primarilywith the following objectives in mind.

a. In synthesizing Nickel - Cobalt Oxide bychemical co-precipitation method, the effect ofmolarity of Nickel Chloride solution and Cobalt

164 ECO-CHRONICLEChloride solution on the formation of Nickel-Cobalt Spinel Oxide.b. The effect of sintering temperature on theformation of Nickel - Cobalt Oxide.c. To check whether molarity change affect thelow temperature DC conductivity of the sample.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Nano particles of Nickel-Cobalt Oxide wereprepared by arrested precipitation from analyticalgrade Cobalt Chloride, Nickel Chloride andSodium Carbonate using Ethylene DiameneTetra acetic Acid (EDTA) as the capping agent,the details of which are given elsewhere (Joseet. al., 2001). The samples were prepared from0.5M solution. The choice of selection of 0.5M isa compromise between quantity and quality. Ifwe go for low molarities, the quantity obtainedwill be very small; on the other hand highmolarities will increase the size of the nanoparticles. The metal carbonate precipitate wasseparated from the reaction mixture and washedseveral times with alcohol and then with distilledwater to remove impurities, including the tracesof EDTA and the original reactants if any. The wetprecipitate was dried and thoroughly groundusing an agate mortar to obtain the metalcarbonate precursor in the form of fine powder.On heating to the required temperature, the metalcarbonate precursor decomposed to form metaloxide. In this process the particle size isgoverned by the solution concentration, rate ofprecipitation and calcination temperature(Ashuthosh Sharma et. al., 2004). In the presentstudy, two combinations were taken, which aredefined as:a. Nickel Chloride in 0.4 molarity of the solutionand the Cobalt Chloride in 0.1 molarity and thesample formed out of this is denoted from hereonwards by the code CN.b. Nickel chloride in 0.1 molarity of the solutionand Cobalt Chloride in 0.4 molarity of the solutionand the sample formed out of this is denotedfrom here onwards by the code CoNi.

Characterization of the sample

The calcination temperature of the carbonateprecursor was determined from TGA and DTAanalysis. The TGA and DTA of the samples weretaken using Perkin- Elmer, diamond TG/DTA.The XRD study was carried out by using an‘X’pert pro model X-ray diffractometer employingCu K radiation (PAN analytical, Netherlands) at

40KV and 100mA at a scanning rate of 80minute-

1 from 2 =50to 800 . The SEM photographs of thesamples were recorded with a Hitachi Model S-3000H scanning electron microscope. Pelletsof nano particles of Nickel-Cobalt Oxide ofdiameter 13 mm and thickness 1-2 mm weremade by applying a pressure of 4 tones in ahand operated hydraulic press. Using thesepellets, the low temperature conductivity wasmeasured using a computer controlled TSCapparatus in the temperature range 100K- 350K.

RESULTSAND DISCUSSION

Thermal analysis

The precursor on heating decomposes to formNickel-Cobalt Oxide. Thermo gravimetricanalysis of the carbonate precursor was carriedout to determine the decomposition temperatureand the rate of decomposition. The TGA analysiswas performed in the temperature range from28o C to 800oC at a heating rate of 15oC/minuteunder nitrogen atmosphere. The TGA curve ofthe carbonate precursor, together with thecorresponding derivative thermo gravimetry curveis as shown in Figs. 1. a & b.

The decomposition temperatures were found tolie between 3000c and 3500c. Thus the heattreatment of the ground precursor powders attheir respective decomposition temperature andbeyond, resulted in the evolution of heat fromthe combustion of the residual carbonaceousmaterial. This facilitates the reaction among theconstituent metal ions and the formation of thedesired oxide phase at a relatively low externaltemperature. The decomposition temperature inboth cases were found to be at 3500 C .

XRD analysis

The precursor powders of CN and CoNi werecalcined at temperatures 3000 C, 5000C, 7000Cand 9000C for 3 hours each. All the XRD patternsrevealed that the Nickel - Cobalt Oxide preparedwere crystalline. The XRD patterns of the calcinedsamples are shown in Figs. 2. a & b.

The XRD studies revealed that the nano particlesof mixed oxide formed by chemical method werecrystalline. The fine particle nature of the mixedoxide was reflected in the X-ray line broadening.The relative crystalline sizes were determinedfrom the XRD line broadening, using the Scherrer

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equation d = 0.9 / cos (Cullity, 1978). Theparticle size for various calcination temperaturesare as shown in Table 1. From the Table it isclear that with the increase in sinteringtemperature, particle size also increased. Thisindicated that the size of the crystallites can be

adjusted by controlling the temperature of thereaction.

The XRD analysis of CoNi, when compared withJCPDS (File No 40-1191) revealed the presenceof a cubic phase. The lattice parameter wascalculated as a = 8.12nm ( 0.003) A0, whichwas found to be in agreement with JCPDS value.In the diffractometer, the angle (d-spacing) andintensities of the high angle reflected beamsserved as a finger print for the crystal structure.The XRD pattern, when compared with JCPDSrevealed the structure as Spinel Oxide. The mostintense peak (intensity 100) was from the (311)plane which correspond to an angle of 2 = 36.692890 .

Sintering Particle size Particle sizetemperature in nm for CoNi in nm for CN

As prepared 17 ± 5 15±55000 C 24 ± 5 33±57000 C 34 ± 5 34±59000 C 35 ± 5 39±5

Table 1.

Fig. 1a TGA of CoNi

Fig.1b TGA of CN

166 ECO-CHRONICLEThe XRD analysis of CN, when compared withJCPDS (File No 40-1191) also revealed thepresence of a cubic phase. The lattice parameterwas calculated as a = 8.12nm ( 0.003) A0, whichwas found to be in agreement with JCPDS value.The most intense peak (intensity 100) was fromthe (311) plane which correspond to an angle of2 = 43.146920 .This peak was that of cubicCo3O4 (JCPDS File No.78-0643). Here the Nickel-Cobalt Oxide formed has no spinel structure asthe most intense peak was at 43.14692 A0.

The presence of the cubic NiO phase appearedin the sample of CoNi fired at 7000 C and 9000 Cand in all samples of CN and co-existed with theNi Co2O4 in greater quantities .Two peaks of NiOfrom the planes (200 and 220) were seen in theXRD pattern of CoNi and a single peak of NiOfrom the plane (220) was seen in CN (JCPDSFile No.78-0643).

The cell parameter of the NiO within thistemperature range changed little and remainedclose to the literature value of 4.176A0, indicatinglittle structural interaction between the twophases. Therefore NiO must be considered asa separate entity to NiCo2O4 and not merely asurface species. Further more, the existence ofa solid solution of the form NiO-Co3O4 can beexcluded. The surface coverage of NiCo2O4 byNiO for the material fired at higher temperatureswould then explain the loss of electrochemicalperformance evident from literature reports. Theloss of activity may also be due to the reductionin the surface area associated with the formationof the NiO layer (Lapham and Tseung, 2004).

It should be noted that the difference betweenpowder diffraction patterns of NiCo2O4 and Co3O4is unsurprisingly, very slight and the closeinspection of high angle diffraction lines is often

Fig.2a XRDof CoNi

CoNi 2 dobserved dcal difference h, k, l a Mean a

18.82 4.71 4.68 0.03 111 8.16 8.1231.16 2.87 2.87 0.04 220 8.1136.70 2.45 2.45 0.02 311 8.1244.60 2.03 2.03 0 400 8.1259.06 1.56 1.56 0 511 8.1264.98 1.44 1.43 0.01 440 8.11

CN 37.26 2.09 2.45 0.36 311 8.13 8.13

Table 2.

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necessary in order to assess the presence ofsmaller quantities of Co 3O4 (Lapham andTseung, 2004). Table 2 gives the latt iceparameter and (hkl) values of the differentplanes of the prepared samples of CoNi andCN and the change in the d-values of the sample.The slight change in the d-values can beattributed to the nano sized species of Nickel -Cobalt Oxide (Rath and Kumar, 2004).

The XRD peaks were broadened due to the nanocrystalline nature of the particles. These nanocrystals have lesser lattice planes compared tothe bulk, which contributed to the broadening ofpeaks in the diffractogram. This broadening ofthe peaks could also arise due to the microstraining of the crystal structures arising fromdefects like dislocations, twinning etc. Thesewere believed to be associated with thechemically synthesized nano crystals as theygrow spontaneously during chemical reaction.As a result, chemical ligands get negligible timeto diffuse to an energetically favorable site. Itcould also arise due to lack of sufficient energyneeded by an atom to move to a proper site informing the crystallite (Ward et. al., 2005).

Microstructural studies

For microstructural analysis, the as -synthesized samples were directly transferredto the chamber of the SEM without disturbing theoriginal nature of the products. The SEM images

Fig.3 a. SEM of CoNi

Fig.3. b. SEM of CN

1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 6 0 7 0

0

5 0 0

1 0 0 0

1 5 0 0

2 0 0 0

2 5 0 0

3 0 0 0

3 5 0 0

4 0 0 0

(22

0)

pla

ne

of

NiO(3

11

) p

lan

e o

f C

o3O

4

(31

1)

pla

ne

of

NiC

o2O

4

Co

un

ts

0 2 T h e ta

a s p r e p a r e d5 0 0 0 C7 0 0 0 C9 0 0 0 C

Fig. 2b XRDof CN

168 ECO-CHRONICLEof samples are shown in Figs.3 (a & b). TheSEM picture revealed that the particles are moreor less elongated in shape in CoNi and sphericalin CN. Moreover the particle size can beestimated to lie in the range10-50nm. Thedifferences in particles due to changes inmolarities were clear from the SEM photographs.

Low temperature DC conductivity studies

The low temperature conductivity studies werecarried out in the temperature range 100K-350KThe conductivity for CoNi at the lowesttemperature measurement (100K) was found tobe 9.21x10-6 s m-1 which increased to 2.32x10-3

s m-1 at 350K.The overall increase of conductivityover the temperature range from 100K-350K wasabout three order of magnitude, where as in thecase of CN the conductivity for the lowesttemperature measurement (100K) was found tobe 4.81x 10-12, which increased to 5.75x10-6 at350K. The overall increase of conductivity overthe temperature range from 100K-350K wasabout six orders of magnitude. The Arrheniusplots of DC conductivity are shown in figs. 4 (a -c).

It can be seen from the figs. 4 (a - c) that theconductivity increases with increase intemperature and changes by about three ordersof magnitude for CoNi and six orders ofmagnitude for CN, in the temperature rangeinvestigated. The rise in conductivity may be dueto thermally generated carriers in the sample,and hence Arrhenius type of conductionbecomes apparent. A change in the slope ofArrhenius plot was observed. It is reported thatslight change in the slope is related to transition

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

-12

-11

-10

-9

-8

-7

-6

-5

ln c

ondu

ctiv

ity(s

m-1)

1000/T K-1

100 K-250K

2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7-7.4

-7.2

-7.0

-6.8

-6.6

-6.4

-6.2

-6.0ln

con

duct

ivity

1000/T K-1

250K-350K

Fig. 4a. Low temperature DC conductivity of CN

Fig. 4c. Low temperature DC conductivity of CN

Fig. 4b. Low temperature DC conductivity of CN

temperature (Prasad, 2000). But in our case, aphase transition was not found from XRD. Theslight changes in slope may be due tocontributions from different regions in the nanocomposite material (i.e. from grains, grainboundary etc.), where appearance(disappearance) of space charge polarizationtakes place accompanied with a change inactivation energy (Syed et. al., 2006). Thechanges can also be related to changes inconduction mechanism. From the literature it isseen that the conductivity in Nickel-Cobalt SpinelOxide is due to polaron hopping (Windisch,2002). The activation energy values werecalculated from the slopes of Arrhenius plots byfitting the experimental data to the Arrheniusrelation dc = 0 exp (-E/kT), where E is theactivation energy, k Boltzmann’s constant, 0 aconstant and T is the temperature in Kelvin. Thevalues obtained were 0.14552eV the temperaturerange from 275K-350K and .09030eV from 100K-

169ECO-CHRONICLE250K, and that for CN were 0.5145 eV in thetemperature range100K-245K and 0.5836 eV inthe temperature range 245K-350K.

CONCLUSION

The experimental results lead to the followingconclusions on the properties of nano sizedNickel-Cobalt Oxide.

Thermal analysis showed that thedecomposition temperature of the carbonateprecursor was 3500 C for both the molarities.The low temperature (3000 C-3500 C) exothermicdecomposition of the carbonaceous materialpresent in the precursor powder reduces theprocessing temperature for the preparation offine particles of this mixed oxide system.

The X-ay diffractogram, when compared withJCPDS data, confirmed a Spinel structure forCoNi at 2=36.69289 0 from the plane (311) andfor CN, the spinel structure was not formed asthe most prominent peak was at 2 =43.14693 0

The XRD pattern confirmed that in the sampleCoNi, the Nickel-Cobalt Oxide formed has spinelstructure where as in CN it has no spinel form.The slight change in d-value can be attributed tothe nano sized species of Nickel-Cobalt Oxide.As the sintering temperature increased, theparticle size also increased. When the annealingtemperature increased, the particles havegradually conglomerated to big clusters. Thepresence of the cubic NiO phase appeared inthe sample fired at 7000 C and 9000C, co existedwith the Ni Co2O4 in greater quantities in the caseof CoNi.

It is concluded that for the formation of Nickel-Cobalt spinel oxide, it is recommended to takethe molarity combination of CoNi and thesintering should be kept below 5000 C.

The values of activation energy obtained were0.14552eV the temperature ranged from 275K-350K and 0.09030eV from 100K-250K. and thatfor CN were 0.5145 eV in the temperaturerange100K-245K and 0.5836 in the temperaturerange 245K-350K.

The slight changes in slopes of the Arrheniusplot may be due to contributions from differentregions in the nano composite material (i.e. fromgrains, grain boundary etc.), where appearance(disappearance) of space charge polarization

takes place accompanied with a change inactivation energy.

REFERENCES

Ashutosh Sharma, Jayesh Bellare and ArchanaSharma. 2004. Advances in nano science andNano Technology, National Institute of Sciencecommunication and information resources, p.185.

Cullity, B.D. 1978. Elements of X-ray diffraction,Addison - wesley publishing company Inc.California, p. 102.

Dimitar, G., Klissurski, Ellie, L. and Uzunova.2003. Cation - deficient nano - dimensionalparticle size cobalt - manganese spinel mixedoxides, Appl. Sur. Scie., 214, 370 - 374.

Jose, J. and Abdul Khader, M. 2001. Role of grainboundaries on the electrical properties of ZnO -Ag nano composites: An impedancespectroscopic study, 49, 729 - 735.

Lapham, D. P. and Tseung, A.C.C. 2004. Theeffect of preparation technique and compositionon the electrical properties of nickel cobalt oxideseries NixCOl - xOy. Jr. of Mater. Sci. 39, 251.

Prasad, N.V. 2000. Studies on rare earthsubstituted Bismuth layered ferroelectro-magnetic ceramics, Ph. D. Thesis, OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad.

Rath, M.K. and Kumar, J. 2004. A simple polyolprocess for synthesis of silver nanowires.Proceedings of International symposium onAdvanced Materials and Processing, p. 1349.

Richard Booker and Earl Boysen. 2005.Nanotechnology, Wiley Publishing Inc., USA. 10.

Slick, P. I. 1980. Ferromagnetic materials (E. P.Wohlforth, Newyork: North Holland) Vol. 2P, 189.

Syed Mahboob, Prasad, G. and Kumar, G.S. 2006.Electrical conduction in (Na0.125Bi0.125Ba0.65Ca0.1)(Nd0.065Ti0.87Nb0.065)O3 ceramic, Bull. Mater. Sci.Vol.29, pp.35.

Tareen, J. A. K., Malecki, A., Doumerc, J. P.,Launay, J. C., Dordor, P. Pouchard andHagenmuller, P. 1989. Growth and electricalproperties of pure and Ni doped Co3O4 singlecrystals, Mater. Resea. Bull.19, 8.

170 ECO-CHRONICLEWarad, H. C., Ghosh, S. C., Hemtanon, B.,Thanachayanont, B. and Dutta, J. 2005. Scienceand technology of advanced materials, 6, 296 -301.

Windisch, C.F., Ferris, K.F., Exarhos, G.J. andSharma, S.K. 2002. Conducting spinel oxide

films with infrared transparency. Thin Solid Films,420, 89 - 99.

Zhang, H.T. and Chen, X.H. 2006. Size dependentx - ray photoelectron spectroscopy and complexmagnetic properties of CoMn 2O4 spinelnanocrystals, 17, 1384 - 1390.

171ECO-CHRONICLE

ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING AND HYDRO-CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TWOTROPICAL RESERVOIRS OF SOUTH INDIA WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO

POTABILITY.

R.S. Baiju 1, V. Sobha 1, D. Padmalal 2, B. Baijulal 1, A. Krishna Kumar 1, and V. Njanaprakash 3

1 Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus,Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

2 Environmental Sciences Division, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Akkulam,Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

3 Kerala State Land Use Board, Vikas Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

ABSTRACT

An indisputable and inseparable bond exists between freshwater bodies and human beings. In thecoming decade, caring for water and sharing it is a challenge for humanity. The present investigationaddresses to the water quality aspects of two reservoirs-Peppara and Aruvikkara- which supply drinkingwater to the Thiruvananthapuram city and its suburban areas. The physico-chemical characteristics ofwater samples were analyzed systematically with standard procedures. The values analyzed wereevaluated in detail and compared with water quality standards prescribed by various national andinternational organizations. An overall assessment of the quality of water samples indicate that thephysical parameters are considerably higher in Aruvikkara, but in the case of chemical parameters,Peppara reservoir showed comparatively higher quantities of almost all the parameters than Aruvikkara.Gibbs model has been worked out, correlating Na/Na+Ca against TDS. These studies revealed thatthe overall hydro geochemical environment of the reservoirs is controlled by the cumulative effects ofprecipitation and chemical weathering.

Key words: Hydro-chemical status, Environmental Setting, Tropical reservoirs, Gibbs Model

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, pp: 171 - 180

INTRODUCTION

Water is a common heritage. Water is not onlythe most important essential constituent of allanimals, plants and other organisms but also itis pivotal for the survivality of the mankind in thebiosphere (Sharma, 2000). Humancommunities have been polluting water sincecivilization began .Water is going to be one ofthe major issues confronting humanity in thecoming decades (Rosegrant, 1995). Safedrinking water is a vital requirement to humanbeing and its availability is so important incontributing the overall socio- economicdevelopment of a nation (LIamas, 1993). Theescalation in the population and the quest for

continued development are leading to conflictingpressures on water resources (Kraas, 1997;Bohra et al., 2004). An estimate by World Bankreports reveals that by the year 2025, about 3.25bil lion people in 52 countries wil l l ive inconditions of acute water shortage (Serageldin,1995). Indian sub-continent is one of the wettest placeson Earth (Subramanian, 2000).India possessesabout 4 % of the total average annual runoff ofthe world. The percapita availability of naturalrunoff is estimated to be 2500 Cu meters/ year(National Water Policy, 1987). The total averageannual water potential is 1880 km3. Over to thetopographical constraints, only 1110 km3 of theavailable water can be put into beneficial use.

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Kerala, the second most rainfed state in Indiahas 44 rivers and a numerous freshwater bodies.As per national norm, Kerala doesn’t have asingle major river. The total catchment area ofall the 44 rivers together is only 37,884 sq. kmhaving a total discharge of 77,900 Mm3 (PWD,1974). The state receives an average annualrainfall of about 3000 mm which makes it thesecond most rain fed state in India, next toAssam (Upendran, 1997 and Nambudripad,1998).

METHODOLOGY

Water samples (10 stations from Peppara and5 from Aruvikkara) were collected using Ruttnertype water sampler for one period. Thetemperature and pH of the water samples wereanalyzed on board. The other chemicalparameters were analyzed in the laboratory usingstandard methods (APHA, 1998).

STUDY AREA AND ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING

Karamana River has a catchment area of 702sq. km, out of which about 247 sq. km. areaupstream to Aruvikkara town, comprising theAruvikkara and Peppara reservoirs(Figs. 2&3)Karamana River is a 5th order stream. The riverexhibits a dentritic drainage pattern. In the upperreach, the tributaries and their subsidiarychannels often show sub parallel pattern. Trellisdrainage pattern is also noted (Fig. 4).In Kerala;reservoirs are constructed mainly for generatingelectricity, irrigating agricultural areas andsupplying water to communities. Reservoirsprovide benefits to the people, regulate climateand influence the socio- environmental regimeof the adjacent regions that host the reservoir.The Peppara and Aruvikkara reservoirs areconstructed in the upper reaches of theKaramana River upstream to Aruvikkara town(Fig. 1). These reservoirs and their catchmentslie between North lat. 8° 31 ’- 8° 42’ and East

long. 77° 0 ’- 77° 15’. They fal l under thejurisdiction of Nedumangad Taluk of theThiruvananthapuram district. The waterrequirements of the Thiruvananthapuram cityand its suburban areas are met from thesesources.

Physiographically the highlands exhibit steep tovery steep hill ranges with swiftly flowing streams.The remaining portions, in general, exhibitmoderately to steeply slopping ridges. Gentlyslopping to moderately slopping spurs are foundon the down stream part of the study area (Fig.5).The study area consists of almosthomogenous rock types, namely the Khondalites(Garnet- Sillimanite gneiss with or withoutGraphite), Charnockites, Hypersthene- Diopsidegneiss, Garnet- Biotite gneiss with associatedMigmatites and certain intrusive rocks. Pyroxenegranulites, Quartzites and Calc- granulites arethe major intrusive rock of the study area (Fig. 6).The change in river course and channelorientation is controlled at many places by thefracture zones and joint planes. The study areais blanketed by three major soil types viz. 1) forestloam 2) lateritic soil and 3) riverine alluvium (Fig.7). The climate of the study area is tropical humidclimate with a temperature variation of 22- 320C.The rainfall is reasonably high compared to theother parts of the state.

The temperature of the overlying waters of thePeppara reservoir varied between 27ºC and 33ºCand the pH between 6.2 and 8.4. The Pepparareservoir showed a mixed trend in pH. The pHvalues, only in two stations, recorded lower levelsthan the standard limit of 6.5 – 8.5, prescribedby BIS. The turbidity found to be ranged from 0.1to 5.9 NTU with a average of 2.23 NTU. Here theturbidity was found to be very low. The totalhardness ranged between 4.0 and 14 mg/ l andthis value was very low compared to the potabilitylimit of 300 mg/ l prescribed by BIS and ICMR.The total solid concentration varied from 83.0 to

173ECO-CHRONICLE Peppara reservoir Aruvikkara reservoir

Fig.44

Fig. 5

Fig. 1 Fig. 2

Fig. 8 Gibbs diagram

Fig.1 Study area

174 ECO-CHRONICLE

349 mg/ l with an average of 156.36 mg/ l. Thetotal dissolved solid (TDS) concentration wasbetween 14.0 and 61.0 mg/ l (average of 31.13mg/ l). The bicarbonate which causes the totalalkalinity, ranged from 30- 120 mg/ l.

The dissolved oxygen (DO) content of thePeppara reservoir varied between 7.703 and9.325 mg/ l (average of 8.67 mg/ l). The BODvalue varied from 0.405 to 4.054 mg/ l. Nitrateconcentration was found to be in the range of

3

1

2

4

10

9

8

57

6

Legend

Sediment and water

Fig.8. Sampling stations-Peppara Reservoir

Parameters BIS ICMR CPHEEO WHO IS-10500 Peppara Aruvikkara-1984 -1983 Reservoir Reservoir

Colour 5 HU 2.5 HU 5 HU Pt.scale 5 10 HU < 2 HU < 2 HUOdour Agreeable UO UO UO UO Agreeable AgreeablepH 6.5- 8.5 7.0- 8.5 7.0- 8.5 7.0- 8.5 6.5- 8.5 6.8 7.09Turbidity 10 NTU 5 JTU 2.5 JTU 2.5 JTU 10 NTU 2.23 NTU 8.54 NTUTDS 500 mg/l 500 mg/l 500 mg/l 500 mg/l - 31.13 mg/l 36.56 mg/lNitrate 45 mg/l 20 mg/l 70 mg/l 45 mg/l 45 mg/l 0.176 mg/l 0.143 mg/lPhosphate - - - - - 0.03 mg/l 0.05 mg/lSulphate 200 mg/l 200 mg/l 200 mg/l 200 mg/l 150 mg/l 4.28 mg/l 3.84 mg/lChloride 250 mg/l 200 mg/l 200 mg/l 200 mg/l 250 mg/l 25.67 mg/l 31.33 mg/lHardness 300 mg/l 300 mg/l 200 mg/l 200 mg/l 300 mg/l 7.3 mg/l 8.46 mg/lCalcium 75 mg/l 75 mg/l 75 mg/l 75 mg/l 75 mg/l 1.75 mg/l 2.14 mg/lMagnesium 30 mg/l 50 mg/l 30 mg/l 30 mg/l 30 mg/l 0.72 mg/l 0.75 mg/l

Table.1. Comparative evaluation of the observed values of the present study against thevarious drinking water quality standards

BIS- Bureau of Indian Standards ICMR- Indian Council of Medical ResearchWHO- World Health Organization IS-Indian StandardsCPHEEO-Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Office

Fig.8. Sampling stations-Aruvikkara Reservoir

WaterLegend

175ECO-CHRONICLE

0.022- 0.321 mg/ l with an average of 0.176 mg/l. The allowed limit of nitrate for drinkingaccording to WHO and BIS is 45mg/ l; (Table.1).Phosphate concentration was found to beranged from 0.008 to 0.151 mg/ l (average of0.03 mg/ l). A range of 0.014 – 0.072 mg/ l wasobserved in the case of total nitrogen and thetotal phosphorus ranged between 0.016 and0.176 mg/ l.

The chloride concentration ranged from 15.62 to32.66 mg/ l with an average of 25.67 mg/ l andthis value is well below the desirable limit of 200mg/l prescribed by ICMR and WHO for potabilitypurposes. The sulphate values varied from0.702- 9.691mg/ l(average of 4.28 mg/ l). Theproposed limit of sulphates by BIS, ICMR and

WHO for drinking purpose is fixed to be 150 mg/l, and the sulphate concentration of the watersamples of the Peppara reservoir were withinthe prescribed limits. Calcium concentration ofPeppara reservoir varied between 0.802 and3.206 mg/ l( an average of 1.75 mg/ l). Thedesirable limit for drinking purpose proposedby WHO is 75mg/ l. A range of 0.49- 3.206 mg/ lwas reported in this reservoir for magnesium(avg. 0.723 mg/ l). The prescribed limit proposedby WHO for magnesium is 30 mg/ l and the watersamples analyzed were within this limit. Sodiumconcentration found to range between 1.1- 2.4mg/ l and in the case of potassium a range of0.2 – 0.7 mg/ l was reported in this reservoir.

The temperature was found range between 28ºC

Table.2. Values of various physico-chemical parameters of water samples analyzed from the tworeservoirs

Parameters Unit Peppara reservoir Aruvikkara Reservoiranalyzed Min. Max. Average Min. Max. Average

Temperature 0C 27.0 33.0 30.26 28.0 34.0 30.83pH - 6.2 8.4 6.8 6.3 7.7 7.09Turbidity NTU 0.1 5.9 2.23 6.9 11.0 8.5Conductivity µmhos/cm 25.9 63.3 38.47 41.6 98.5 59.88Hardness mg/l 4.0 14.0 7.3 4.0 12.0 8.46TS mg/l 83.0 349.0 156.36 90.0 684.0 179.88TSS mg/l 56.0 301.0 125.23 56.0 620.0 143.30TDS mg/l 14.0 61.0 31.13 13.0 74.0 36.56Total Alkalinity mg/l 30.0 120.0 55.5 40.0 80.0 54.33DO mg/l 7.703 9.325 8.67 4.054 8.109 5.243BOD mg/l 0.405 4.054 1.790 0.810 2.027 1.311Nitrates mg/l 0.022 0.321 0.176 0.018 0.312 0.142Phosphates mg/l 0.008 0.151 0.03 0.023 0.079 0.05Total Nitrogen mg/l 0.014 0.072 0.039 0.012 0.088 0.041Total Phosphorus mg/l 0.016 0.176 0.069 0.089 0.259 0.152Chloride mg/l 15.62 32.66 25.67 28.40 35.50 31.33Sulphate mg/l 0.702 9.691 4.28 1.40 8.006 3.837Calcium mg/l 0.802 3.206 1.75 0.802 3.206 2.14Magnesium mg/l 0.49 3.206 0.723 0.486 1.463 0.747Sodium mg/l 1.1 2.4 1.52 0.90 6.6 2.69Potassium mg/l 0.2 0.7 0.54 0.6 1.7 0.90

176 ECO-CHRONICLE

and 34ºC. The pH varied between 6.3 and 7.7,and turbidity between 6.9- 11 NTU. The averageturbidity value (8.5 NTU) of the Aruvikkarareservoir was comparatively higher than that ofPeppara reservoir (avg. 2.23 NTU). However, thevalues were well within the standard limitprescribed by BIS (i.e., 10 NTU). Conductivityshowed variation from 41.6 to 98.5 µmhos/ cmwith an average (59.88 µmhos/ cm) higher thanthat of Peppara reservoir (38.47µmhos/ cm).Total hardness ranged from 4.0 to 10.0 mg/ lwith an average of 8.46 mg/ l. Total solidconcentration varied from 90 to 684 mg / l withan average of 179. 86 mg/ l. The concentrationof Total Suspended Solids ranged from 56.0 to620 mg / l (average of 143. 30 mg / l.).

Total alkalinity of Aruvikkara reservoir ranged from40.0 to 80.0 mg/ l with an average value of 54.33mg/ l. The Dissolved Oxygen (DO) content rangedfrom 4.054 to 8.109 mg/ l. The BOD varied from0.810 to 2.027 mg/ l and has an average of 1.311

mg / l. Nitrate concentration varied between 0.018and 0.312 mg/ l with an average of 0.142 mg/l.Phosphate ranged from 0.023 to 0.079 mg/ l(average of 0.05). Total nitrogen and Totalphosphorus were found to be range between0.012 and 0.088 mg/ l and 0.089 and 0.259 mg/l respectively. Average values of nitrogen werefound to be 0.041 mg/ l. The respective maximumand minimum values of other parameters arefurnished in Table.2

The concentration of Chloride ranged from 28.40to 35.50 mg/ l with an average of 31.33 mg/ l andthis value is well below the desirable limit of 200mg/l prescribed by WHO for potability purposes.The sulphate values varied from 1.40- 8.006mg/l (average of 3.837 mg/ l). The proposed limit ofsulphates by ICMR and WHO for drinkingpurpose is fixed to be 150 mg/ l, and the sulphateconcentration of the water samples of theAruvikkara reservoir were within the prescribedlimits. Calcium concentration of Aruvikkara

Parameters Pookot Pichola Nainital Victoria Ontario Chelur Sastha Vellayani Peppara Aruvikmcotta kara

(Ref.1) (Ref.2) (Ref.3) (Ref.4) (Ref.5) (Ref.6) (Ref.6) (Ref.7) (present (present

pH 6.73 9.01 8.66 7.8 - 7.47 7.25 7.02 6.8 7.09

EC(µmhos/cm) 34.9 67.0 706 97 - 90 63 123 38.4 59.8

TSSmg/l - - - - - 75.47 95.37 335.7 125.2 143.3

TDSmg/l 25.57 430.0 440.0 - - 42.0 53.33 43.33 31.13 36.56

HCO3mg/l - 235 350 - 115 15.46 21.97 32.53 55.5 54.33

PO4-Pmg/l 0.04 0.10 0.13 - - 0.003 0.002 0.092 0.030 0.050

SO4mg/l - 35.0 98.0 2.5 27.1 BDL BDL 11.28 4.28 3.84

Clmg/l 7.03 73.0 15.0 3.0 26.7 18.9 8.87 18.76 25.67 31.33

Camg/l 2.88 22.0 33.0 3.9 42.9 6.68 7.01 4.87 1.75 2.14

Mgmg/l 1.84 21.0 55.0 2.70 6.40 1.60 2.64 1.63 0.72 0.75

Namg/l - 73.0 13.0 9.0 12.20 10.81 4.33 17.26 1.52 2.69

Kmg/l - 4.0 3.63 4.10 1.44 1.04 1.17 1.49 0.54 0.89

Table.3 Average chemical composition of Peppara and Aruvikkara reservoirs with other freshwaterresources

Ref. 1-Abbasi et al., (1989), Ref.2 –Das and Singh (1996), Ref.3 –Singh (1994), Ref.4 –Visser and Villeneuve(1975), Ref.5 –Burgis and Morris (1987), Ref.6 –Sreejith (1996), Ref.7 –Krishnakumar (1998)

177ECO-CHRONICLE

reservoir varied between 0.802 and 3.206 mg/ l(an average of 2.14 mg/ l). The desirable limit fordrinking purpose proposed by WHO is 75mg/ l. Arange of 0.49- 3.206 mg/ l was reported in thisreservoir for magnesium (avg. 0.723 mg/ l). Theprescribed l imit proposed by WHO formagnesium is 30 mg/ l and the water samplesanalyzed were within this limit. Sodiumconcentration found to range between 0.90- 6.6mg/ l(average of 2.69) and in the case ofpotassium a range of 0.6 – 1.7 mg/ l(average of0.90) was reported in this reservoir.

Water quality- Overall assessment

Here the temperature variations observed weretemporal rather than spatial. One of the reasonsfor the above condition may be the peculiarclimate prevailing in the forest environmentsencircl ing the Peppara reservoir. Theshallowness of the reservoir might be anotherreason (in the case of Aruvikkara reservoir) forthe homothermous nature of these waterbodies. Water temperature was found alwayshigher than the atmospheric temperature but itwas seen that both the air and water temperaturevariations were small, a characteristic feature inthe tropics (Ruttner, 1963; Lewis, 1987). The pHvalues of these reservoirs are found to be withinthe prescribed limits. The Aruvikkara reservoirshowed greater turbidity than Peppara.Productive water bodies found to have slightlyturbid water. A total of four stations in theAruvikkara reservoir showed turbidity valuesexceeding the limit of 10 NTU, the upper limit ofpotable water fixed by BIS. Perhaps the increasein turbidity can be attributed by the dischargepressure of water from Peppara reservoir,constructed in the upstream side of theAruvikkara reservoir. The average conductivity ofPeppara and Aruvikkara reservoirs arecomparable to the other freshwater sources ofKerala (Abbasi et. al., 1989).

Hardness as well as calcium and magnesiumcontents of these reservoirs were generallyconstant throughout the study period. Thesevalues are significantly low compared to the otherfreshwater regimes in India (Das and Singh,1996). The observed average values of hardness,calcium and magnesium were within thepermissible limit prescribed by BIS and WHO.The observed concentration of TDS was underthe desirable limits of the drinking water qualitystandards of BIS, ICMR, CPHEEO and WHO. Themaximum permissible limit of TDS according tothese standards is 500 mg/ l. The averagealkalinity values during the study periods in thesereservoirs were 59.75 mg/ l and 55.0 mg/ l,respectively, which were slightly higher than thatof Sasthamcotta lake reported earlier by Sreejith(1996). No definite trend of dissolved oxygen withalkalinity was found in these two reservoirs, asindicated by Ganapati (1943). The dissolvedoxygen content of almost all the surface watersamples collected from both the reservoirsshowed higher values compared to the bottomwater samples and decreased with increase indepth showing a clinograde distribution (Reidand Wood, 1976). Such type of distribution ofoxygen is characteristic of a productive reservoir(Sreenivasan, 1970). The increase in DO contentwith the surface water samples can be attributedto the mixing of atmospheric oxygen. DO in thebottom waters of the reservoirs will be utilizedfor oxidizing the organic particles, a processillustrated earlier by Babu et al.(1999). In thepresent study, the Peppara reservoir showedBOD values ranging from 0.4053 mg/ l to 4.05mg/ l and in Aruvikkara, it ranged between 0.8106mg/ l and 2.03 mg/ l . Here in these tworeservoirs, nitrates concentrated in almostsimilar proportions. The concentration and rateof supply of nitrogen is intimately connected withthe land use practice of the surrounding.According to BIS and WHO, nitrate content indrinking water should not exceed 45 mg/ l. Herethe average values of nitrate content of water

178 ECO-CHRONICLE

samples from the two reservoirs were well belowwhen compared with the desired limit. Phosphateis one of the elements which are least abundant,being often present in inconceivably small(Ruttner, 1963). Comparatively lower phosphatecontent with the water samples from Pepparathan Aruvikkara can be attributed to theabsorption of phosphates by the growing algae.Sulphate concentration recorded slightly higherin Peppara reservoir compared to Aruvikkara.This can be attributed to the mixing up ofdomestic sewage and other waste watersreleasing out from intense cloth washing andbathing at these sites.

GIBBS MODEL

The HCO3- varies from 30 to 120 mg/ l in thewater resources of the Peppara reservoir. But inAruvikkara, the value ranged between 40 to 80mg/ l. It points moderate chemical weatheringprocesses taking place in the provenance areasof the basin. From the geological map of the studyarea (Fig. 6), it is revealed that, the area ischaracterized by feldspar bearing rocks(Orthoclase and Plagioclase), which uponchemical weathering (Holmes, 1978) canliberate alkali and alkaline earth elements to thefeeder channels of the reservoirs.2Na Al Si3 O8+2H2O+CO2- Al2 Si2 O5

(OH)4+SiO2+Na2CO3 -eq. 1

2K Al Si3 O8+2H2O+CO2- Al2 Si2 O5

(OH)4+SiO2+K2CO3 -eq. 2

Ca Al2 Si3 O8+2H2O+CO2- Al2 Si2 O5

(OH)4+SiO2+CaCO3 -eq. 3

From equations 1-3, it is clear that chemicalweathering of orthoclase (K Al Si3 O8) andplagioclase feldspars (Na Al Si3O8 / Ca Al2 Si3 O8)might be the source of Na+, K+ and Ca++ ions inthe overlying waters of these reservoirs (Dasand Singh, 1996). The abundance of kaolinite in

the clay fraction of the reservoir sedimentsreported by Santhosh (1999) reiterates theforesaid geochemical mechanisms.

The plots of Na/ (Na+Ca) against Total DissolvedSolids (TDS) of the Peppara and Aruvikkarareservoirs fall within the precipitation dominancesector of the phase diagram (Gibbs, 1970) (Fig.8). From this it can be concluded that the overallhydro geochemical environment of the reservoiris controlled by the cumulative effect ofprecipitation and chemical weathering.

The water quality conditions of the Peppara andAruvikkara reservoir systems are closer to thewater quality conditions of the neighboring waterbodies like Vellayani lake (Krishna Kumar etal.,2002) and Sasthamcotta lake (Sreejith,1996)(Table.3) and Neyyar reservoir( Sureshbabu et. al., 1998).

SUMMARY

An overall assessment of the quality of watersamples from the Peppara and Aruvikkarareservoirs indicate that the values of all thephysical parameters were found to beconsiderably higher in the latter than the former.Considering the chemical parameters, Pepparareservoir showed comparatively higherquantities of almost all the parameters like totalalkalinity, DO, BOD, nitrates, phosphates,sulphates, hardness, calcium and magnesiumthan Aruvikkara reservoir. Higher quantities of totalnitrogen, total phosphorus, chloride, sodium andpotassium were noticed with water samplesfrom Aruvikkara reservoir than Peppara. Amongthe physical parameters analyzed, turbidity ofwater samples from some of the stations ofAruvikkara reservoir were found to exceed thelimit prescribed for potability purposes. Amongvarious chemical factors analyzed, averagevalues of Dissolved Oxygen content of watersamples from Aruvikkara reservoir was found

179ECO-CHRONICLE

below the required limit where as BOD of watersamples from Peppara reservoir was found toexceed the permissible limit. All the otherparameters analyzed from both the reservoirswere within the potability limits.

REFERENCES

Sharma, B.M. (2000). Environmental studies.Manipur University, Imphal.

Kevin T. Pickering and Lewis A. Owen, 1997.Water resources and pollution: An introductionto global environmental issues 2 nd editionpublished by Routledge, New York. 187-227.

Rosegrant, M. W., 1995. Water resources in the21st century. Increasing scarcity, Declining qualityand implications for action. – Paper presentedat the conference on the sustainable future ofthe global system, Tokyo, organized by the UnitedNations University and the National Institute forEnvironmental Studies, Japan.

LIamas Ramon, 1993. All of Us. Environmentaleducation dossiers, Centre UNESCO deCatalunya, Mallorca. 4: 285.

Subramanian, 2000. Water, Quantity-QualityPerspective in South Asia. Kingston InternationalPublishers. Surrey, United Kingdom. 256 pp.

Kraas, 1997. “Managing resources in Mega-cities”: Water as a bottleneck factor in Bangkok;117- 127.

Bohra, N.K., Mutha, S., and Aggarwal, P.K. (2004).Bio-Ecology of Potable Water: In Aravind Kumarand G. Thripathi (Ed.). Water pollution-Assessment and Management. Daya PublishingHouse, New Delhi. pp. 361-369.

Serageldin, I., 1995. Water resourcesmanagement: A new policy for sustainable future-Water International. 20: 15- 21.

National Water Policy, 1987. Ministry of WaterResources, Govt. of India, New Delhi.

PWD, 1974. Water resources of Kerala, Govt. ofKerala, Thiruvananthapuram

Upendran, N. 1997. Water resources of Kerala-Potential and utilization. Proceedings of theworkshop on water quality problems with specialreference to drinking water in Kerala, CWRDM,Kozhikode. 1-12.

Nambudripad, K.D. 1998. Surface waterresources of Kerala. Water scenario of Kerala, Acompendium of background papers on the focaltheme of 10th Kerala Science Congress, StateCommittee on Science, Technology andEnvironment, Kerala. 7-18.APHA, 1998. Standard methods for theexamination of water and wastewater. 20 th Edn,American Public Health Association, WashingtonD.C. 10268

Ruttner, F., 1963. Fundamentals of Limnology.University of Toronto press, Toronto, Canada.295.

Lewis, W.M. Jr., 1987. Tropical Limnology. Ann.Rev. Ecol. Syst. 18: 84- 159.

Abbasi, S.A., Nair, S.R., Vasu, K., Padmini, V andNirmala, E., 1989. Management andconservation of Pookot lake ecosystem in theWestern Ghats. Report submitted to Departmentof Environment, Forests and Wildlife, Govt. ofIndia (CWRDM), 132

Das, B.K. and Singh, M. 1996. Water chemistryand control of weathering of Pichola lake,Udaipur district, Rajasthan, India, Environ. Geo.27: 184- 190.

Sreejith, 1996. Limnology, Hydrogeochemistryand origin of Sasthamcotta and Chelur lakes,

180 ECO-CHRONICLEKollam district, Kerala. M. Phil. Dissertation,Department of Geology, Annamalai University,Tamilnadu

Ganapati, S. V., 1943. An ecological study ofgarden pond containing abundant zooplankton.Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 17: 41- 58.

Reid, G.K. and Wood, R.D., 1976. Ecology ofInland waters and estuaries, ed. Seed (NewYork); London. Toronto D. Van Nostrand Co. 485.

Sreenivasan, A., 1970. Limnological studies inParambikulam Aliyar Project. Aliyar reservoir(Madras state), India. Schweiz Zeitsch. Hydrol.32: 405- 417.

Babu, K.N., Ouseph, P.P. and Padmalal, D.(1999). Interstitial water- sediment geochemistryof N, P and Fe and its response to overlyingwaters of tropical estuaries: A case from theSouth –West coast of India. EnvironmentalGeology.

Holmes Arthur, 1978. Principles of PhysicalGeology. English language book society / VanNostrand Reinhold (UK) Co. Ltd. 3: 57- 102.

Santhosh, V. 1999. Nutrient status in reservoirsediments: A case study- , M. Phil. dissertation,University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.

Gibbs, R. J. 1970. Mechanism control lingWorld’s water chemistry, Science, 170: 1089-1090.

Krishnakumar, A., V. Sobha, and D. Padmalal.2002. Hydrogeochemistry of Vellayani Lake,Kerala with special reference to its drinking waterpotential In: Conservation and Management ofAquatic ecosystems (Ed: K.S. Unni), DayaPublishing House, New Delhi. 44-61.

Suresh babu, D. S., Nandakumar, V., Padmalal,D., John paul, Jayaprasad, B. K. and Thampi, P.K. (1998). Analysis of land, soil and water in theNeyyar reservoir catchment: A case study. ProjectFinal Report submitted to Department of Forestand Wildlife, Government of Kerala.

Singh, M.1994. Environmental Geochemicalstudy of pollution in lakes of Nainital District,Kumaun Himalaya, India. Ph.D.Thesis(Unpublished), 261.

Visser, S.A. and Vil leneuve, J.P., 1975.Similarities and differences in the chemicalcomposition of waters from West, Central andEast Africa. Verh. Int. Ver. Theore. Angew.Limnon., 19: 1416-1426.

Burgis, M.J. and Morris, P. 1987. The naturalhistory of lakes. Cambridge, CambridgeUniversity Press. 218.

Krishnakumar, A. (1998). Hydrogeochemistry ofVellayani freshwater lake with special referenceto drinking water quality, Thiruvananthapuram.M.Phil. Dissertation (Unpublished), University ofKerala.

181ECO-CHRONICLE

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS AND CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS OF MEENACHILRIVER WATERS

Mohan Thomas 1, George Sebastian 1 and G. Karthikeyan 2

1. St. Berchmans College, Changanacherry-686101, Kerala, India2. Gandhigram Rural Institute (Deemed University), Gandhigram-624 302, TamilNadu, India

ABSTRACT

The Meenachil River in the downstream locations is highly polluted due to anthropogenic activities.Backwater and inland-waterways tourism activities using motorboats, and houseboats andurbanization, subsequent to the development of Kumarakom and its suburbs into a major touristdestination have contributed to large-scale pollution. Evaluation of physico-chemical parameters ofwater samples from Meenachil river and its distributaries in north Kuttanad area were carried outduring November, 2004 to March, 2005. The statistical parameters such as mean, mean deviation,standard deviation, (SD), relative standard deviation (RSD) and coefficient of variation (CV) werecalculated. In order to assess the quality of water, the parameters were compared with their standarddesirable limits for drinking water as prescribed by different agencies and sources such as USPH,WHO and ISI. The correlation coefficients amongst parameters were calculated. Significant positiveand negative correlations were observed among the parameters. The water of River Meenachil, in theKuttanad region was found unsuitable for drinking and household purposes.

Key words: River Meenachil, Mean deviation, Standard deviation, Coefficient of variation, Correlationcoefficient.

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, 181- 186

INTRODUCTION

The River Meenachil is one of the major rivers inKerala. It is 78km in length. The river originatesfrom the Western Ghats, flows entirely throughthe Kottayam revenue district and debouchesinto the Vembanad Lake in the North Kuttanadregion. Kadapuzha, Kalathukadavu, Trikovil,Kurisumala, Poonjar and Meenadom are themajor tributaries of the river. The southwest andthe northeast monsoons influence thehydrographical condition of the river. Water flowthrough the river is minimal during the summerseason. Uncontrolled deforestation taking placein the Western Ghats and large-scale sandmining from the riverbed has adversely affectedthe river. The main occupation of the people ofKuttanad is agriculture and they depend on riverwater for drinking, domestic, livestock andagricultural purposes. The river in thedownstream locations has become highlypolluted by the discharge of large quantities ofmunicipal, industrial, and agricultural waste.Increasing incidence of water borne diseasessuch as cholera, typhoid, jaundice andgastroenteritis have been reported from thelower regions of the river basin.

The chemical composition of river water dependson the soluble products of rock weathering anddecomposition and changes with respect to timeand space in addition to the external pollutingagents. The present study evaluated the physico-chemical parameters of the rivers of NorthKuttanad to assess the quality of water andestablish significant correlations amongst theseparameters. Correlation analysis measures thecloseness of the relationship betweenindependent and dependent variables.Interrelation between correlation coefficientsgives an idea of water quality monitoringmethods. The correlations found significant at5%, 1% or 0.1% levels are useful in assessingthe water quality (Tiwari et al., 1986).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Water samples were collected during November2004 to March 2005 from stations located onRiver Meenachil at Nagampadom, Chungam,Illickal and on Kaipuzha Ar, Pennar, Kavan Ar,Chengalam Ar, and the Illickal Ar. The locationsof the stations were fixed in such a way as togive a fairly good coverage of the prevailing

182 ECO-CHRONICLEcomplex environmental conditions of the river inKuttanad. Water samples from 10 identifiedstations were collected in clean polythene bottleswithout air bubbles fol lowing standardprocedures. Temperature was recorded in ºCusing a sensitive (1/10) thermometer. Turbidity,pH, Electrical Conductance (EC) and TotalDissolved Solids (TDS) were measured on thespot using EI Water Analyser. Total alkalinity, Totalhardness and Chloride content were analysedfollowing the methods of APHA (1998). Themethod described in Trivedi and Goel (1986)was adopted for the determination of DissolvedOxygen (DO) and Biological Oxygen Demand(BOD). The remaining parameters were

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Station

Alkalinity(mg/l) BOD Temperature(ºC)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Station

Chloride(ppm) EC(mmhos ) Hardness (ppt)

analysed using EI Spectrophotometer as perAPHA (1998). The Mean, Mean Deviation,Standard Deviation, Relative Standard Deviationand Coefficient of variation were calculated.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The temperature of river water samples were inthe range 28.7°C and 29.4°C (Mean 29.0°C) andthe CV value was 0.862. The mean value forturbidity was 3.78 NTU (CV 12.14). The WHO(1984) prescribed limit of turbidity for drinkingwater is 10. The turbidity values of all watersamples were within the limit. The pH of waterwas in the range 6.58 to 7.06 and the mean value

183ECO-CHRONICLE

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Station

DO(mg/l) Phosphate(mg/l) TDS(ppt)

0

5

10

15

20

25

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Station

Nitrate(mg/l) pH Tu rbidity (NTU)

was 6.85. The desirable limit (BIS, 1983) of pHrange for drinking water was between 6.5 and8.5. The pH of water from all stations was insidethis limit. The mean value of dissolved oxygenwas 4.29. The DO values varied between 5.9and 7.4ppm with a mean value of 4.29ppm. Theprescribed standard of DO for drinking water is5 ppm and above (BIS, 1983). The river water ofal l stations, except Kaipuzha and Pennarshowed DO values below the prescribed range,which could be due to pollution of the water body(De, 2001). CV values for Temperature (0.86),Turbidity (12.14), pH (2.14) and DO (17.99)showed that wide fluctuations of these factorsdid not occur between stations. The high BOD

value (18.97 mg/l) indicated organic pollution ofwater (Dara, 2004). BOD is lower in the upstreamand higher in the downstream locationsindicating heavy load of sewage and othereffluents downstream. The moderately high CVfor BOD (28.97) indicated variations in BODvalues between stations.

The average values of Electrical conductivity,Total hardness and Total dissolved solids were0.458 mmhos/cm, 0.064ppt and 0.045 pptrespectively. The EC, and TDS values observedin the present study were below the standarddesirable limits prescribed for natural waters(1.4 mmhos/cm, 1.0 ppt and 0.5 ppt) by W.H.O

184 ECO-CHRONICLE

(Trivedi and Goel, 1986). EC has a direct bearingon the percentage of total solids (Srinivas et al.,2000). High TDS value of water may be due topollution. Hardness may also be due to theaddition of calcium and magnesium ions to anatural water system as it passes through soilsand rocks containing large amounts of these

elements in mineral deposits (Renn, 1970). Thehigh CV values for EC (42.69), TDS (43.16) andHardness (48.62) indicated significant variationsof these parameters among stations.

The value of alkalinity provides an idea aboutnatural salts present in water. Alkalinity is caused

Sl. Parameter Mean Average Standard Relative Std. Coefficient of

No. Deviation Deviation (SD) Deviation (RSD) Variation (CV)

1 Alkalinity(ppm) 35.95 5.489 6.630 6.290 18.442

2 BOD(mg/l) 18.97 3.985 5.496 5.214 28.973

3 Chloride(ppm) 0.1411 0.055 0.067 0.064 47.627

4 DO(mg/l) 4.29 0.592 0.771 0.732 17.986

5 EC(mmhos/cm) 0.46 0.148 0.195 0.185 42.689

6 Hardness(ppt) 0.0636 0.024 0.031 0.029 48.622

7 Nitrate(mg/l) 13.68 3.076 4.048 3.841 29.602

8 pH 6.85 0.115 0.146 0.139 2.136

9 Phosphate(mg/l) 2.67 0.760 1.016 0.963 38.091

10 TDS(ppt) 0.451 0.165 0.195 0.185 43.181

11 Temperature(ºC) 29.04 0.220 0.250 0.237 0.862

12 Turbidity(NTU) 3.78 0.360 0.459 0.435 12.142

Table 1- The mean values of the parameters of river water together with their Mean deviation(MD),Standard Deviation (SD), Relative Std. Deviation (RSD) and Coefficient of Variation (CV).

*Significant at 5% level, r > 0.553. ** Significant at 1% level, r > 0.684. Significant at 0.1% level, r > 0.780

Parameters Alkali BOD Chloride DO EC Hard Nitrate pH Phosph TDS Temp Turbi

-nity -ness -ate -dity

Alkalinity 1.000

BOD -0.169 1.000

Chloride -0.183 -0.179 1.000

DO -0.487 -0.485 -0.123 1.000

EC -0.094 -0.129 0.970*** -0.185 1.000

Hardness 0.225 0.150 0.768** -0.455 0.819*** 1.000

Nitrate 0.615* -0.202 0.246 -0.432 0.185 0.416 1.000

pH 0.044 0.162 0.007 0.261 0.167 0.211 -0.413 1.000

Phosphate -0.225 0.112 0.437 -0.026 0.291 0.357 0.492 -0.303 1.000

TDS -0.116 -0.112 0.954*** -0.284 0.957*** 0.787*** 0.324 -0.072 0.411 1.000

Temp 0.114 -0.200 -0.230 0.366 -0.298 -0.287 0.072 -0.038 0.341 -0.335 1.000

Turbidity -0.006 -0.240 0.244 -0.347 0.110 -0.095 0.467 -0.839*** 0.345 0.313 -0.050 1.000

Table 2 - The correlation coefficients (r) among various water quality parameters.

185ECO-CHRONICLEby the presence of dissolved minerals in water.The various ionic species that contribute toalkalinity include bicarbonate, hydroxide,phosphate, borate and organic acids. Thesefactors are characteristic of the water source andthe natural processes taking place at any giventime (Sharma, 2004). The mean value of alkalinitywas 35.95 ppm, which was well below theprescribed limit (120 mg/l). The CV of alkalinitywas 18.44, showing that wide variations did notoccur between stations.

The permissible limit of chloride in drinking wateris 250ppm (BIS, 1983). The river water samplesrecorded a mean value of 140ppm for chloride,which was less than the permissible limit of250ppm (BIS, 1983). The presence of chloridein fairly large amounts in the downstreamlocations may be due to the intrusion of salinewater from the Vembanad Lake during summer.The high value of CV for chloride (47.63) indicatedwide variations in chloride content betweenstations.

The phosphate and nitrate content of river watersof North Kuttanad averaged between 2.67 ppmand 13.66 ppm, which were within theprescribed desirable limits set by WHO (1984)(0.1 ppm and 50 ppm). Nitrate contamination inriver water may be due to organic and sewagepollution. Presence of excess nitrate in potablewater causes serious health hazards to humans(Gupta and Saxena, 1997).

The CV value for nitrate (29.6) does not indicatevery large fluctuations in nitrate concentrationbetween stations. The CV value for phosphate(38.09) indicates wide fluctuations of theparameter among stations.

Out of the total 78 correlations betweenparameters, 8 were found to have significantcorrelations (r > 0.533). Out of the eight, onecorrelation was significant at 5% (r >0.553 <0.683), one correlation at 1% (r >0.684 < 0.779)and six correlations at 0.1 % (r >0.780) levels.Some of the highly significant correlations(r>0.950) were discernible between EC, TDS andchloride of river waters. Nitrate had significantcorrelation with alkalinity (r=0.6154). Negativecorrelation was found between pH and turbidity(r=-0.8391).

CONCLUSION

Analyses of river water samples from North-Kuttanad showed that certain parameters likeBOD, EC, TDS, alkalinity, chloride and phosphatewere generally high in many stations and insome they exceeded the desirable limits. Thewater samples from many of the stations werepolluted and therefore not potable. The watersamples from some of the upstream stationswere of better quality and fit for drinking anddomestic purposes. The samples from otherupstream stations were moderately polluted andneeded proper treatments to minimize the effectof contaminants and to make them potable. Thevalues of correlation coefficients and theirsignificance levels will help in selecting properwater treatment methods to el iminatecontamination.

REFERENCES

APHA. 1998. Standard methods for theexamination of water and waste water. AmericanPublic Health Association. Washington.

BIS. 1983. Standards for water for drinking andother purposes. Bureau of Indian StandardsPublication. New Delhi.

Dara, S.S. 2004. A textbook of environmentalchemistry and pollution control. S. Chand &Company. New Delhi.

De, A.K. 2001. Environmental Chemistry. NewAge International. New Delhi.

Gupta, A.K. and Saxena, G.C. 1997. Nitratecontamination in ground waters of Agra and itscorrelation with various water quality parametersincluding heavy metals. Poll. Res. 16 (3): 155 -157.

Renn, C.E. 1970. Investigating water problems.Educational Products Division. LaMotteChemical Products Company; Maryland.

Sharma, M.R. 2004. Assessment of ground waterquality of Hamirpur area in Himachal Pradesh.Poll. Res. 23 (I) : 131 - 134.

Srinivas, C.H., Piska, R.S., Venkateshwar, C.,

186 ECO-CHRONICLERao, M.S.S. and Reddy, R.R. 2000. Studies onground water quality of Hyderabad. Poll. Res. 19(2): 285 - 289.

Tiwari, T.N., Das, S.C. and Bose, P.K. 1986.Correlation among water quality parameters ofground water of Meerut District. Acta Cienc 12(3): 111 - 113.

Trivedi, R.K. and Goel, P.K. 1986. Chemical andbiological methods of water pollution studies.Environmental Publications. Karad.

W.H.O. 1984. Guidelines for drinking waterquality. Vol. I. Recommendations WHO, Geneva.

187ECO-CHRONICLE

PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSES FOR THE GEOLOGICAL ANDGEO MORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES USING LANDSAT TM DATA

B. Poovalinga Ganesh 1, S. Rajendran 1, A. Thirunavukkarasu 1 and G. Bhaskaran 2

1 Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar - 608 0022 Department of Geography, Madras University, Chepauk, Chennai - 600 005

ABSTRACT

Digital Image Processing is one of the best technologies to sort out the required features from theremote sensing data. Principal component analysis enhances the utilities of this technology by reducingthe redundancy of data by separating it into different images. Suruliyar and Koothanichiar subwatersheds, situated in the Theni District, Tamil Nadu, India shows a variety of natural earth resources.Principal component analysis has been performed to delineate the different geological andgeomorphological units of the Suruliyar and Koothanichiar watershed. The interpretation study revealedmajor rock types such as granulite / khondalalite, charnockite, gneisses and recent sediments andgeomorphological units, such as strucutal hill, pediments, bajada and low lying lands by the PCanalyses.

Key words: Geology, Geomorphology, Principal component analyses, LANDSAT TM, Suruliyar andKoothanichiar sub water sheds

INTRODUCTION

The advent of remote sensing has opened upnew vistas in resource mapping with improvedaccuracy. Satellite images provide a wealth ofinformation of large areas of earth’s surface(synoptic view) and serve as a permanent record.Remote sensing data obtained in digital formcan be processed by computers to produceimages for interpretation purposes. A digitalimage is a numerical representation of asampled field. Digital image processing involvesthe manipulation and interpretation of the digitalimages processed by computer to produce newdata to study (Sabins and Floyd, 1987). Usingthese techniques, the earth’s resources can bevigorously analysed and interpreted. In thepresent study, the rapid mappings of geologicaland geomorphological resources wereattempted and the results of analyses werediscussed.

STUDY AREA

The study area is situated in the southern part ofUttamapalayam Taluk, Theni District, TamilNadu, India, between 77°15’E and 78°25’Elongitude and 9°30’N and 9°45’N latitudes (Fig1). It covers an area of approximately 100.19 km2.It is bound in the North - West by the KambamValley. The South of this largest and peculiar valleyis occupied by the Suruliyar and Koothanichiarsub watersheds, which flows from South to Northwestwards and joins the Suruli River. All thesephysiographic units are extended NW-SE toENE-WSW. The major drainage present in thearea is of dendritic pattern.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The satellite data, Landsat TM (2001) and Surveyof India topographic maps were used as majordata sets to the present study. The image

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, pp 187 - 192

188 ECO-CHRONICLE

processing software ENVI 4.2 was used toprocess the data. The geology, structure andgemophological units were checked with thefield work. For mapping purposes, the Arc GIS8.3 was used.

Table.1 Correlation of major geological and geomorphological units of the study area.

Sl. Geological Geomorpho- Height (m) ExtentNo. units logical units

1 Granulite Structural Hill 1225-1960 NE to SW of the area of the R.F/ Khondalite with Plantation

2 Charnockite structural Hill 490-980 In the extent of NE to SW, Next to the R.F3 Gneisses Bajada 400-420 Depositional Sediments placed at the

foot hill of the area4 Recent Sediments Shallow 245-490 Extent from bajada follows the drainage

Pediment course5 Recent Sediments Buried Pediment 200-250 Extend from shallow pediment6 Crystalline limestone Low lying land 420-600 Extent from shallow and buried

pediments

GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL UNITS OFTHE AREA.

In the present work, identification of variousgeological and geomorphological units werecarried out based on remote sensing techniqueswith the input of actual ground truth. Variousfactors like degree of ruggedness, nature ofdissection, amount of elevation/depth, drainagedensity, texture and pattern, vegetation and landuse pattern, reflectivity in terms of brightness greyvalue / colour, slope characters, relative relief,alignment of ridges/ valleys, crest configuration,origin, extent of denudation, etc. have been takeninto consideration for classifying the geologicaland geomorphological units of the study area.The study area was constituted by different rocksof the Pre-cambrian age. The major lithologiesof the study area were granulite / khondalite,charnockinte, gneisses, crystalline limestoneand recent sediments. The granulite, khondaliteand charnockite occured in the western part ofhill region of the study area. The gneisses andmetamorphic crystalline limestones extendedfrom the foot hill with gradational contact. Therecent sediments developed along the rivercourse occurred at the eastern part of the studyarea. The structural trend of the hard rockformation and the white patches of the crystalline

Surulippatti

Narayanatevanppattu

Suruliyar Ar

Koothanaichiar Ar

SURU

LI R

IVER

N

Fig 1. The study area in Landsat TM SatelliteData

189ECO-CHRONICLE

limestones were well seen in the satellite data(Fig.2).

Similarly, the geomorphological units namely,structural hills, pediments, low lying lands andbajada were interpreted as given in the figure(Fig.3). Structural hills and structural hills withplantation were made up of igneous(charnockite) and metamorphic (granulite andkhondalite) rocks. They were delineated in thesatellite images by uneven topography, dendriticerosion, dark tone, medium to high drainagedensity, coarse to uneven texture, high vegetation,blunt hill crest, convex slopes and gully erosion.Buried pediment s appeared in dark tone withhigh vegetation than shallow pediment whichlocated along the river valley. Bajada wasinterpreted at the foot hill region, developedbetween the drainage course, and seenprominently parallel to the hill ranges. Low lyingplain topography was interpreted by lowvegetation, irregular shape, fine to mediumtexture and low slope terrain structure. Thecomparison of geological and geomorphological

units with reference to the height and extent ofarea are given in the Table.1.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Digital Image Processing (DIP) is a collection oftechniques for the manipulation of digital imagesby computers, so as to generate enhancedimages that may highlight the necessaryinformation to the maximum extent.

Image processing methods are grouped intofour functional categories viz. Image restoration,statistical analysis, image enhancement andpattern recognition (Lillesand and Kiefer, 1994).Image enhancement is the modification of animage to alter its impact on the viewer (Seigaland Gillespie, 1980). Enhancement is done toimprove the image interpretability by amplificationof the desired spectral or spatial characteristics,while suppressing non-essential characteristics.Image enhancement involves techniques forincreasing the visual distinction between featuresin a scene. Image enhancement techniques can

Geomorphological, Geological and structural Results of various in PC analysis performedteatures of the Suruliyar and Koothanichiar PC 1 PC 2 PC-3 FCC FCCwatershed PC PC 3,2,1

1,2,3

Geomorphological Units Structural Hillwith Vegetation ** ** *structural Hill ** ** ** *Bajada * *Shallow Pediment ** ** *Buried Pediment ** ** *Low lying land ** ** * *Tanks ** ** ** **

Geological Units Charnockite * ** **Granulite/Khondolinite * ** **Crystalline Limestone ** ** *Gneiss * ** ** *Recent Sediments ** **

Structural Features Lineaments * * * *Trend line * *

Table 2. The well seen (*) and best seen (**) features highlighted by different PC analyses

190 ECO-CHRONICLE

Surulipatti

Narayandevanpatti

SHP

LL

LL

SH

SH

SHP

P

P

GR/KH

CH

RS

CL

G

T

LL

SH

SHP

SHP

P

P

GR/KH

CH

RS

CL

G

T

LL

SH

Fig. 2. Lithological units of the study area Fig. 3. Geomorphological units of the study area

Structural Hill with Plantation - SHP, Structural Hill - SH, Low lying Land - LL, Pediments - P, Granulite / Khondalite - GR/KH, Charnockite - CH, Gneiss - G, RecentSediments - RS, Crystalline Limestone - CL, Tanks - T.

Fig. 4. PC3 image of study area showing the geologic andgeomorphic units.

Fig. 5. FCC of PC 1,2,3 image showing all geomorphic units.

191ECO-CHRONICLE

be broadly grouped into (i) contrast enhancement(ii) spatial features manipulation and (iii) the multi-image enhancement (Lilesand and Kiefer, 1994).In the present study, Multi Image Enhancementtechniques were carried out to improve theinterpretability of the Landsat TM data in order tohighlight the geological and geomorphologicalunits.

MULTI IMAGE ENHANCEMENT

A special feature of satellite remote sensing isthat it provides data in multi spectral band. Thesemulti-bands, studied in combination, canprovide much more information than a singleband can do. Multi Image Enhancement includesBands Rationing, Principal Component Analysis(PCA), Intensity, Hue, Saturation Transformation(IHS) and Bands Combination (colourcomposites). In addition to the data obtained byvisual interpretation of analogue satellite data,the authors have performed PrincipalComponent Analysis of the Multi ImageEnhancement techniques to highlight geologicaland geomorphological features too.

PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS

The Principal Component Analysis (PCA),originally known as Karhunen-Loevetransformation (KL-transformation) is used tocompress multi-spectral data sets by calculatinga new co-ordinate system (Jenson, 1996). Itreduces the data redundancy. Thetransformation of the raw remote sensing datausing PCA results in new principal componentimages that is more interpretable than theoriginal image. PC analysis is used to compressthe information content of a number of bands ofimagery into just three transformed principalcomponent images. In the present work PC 1,PC 2 and PC3 images were produced. Amongthese, PC3 contains maximum information aboutthe geological and geomorphological featuresand are better interpreted in the PC image. Bandcombinations of PC1, PC2, and PC3 were

generated to distinguish and get moreinformation on the different units. The results ofthe PC analysis with well seen (*) and best seen(**) features were listed out in the Table 2.

The interpretation showed that the PC2 imagegives maximum information about the vegetationcover and the surface features of the area. Forgeological and geomorphologic applications,PC3 image was found useful. The NW-SEgeological formation and structures were clearlyvisible. The structural hills, structural hills withplantation, pediments, bajada and low lyinglands were well demarcated in the PC3 image.PC3 Image gives information about structuralhi l ls with plantation, Limestone, recentsediments lineaments and trend linesinformation. All the major geomorphic units i.e.structural hill with plantation, structural hill,piedmont zone, low lying land etc. can also beseen well. (Fig.4). Since all the classes weresubmerged in similar tone, two differentcombinations viz. FCC of PC1, PC2, PC3 andFCC of PC3, PC2 and PC1 were generated inorder highlight different geological andgeomorphological units of the study area,inwhich the PC1, PC2 and PC3 combinationsprovided useful information on the resources asinterpreted in the Fig. 5.

CONCLUSION

The present study revealed that the PC analysisis a powerful technique for highlighting majorgeological and geomorphological units of theSurilyar and Koothanaichiyar sub-watersheds.Different PC images and their combinationswere highlighted for the geological andgeomorphological features.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The present work is carried out with the partialfinancial assistance of the ISRO-RESPONDproject “ELGIORD” and the authors are thankfulto the Indian Space Research Organisation,Bangalore.

192 ECO-CHRONICLE

REFERENCES

Siegal, B.S. and Gillespie, A.R. 1980. RemoteSensing in Geology: John Wiely and sons 381-418.

Jenson, J. R. 1996. Introductory digital imageprocessing, A remote sensing perspective. 2nd

edition. Prentice hall. New Jersey, 316p.

Rowan, L.C., Wetlaufer, P.H., Goetz, A.F.H.,Bil lingsley, F.C. and Stewart, J.H. 1974.

Discrimination of rock types and detection ofhydrothermally altered areas in south-centralNevada, U.S. Geological Survey ProfessionalPaper 883, 35 pp.

Sabins, Floyd F., Jr. 1987. Remote Sensing:Principles and Interpretations, 2nd ed., Freeman,Newyork, 449 pp.

Thomos, M. Lilles and Ralph, W. Kiefer. 1994.Remote sensing & Image Interpretation, JohnWiley and Sons Inc., New York, 750p.

193ECO-CHRONICLE

MASONRY CEMENT USING FLY ASH – A LOW COST INNOVATION

S. S. Bagchi1, P. K. Khurana1 and R. T. Jhadav2

1 Koradi Thermal Power Station, MAHAGENCO, Koradi, P.O - 441 111, Koradi, Nagpur.2 Department of Chemistry, R.N.K., Engineering College, Katol Road -440013, Nagpur.

ABSTRACT

India is the second largest cement producer in the world with the current annual production of over 110million ton with the prospect of a robust growth in the coming years. As far as masonry construction isconcerned, the present scenario in this country is highly discouraging. The precious Portland cementessentially meant for structural application is invariably used for masonry work, whereas the masonrycement still remain far from the knowledge and usage. Cement manufacturers are selling PortlandPozzolana cement at par with ordinary Portland cement. An attempt has been made in the presentstudy to explore the possibilities of obtaining the characteristics of masonry cement from the blend ofordinary Portland cement and fly ash. Its economic benefits and environmental significance in generalwere also studied.

Key words: Masonry cement, Ordinary Portland cement, Fly ash, Compressive strength, Fineness.

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, pp. 193 - 196

INTRODUCTION

In India, the number of houses being built everyyear does not match with the increase inpopulation. The Govt. of India has targeted theyear 2010 for providing housing for all; 13 lakh inrural and 7 lakh in urban areas annually, withemphasis on extending benefits to the poor andthe deprived. Apart from the above, housing stockin the country is destroyed every year due tonatural hazards. The cost of traditional buildingmaterials has gone up considerably over thepast few years, posing great challenges toplanners and technologists. Therefore it isimperative to state that while meeting our greatdemands of building materials on one hand andmaintaining ecological balance on the other, onehas to find ways and means of exploitingindustrial waste for the production of buildingmaterials and devising appropriate technologyapplicable for housing.

Fly Ash, an industrial by product from ThermalPower Plants, has a current annual generation

of approximately 110 million tones, causingseveral environmental problems. Fly ash canbe used for producing a variety of buildingmaterials, of which masonry cement productionconsumes considerable quantity of it. MasonryCement is chiefly intended for use in masonryworks of bricks, stones, concrete block and alsofor rendering plastering work. The 28 daysstrength obtained using 43 grade and 53 gradecement is much higher than the strengthrequirement of mortars .The strength desired forvarious grades of masonry ranges between 0.5N/m2 to 7.5 N/m2 (Pande et al., 2005).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Measurement of compressive strength is ratedas the best technique for measurement ofpozzolanic reactivity; however, other factorsinvolved in strength gain is over looked (Pandeet. al. 2005). Fly Ash samples from unit 7 of KoradiThermal Power Station MAHAGENCO werecollected. Fly Ash samples were analyzed for itsmajor physical and chemical properties as perIS 1727: 1967.

194 ECO-CHRONICLECement sand mortar mixes (1:3 ratio) replacedby 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% fly ashwere used in the present study. Cement used inthe mixes was 53 grade cement and sand wasstandard sand IS 650: 1966. Masonry cementwas tested in accordance with the method oftest specified in IS: 4031:1988.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fly Ash samples from Unit 7 of Koradi Thermal

Power Station, MAHAGENCO were collected.Detailed analysis was carried out and it wasobserved that samples form 3rd row onwards ofunit number -7 could be directly utilized to preparemasonry cements, as it conforms to IS 3812( Part-1) : 2003. 3rd row of unit 7 from boiler endswere selected for the present study. 2nd row wasalso applicable, but quality cannot be guaranteed(Bagchi et al., 2005). National and Internationalcodes for the siliceous pulverized fuel ash

Sl No Component / characteristics Unit British std ASTM:C IS 3812 IS 3812

BS:3892 618 (part I) (part II)

PI Rev 82 (2003) 2003 2003

Chemical requirement

1. SiO2 + Al2O3 + Fe203 % __ 70 70 70

2. SiO2 min. % __ __ 35 35

3. MgO max. % __ __ 5.0 5.0

4. Total sulphur as SO3 max. % 2.5 5 3.0 5.0

5. Alkali as Na2O max. % __ 1.5 1.5 1.5

6. Loss On Ignition % 7 12 5.0 5.0

7. Moisture content max. % 1.5 3 __

Physical requirement

1. Specific surface (Blaine), min. m2/kg Variable 325 320* 200

2. Sieve residue on 45 micron % __ 32 34 50

sieve, max. (optional (optional

test) test)

Table 1.National and International codes for the silicious pulverized fuel ash.

Table. 2. Analytical results of fly ash samples of Unit -7

Component/Characteristics Unit Row-1 Row-2 Row-3 Row-4 Row-5U-7 U-7 U-7 U-7 U-7

1. Sio2 +Al2 O3 + Fe2 O3 % 95.24 94.47 93.82 93.76 93.512. SiO2 % 67.5 64.7 63.6 62.6 62.63. MgO % 0.41 0.45 0.52 0.55 0.544. Total S as SO3 % 0.82 0.84 0.87 0.85 0.845. Alkali as Na2O % 0.21 0.20 0.22 0.24 0.276. Loss On Ignition % 1.15 1.05 0.96 1.07 1.247. Moisture content % 0.47 0.49 0.41 0.49 0.478. Fineness – specific surface (m2/kg)

by Blaine’s permeability method m2/kg 212 294 382 405 4229. Residue on 45 micron sieve (max.) % 50.4 24.2 10.6 12.2 4.1

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specification, are shown in Table-1. Analyticalresults of fly ash from each row of electrostaticprecipitator is shown in Table-2. 28 daycompressive strengths with different fly ashpercentages were measured and their resultsare shown in Table-3. The variation incompressive strength of the adopted blend ofmasonry cement was found to decrease withincrease of fly ash addition in all the casesstudied. Strength upto 50% replacement wasfound to be satisfactory and conforming to theIndian standard, IS: 3466 - 1988. IS: 3466 - 1988states that average compressive strength of notless than 3 mortar cubes of 50mm sizecomposed of 1 part masonry cement and 3 partsstandard sand (IS: 650 - 1966) by volume shouldgive minimum compressive strength of 5MPa(N/mm2)

Cost economics

It is essential to note that the awareness aboutfly ash based masonry cement is insufficient.Today the price of 50Kg Portland cement bag(53 grade) in Maharashtra State is Rs. 195/-. If50% cement can be replaced by fly ash, It will be50% cheaper. Moreover environmental benefitsare also enormous.

Environmental benefits

Use of one ton of Fly ash saves:1. 1.40 tonnes of lime stone.2. 3.30 G.J of thermal energy.3. 1 Square meter of land for disposing fly ash.4. Reduction of 1 ton of CO2 ( a green house

gas)5. 55.5 KWH electrical energy.6. To enable India to sell emission credits.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Fly ash of a particular grade conforming to IS3812 - 2003 is a reusable material and not awaste. Physical properties such as particle sizeand loss on ignition are the main criteria for thequality control of fly ash. Once established, it willremain same throughout and hence additionupto 50% of fly ash of particular grade can beused for masonry work, particularly for low costrural housing. Fly ash based OPC - Masonrycement has greater potentiali ty and isconsidered to be superior to mortars made upof ordinary Portland cement with respect to itsdurability, finish, environmental and economicalaspects.

General awareness is needed to use masonrymortars with fly ash, as one of the ingredient.Availability of proper quality fly ash in sealed bagsis also one of the major requirements formasonry work and this can contribute a lot tothe development process in a sustainable way.

REFERENCES

ASTMC 618. 2003. Standard specification forcoal fly ash and raw or calcined natural pozzolanfor use as a mineral admixture in concrete.American Society for testing and materials.

Bagchi, S.S., Khurana, P.K. and Jadhav, R.T.2005. Characterization of fly ash from Koradithermal power plant for its use as a Pozzolona.Journal IAEM NEERI. Vol. 32 (3), p. 181-183.

BS 3892 PI Revision: 1982, Pulverised fuel ash- Part I, Specification for pulverised fuel ash foruse with Portland cement, British StandardInstitution, London, UK.

28 days compressive strength in N/mm2 (MPa)

Mix % FA 10% FA 20% FA 30% FA 40% FA 50% FA

1:3 51.30 49.70 48.60 35.40 34.30 29.10

Table 3. Compressive strength in N/mm2 with different fly ash percentage of 3rd row of unit 7.

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IS: 3466 - 1988. Specification for masonrycement (second revision), Bureau of IndianStandards, New Delhi -110002.

IS: 4031-1988. Methods of physical test forhydraulic cement (first revision), Bureau of IndianStandards, New Delhi -110002.

IS 1727-1967 Method of test for Pozzolanicmaterials (First Revision) Bureau of IndianStandards, New Delhi - 110002.

IS 3812-2003 (Part-I) Pulverised fuel ashspecification. (Second Revision) Bureau ofIndian Standard, New Delhi - 110002.

IS 3812-2003 (Part-II) Pulverised fuel ashspecification. (Second Revision) Bureau ofIndian Standard, New Delhi - 110002.

Pande, A.M. and Gupta, L.M. 2005. Masonrymortars with fly ash as one of the ingredients-Astep towards sustainable development.Proceedings of International congress “Fly AshIndia 2005,” 4 -7 December, New Delhi, ChapterVI, p. 39.1 - 39.7.

Pande, A.M. and Gupta, L.M. 2005. Properties offlyash pozzolanic reactivity, Proceedings ofInternational congress “Fly Ash India 2005”, NewDelhi, 4 -7 December, Chapter VI, p.40 .1 - 40.10.

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ASSESSMENT OF GROUNDWATER QUALITY IN SHALLOW AQUIFER ZONES INTITTAGUDI TALUK, CUDDALORE DISTRICT, TAMILNADU, SOUTH INDIA.

G. R. Senthilkumar 1, J. F. Lawrence 2 and M. Arumugam 1

1 Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalaingar – 608 002, Tamil Nadu.2 Department of Geology, Presidency College, Chennai – 600 005, Tamil Nadu.

ABSTRACT

The quality of water is as important as quantity and is dependent on various factors including averageannual rainfall, nature of aquifer, residence time, etc. An attempt has been made to evaluate the waterquality of Tittagudi taluk, which lies between latitude 11º 22’ 03" to 11º 36’ 29" N and longitude 78º 52’42’’ to 79º 18’ 59" E in Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu state. Water samples from predetermined, fortyfour (44) locations belonging to shallow aquifers of pre-monsoon period were collected and analysedusing standard methods prescribed in APHA (1996). The analytical results have been processedusing computer program. With output results, the following maps were prepared viz.TDS, TH, CR,Scholler’s water type, Stuyfzand water type, USSL classification and Gibbs plot. TDS in shallowgroundwater varies from below 1000 to above 2500 mg/l. Total hardness above 300 mg/l (very hardwater) was noticed in major parts of the study area. Mostly the area is occupied by Type-III classification,which indicates that bicarbonate water dominates the domain. As per Stuyfzand classification (1989),the study area water is classified into oligohaline, fresh, fresh-brackish, and brackish. Oligohalineexisted only in one location. Fresh, fresh-brackish and brackish water distributed equally in the studyarea. Chloride concentration ranged between 5 to 300 mg/l. As per USSL classification, 22 out of 44samples of groundwater of this region fall in the category of C3S1. Rest of the samples fall in thecategory of C5S4, C5S3, C4S3, C4S2, C4S1, C3S2 and C2S1. Most of the groundwater samples of the studyarea are promising for irrigation purposes. Gibbs plot indicated that mostly the water quality is due torock water interaction and in few locations, it is due to evaporation. In general, the monsoon rainfall isfound to be an influencing factor for the change in water quality.

Keywords: Aquifer, Tittagudi Taluk, Sedimentary, Crystalline, Bicarbonate, Monsoon.

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, 197 - 204

INTRODUCTION

Water is most essential to sustain life, and asatisfactory quality is a must to consume.Consumption of poor quality of water leads tohigh level of risk to public health. Quality of wateris as important as quality. Identification ofgroundwater potential and its various chemicalcharacteristics (quality) to meet the growing waterdemand is the need of the hour. Aiming this view,an attempt has been carriedout to identify thevarious chemical parameters of shallow aquifersystem in pre-monsoon period in parts ofTittagudi taluk, Cuddalore district (TN).

STUDY AREA

The study area, Tittagudi taluk, is situated inCuddalore district of Tamil Nadu (Fig. 1). Thestudy area lies between latitude 11º 22’ 03" to

11º 36’ 29" N and longitude 78º 52’ 42’ to 79º 18’59" E in the Survey of India toposheet (nos. 58M/2, 58M/3, 58M/7, 58I/14 & 58I/15). The Tittaguditaluk occupies an aerial extend of 615.26 Km2

and the elevation ranges from 15m to 122mabove MSL. The taluk receives an average rainfallof 1011mm with more than 80% of the rainfallreceived during the northeast monsoon season.The maximum and minimum temperatureranges between 34º C and 20º C in the monthsof May and January respectively. Geologically thetaluk comprises hard and soft rock formations.Nearly crystalline rocks cover 73% and the majorrock types are charnockite, charnockite gneiss,migmatites, etc. River Vellar flows in the southernpart of the taluk. Wellington reservoir is the majortank as well as major source for irrigation.Geomorphologically the taluk consist of old floodplains, pediments, duricrust and pedimentcovered by forestland.

198 ECO-CHRONICLE

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Field study has been carried out in the year 2005.Representative water samples were collectedfrom 44 locations during pre-monsoon season(Fig.2). The Electric Conductivity (EC) and pHwere measured immediately after collectionusing a portable consort C-425 digital pH meter.Collected water samples were analysed forvarious physico-chemical parameters usingstandard procedures APHA (1996). The analyticalresults were processed using HYCH computerprogram (Balasubramanian et.al. 1985) withsubsequent production of output results. GIStechnique has been used for preparation ofthematic maps and the following maps wereprepared accordingly. 1) Total Dissolved Solids2) Total Hardness 3) Water Type 4) Waterclassification 5) USSL Classification and 6)Gibbs Plot.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of the physico-chemical analysis ofgroundwater samples are presented in Table-1.The shallow water samples showed pH amaximum value of 8.5 and minimum value of7.2 during the pre-monsoon season. Thiselucidates that the shallow water samples areslightly alkaline in nature. Electrical conductivity(EC) is a measure of the ability of a solution toconduct an electrical current, transferred by ionsin solution. EC is thus related to theconcentration and nature of ions present in thesolution. The minimum EC value was observedas 700µs cm -1 and the maximum value as5100µs cm-1. EC typically varies considerablyfrom catchments to catchments according to thegeological, lithological, sedimentological andhydrological characteristics.

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

TDS is one of the governing factors to determinethe suitability of water for various uses. Carroll(1962) proposed a classification based on TotalDissolved Solids present in ground water.According to his classification, TDS upto

1000mg/l is freshwater, 1000-10,000 is brackishwater, 10,000 -100,000 is saline water and above100,000 is brine water. In the pre-monsoon, TDSvalue of the shallow water of the study area,(Fig.3) ranged between <1000 to >3000 mg/l.More than 60% of the water samples from thestudy area have TDS below 1000mg/l and itreveals that majority of the sampling locationsare in fresh water condition. During stay ormovement of the groundwater in the subsurfaceregions, the TDS concentration slowly getsenriched and it has been noticed that thegroundwater in the recharge areas have low TDSthan discharge areas Freez and Cherry (1979).

Total Hardness (TH)

Hardness of water is not a specific constituentbut a variable, attributed by a complex mixture ofcations and anions. The degree of hardness ofdrinking water has been classified in terms ofequivalent CaCO3 concentration. Accordingly, atype of classification of water has been proposedby Sawyer and McCarty (1987) using the totalhardness present in groundwater.

In the study area, shallow aquifer system of thepre-monsoon period exhibited hard (150-300mg/l) and very hard (over – 300 mg/l) type of water(Fig.4). Hard water occured in ten locations; restof the locations were occupied by very hard waterduring the pre-monsoon season.

Groundwater Type

According to Schoeller’s (1967) classification ofwater type, the water samples of the study areacan be brought under type-I, type- II, type-III, andtype-IV (Fig.5). Twenty-six samples out of forty-four can be brought under the type-IIIclassification. Remaining locations were sharedby type-IV, (11 locations), type-II (02 locations)and type –I (05 locations). Type-III water occupiednearly half of the study area. It is clear thatcarbonate concentration dominated the chlorideand Sulphate concentrations in the shallowwater of the pre-monsoon period.

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Fig. 2.

Fig. 1.

200 ECO-CHRONICLE

Sl.no Main type Cl in mg/l No. oflocations

1. G-Oligohaline 5-30 012. Fresh 30-150 153. F-Brackish 150-300 144. Brackish 3 0 0 - 1 0

3 14

Table 2. Categorization of water samplesGroundwater classification

Thematic map (Fig.6) showing ground waterclassif ication of the study area has beenprepared on the basis of Stuyfzand classification(1989). She classified the groundwater andidentified eight main types on the basis ofchloride content. The water samples of the area

Map Name Long. Lat. EC pH Ca Mg Na+K HCO3 Cl SO4 TDS TH+CO3

1 Ja.Endal 79.30 11.42 1200 8.2 77 29 106 293.9 195 28.8 768 311.42 Kilorathur 79.17 11.48 1850 7.9 75 42 177 343 350 38.4 1184 362.23 Kalathur 79.28 11.39 1525 7.9 69 35 141.5 318.5 272.5 33.6 976 336.84 Sirupakkam 79.07 11.58 3800 7.7 73 81 393 490.5 641.6 67.2 2432 514.65 S.Naraiyur 79.04 11.58 700 7.9 82.2 14.6 25.2 253.8 78 12.5 448 265.366 K.Kudikkadu 79.06 11.55 2500 7.7 75 55 249 392.2 418.3 48 1600 4137 V.Kudikkadu 78.99 11.55 2740 7.8 52.2 75.3 388.5 946 361.6 50 1753.6 439.238 Kaludur 79.00 11.41 1300 8.1 88.2 49.8 84.4 414.9 184.3 48 832 424.689 Vinayakandal 79.00 11.49 1100 8.2 26 49.8 139.1 534.5 67.3 50 704 269.1810 Panaiyandur 79.02 11.54 1500 7.8 62.1 66.9 113.8 441.7 198.5 50.4 960 429.5411 Mangalur 78.95 11.52 3040 7.7 69 78 393 512.5 620.3 55.2 1945.6 492.312 M.Pudur 78.94 11.55 920 7.9 100.2 36.5 27.5 305.1 106.3 54.8 585.8 400.1513 Pullur 79.09 11.52 1950 8.1 58.5 60.2 200 578.3 267.6 29.8 1091 389.514 Sirumangalam 79.21 11.48 800 8.5 40.1 38.9 65.5 390.5 53.2 0 512 259.7415 Lakshmana

puram 79.02 11.47 1170 7.7 99 70 38 488.1 124.1 45.6 748.8 534.516 Ma.podaiyur 78.93 11.51 1070 7.6 126 33 24 368.5 102.8 58.6 684.8 450.317 Avatti 79.04 11.43 1010 8.1 70.1 35.5 74.5 400.2 92.2 50 646.4 320.818 Agaram 79.26 11.43 1000 8.5 32.1 32.3 143.4 530.8 46.1 0 640 212.6819 Narasinga

mangalam 79.24 11.47 4700 7.6 35 22 292 666.3 108.1 115.3 3008 177.720 Tivalur 79.28 11.46 4000 7.5 217 11 631 907.5 790.5 100.8 2560 587.621 Kandamattan 79.04 11.51 760 7.8 34.1 49.8 41.5 371 28.4 52.8 486.4 289.4322 Lekkur 79.04 11.48 2520 7.9 190.4 76 242.3 654 503.4 47.5 1612.8 787.623 Sevveri 79.08 11.48 2400 8.5 66.1 71.7 337.7 615.4 443.1 9.6 1536 459.2224 Korakavadi 79.00 11.44 960 8 37 62 68 444.2 60.3 47.5 614.4 346.725 Kiladanur 79.07 11.46 1480 8 64.3 47.6 137.5 489.2 179.9 39.9 868.7 350.526 Alambadi 78.94 11.45 1100 8.1 120.2 32.8 33 314.7 131.2 51.9 704 434.9827 Nedungulam 79.11 11.46 1240 7.7 80.2 46.2 103.7 286.8 257 19.2 793.6 389.9228 Melur 79.13 11.46 5100 7.5 80.2 72.9 937.9 2379.5 308.4 134.4 3266 499.3929 Vadakaranpundi 78.96 11.47 2830 8.1 86 82 350 939.6 347.4 54.8 1811.2 551.230 Thachchur 79.01 11.51 2300 7.8 198.4 115.5 94.6 517.4 510.5 48 1472 969.5531 Adamangalam 79.08 11.43 1900 7.9 66.1 29.2 294.2 781 198.5 28.8 1216 284.9732 Mosatti 79.25 11.41 1164 7.7 40 34 69 268 95 23.4 745 239.433 Kiranur 79.22 11.43 2600 7.7 124.2 88.7 268.5 666.3 464.4 57.6 1664 674.1734 T. Endal 78.92 11.47 1430 8.3 5 67 192 623.7 81.5 49 915.2 385.135 Sirumalai 79.12 11.49 1370 7.5 73.5 48.5 136.2 387.4 245 12 877 384.836 Pennadam 79.20 11.45 1460 7.4 104.2 34 150.1 518.6 198.5 24 1256 399.937 Tholudur 78.90 11.49 3070 7.9 270.5 145.9 88.5 297.7 854.3 49.5 1964.8 1274.438 Pelandurai 79.25 11.38 1259 7.6 54 20 48 200 88 24 806 21739 Tittagudi 79.14 11.46 1500 7.3 66.1 52.3 168.7 488.1 234 4.8 960 379.6840 Koilyur 79.15 11.43 1100 7.6 68.1 40.2 108 392.4 180.5 4.6 795 347.2841 G.Kudikkadu 79.18 11.38 1490 7.9 60.1 24.3 217 585.7 166.6 14.4 953.6 249.8842 Irayur 79.14 11.40 920 7.7 88.2 24.3 61.8 414.9 81.5 4.8 588.8 320.1343 Neyvasal 79.12 11.40 700 7.9 70.1 24.3 32.9 170.8 131.2 4.8 448 274.8844 Semberi 79.21 11.40 4100 7.2 182.4 48.6 639.1 1757.2 333.2 124.9 2624 655.26

Table 1. Chemical analysis results of shallow aquifer (in ppm), pre-monsoon period

201ECO-CHRONICLE

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

202 ECO-CHRONICLE

Fig. 6.

Fig. 8.

Fig. 7.

203ECO-CHRONICLEfall under four types and the same is given inTable 2.

Fresh, F-brackish and brackish water occupiesequally in the study area. G - Oligohaline occupiesonly in the location 21, Kandamattan.

USSL classification

The United States Salinity Laboratory (USSL) hasproposed a classification for rating irrigationwater with reference to salinity and sodiumhazard (Richards 1954). C1, C2, C3, C4, and C5,(based on salinity) and S1, S2, and S3 (based onsodium hazard). The study area revealed eightclasses of water during pre-monsoon period,as shown in Fig.7. They are C2-S1, C3-S1, C3-S2,C 4-S1, C4-S2, C4-S3, C5S3 and C5S4. Among these,C2-S1 and C3-S1, classes are suitable for irrigationpurposes, out of 44 locations, . C2-S1 existed intwo locations and C3-S1 in 22 locations. Rest ofthe classes consisted of high salinity and alkalihazard, which restrict its suitability for irrigation,especially in soils with restricted drainage(Karanth 1989). Dillon, et.al, (2000) has adoptedrecharge techniques to improve the water qualityto meet the demand of irrigation and industrialneeds and noticed a remarkable improvementin water quality due to recharge. In unsuitablelocations, quality of water can be improved byrecharge technique.

Gibbs Plot

It is an accepted fact that there exists a closerelationship between water composition andaquifer lithology. Gibbs (1970) proposed amethod to distinguish the interaction due toprecipitation of rock or evaporation. Demarcatingthese fields will not only help in explaining theorigin and distribution of the dissolvedconstituents, but also in deciphering the factorsthat control the chemistry of groundwater. Themechanism responsible for controlling thegroundwater chemistry of the study area by usingGibbs Plot has been represented in Fig.8. Fromthe HYCH output, it is observed that the rockwater interaction is mainly governed by thecomposition of pre-monsoon shallow water ofthe study area.

Gibbs plot indicate that mostly the water qualityis influenced by rock water interaction. In thepre-monsoon, season, more number of

groundwater locations interacted with water,except in few locations.

CONCLUSION

The shallow water of pre-monsoon period ofTittagudi taluk area is carbonate waterdominated. The quality assessment showedthat in general, water is suitable for domesticpurposes. However high values of EC and TDSat some sites make it unsafe for drinking.According to USSL classification, a major part ofthe shallow water is suitable for agriculturepurposes. Rock water interaction is mainlygoverning the quality of water in pre-monsoonseason. It is observed that, the monsoon rainfallis found to be influencing factor for changing thewater quality with rock water interaction.

REFERENCES

American Public Health Association (APHA),1996. Standard methods for the examination ofwater and wastewater, 19th edition, public healthassociation, Washington, DC.

Balasubramanian, A., Sharma, K.K. and Sastri,J.C.V. 1985. Geoelectrical and hydrogeochemicalevaluation of coastal aquifers of Tamaraparanibasin, Tamil Nadu. Geophysical researchbulletin, vol. 23, no. 4.

Carroll, D. 1962. Rainwater as a chemical agentof geologic processes – A review, USGS watersupply paper, 1535 - G.

Dillon, P. Gerges, N.Z., Sibenaler, Z., Cugley, J.and Reed, J. 2000. Guidelines for aquiferstorage and recovery of surface water in SouthAustralia, (Draft.Mar.2000) CGS report 91.

Freez, R.A. and Cherry, J.A. 1979. Groundwater,Prentice - Hall, New Jersey, USA.

Gibbs, R.J. 1970. Mechanisms controllingworld’s water chemistry, Science, v.170, pp.1088- 1090.

Richards, 1954. Diagnosis and improvement ofsaline and alkali soils, U.S. Department agri.hand book, no. 60, U.S. Govt, printing office,Washington D.C.

Scholler, H. 1967. Qualitative evaluation ofgroundwater resources (In methods and

204 ECO-CHRONICLEtechniques of groundwater investigations anddevelopment), water resources series, 33,UNESCO, pp. 44 - 52.

Stuyfzand, P.J. 1989. A new hydrochemicalclassification of water types, proc, IAHS 3Science association, Baltimore, U.S.A, pp.33-42.

Karanth, K.R. 1989. Hydrogeology, Tata McGraw-Hill publishing company limited, New Delhi.

Pratap, K. and Singh, A.K. 2001. Hydro-chemicalInvestigation of melt water draining fromBhagnyu Glacier, Alaknanda valley, GarhwalHimalaya, Hydrogeology journal, 24 (1), 45 - 54.

205ECO-CHRONICLE

A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF BODY SURFACE AREA IN LARGE WHITEYORKSHIRE AND DESI PIGS

Magna Thomas, Prejit, M. Manjusha, M. R. Rajan, B. Sunil & E. Nanu

College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Kerala Agricultural University, Mannuthy, Kerala.

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted to assess the relationship between the body weight and total surface areabelonging to weight groups <30 (13.5 - 30 kg) and > 30 (32 - 117 kg) in Desi and Large White Yorkshirepigs. In all the body weight groups, Desi breed recorded higher surface area per kg body weight thanthe Large White Yorkshire and it was found that the body surface area had a negative linear relationshipwith the body weight of the animal in all the classes of weight groups of both the breeds.

Key words: Desi pigs, Large White Yorkshire pigs, Body weight, Surface area

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, 205 - 210

INTRODUCTION

Climatic conditions prevail ing in an area,availabil ity of feed materials and otherenvironmental conditions makes differences ingrowth rate, body conformations and otherproduction traits in animals. Those animalswhich are better suited to environment of aparticular area will thrive better, reproduce freelyand develops into native breed of that area. In allthe species, different breeds developed indifferent locations.

Animals of one geographical area weretransported to another geographical area forexploiting better traits they inherit. Thus in pigbreeds Large White Yorkshire, which is a nativebreed of temperate climate, were introduced tohot humid climate, like Kerala. In their nativeenvironments, Large White Yorkshire pigs had abetter growth rate, better reproductive characters,better adaptation and their performance withrespect to these traits in tropics are notcomparable. According to Hafez (1968), Pig is aversatile animal, which gets adopted to any man- made change in climatic conditions. As a partof adaptation to our hot humid climate theyreduce their growth rate and performance.Instead, we have our native breed of pig – Desi –which thrive well in its natural conditions like slumarea, eating scavenges. Their genetic makeupalso is suited for this conditions. They havesmaller body size and less fat deposit, which isin agreement with Hafex (1968) who stated that

species and breeds evolved in hot climate havesmall body size and relatively larger surface areaand vice versa.

In Swine, skin is the major organ forthermoregulatory function. Though in pigsthermoregulation is not done by perspiration(Hafez, 1968); conduction especial ly bywallowing acts as a major criteria forthermoregulation. Thus, surface area of animalin relation to body weight seems to be a majorfactor which decides magnitude of adaptation totropics. Hence present study of quantifyingsurface area in two breeds namely Large WhiteYorkshire and Desi Pigs was undertaken.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The body of the pig was divided into differentgeometrical figures (Fig. 1) and the area insquare centimeters was worked out individually.The summing up of individual areas gave thetotal body surface in square centimeters.

(A) The head (A) was considered as a cone andthe circumference of the base of the head andlength of the head was measured. Area of thecone excluding the area of the base wascalculated.

(B) The neck was considered as rectangle (B).The length of the neck was measured from thebase of the head to the base of the neck, and itwas taken as the breadth of the rectangle.

206 ECO-CHRONICLECircumference of the base of the head was takenas the length of the rectangle. The rest area ofthe neck was taken as triangle (b) where thedifference in circumference between base ofneck and base of head was taken as the base ofthe triangle and length of neck as height oftriangle.

(C) The body surface area was measured indifferent ways in Desi and Large White Yorkshire.

In Desi breeds, the body girth was measured atthree different levels, i.e., anterior, middle andposterior. The length of the body was measuredfrom the shoulder joint to the pin bone. The meanof the anterior and posterior circumstance wastaken as the length of the rectangle and the lengthof the body was taken as the breadth of rectangleand area was worked out. The drooping areawas considered as four triangles. Half of the bodylength was taken as the height of the triangleand half the difference between anterior andmiddle body girth as the base of the triangle.

In Large White Yorkshire, average body girth wastaken as the length of the rectangle and bodylength as breadth of rectangle.

(D) The area of forelimb was divided into 2geometrical figures. From the shoulder joint toknee joint, it was considered as two triangles asmedial and lateral, for which, the half of the

circumference of the shoulder joint forms thebase and length from shoulder to knee jointforms the height. The rest area of the limb wastaken as a cylinder (i.e., from knee joint to pasternjoint). From the circumference of knee joint andfrom length from knee joint to pastern joint, areaof cylinder was worked out.

(E) Area of the hind limb was considered in thesame manner where circumference of the stiflejoint, circumference hock joint, length from stifleto hock and length from hock to pastern wasmeasured. Area from stif le to hock wascalculated as triangle (inner and outer) and areafrom hock to pastern as cylinder.

# Area of Cone (excluding the area of the base)= πrl;where r is the radius and l is the length of cone.# Area of rectangle = lxb;where l is the length and b is the breadth of therectangle.# Area of triangle = ½ bh;where b is base and h is the height of triangle.# Area of cylinder = 2πrl;where r is the radius and l is the length of thecylinder.

The total body surface area of 10 Large WhiteYorkshire (5 growers, and 5 adults) and 10 DesiPigs (5 growers, 5 adults) were calculated andanalysis of variance test was done.

207ECO-CHRONICLERESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1 revealed that, irrespective of geneticgroup, there was a negative linear relationshipbetween body weight and surface area per kgbody weight.

Table 2 showed that in below 30 kg body weightcategory, the difference in body weight was notsignificant.

Table 3 showed that average body weight of ani-mals selected in Desi was 20 + 2.08, whereas

in Large White Yorkshire, it was 19.7+2.08 kg. Itshows that body weight of animals selected forthis study in both the breeds were identical.

Average + SEDesi 20.00+ 2.08Large White Yorkshire 19.7+2.08Total with in group 19.850+ 1.38

Table 3. Average body weight for experimentalanimal (<30 Kg)

Desi Large White Yorkshire

Sl. No. BW (Kg) SA (Cm2) SA/ Unit BW BW (Kg) SA (Cm2) SA/ Unit BW

1. 27 7304 250.3 25 5696 227.84

2. 21 55.2 251.5 23 5304 230.6

3. 20 5124 256.2 20.5 4943 241.1

4. 17 4871 286.5 16.5 4487 271.9

5. 15 4130 275.3 13.5 4036 267.1

Table 1. Body weight, total surface area and surface area per kg body weight in Desi and LargeWhite Yorkshire Pigs (less than 30 kg body weight category).

BW = Body Weight in Kg and SA = Surface Area in Cm2

Table 2. Analysis of variance table of the body weight of Desi and Large White Yorkshirepigs selected for study (<30 Kg).

Degree of Sum of Mean F Value Probability

freedom square square

Between genetic group 1 0.225 0.225 0.01 Non Significant

Within genetic group 8 172.3 21.538

Total 9 172.525

Degree of Sum of square Mean square F Value Probability

freedom

Between genetic group 1 647.381 647.38 1.875 0.2081

Within genetic group 8 2762.639 345.33

Total 9 3410.021

Table 4. Analysis of variance table for surface area per kg. body weight of Desi and Large WhiteYorkshire pigs (<30 Kg).

B W = Body Weight in Kg and S A = Surface Area in Cm2

208 ECO-CHRONICLE

Desi Large White Yorkshire

Sl. No. BW (Kg) SA (Cm2) SA/ unit BW BW (Kg) SA (Cm2) SA/unit BW

1 111 21050 189.6 110 16499 150

2 83 15891 191.5 91 16008 175.9

3 71 13703 193.1 70 12785 182.6

4 54 11847 219.5 64 12311 192.4

5 33 8602 260.6 32 8320 260

BW = Body Weight in Kg and SA = Surface Area in Cm2

Table 6. Body weight, total surface area and surface area per kg body weight in Desi andLarge White Yorkshire Pigs (>30Kg).

Degree of Sum of Mean F Value Probability

freedom square square

Between genetic group 1 22.500 22.500 0.026 NON SIGNIFICANT

Within genetic group 8 6938.4 867.3

Total 9 6960.9

Table 7. Analysis of variance table of the body weight of Desi and Large White Yorkshire pigs(<30 Kg. Body weight).

Table 4 stated that there was no significantdifference in surface area per kg. body weightbetween Desi and Large White Yorkshire breedswhen they are below 30 kg. body weight (P =0.2081 only).

The results showed that Large White Yorkshireh a d a n a v e r a g e o f 2 4 7 . 8 6 8 + 8 . 3 1 c m

2 surfacearea per kg. body weight, whereas Desi hadhigher surface area of 263.96 + 8.31 cm2 per kg.body weight, though was not statisticallysignificant (Table 5).

Animals having more than 30 kg. body weightalso revealed a negative linear relationshipbetween body weight and surface area per kg.body weight in both the genetic groups (Table6).

Table 7 revealed that body weight of two geneticgroups did not differ significantly.

Average body weight of animals selected in Desiwas 70.4 + 13.17 kg., whereas in Large WhiteYorkshire it was 73.4 + 13.17 Kg. The two geneticgroups had almost same average body weight.

Table 9 revealed that, the difference in surfacearea per unit body weight (cm2 / kg.) does notdiffer significantly.

This showed that in above 30 kg. body weightgroup, the Desi animals had a higher surfacearea per unit body weight (210.86 + 16.15 cm2

per kg. body weight) over Large White Yorkshire(192.18+16.15 cm2 per kg. body weight) thoughthe difference was not significantly different.

Average + SE

Desi 263.96+ 8.31

Large White Yorkshire 247.868+8.31

Total with in group 255.914+ 6.16

Table 5. Average surface area per kg. bodyweight (<30 kg) with standard error (SE) for

Desi and Large White Yorkshire.

209ECO-CHRONICLE

Average + SE

Desi 70.400 + 13.71

Large White Yorkshire 73.4 + 13.17

Total with in group 71.9 + 8.9

Table 8. Average body weight with SE (>30 kg)

Average + SE

Desi 210.860 + 16.15

Large White Yorkshire 192.180 + 16.15

Total with in group 201.52 + 11.2

Table 10 Average body weight with SE (>30 kg)

Degree of Sum of Mean F Value Probability

freedom square square

Between genetic group 1 872.356 872.35 0.669 NON SIGNIFICANT

Within genetic group 8 10426.5 1303.31

Total 9 11298.85

Table 9. Analysis of variance table of the body area / Kg. body weight of Desi and Large WhiteYorkshire pigs (<30 Kg.).

The body weight and surface area per kg. bodyweight in square centimeter showed a linearnegative relationship both in below 30 kg. andabove 30 kg. body weight group. This indicatedthat, there is a progressive reduction in surfacearea per unit body weight in both the geneticgroup as the animals advanced in growth. Thisfinding was in full agreement with Hafez (1968),who stated that with decreasing body size, thesurface / volume ratio of the body and thereforethe relative surface from which heat is dissipatedincreases. The non signif icant differenceexhibited by 2 genetic group – Desi and LargeWhite Yorkshire – in below 30 kg. body weightgroup further reconfirmed the observation madeby Hafez (1968).

The non significant difference in body surfacearea per kg. body weight in above 30 kg bodyweight group was unexpected. The result mighthave been influenced by less number ofobservations and mode of selection ofexperimental animal that is having almost samebody weight. (The above result disagree with thefinding of Hafez (1968) who stated that, withdecreasing body size, the surface / volume ratioof the body and therefore, the relative surfacefrom which heat is dissipated increases). Ahigher number of experimental animals selectedbased on the similarity in age might have givena different result which should be further

investigated and to be confirmed. Even thepresented result indicated a higher body surfacearea for Desi than its Large White Yorkshirecounterpart though have been almost identicalbody weight. It clearly indicated that if animalsaround maximum body weight for each geneticgroup, if selected, would have given a differentresult.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

An investigation into the body surface area perkg. body weight was carried out in Desi pigsbelonging to the tropical climate and with LargeWhite Yorkshire, a native breed of temperateclimate. In all the body weight groups, Desibreed recorded a higher surface area per kg.body weight than Large White Yorkshire, but thedifference was not statistically significant. Therewas a progressive diminishment in body surfacearea per unit body weight in both genetic groups.The above result indicated that the body surfacearea had a linear negative relationship with bodyweight of animal and in all the classes of weightgroup, the Desi had a higher surface areacompared to Large White Yorkshire. Hence it isadvocated that more number of animals,including animals which are around themaximum mature body weight of that particulargenetic group, had to be compared to obtain aclear and confirmative result in further studies.

210 ECO-CHRONICLE

REFERENCES

Benedict, E.G. 1936. The Physiology ofElephants. Carnegic Institute. pp. 58, 93 -102.

Burn, H. 1986. An outline of general Physiology.3rd Edn. W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia,pp. 478 - 496.

Esmay, M.L. 1969. Principles of animalenvironment – Environmental engineering inagriculture and food series. The AVI publishingcompany, INC, pp. 160 - 218.

Hafez, E.S.E. 1968. Adaptation of domesticanimals. 1st Edn. Lea and Febiger, pp. 101, 316- 319, 458.

Huhn, U., Henze, A. and Jerk, R. 1955. Influenceof selected ambient climatic factors on theperformance of the inseminated primiparous

sows under large farm conditions. Anim. BreedAbst. 63 (12): 7380.

Jagadish Prasad, 1996. Goat, Sheep and Pigproduction and management, 1st Edn. KalyaniPublishers, pp. 185 -186, 196.

Lomax, P., Schon Baum, E. 1998. Bodytemperature regulation, drug effects andtherapeutic implications. Mareel Dekker, Inc.,New York and Basel. pp. 76 - 80.

Prosser, C.L. and Brown, F.A. 2001. Comparativeanimal Physiology, 2nd Edn. W.B. SaundersCompany, Philadelphia, London, pp. 257 - 267.

Thomas, N. 2003. The body surface area as anaid to judge adaptability in pigs. Dissertationwork. College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences,Mannuthy, Kerala.

211ECO-CHRONICLE

Scientific Correspondence

MAPPING OF REGIONAL GEOLOGY OF TAMILNADU STATE IN THERMAL- INFRAREDEMISSIVE SPECTRAL REGION USING MODIS TERRA HYPERSPECTRAL DATA

S.Rajendran, A. Thirunavukkarasu and B. Poovalinga Ganesh

Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu

ABSTRACT

The present study has been carried out to assess the application of hyper spectral data for mappingof regional geology in the thermal - infrared region and to study the emissive characteristics of majorrock types of Tamil Nadu State. The study revealed that the emissive spectral signatures of differentrock types depend on the mineralogical and chemical compositions of parent rock types. The narrowbend of MODIS Terra hyperspectral data proved to be the best tool for mapping of regional geology intheir higher spectral and spatial resolutions.

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, pp. 211 - 214

INTRODUCTION

Imaging spectroscopy is a new mapping tool forthe next generation in remote sensingtechnology. The narrow spectral channels of animaging spectrometer forms a continuousreflectance spectrum of the earth surface incomparison to the narrow channel of earthobservation systems like IRS, Landsat, Spot etc.Imaging spectroscopy resolves the narrowabsorption bands in the spectrum, which can beused to identify specific parameters. In particular,images that represent the effects of diagnosticabsorption bands can be produced to showspecific variability of certain material features.Absorption bands pay a key role in defining thespectral curves of the different terrainparameters. The critical aspect of the dataprocessing involves in separating thiscomponent from the background both in the pixeland sub-pixel domain and assigns meaningfulclass.

Hyperspectral band of MODIS data

A significant increase in the spectral resolutionhas lead to increase in narrow spectral band togenerate hyperspectral images. The ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)Terra Rapid Response system has beendeveloped to provide rapid access to MODIS dataglobally and it can be considered as a much-enhanced successor of the AVHRR instrumentonboard in the NOAA series of satellites. It has awhisk-broom sensor with 36 channels ranging

from visible to thermal-infrared delivered data at250m (2 channels), 500 m (5 channels) and1000m (29 channels) with higher spatialresolution and greater spectral resolution. Inthe present study, about 16 narrow spectralbands collected emissive spectral data in thethermal-infrared region (3.660 to 14.385 µm) of21st January 2006 were used to map the regionalgeology of the Tamil Nadu state by imageanalyses.

Geology of Tamil Nadu

The geology of Tamil Nadu state of India formspart of the peninsular shield, about ¾th of thearea (74%) underlain by unclassified crystallinerocks of Archaean and Pre - Cambrian agesdating 2600 Million to 570 million years. Thesedimentary formations constitute about 1/4 th ofthe total area mostly along the coast flanking themain crystalline on the west. It includes rocks ofupper Gondwana age of about 200 million years(2% of the total area), Cretaceous of 130 - 140million years (1 - 2% of the area) and Tertiaryage of about 70 million years (5 - 6 % of the totalarea). The coastal tract is covered by youngeralluvial and coastal sand formations ofQuaternary age (about 16%).

The granulite terrain rocks forms under hightemperatures and pressure conditions. Thecrystalline rocks exposed in this part of thepeninsular shield include the rocks ofcharnockite group, khondalite group, bandedgneisses and schist, traversed by ultramafic,

212 ECO-CHRONICLEbasic and syenite intrusive. Upper Gondwanarocks, mostly comprising pink and white shale’sand calcareous sandstones are found near inthe Chengalpattu, Tiruchirapall i , andRamanathapuram districts. In Tiruchirapallidistrict, the Gondwana rocks are unconformablyoverlain by cretaceous rocks, which are sub-divided into four stages namely, Uttatur,Tiruchirapalli, Ariyalur and Niniyur, based onfossil evidences. The sediments consist mostlyof limestone; marls, sandstone and clays extendin age from the Cenomanian to Danian. Theyhave succeeded by sandstones and clays ofTertiary age (Mio-Pliocene). Formations ofPleistocene and Recent age include alluvium indeltaic regions and river valleys and corralinelimestone in parts of Gulf of Manner as given inFig. 1 (http://www.nic.in).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The entire image processing was carried outusing ENVI software v4.2. The MODIS Terra datawas HDF scientific data, which can be directlyread using ENVI software. The bands werenumbered form 1 to 36 in which thermal-infraredregion starting from band 20. The data from band20 to 36 (16 bands) in 1000m spatial resolutionsmeant for surface temperature emissivecharacters were used for present analyses. Aspectral subset of data was taken for finalanalysis. As ground calibration was notattempted at this stage of study, IAR algorithm(Internal average relative reflectance) was usedto normalize the data. This is particularly effectivefor reducing hyperspectral data to relativereflectance in an area where no groundmeasurements are available. An averagespectrum (Fig. 2), calculated from the entirescene was used as reference spectrum, whichwas then divided into spectrum at each pixel. Aminimum noise transformation was carried outon the data to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

The data contained in the hyperspectral bandswere often highly correlated and therefore featureextraction techniques like principal componentanalysis (PCA) was generally used to reducethe dimensionality of the data sets. Thistransformation was used to determine theinherent dimensionality of image data tosegregate noise in the data, and to reduce thecomputational requirement for subsequentprocessing. It was a two level transformation. Inthe first level transformation estimates the noisecovariance matrix, decorrelated and rescales the

noise statistics in the data without band-to-bandcorrelation. The second was the standardprincipal component transformation of the noise-whitened data. The final data was evaluated bythe Eigen value. The first part is associated withlarge Eigen value and coherent images andcomplementary part with near unity Eigen valuesand noise dominated image. The coherentportion of the image was used to separate noisefrom data. Eigen values for bands that containinformation will be an order magnitude largerthan those that contain only noise. The first 10principal components depicted a total datavariance of 99.7%. Pixel purity Index (PPA) wascomputed for the data. This algorithm finds themost spectrally pure extreme pixels to beanalyzed for end member determination andmakes separation and identification of endmember easier. This was computed byrepeatedly projecting n-dimensional scatter plotinto a random unit vector. The extreme pixels ineach projection were recorded and total numberof times each pixel was marked as extreme wasnoted. A PPI image was created, in which theDN of each pixel corresponds to number of timesthat pixel was recorded as extreme. Extractionof end number spectra were carried out usingvisual inspection and comparison with existinggeological information, automated identification,spectral library comparison and abundanceestimation in the sub-pixel domain using MixtureTuned Matched Filtering method (MTMF). Thisalgorithm maximizes the response of a knownend member and suppresses the response ofthe signature. It provides rapid means ofdetecting specific mineral based on matches tospecific end member spectra. It was basicallylinear mixture theory. The MF score images weregray scale images with values from 0 to 1.0, with1.0 as the perfect match to the reference spectra.The corresponding infeasibility image, wherehighly infeasible number indicated that mixingbetween the composite background and thetarget was not feasible.

The spectral profile prepared based on emissivevalue showed that there is specific peaks anddips in the curve in the thermal-infrared regionof the spectrum. This, when compared with thespectral profile in the dense vegetation pocket,water body and settlements, showed clearchanges in the profi le. This helped inunderstanding the response of emissive spectraover a pure exposed rock surface, which had acharacteristic spectral profile in the thermal-

213ECO-CHRONICLEFig. 1.

The geology of Tamil Nadu state(http://www.nic.in)

Fig. 2. Spectral profi le showing theaverage spectrum of 16 thermal bands (20to 36) and their thermal emissive valueranges of study region in the MODIS Terrahyperspectral data

Fig. 3. The igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary terrain ofTamil Nadu state interpreted from MODIS Terra Hyperspectraldata

Fig. 4. The igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary terrain ofTamil Nadu state in the MODIS Terra Hyperspectral data(Surface temperature emissive band 31).

214 ECO-CHRONICLEinfrared region. The original hyperspectral datawas calibrated to emissive value. A minimumnoise transform was carried out for the thermalband to reduce the noise and data redundancy.The MNF bands, which contain most of thespectral informations, were used to determinethe most l ikely end member using PPIprocedure. The potential end member wasloaded into an n-dimensional scatter plot androtated in real time for exposing the extrememembers in the plot. These extreme memberswere extracted using Region Of Interest (ROI).Once a set of pure pixel was identified withseparate projection, it was related to the originalimage through ROI tool. This end member wasused for subsequent sub-pixel classification(Vinod Kumar, 2005).

RESULTS

Based on the above methodology, we attemptedto interpret the geology of Tamil Nadu state inthe narrow bandwidth having ranges of 10.780-11.280 µm (band 31) among the 16 spectralbands. The emissive values of spectral bandsfor different major rock types were analysed,interpreted and regionally classified as maficigneous, metamorphic and sedimentary terrainsas given in Figs. 3 and 4. The study of emissivevalues of different rock units and theirmineralogical and chemical compositionsshowed that the ferro-magnesium maficminerals enriched igneous and mafic granuliterocks were having the emissive values rangingfrom 8.7 to 9.5, occurring in central and westernparts of the study region. The charnockite andgranulite had given the emissive value of 9.1 and9.5 respectively. This has been interpreted withdark tone and medium to coarse texture, highrelief, and irregular shape discriminated as wellin the thermal-infrared region compared tometamorphic and sedimentary rocks. This is dueto high absorption of temperature radiance andlow emissive spectral signatures by the ferro-magnesium silicates bearing minerals of therock. The emissive spectral absorption ofsedimentary rocks occurred in the coastal trackof Tamil Nadu produced the emissive valueranging from 9.6 to 10.6. These werecharacteristics of si lica, carbonates,bicarbonates and aluminium rich silicatesbearing mineral and chemical composition of

limestone, marls, shale, sandstone, clay andalluvial sand sedimentary rock types. InCuddalore sandstone, shale and clay had giventhe values of 10.2, 9.8 and 9.6 respectively in thethermal emissive region. The alluvial quartz sandproduced the maximum emissive value of 10.6.These were having fine to medium texture,irregular shape, light to gray tone and low reliefhaving low absorption of surface temperatureand high emissive characters. Similarly, inbetween igneous and sedimentary regions, themetamorphic rocks consisting of Peninsulargneisses and schist were interpreted based onthe emissive values ranging from 10.0 to 10.8due to their quartzo-feldspathic mineralogicalcontents and chemical composition characters.The crystalline limestone rocks, occurred in eastof Cauvery, had produced the maximum emissivevalue of 10.8.

DISCUSSION

The present study results about the processingof thermal-infrared narrow bandwidth of MODISTerra for regional delineation of major igneous,sedimentary and metamorphic rock types in thegeology of Tamil Nadu state. Through which, theemissive signatures were analysed and theirthermal characteristics of the different rock typeswere studied. The interpreted emissive spectralsignatures of different rock types in the thermal-infrared region showed that these are dependedon the mineralogical and chemical compositionof parent rock types. The narrow band spectralcharacteristics of MODIS Terra hyperspectral dataproved to be the best unique tool for mapping ofregional geology utilizing their higher spatialresolution and greater spectral resolution.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors are extremely thankful to ISRO,Bangalore for sanctioning financial supportthrough Project “ELGIORD”.

REFERENCES

Vinod Kumar, K. 2005. Init ial results onHyperspectral data Analysis for End MemberSeparation for Lithological Discrimination inHimalayan Terrain, News letter, NRSA January2005, v.2, no.1, pp 6-7.

Geology of Tamil Nadu state http://www.nic.in

215ECO-CHRONICLE

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS OF CORPORATES IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION- A CRITICAL REVIEW

S. Dipu 1, B. Balu 2 and V. Salom Gnana Thanga 1

1Dept.of environmental Sciences, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.2Dept.of Commerce, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

ABSTRACTFor business, risk assessment provides a way to allocate cost efficiently. They are increasingly usingit as a management tool. Any environmental damage caused by the production process must betreated as an economic expense and entered on the balance sheet accordingly. As the ultimatesupport of much economic activity; the environmental resources base makes a critical contribution tothe cause of sustainable development .Win win strategy is a major responsibility of corporate businessfirm. It is often argued that corporate environmental and social responsibility is basically a rationalbusiness response to ecological constraints and market opportunities.

Key words: Risk assessment, Winwin strategy, Market opportunities

ECO-CHRONICLE VOL. 1, No. 4. DECEMBER 2006, pp. 215 - 218

INTRODUCTION

Globalization of capital flows has heightened thepressure to improve corporative governance andresponsibil i t ies around the world.Environmental ethics is a topic of applied ethics,which examines the moral basis ofenvironmental responsibi l i ty. In theseenvironmentally conscious times, virtuallyeveryone agrees that we need to beenvironmentally responsible. Many businessenterprisers have made huge investment onproduction and distribution of goods andservices that have resulted directly in extensivewaste production and degradation of naturalresources or encouraged consumption patternsthat do the same harm. These appears to be agrowing recognition that the increased freedomenjoyed by big business in the era of globalizationneed to be complimented by increasingresponsibil i t ies. (UNCTAD, 1998). At theinternational level, various attempts to influenceTran’s national corporation practices throughcodes of conduct have been abandoned. In acontest when such institutions have weakened,corporate self regulation and voluntaryinstitutions have evolved dominant approachesto promote business responsibility (Dawkings,1995).

ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM

For business, risk assessment provides a wayto allocate cost efficiently. They are increasingly

using it as a management tool.Environmentalists, on the other hand generallysee risk assessment as a tactic of powerfulinterest used to prevent regulation of non-dangeror permit building of facilities when there will beknown fatalities. By treating everyone alike,environmentalists over took the real danger toparticularly vulnerable people. Risk assessmentshould not be used as an excuse for inaction.

Toxic waste contaminates ground water, oil spillsdestroy shorelines, fossil fuels produce carbondioxide thus adding to the greenhouse effect,and use of fluorocarbon gasses depletes theearth’s protecting ozone layer. The goal ofenvironmental ethics, then, is not to convince usthat we should be concerned about theenvironment - most of us already are. Instead,environmental ethics focuses on the moralfoundation of environmental responsibility, andhow far this responsibility extends. There arethree distinct theories of moral responsibility tothe environment. Although each supportsenvironmental responsibility, their approachesare radically different.

The first of these theories is anthropocentric orhuman centered. Environmentalanthropocentrism is the view that al lenvironmental responsibility is derived fromhuman interests alone. The assumption hereis that only human beings are morally significantpersons and have a direct moral standing. Sincethe environment is crucial to human well-being

REVIEW ARTICLE

216 ECO-CHRONICLEand human survival, then we have an indirectduty towards the environment, that is, a duty,which is derived from human interests. Thisinvolves the duty to assure that the earth remainsenvironmentally hospitable for supporting humanlife, and that its beauty and resources arepreserved, so that human life on earth continuesto be pleasant. Some have argued that ourindirect environmental duties derive both fromthe immediate benefit which living peoplereceive from the environment, and the benefitthose future generations of people will receive.But, critics have maintained that since futuregenerations of people do not yet exist, then,strictly speaking, they cannot have rights anymore than a dead person can have rights.Nevertheless, both parties to this disputeacknowledge that environmental concern derivessolely from human interests.

A second general approach to environmentalresponsibility is an extension of the strong animalrights view discussed in the previous section. Ifat least some animals qualify as morallysignificant persons, then our responsibilitytoward the environment also hinges on theenvironmental interests of these animals. Onthis view, then, environmental responsibilityderives from the interest of all morally significantpersons, which includes both humans and atleast some animals. Like anthropocentrism,though, environmental obligation is still indirect.The third and most radical approach toenvironmental responsibil i ty, called eco-centrism, maintains that the environmentdeserves direct moral consideration, and not onethat is merely derived from human (and animal)interests.

The concept of ecocentrism was proposed byAldo Leopold (1949) in his highly influentialessay” The Land Ethic”. Leopold argues that inall areas of environmental conservation (forestry,wildlife and agriculture) two distinct mindsets willbecome apparent. Some will see the land interms of commodity production, whichperpetuates the role of humans as conquerors.However, others will understand the land morebroadly, where humans are but citizens of theland. The greatest obstacle toward achieving aland ethic, then, is the economic mindset.Leopold concludes by offering a principle, whichbrings into focus the broader ethical concernsof the environment: “A thing is right when it tendsto preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of

the biotic community. It is wrong when it tendsotherwise. “

ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING

A system of national or business accountingwhere such environmental assets are air, waterand land are not considered to be free andabundant resources but instead are consideredto be scarce economic assets. Anyenvironmental damage caused by the productionprocess must be treated as an economicexpense and entered on the balance sheetaccordingly. It is important to include in thisframework the full environmental cost occurringover the full life cycle of a product, including notonly the environmental cost incurred in theproduction process, but also the environmentalcost resulting from use, recycling and disposalof products. This is also known as the cradle tograve approach.

INDUSTRY AND ENVIRONMENT

Industrialization is the cause and effect ofeconomic development. Though industrializationresults in many benefits and prosperity, it alsogives birth to a number of problems and fewunwanted side effects. On the one hand, it maycause reckless exploitation of natural resourcesresulting in ecological imbalances and on theother hand its affluent may cause environmentalpollution. The increasing production of syntheticmaterials is leading to less recyclable waste ofnatural substances, in India, the major industriesare the chemicals, fertilizers, insecticides,antibiotics, drugs, oil refineries, textiles, jute,tanneries, sugar, distilleries, paper, metal etc.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Environmentalists have also crit icizedenvironmental economics for its emphasis oneconomic growth without considering theunintended side effects. Economist need tosupplement estimates of economic cost andbenefit of growth with estimates of effect of thatgrowth that cannot be measured in economicterms. Many environmentalists also believe theburden of proof should rest with newtechnologies, in that they should not be allowedsimply because they advance material progress.

Humans respond to signals about scarcity anddegradation. Extrapolating past consumptionpattern into the future without considering the

217ECO-CHRONICLEhuman response is likely to be a futile exercise,economists misargue. In general, the precise ofnatural resources have been declining despiteincreased production and demand. Prices howfallen because of discoveries of new resourcesand because of innovation in the extraction andrefinement process (Marcuz, 1993).

The code of conduct is a business responsibilityin relation to sustainable development. It is aset of ethical principles and standards thatattempts to guide a firm’s environmental andsocial performance. The formulation of code ofconduct by companies and industry or businessassociations has escalated sharply during1990s. This suggests that business may becrafting a new relationship to the environmentand society.

Eco efficiency is another aspect of corporateresponsibility. It is a process of adding morevalue while steadily decreasing resources use(Schmidheiny, 1996). Eco efficiency is thedominant model of environmental managementreform promoted by the World Business Councilfor Sustainable Development.

The corporate responsibility is diluted by greenwash activity. It is a process of disinformationdisseminated by an organization so as to presentan environmentally responsible public image.

It is difficult to assess the significance ofcontemporary trends associated with corporateenvironmental and social responsibility by simplyweighing up selected cases of best practice orgreen wash.

Regarding corporate responsibility, voluntaryinitiative is one of the aspects. These encompassa wide range of initiatives that go beyond existinglaws and legislations related to environmentaland social protection. They may be unilaterallydeveloped by industry designed and run bygovernment, jointly developed by governmentand industry (UNEP, 1998).

THE ENVIRONMENTAL BASIS OF SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT

Degradation and destruction of environmentalsystems and natural resources are nowassuming massive proportions in somedeveloping countries and are a threat tocontinued, sustainable development. It is now

generally recognized that economicdevelopment can be an important contributingfactor to growing environmental problems in theabsence of appropriate safeguards. A greatlyimproved understanding of the natural resourcebase and environmental systems that supportnational economies is needed if patterns ofdevelopment that are sustainable can bedetermined and recommended to governments.

As the ultimate support of much economicactivity, the environmental resources basemakes a critical contribution to the cause ofsustainable development. Especial ly indeveloping countries, environmental resourcesare increasingly being depleted (soil is beingeroded, forests eliminated, and grasslandovergrazed) to a degree that adversely affect theprospects for sustainable development. Thereis an urgent need for policy makers to be suppliedwith an analytical framework for the problemsso that they can systematically evaluate thetradeoffs involved and determine the mostefficient points for policy interventions.

These considerations apply more to developingcountries than to developed countries; becausedeveloping countries are generally primaryproducers with large subsistence sectors andthus are more dependent on their naturalresources, notably land and water.

Business managers and public administrators’have very important role to play, bringing aboutspeedier Environmental Resolutions. So farmanagement has been concerned aboutenvironment but in a totally different context. Theyhave been seeing the environment “asboundless cornucopia, to be enjoyed, plunderedand rearranged for profit”. This approach has tobe changed and now they have to see that it hasto be used in such a manner that there is anoptimum utilization in the larger interest of thesociety. It requires selection of that strategy forthe management of the environment which bestpromotes the welfare of the society. (Sundar,2004).

Win win strategy is a major responsibility ofcorporate business firm. It is corporate strategythat enables a company to simultaneouslyimprove in environmental and social record whilereducing costs and increasing competitivenessand productivity.

218 ECO-CHRONICLEIt is often argued that corporate environmentaland social responsibility is basically a rationalbusiness response to ecological constraints andmarket opportunities. There is a considerabledebate regarding the win win supposition thatenvironmental improvements can go hand inhand with cost reduction.

CONCLUSION

1. Massive flow of foreign direct investmentshould facil i tate transfer of cleanertechnology.

2. The polluter pays principle should be inacted with immediate effect.

3. Good corporate governance should bedeveloped in encouraging social lyresponsible trade development.

4. Public participation is one of the mostimportant requirements for promotingcorporate business responsibility towardssustainable development.

5. Add value to the traditions and morals of thelocal people. These values need to be incorporated into companies’ definitions andmeasurement to progress and success.

6. Transparency in the working procedures

REFERENCES

Dawkings, K. 1995. Ecolabeling: Consumersright to know or restrictive business practice?Mimeo Institute for agriculture and trade policy,Minneapolis.

Marcuz, A.A. 1993. Business and society; Ethics,government, and the world economy.Homewood, IL; Irwin publishing.

Schmidheing, 1996. Financing change: Thefinancial community, eco-efficiency andsustainable development, MIT press,Cambridge.

Sundar, I. 2004. Environmental and socialresponsibilities of corporate business in thecontext of globalization. Environment and people,vol. 11.Hyderabad.

UNCTAD, 1998. World investment report, 1998.Trends and determinants, UNCTAD, Geneva.

UNEP, 1998. Voluntary initiatives for responsibleentrepreneurship: A question and answer guide,Industry and environment, Vol. 21, Geneva.