Jharkhand's Singhbhum, Godda, and Dumka district forest departments are set to revolutionize affo... more Jharkhand's Singhbhum, Godda, and Dumka district forest departments are set to revolutionize afforestation by throwing seed balls where there is almost no vegetation on the slopes of the hills. The seeds of various plants buried in the mud of the seed balls have started germinating in the monsoon rains after being thrown into the slopes and ridges of the hills. Once covered with lush green, and rich in wildlife and countless wild ducks, the hills are now bare of vegetation along with wildlife. In this situation, the forest creation initiative of the Jharkhand State Forest Department deserves praise. At this time there is no doubt that the impact of current climate change on afforestation by the Forest Department might accelerate afforestation. However, the additional carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere as a result of climate change initially has a significant impact on afforestation but later it will have negative consequences. However, forests play a special role in fixing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The bank of the canal at Bank Plot area under
Garfa police station areas carrying domestic
sewa... more The bank of the canal at Bank Plot area under Garfa police station areas carrying domestic sewage from Tollygunge and Jadavpur areas was entirely covered with such harmful herbaceous Parthenium plant species along the entire stretch up to Jora Bridge of Santoshpur since 2011 causing breathing problems with their wind-blown pollens.
Mayurakshi River, known as the lifeline of Birbhum district, provides much of the water by supply... more Mayurakshi River, known as the lifeline of Birbhum district, provides much of the water by supplying irrigation water to this dry district.For the purpose ofwater supply, the Government has constructed reservoirs and irrigation canals with dams and barrages on the Mayurakshi and its tributaries. But since the volume of water carried by the river is not very high, no reservoirs have been constructed to control the floods. Water quality of the Mayurakshi river is good and it wasrecently excluded from the list of polluted rivers in India.
The Brahmaputra basin and the Ganga basin of North Bengal consist of many rivers and most of them... more The Brahmaputra basin and the Ganga basin of North Bengal consist of many rivers and most of them originate from the hilly regions of Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, and Darjeeling. The Himalayan mountainous region in the state of West Bengal has an annual rainfall of 3000 to 6000 mm. These heavy rainfalls lead to landslides in hilly areas and severe floods in plains, mainly in North Bengal. Sewage discharged from municipalities in these basin areas enters the river water making it unusable even for outdoor bathing. For this reason, Paharpur to Siliguri is the polluted stretch of Teesta in 2018 and along Sevoke during 2022 in the category of Priority-V as demarcated by the Central Pollution Control Board.
The advent of social distancing is a great and
pleasant surprise to lovers of nature. Almost all
... more The advent of social distancing is a great and pleasant surprise to lovers of nature. Almost all the trees may social distance to avoid diseases. In the forests, the canopy stretches for vast distances. Despite overlapping tree branches, canopy trees rarely interlock or even touch. They are separated from one another by a few feet. Researchers still keep up working on why the branches of these trees do not touch which is still a mystery, but it is thought that it might help the trees as protection from the attack of tree-eating caterpillars and other diseases including mangroves maintain mysterious gaps, called crown shyness that could serve trees share resources and help staying healthy.
Green leaves of wild trees are visible for the first time on the rocky barren land of Susunia Hil... more Green leaves of wild trees are visible for the first time on the rocky barren land of Susunia Hills. Chhatna Forest Range under Forest Division of Bankura District has succeeded in afforestation by spreading seed bombs comprising Akashmani and Subabul seeds. About two hundred seed bombs of such trees were spread on just two hectares of rocky land in Susunia Hills just prior to the commencement of the monsoon this year where previously no wild tree seedlings were seen to grow. All the staff of the Chhatna Range of the forest department are very happy with such success. Now they dream of increasing the forest area by spreading seed bombs on the remaining twenty-five hectares of such rocky land in Susunia Hills. Now they are trying to enrich the forests of Susunia Hills by keeping the seeds of Amalki, Bahera, Haritki, Kend, and Haldu in the sowing by seed bombing.
International Research Journal of Environmental Sciences, 2023
The confluence of the Rupnarayan River is located in between the other two river estuaries at a d... more The confluence of the Rupnarayan River is located in between the other two river estuaries at a distance of only a few kilometers. The other two river estuaries Damodar and Haldi lie to the north and south respectively of the Rupnarayan which outfall into the Hooghly River. The water of these river estuaries enters and mixes with the water of Rupnarayan River at high tide. Effluents released from Kolaghat thermal power plant and wastewater released from Haldia industrial area mixes with the tidal water of Rupnarayan River which pollutes the river water. Sewage discharges from Haldia, Tamluk and Kolaghat municipalities mixed with the waters of Rupnarayan and became unusable most part of the year. Apart from such pollution, the water of Rupnarayan is now slightly saline for increasing water salinity in the lower reaches of Hooghly River due to sea level rise. Consequent uponthe existence of low salinity in estuarine water, abundant occurrence of giant prawn broods in the confluence has changed the socioeconomic pattern in the localities of three districts surrounding the Rupnarayan River.
Numerous rivers flow across the state of West Bengal. The tributaries and distributaries of these... more Numerous rivers flow across the state of West Bengal. The tributaries and distributaries of these rivers form a river network from north to south and from west to east all along the state. Among these rivers, which have water throughout the year, the problem is relatively less. During the dry season, pollution levels are high for factories or municipalities located along rivers with knee-dip water. Recently, 13 river stretches in West Bengal have reached such levels of water pollution that they are not suitable for outdoor bathing. It can be concluded that the water quality of most of the river stretches in West Bengal is quite poor and sometimes below permissible limit.
Among a few scattered forest patches in Damodar valley, the forest covering the entire Susunia Hi... more Among a few scattered forest patches in Damodar valley, the forest covering the entire Susunia Hills is important for its species diversity of floral assemblages. Along the river course of Damodar, the main industrial area of West Bengal has developed. Though the sewage effluent from such industries empties into the Damodar River after treatment, the water of Damodar River is unfit for use even for outdoor bathing due to the presence of faecal coliform bacteria and higher values of biochemical oxygen demand in the river water exceeding the permissible limit. Damodar river water is probably polluted by the mixing of the surface runoffs from the non-point sources.
Coastal zone of West Bengal, characterized as a typical lowland coast under a meso-macrotidal reg... more Coastal zone of West Bengal, characterized as a typical lowland coast under a meso-macrotidal regime, register evidence of accretion and erosion that control conguration of the coastline. At present, West Bengal coast is a hostile coastal tract in nature evidenced by severe erosion that leads to lowering of coastal plains and landward advancement of coastline as it is a cyclone prone area. The coastal zone of the state is the outcome of the combined depositional effects of Ganga-Brahmaputra River and the Bay of Bengal. Tidal uctuations, wave parameters, longshore currents, sand ats, and beach ridges are the characteristic features of the coastal areas of the state. Major catastrophic events like cyclonic storms, tidal bores, storm surges, breaking types, high tidal range, strong littoral drift that control the coastal conguration of West Bengal are examined accordingly. Nature of beach materials and different sedimentary structures on the intertidal zones are identied.
The river waters of Jalangi got polluted at its downstream stretch at Krishnanagar due to municip... more The river waters of Jalangi got polluted at its downstream stretch at Krishnanagar due to municipal waste discharge as well as mixing of industrial efuent from The Kishan Cooperative Milk Producer Union Ltd even 7-8 years back. Jalangi River water is currently useable for outdoor bathing after drastic sewage treatment by chlorination for disinfection of faecal coliform bacteria as well as using screen and sedimentation tank for the precipitation of different solids remained in the domestic sewage at the outlets of eight drains of Krishnanagar municipality.The water quality rating applying the formula of water quality index shows 60% good and 40% fair conditions of surface water of Jalangi River for the months from January to May 2020 which was almost poor during 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively. Application of modied standard values for individual parameters for the computation of WQI reveals similarities of WQI values with the data of physicochemical parameters of river waters of Jalangi.
Adi Ganga River, at present, of about two
kilometers stretch, in and around the Baruipur
Municipa... more Adi Ganga River, at present, of about two kilometers stretch, in and around the Baruipur Municipality, is a stagnant water body, filled only with the rain water which is static fresh water covered with weeds and marshes, having the depth of water on an average 6 feet in summer time and 16 to 18 feet during monsoon season.
Survey and analyses of the coastal environments and beach materials from the Kasaragod coast of K... more Survey and analyses of the coastal environments and beach materials from the Kasaragod coast of Kerala and Harnai of Maharashtra revealed the various surface structures on the intertidal sand flat that are the characteristics and indicatives of wave influence. Conical dome-like bioturbation structure formed by the Olivancillaria species, a marine macroinvertebrate, on the intertidal zone of Kasaragod has a significant role in reproducing the beach morphology. Typical notches and honeycomb structures, sand bars, and steep sea cliffs characterize the beach processes of Harnai of Konkon coast. Such physical and biological processes, important factors to differentiate the sea beach morphology, are observed and examined from the study areas of Kasaragod coastal zone of Kerala and Harnai of Konkon coastal stretches along the western coast of peninsular India.
International Research Journal of Environmental Sciences, 2023
Industrial manufacturers like sugar mills and distillery plants, and milk units drain waste efflu... more Industrial manufacturers like sugar mills and distillery plants, and milk units drain waste effluents into Churni and Jalangi rivers of Nadia district in West Bengal. Apart from industrial effluent discharge, Churni and Jalangi rivers receive domestic sewage on a regular basis through drainage systems from Ranaghat and Krishnanagar municipalities respectively. Industrial effluent as well as domestic and urban sewage enter Churni and Jalangi rivers from industrial, domestic, and municipal sources. The wastewater effluent and domestic sewage affect the aquatic environment resulting in drastic changes in the river water quality of Churni and Jalangi rivers which are deleterious to both aquatic flora and fauna. This is how most of the river stretches of Churni and Jalangi are almost polluted. For the determination of the magnitude of pollution, the water quality index of river water is computed. The obtained result reveals that the present condition of surface water of Churni is in worse condition wherethe situation of Jalangi River at its downstream is comparatively better.
The village named Khirai is beautiful like
flowers. Khirai village is located in front of
Kansai ... more The village named Khirai is beautiful like flowers. Khirai village is located in front of Kansai Bridge on the bank of Kangsabati River (also known as Kansai) in Panskura 1 Block of Purba Medinipur District. On the road from the National Highway to Khirai, one can see a variety of seasonal flowers across the fields on both sides of the narrow Kansai River.
Kolkata's wetlands not only provide breathing oxygen or keep the surrounding environment cool, ap... more Kolkata's wetlands not only provide breathing oxygen or keep the surrounding environment cool, apart from these wetlands also provide fish by which the fishing community sustains its livelihood by fish farming in the wetlands. But the serious polluting substances cause a decrease of water quality in Kolkata wetlands principally by human interference. Kolkata waterbodies are polluted mainly by the inorganic and organic solid wastes, toxic chemicals, organic compounds etc. which are generally found in the wastewater coming from the domestic discharges. Surface water samples from the different waterbodies in and around Kolkata metropolis were collected for the analysis of physico-chemical parameters. The analytical results show the extreme deterioration of water quality of the waterbodies which are even unusable for outdoor bathing.
The mixing of huge quantities of eroded materials from the upstream and middle stretches deterior... more The mixing of huge quantities of eroded materials from the upstream and middle stretches deteriorates the water quality of Shilabati River downstream. Along with such huge sediment load, discharge of untreated wastewater from both point and nonpoint sources results in the water of Shilabati River being unusable. Though water quality rating shows water in good conditions after calculation of water quality index still the river water is not to be prescribed for drinking, outdoor bathing, or other domestic purposes as the faecal coliform bacterial count is more than the permissible limit as standardized by the Central Pollution Control Board. Apart from the water conditions, Shilabati River is known for its geographical and historical importance.
Coastal Geomorphic Characteristics Coastal zones exhibit dynamic environments where interaction o... more Coastal Geomorphic Characteristics Coastal zones exhibit dynamic environments where interaction of winds, waves, currents, terrestrial and biogenic sediments are interrelated, resulting in various coastal landforms. The processes involved in sculpturing coastal landforms are weathering erosion, transportation, and deposition of sediments. The principal elements of climate like rainfall, temperature and wind in coastal areas also have a role in the development of coastal landforms. Coastal areas show various sedimentary environments of deposition in the lower deltaic part of West Bengal. The sedimentary environments not only characterize the nature of sand flats and mudflats but also help in the understanding of different coastal geomorphic features [1]. Beaches scattered along the coastal region, in the majority, revealed several geomorphic
West Bengal coast has been classified as a typical lowland coast by its origin and is a very sign... more West Bengal coast has been classified as a typical lowland coast by its origin and is a very significant product of extensive fluvio-marine deposits carried by the Ganga River and the Bay of Bengal. Tidal fluctuations, wave parameters, long shore currents, sand flats, and beach ridges are the characteristic features of the coastal areas of West Bengal. Beach is one of the dominant features in the coastal region that explains the characteristics and nature of the coast. Steep wave crests break in the surf zone of the beach and the formation of breakers depends on the beach width and beach slope, and the breaking types, in general, are spilling to collapsing as recorded in the West Bengal coasts. In the beach environment, higher the beach width, less the beach slope, and both these factors control the wave parameters as wave is one of the important factors in controlling the nature and shape of the depositional environment as well as the grain size distribution of the coastal areas. Observations revealed that the coastal region of West Bengal is an erosive one as it is a cyclone prone area. The cyclonic storms that ravaged the coast off and on devastate the coastlines on a regular basis indicating the West Bengal coastal zone as a vulnerable one. Sea level rise due to climatic change is another factor that might be considered as a probable reason for the coastal erosion in most of the beaches in South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts comprising coastal regions in the state of West Bengal. Such erosional features and the bedding structures exposed along the plain of erosional sites help in the interpretation of the coastal morphodynamics along the vulnerable coastal tract of the state.
Jharkhand's Singhbhum, Godda, and Dumka district forest departments are set to revolutionize affo... more Jharkhand's Singhbhum, Godda, and Dumka district forest departments are set to revolutionize afforestation by throwing seed balls where there is almost no vegetation on the slopes of the hills. The seeds of various plants buried in the mud of the seed balls have started germinating in the monsoon rains after being thrown into the slopes and ridges of the hills. Once covered with lush green, and rich in wildlife and countless wild ducks, the hills are now bare of vegetation along with wildlife. In this situation, the forest creation initiative of the Jharkhand State Forest Department deserves praise. At this time there is no doubt that the impact of current climate change on afforestation by the Forest Department might accelerate afforestation. However, the additional carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere as a result of climate change initially has a significant impact on afforestation but later it will have negative consequences. However, forests play a special role in fixing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The bank of the canal at Bank Plot area under
Garfa police station areas carrying domestic
sewa... more The bank of the canal at Bank Plot area under Garfa police station areas carrying domestic sewage from Tollygunge and Jadavpur areas was entirely covered with such harmful herbaceous Parthenium plant species along the entire stretch up to Jora Bridge of Santoshpur since 2011 causing breathing problems with their wind-blown pollens.
Mayurakshi River, known as the lifeline of Birbhum district, provides much of the water by supply... more Mayurakshi River, known as the lifeline of Birbhum district, provides much of the water by supplying irrigation water to this dry district.For the purpose ofwater supply, the Government has constructed reservoirs and irrigation canals with dams and barrages on the Mayurakshi and its tributaries. But since the volume of water carried by the river is not very high, no reservoirs have been constructed to control the floods. Water quality of the Mayurakshi river is good and it wasrecently excluded from the list of polluted rivers in India.
The Brahmaputra basin and the Ganga basin of North Bengal consist of many rivers and most of them... more The Brahmaputra basin and the Ganga basin of North Bengal consist of many rivers and most of them originate from the hilly regions of Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, and Darjeeling. The Himalayan mountainous region in the state of West Bengal has an annual rainfall of 3000 to 6000 mm. These heavy rainfalls lead to landslides in hilly areas and severe floods in plains, mainly in North Bengal. Sewage discharged from municipalities in these basin areas enters the river water making it unusable even for outdoor bathing. For this reason, Paharpur to Siliguri is the polluted stretch of Teesta in 2018 and along Sevoke during 2022 in the category of Priority-V as demarcated by the Central Pollution Control Board.
The advent of social distancing is a great and
pleasant surprise to lovers of nature. Almost all
... more The advent of social distancing is a great and pleasant surprise to lovers of nature. Almost all the trees may social distance to avoid diseases. In the forests, the canopy stretches for vast distances. Despite overlapping tree branches, canopy trees rarely interlock or even touch. They are separated from one another by a few feet. Researchers still keep up working on why the branches of these trees do not touch which is still a mystery, but it is thought that it might help the trees as protection from the attack of tree-eating caterpillars and other diseases including mangroves maintain mysterious gaps, called crown shyness that could serve trees share resources and help staying healthy.
Green leaves of wild trees are visible for the first time on the rocky barren land of Susunia Hil... more Green leaves of wild trees are visible for the first time on the rocky barren land of Susunia Hills. Chhatna Forest Range under Forest Division of Bankura District has succeeded in afforestation by spreading seed bombs comprising Akashmani and Subabul seeds. About two hundred seed bombs of such trees were spread on just two hectares of rocky land in Susunia Hills just prior to the commencement of the monsoon this year where previously no wild tree seedlings were seen to grow. All the staff of the Chhatna Range of the forest department are very happy with such success. Now they dream of increasing the forest area by spreading seed bombs on the remaining twenty-five hectares of such rocky land in Susunia Hills. Now they are trying to enrich the forests of Susunia Hills by keeping the seeds of Amalki, Bahera, Haritki, Kend, and Haldu in the sowing by seed bombing.
International Research Journal of Environmental Sciences, 2023
The confluence of the Rupnarayan River is located in between the other two river estuaries at a d... more The confluence of the Rupnarayan River is located in between the other two river estuaries at a distance of only a few kilometers. The other two river estuaries Damodar and Haldi lie to the north and south respectively of the Rupnarayan which outfall into the Hooghly River. The water of these river estuaries enters and mixes with the water of Rupnarayan River at high tide. Effluents released from Kolaghat thermal power plant and wastewater released from Haldia industrial area mixes with the tidal water of Rupnarayan River which pollutes the river water. Sewage discharges from Haldia, Tamluk and Kolaghat municipalities mixed with the waters of Rupnarayan and became unusable most part of the year. Apart from such pollution, the water of Rupnarayan is now slightly saline for increasing water salinity in the lower reaches of Hooghly River due to sea level rise. Consequent uponthe existence of low salinity in estuarine water, abundant occurrence of giant prawn broods in the confluence has changed the socioeconomic pattern in the localities of three districts surrounding the Rupnarayan River.
Numerous rivers flow across the state of West Bengal. The tributaries and distributaries of these... more Numerous rivers flow across the state of West Bengal. The tributaries and distributaries of these rivers form a river network from north to south and from west to east all along the state. Among these rivers, which have water throughout the year, the problem is relatively less. During the dry season, pollution levels are high for factories or municipalities located along rivers with knee-dip water. Recently, 13 river stretches in West Bengal have reached such levels of water pollution that they are not suitable for outdoor bathing. It can be concluded that the water quality of most of the river stretches in West Bengal is quite poor and sometimes below permissible limit.
Among a few scattered forest patches in Damodar valley, the forest covering the entire Susunia Hi... more Among a few scattered forest patches in Damodar valley, the forest covering the entire Susunia Hills is important for its species diversity of floral assemblages. Along the river course of Damodar, the main industrial area of West Bengal has developed. Though the sewage effluent from such industries empties into the Damodar River after treatment, the water of Damodar River is unfit for use even for outdoor bathing due to the presence of faecal coliform bacteria and higher values of biochemical oxygen demand in the river water exceeding the permissible limit. Damodar river water is probably polluted by the mixing of the surface runoffs from the non-point sources.
Coastal zone of West Bengal, characterized as a typical lowland coast under a meso-macrotidal reg... more Coastal zone of West Bengal, characterized as a typical lowland coast under a meso-macrotidal regime, register evidence of accretion and erosion that control conguration of the coastline. At present, West Bengal coast is a hostile coastal tract in nature evidenced by severe erosion that leads to lowering of coastal plains and landward advancement of coastline as it is a cyclone prone area. The coastal zone of the state is the outcome of the combined depositional effects of Ganga-Brahmaputra River and the Bay of Bengal. Tidal uctuations, wave parameters, longshore currents, sand ats, and beach ridges are the characteristic features of the coastal areas of the state. Major catastrophic events like cyclonic storms, tidal bores, storm surges, breaking types, high tidal range, strong littoral drift that control the coastal conguration of West Bengal are examined accordingly. Nature of beach materials and different sedimentary structures on the intertidal zones are identied.
The river waters of Jalangi got polluted at its downstream stretch at Krishnanagar due to municip... more The river waters of Jalangi got polluted at its downstream stretch at Krishnanagar due to municipal waste discharge as well as mixing of industrial efuent from The Kishan Cooperative Milk Producer Union Ltd even 7-8 years back. Jalangi River water is currently useable for outdoor bathing after drastic sewage treatment by chlorination for disinfection of faecal coliform bacteria as well as using screen and sedimentation tank for the precipitation of different solids remained in the domestic sewage at the outlets of eight drains of Krishnanagar municipality.The water quality rating applying the formula of water quality index shows 60% good and 40% fair conditions of surface water of Jalangi River for the months from January to May 2020 which was almost poor during 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively. Application of modied standard values for individual parameters for the computation of WQI reveals similarities of WQI values with the data of physicochemical parameters of river waters of Jalangi.
Adi Ganga River, at present, of about two
kilometers stretch, in and around the Baruipur
Municipa... more Adi Ganga River, at present, of about two kilometers stretch, in and around the Baruipur Municipality, is a stagnant water body, filled only with the rain water which is static fresh water covered with weeds and marshes, having the depth of water on an average 6 feet in summer time and 16 to 18 feet during monsoon season.
Survey and analyses of the coastal environments and beach materials from the Kasaragod coast of K... more Survey and analyses of the coastal environments and beach materials from the Kasaragod coast of Kerala and Harnai of Maharashtra revealed the various surface structures on the intertidal sand flat that are the characteristics and indicatives of wave influence. Conical dome-like bioturbation structure formed by the Olivancillaria species, a marine macroinvertebrate, on the intertidal zone of Kasaragod has a significant role in reproducing the beach morphology. Typical notches and honeycomb structures, sand bars, and steep sea cliffs characterize the beach processes of Harnai of Konkon coast. Such physical and biological processes, important factors to differentiate the sea beach morphology, are observed and examined from the study areas of Kasaragod coastal zone of Kerala and Harnai of Konkon coastal stretches along the western coast of peninsular India.
International Research Journal of Environmental Sciences, 2023
Industrial manufacturers like sugar mills and distillery plants, and milk units drain waste efflu... more Industrial manufacturers like sugar mills and distillery plants, and milk units drain waste effluents into Churni and Jalangi rivers of Nadia district in West Bengal. Apart from industrial effluent discharge, Churni and Jalangi rivers receive domestic sewage on a regular basis through drainage systems from Ranaghat and Krishnanagar municipalities respectively. Industrial effluent as well as domestic and urban sewage enter Churni and Jalangi rivers from industrial, domestic, and municipal sources. The wastewater effluent and domestic sewage affect the aquatic environment resulting in drastic changes in the river water quality of Churni and Jalangi rivers which are deleterious to both aquatic flora and fauna. This is how most of the river stretches of Churni and Jalangi are almost polluted. For the determination of the magnitude of pollution, the water quality index of river water is computed. The obtained result reveals that the present condition of surface water of Churni is in worse condition wherethe situation of Jalangi River at its downstream is comparatively better.
The village named Khirai is beautiful like
flowers. Khirai village is located in front of
Kansai ... more The village named Khirai is beautiful like flowers. Khirai village is located in front of Kansai Bridge on the bank of Kangsabati River (also known as Kansai) in Panskura 1 Block of Purba Medinipur District. On the road from the National Highway to Khirai, one can see a variety of seasonal flowers across the fields on both sides of the narrow Kansai River.
Kolkata's wetlands not only provide breathing oxygen or keep the surrounding environment cool, ap... more Kolkata's wetlands not only provide breathing oxygen or keep the surrounding environment cool, apart from these wetlands also provide fish by which the fishing community sustains its livelihood by fish farming in the wetlands. But the serious polluting substances cause a decrease of water quality in Kolkata wetlands principally by human interference. Kolkata waterbodies are polluted mainly by the inorganic and organic solid wastes, toxic chemicals, organic compounds etc. which are generally found in the wastewater coming from the domestic discharges. Surface water samples from the different waterbodies in and around Kolkata metropolis were collected for the analysis of physico-chemical parameters. The analytical results show the extreme deterioration of water quality of the waterbodies which are even unusable for outdoor bathing.
The mixing of huge quantities of eroded materials from the upstream and middle stretches deterior... more The mixing of huge quantities of eroded materials from the upstream and middle stretches deteriorates the water quality of Shilabati River downstream. Along with such huge sediment load, discharge of untreated wastewater from both point and nonpoint sources results in the water of Shilabati River being unusable. Though water quality rating shows water in good conditions after calculation of water quality index still the river water is not to be prescribed for drinking, outdoor bathing, or other domestic purposes as the faecal coliform bacterial count is more than the permissible limit as standardized by the Central Pollution Control Board. Apart from the water conditions, Shilabati River is known for its geographical and historical importance.
Coastal Geomorphic Characteristics Coastal zones exhibit dynamic environments where interaction o... more Coastal Geomorphic Characteristics Coastal zones exhibit dynamic environments where interaction of winds, waves, currents, terrestrial and biogenic sediments are interrelated, resulting in various coastal landforms. The processes involved in sculpturing coastal landforms are weathering erosion, transportation, and deposition of sediments. The principal elements of climate like rainfall, temperature and wind in coastal areas also have a role in the development of coastal landforms. Coastal areas show various sedimentary environments of deposition in the lower deltaic part of West Bengal. The sedimentary environments not only characterize the nature of sand flats and mudflats but also help in the understanding of different coastal geomorphic features [1]. Beaches scattered along the coastal region, in the majority, revealed several geomorphic
West Bengal coast has been classified as a typical lowland coast by its origin and is a very sign... more West Bengal coast has been classified as a typical lowland coast by its origin and is a very significant product of extensive fluvio-marine deposits carried by the Ganga River and the Bay of Bengal. Tidal fluctuations, wave parameters, long shore currents, sand flats, and beach ridges are the characteristic features of the coastal areas of West Bengal. Beach is one of the dominant features in the coastal region that explains the characteristics and nature of the coast. Steep wave crests break in the surf zone of the beach and the formation of breakers depends on the beach width and beach slope, and the breaking types, in general, are spilling to collapsing as recorded in the West Bengal coasts. In the beach environment, higher the beach width, less the beach slope, and both these factors control the wave parameters as wave is one of the important factors in controlling the nature and shape of the depositional environment as well as the grain size distribution of the coastal areas. Observations revealed that the coastal region of West Bengal is an erosive one as it is a cyclone prone area. The cyclonic storms that ravaged the coast off and on devastate the coastlines on a regular basis indicating the West Bengal coastal zone as a vulnerable one. Sea level rise due to climatic change is another factor that might be considered as a probable reason for the coastal erosion in most of the beaches in South 24 Parganas and Purba Medinipur districts comprising coastal regions in the state of West Bengal. Such erosional features and the bedding structures exposed along the plain of erosional sites help in the interpretation of the coastal morphodynamics along the vulnerable coastal tract of the state.
Like such social declination of families of Punyi
and others, river Matla has gradually been decl... more Like such social declination of families of Punyi and others, river Matla has gradually been declining naturally as its river bed at Canning is silted up in such an extent that it is navigable only during the flood tide either in the full moon or new moon. Once it was a river of vigorous current and navigable for the large ship and steamers only of 150 years back. The then Canning of Matla River was a proposed port, thinking it as an auxiliary port of Calcutta. De
Sunderbans, a part of deltaic plain of fluvio-marine deposits and the habitat of biggest conguous... more Sunderbans, a part of deltaic plain of fluvio-marine deposits and the habitat of biggest conguous mangrove patch of the world is with magnificent biodiversity including world famous Royal Bengal ger and estuarine crocodiles. For its amazingly quiet nature, and as a biogenous coast of numerous flora and fauna, Sunderbans is declared as Biosphere Reserve by the ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India in March, 1989. The role of mangrove ecosystem in Sunderbans as buffer against tsunamis, cyclones, as an agent for soil conservaon, as sanctuary to many rare endemic flora and fauna, for these reasons IUCN announced Sunderbans as World Heritage Site for its dynamic ecosystem and this Sunderbans contains almost all uniqueness like other biomes to be enlisted as a 'Mangrove Biome'. Mangrove Biome would be a unique identy of the Sunderbans and greater impetus for the bio-geographical region of the world. There are 64 species of mangroves and its associated species and 1692 species of fauna are idenfied ll date that enriches the biooc region of the Sunderbans. Covering an enre area of 25,500 sq km of both India and Bangladesh – a part of the world's largest Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta at the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, Sunderbans is excellent for its awe-inspiring abode of Royal Bengal ger, estuarine crocodiles, king cobra, pythons, ooers, water monitors and many other animals including mangroves which constute the lifeline of the Sunderbans. For this reason the mangrove forest of the Sunderbans, the most nutrient rich and produccve environment, is to be considered and enlisted as Mangrove Biome, the largest unit of ecosystem. Biome is a large colleccon of plants and animals adapted to survive within their geographical zone a region's soil and animal life are closely related to its vegetaon. This, in turn, is linked to the climate and nature of the environment, such a system is a biome like Sunderbans including all its characteriscs which are unique and different from other biomes. Among the physical parameters, the climate of the Sunderbans is tropical oceanic. The des are semi-diurnal with slight diurnal inequality. The heavy rainfall during the monsoon includes the dal interaccons in almost all the rivers of the Sunderbans and flood and ebb dal currents fluctuate with seasons. Soils are rich in salts due to saline ground water table present at shallow depth. The estuarine region is generally low lying deltaic plain inundated regularly by brackish waters. Surface soils are salinised due to capillary rise of saline water depending upon the elevaon, soil texture, climate, drainage and other reasons. From the ecological point of view, the high-salinity tolerant plants respond variously to the change in the morphological and physiological condiions in different parts of the interrdal zones. Constantly built-up Sunderbans with vast new alluvial plain intersected by a large number of dal rivers and creeks, surrounded by the saline and brackish water has soil, water, air, flora and fauna as its components of vibrang ecosystem. Mangrove community as a whole is termed as 'Mangals'. Occurring in the interrdal mudflat, the mangroves is an assemblage of plants of different species with special halophyc adapve features such as pneumatophores, slt roots, root buuress, salt gland, viviparous germinaon etc. Self-sufficient detritus based mangroves ecosystem produces and uulizes the food materials within its periphery. The complicated network of mangroves roots baffles sediments. These roots reduce the wave accon. In Sunderbans there is no such borderline between mangroves and water and it looks like a natural art on canvas having different strokes of colours given by an unmindful painter. Somemes the water here touches the layer at which earth and sky appear to meet; somemes it kisses the substrate soil and brackish water of the estuarine environment. All of these characteriscs and parameters; the amazingly environment of grand symphony of silence; the forest-beauty; the enre Sunderbans including India and Bangladesh seek the declaraon of a completely unique 'Mangrove Biome' by the competent authority like IUCN or UNESCO.
It was not a tale of a tub when everybody who was anybody at all was at the gathering of experien... more It was not a tale of a tub when everybody who was anybody at all was at the gathering of experiences of finding in‐depth tree‐trunks in the Sunderbans in the past century. The local inhabitants at present are going out of their depth observing these sediment‐sunk tree trunks over the centuries. Series of tree trunks are seen sca䓔ered in the most of the excavated ponds in the depth of eight to eighteen feet in the blocks of Canning, Patharpra☄ma, Gosaba, Mathurapur, Namkhana etc of the Sunderbans region. And they are all iden☄fied as the tree trunks of the Sundari trees. The similar incident of the occurrence of tree trunks at the depth of 30 feet below the surface level was experienced during excava☄on at Khulna in the Bri☄sh period. The then Director of the Botanical Gardens confirmed iden☄fying those in situ tree trunks as Sundari trees. Experts describe both of these incidents of past and present as the evidences of subsidence. The reality of the facts of subsidence phenomenally is correct with respect to the geology of the Bengal Basin. The Sunderbans occupies the lower (☄dal) delta plain of the Ganges‐Brahmaputra Delta (GBD) of the Bengal Basin which is slowly subsiding as a result of isosta☄c adjustment of the crust due to rise of the Himalayas and dewatering of the Proto‐Bengal Fan sediments. Further, in the Sunderbans, subsidence and upli鼝 by means of sediment accumula☄on happen to be a simultaneous process. And for those processes to be verified as acid test there are numbers of methodology available and they are worked out for the determina☄on of the phenomena of subsidence and sediment accumula☄on. For the interpreta☄on of these processes, the geology of the Bengal Basin is considered where some experts in this field infer that at least a part of the Bengal Basin is subsiding at a rate of 2.2 cm/year as revealed by the well‐log data analysis. On contrary, radiocarbon measurements indicate that the sediment accumula☄on in the Bengal Basin is taking place at a rate of 1.1 cm/year. Although average rate of subsidence and sediment accumula☄on all over the Bengal Basin almost run parallel to each other having rapid sediment accumula☄on at a rate of 0.7 cm/year marked with the land subsidence rate 0.5 cm year. Sediment of the lower delta plain is derived from an offshore source a鼝er having originally been supplied by the Ganges‐Brahmaputra‐Meghna (GBM) River systems. The Ganges has a mean annual discharge of 196 to 480 million tons having suspended sediment concentra☄on about 190‐1400 mg/litre, annual sediment discharge of the Brahmaputra ranges from 387 to 650 million tons with suspended sediment concentra☄on approximately 220‐1600 mg/litre, and Meghna has the sediment discharge of about 50 million tons per year. Amount of combined sediment discharge of the three rivers (GBM) is about 1 billion tons annually. An es☄mated quan☄ty of 17% sediments out of 1 billion tons supplied, by the Ganga‐Brahmaputra rivers is carried westward by prevailing currents and affected inland by monsoonal coastal set up and events of cyclonic storms. This amount of sediments mixing with the water enters into the ☄dal inlets and creeks during flood ☄me and spill over the river flood plains. Sedimenta☄on from stagnant water situa☄on during the transi☄onal period in between flood and ebb ☄me results eleva☄on of river bed through accumula☄on of sediments. It is observed in many cases that the river bed along with the flood plains are much more elevated than that of the adjacent human habita☄on zone and agricultural land inside the reclaimed area where sediment‐laden water does not spill over due to protected measures taken through the construc☄on of the embankments. The embanknent restricts the spilling over of sediment‐laden water of the Sunderbans Rivers that carry an average of suspended solids amoun☄ng 15 mg/litre. Further, the accre☄ng ac☄ve deltaic region of the Sunderbans faces sediment compac☄on‐induced subsidence simultaneously with the plate tectonics resul☄ng subsidence of the lower delta plain. Thus, the story goes upon the Sunderbans, a part of the Bengal Basin, be on the straight, has been subsiding since its forma☄on simultaneous with the upli鼝 i.e. eleva☄on as a result of sediment accumulated from the suspended solids carried by the sediment‐laden river waters. Let allow only one hundred years to come when a li䓔le different story of reversible habitat from the present one will come up where human habitat zone would be water‐logged area and elevated non‐reclaimed zone (forest and water courses) would be befi䓔ed for the human habitat and agriculture. Sedimenta☄on gradually clogs the creeks and ☄dal courses of any ac☄ve delta under forma☄on, Sunderbans is not out of that situa☄on or an excep☄on. Subsidence due to tectonic movement all over the Bengal Basin might be a special providence to the des☄ny of the Sunderbans.
The exposed portions of the Thakuran River bed and the intertidal mid channel bars revealed vario... more The exposed portions of the Thakuran River bed and the intertidal mid channel bars revealed various bedforms of tidal origin. Sand flats with small and large-scale bedforms dominate over the downstream portion of the shoals whereas; mudflats are with less physical structures. The presence of megaripple marks and ripple marks as bedforms indicates that the river goes up to the upper part of the lower flow regime. Both the surface and internal structures are indicative of tidal influence. Surface structures like small ripple marks, linguoid ripples, megaripples, sandwaves, rill marks, rhomboid marks etc. are recognized. Internal structures like flaser and lenticular type is highly indicative of flood and ebb cycles. Zones with distinctive bedform characteristics can be delineated based on their morphological variations and orientations. Moreover, 5-15 cm wide intertidal belts are populated by hybrid bedforms. The structures indicating modification of bedforms due to fluctuating velocity and depth with ebb and flood periods include i) skewed spurs, ii) ripplefans, iii) flat-crested megaripples and sandwaves, iv) dissected channels and v) microdeltas. The Thakuran River channel in the Hugli-Matla estuarine complex of northeast India (Fig. 1) experiences semi-diurnal spring tidal range above 5 m near the mouth (Das, 2015). The tidal prism covers the entire 80 km length of the river. Most of the sediments of the river are recycled by tidal currents under extreme paucity of fresh water discharge from the headland except for the monsoonal months. The intertidal sand flats are ornamented by bedforms of various kinds and scales. Several scales of unsteadiness are marked in the tidal process. Among many such processes the following are the most important: i) fluctuations in water depth and velocity associated with ebb and flood periods, ii) flow reversals associated with ebb and flood, iii) neap and spring tidal flow variations, and iv) seasonal tidal variations with equinoctial cycles. A single bedform type and the assemblage of bedform populations display features due to one or more of these scales of unsteadiness at a particular point of time. Thus bedforms in a tidal situation often exhibit a quasi-equilibrium form under effects of unsteadiness. With a purpose to examine the internal manifestations of bedforms generated of the mid channel bars several L-shaped trenches were dug during the time of emergence.
The largest delta of the Ganga‐Brahmaputra River System in erstwhile Bengal at its southern extre... more The largest delta of the Ganga‐Brahmaputra River System in erstwhile Bengal at its southern extremity bears the name of Sunderbans. The changeable ways of the total areas of that Sunderbans puzzle even a common man. The enᜀ꼄re Sunderbans covers an area of 25500 sq km having 66% of it as land and 44% as water. About 9630 sq km of the total areas of the Sunderbans is under India and the rest 15870 sq km is under Bangladesh. This is a tale of Sunderbans regarding demarcaᜀ꼄on of areas before the parᜀ꼄ᜀ꼄on of India that has shown in a map of seᜀ䀅lement published by the Briᜀ꼄sh Government of Bengal during 1919. The situaᜀ꼄on has certainly changed of late due to quick reclamaᜀ꼄on and conversion of agricultural land and usual occupaᜀ꼄onal hazards with human habitaᜀ꼄on. William Dampier and Lieutenant Hodges, appointed as the Commissioner and Surveyor by the Briᜀ꼄sh India respecᜀ꼄vely, prepared a map for the Sunderbans in 1831 which was considered and used as the standard map for the Sunderbans ᜀ꼄ll date. They named and divided the enᜀ꼄re areas of the Sunderbans into three parts—the Bakharganj Sunderbans, the Khulna Sunderbans and the 24 Parganas Sunderbans. The Bakharganj Sunder‐bans was covered by the areas of land in between the Haringhata, Bishkhali and Buriswar Rivers, whereas, the Khulna Sunderbans in between the Haringhata and Raimangal Rivers and the 24 Parganas Sunderbans between Raimangal and Muriganga or Bartala Rivers. An affluent intrusion of landless class is yet but a recent phenomenon in the region of the Sunderbans. Presently the luxuriant mangroves have been completely destroyed in Bakharganj district. The Bakharganj district is itself abolished in the present Bangladesh aᤀᘅer achieving independence very recently in 1971. The areas of Bakharganj district of the past is at present the parts of the three districts namely Barguna, Patuakhali and Pirojpur. The mangroves areas under present Barguna district has been destroyed completely and the reclaimed areas are enᜀ꼄iely converted into the agricultural land and culᜀ꼄vaᜀ꼄on is going on therefrom. The same scenario is seen in the Patuakhali district where only the afforestaᜀ꼄on programme has been taken up for mangrove plantaᜀ꼄on at its extreme south of Lata Chapli area recently. No natural mangrove swamp or ᜀ꼄dal marshes are visible in the enᜀ꼄re district other than that of the plantaᜀ꼄on programme of Lata Chapli. Surprisingly a few bushes of Golpata are grown within the midst of the agricultural land in this region and the saps are collected from the trunks of those herbs using plasᜀ꼄c boᜀ䀅les hanging from them. The saps collected from Golpata have been used as ingredients for the preparaᜀ꼄on of fermented drinks of local preparaᜀ꼄on. Mangroves are not traceable in any part of Pirojpur too which was a part of the compiled map prepared in 1919 from a survey made during seᜀ䀅lement operaᜀ꼄ons in the confluence of Kaliganga and Swarupkathi Rivers within the jurisdicᜀ꼄on of the then Sunderbans. Khulna district, the other part of the Sunderbans, is divided longitudinally into three districts namely Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira from east to west in the independent Bangladesh. In Bagerhat district, at present, Sunderbans is characterized with the substrata soil and water with low salinity level. Luxuriant mangroves grow there covering the enᜀ꼄re areas in between the Bogi forest staᜀ꼄on stands on the bank of Bhola River and confluence of Baleswar River with the bay of Bengal. Similar to that abundant occurrence of mangroves is observed in the areas in between Karamjal and Alor Kol region in the same district. Dense mangrove forests sᜀ꼄ll exist at Dakop, Chalna, Kalabogi and Sutarkhali zones of the southern part of the Khulna district. On contrary, mangrove vegetaᜀ꼄on of the Satkhira district has its close resemblance with its appearance and characterisᜀ꼄cs with that of the mangroves of the Sunderbans of the Indian part. Almost all the mangrove species are dwarf in nature due to high soil and water salinity like those of the mangroves of the Indian Sunderbans. Mangrove forest in the Indian Sunderbans is restricted within the areas of 9630 sq km covering the parts of both North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal. But mangroves are now scarce in Jaynagar I & II, Mathurapur I & II, Kakdwip and Canning I blocks of the South 24 Parganas and similar scenario of scarcity in Haroa, Minakha and Hasnabad blocks of the North 24 Parganas. Mangroves of the Sunderbans of the Indian part presently occupy the areas of only 4266 sq km. Naturally the blocks with scarcely mangrove vegetaᜀ꼄on should be edged out from the actual mangrove occupied areas of the Sunderbans from the map prepared by Dampier and Hodges of about 200 years back and a new line of demarcaᜀ꼄on would have to be drawn in the freshly prepared map where mangroves occur and exist in reality parᜀ꼄cularly in the Indian Sunderbans. The tale of this survey ends with a promissory fact for the Indian Sunderbans. The natural afforestaᜀ꼄on gradually emerging on chars (islands), point bars, marginal bars, natural levees and mid channel bars even in the different areas of the estuarine river basins of the Indian Sunderbans is going on. Improvement of mangrove canopy with luxuriant vegetaᜀ꼄on has been detected through GIS Study. Disconᜀ꼄nuity of permit for wood harvesᜀ꼄ng simultaneously with afforestaᜀ꼄on programme, the mangrove areas start increasing around 3% in the enᜀ꼄re areas of the Indian Sunderbans, whereas, increase of approximately 23% of the mangrove areas of the forest block of Thakuran alone is the highest among all the blocks of 24 Parganas (South) and Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR) within a span of 70 years from 1948 to 2003.
The largest delta of the Ganga‐Brahmaputra River system in erstwhile Bengal at its southern extre... more The largest delta of the Ganga‐Brahmaputra River system in erstwhile Bengal at its southern extremity bears the name of Sunderbans. The changeable ways of the total areas of that Sunderbans puzzle even a common man. The en☄re Sunderbans covers an area of 25500 sq km having 66% of it as land and 44% as water. About 9630 sq km of the total areas of the Sunderbans is under India and the rest 15870 sq km is under the Bangladesh. This is a tale of Sunderbans regarding demarca☄on of areas before the par☄☄on of India that has shown in a map of se䓔lement published by the Bri☄sh Government of Bengal during 1919. The situa☄on has certainly changed of late due to quick reclama☄on and conversion of agricultural land and usual occupa☄onal hazards with human habita☄on. Let into the facts of the mapping of the then Sunderbans at first when the en☄re areas of the Sunderbans were es☄mated. William Dampier and Lieutenant Hodges, appointed as the Commissioner and Surveyor by the Bri☄sh India respec☄vely, prepared a map for the Sunderbans in 1831 which was considered and used as the standard map for the Sunderbans ☄ll date. They named and divided the en☄re areas of the Sunderbans into three parts–the Bakharganj Sunderbans, the Khulna Sunderbans and the 24 Parganas Sunderbans. The Bakharganj Sunderbans was covered by the areas of land in between the Haringhata, Bishkhali and Buriswar Rivers, whereas, the Khulna Sunderbans in between the Haringhata and Raimangal Rivers and the 24 Parganas Sunderbans between Raimangal and Muriganga or Bartala Rivers. An affluent intrusion of landless class is yet but a recent phenomenon in the region of the Sunderbans. Presently the luxuriant mangroves have been completely destroyed in Bakharganj district. The Bakharganj district is itself abolished in the present Bangladesh a鼝er achieving independence very recently in 1971. The areas of Bakharganj district of the past is at present the parts of the three districts namely Barguna, Patuakhali and Pirojpur. The mangroves areas under present Barguna district has been destroyed completely and the reclaimed areas are en☄rely converted into the agricultural land and cul☄va☄on is going on therefrom. The same scenario is seen in the Patuakhali district where only the afforesta☄on programme has been taken up for mangrove planta☄on at its extreme south of Lata Chapli area recently. No natural mangrove swamp or ☄dal marshes are visible in the en☄re district other than that of the planta☄on programme of Lata Chapli. Surprisingly, a few bushes of Golpata are grown within the midst of the agricultural land in this region and the saps are collected from the trunks of those herbs using plas☄c bo䓔les hanging from them. The saps collected from Golpata have been used as ingredients for the prepara☄on of fermented drinks of local prepara☄on. Mangroves are not traceable in any part of Pirojpur too which one was a part of the compiled map prepared in 1919 from a survey made during se䓔lement opera☄ons in the confluence of Kaliganga and Swarupkathi Rivers within the jurisdic☄on of the then Sunderbans. Khulna district, the other part of the Sunderbans, is divided longitudinally into three districts namely Bagerhat, Khulna and Satkhira from east to west in the independent Bangladesh. In Bagerhat district, at present, Sunderbans is characterized with the substrate soil and water with low salinity level. Luxuriant mangroves grow there covering the en☄re areas in between the Bogi forest sta☄on stands on the bank of Bhola River and confluence of Baleswar River with the Bay of Bengal. Similar to that abundant occurrence of mangroves is observed in the areas in between Karamjal and Alor Kol region in the same district. Dense mangrove forests s☄ll exist at Dakop, Chalna, Kalabogi and Sutarkhali zones of the southern part of the Khulna district. On contrary, mangrove vegeta☄on of the Satkhira district has its close resemblance with its appearance and characteris☄cs with that of the mangroves of the Sunderbans of the Indian part. Almost all the mangrove species are dwarf in nature due to high soil and water salinity like those of the mangroves of the Indian Sunderbans. Mangrove forest in the Indian Sunderbans is restricted within the areas of 9630 sq km covering the parts of both North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal. But mangroves are now scarce in Jaynagar I & II, Mathurapur I & II, Kakdwip and Canning I blocks of the South 24 Parganas and similar scenario of scarcity in Haroa, Minakha and Hasnabad blocks of the North 24 Parganas. Mangroves of the Sunderbans of the Indian part presently occupy the areas of only 4266 sq km. Naturally the blocks with scarcely mangrove vegeta☄on should be edged out from the actual mangrove occupied areas of the Sunderbans from the map prepared by Dampier and Hodges of about 200 years back and a new line of demarca☄on would have to be drawn in the freshly prepared map where mangroves occur and exist in reality par☄cularly in the Indian Sunderbans. The tale of this survey ends with a promissory fact for the Indian Sunderbans. The natural afforesta☄on gradually emerging on chars (islands), point bars, marginal bars, natural levees and mid channel bars even in the different areas of the estuarine river basins of the Indian Sunderbans is going on. Improvement of mangrove canopy with luxuriant vegeta☄on has been detected through GIS Study. Discon☄nuity of permit for wood harves☄ng simultaneously with afforesta☄on programme, the mangrove areas start increasing around 3% in the en☄re areas of the Indian Sunderbans, whereas, increase of approximately 23% of the mangrove areas of the forest block of Thakuran alone is the highest among all the blocks of 24 Parganas (South) and Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (STR) within a span of 70 years from 1948 to 2003.
Geomorphologically defined areas like mid-channel bars or flood-tidal delta, river mouth bar or e... more Geomorphologically defined areas like mid-channel bars or flood-tidal delta, river mouth bar or ebb-tidal delta, point bar, swash platform, wash-over flat and river banks (levee) have been identified in the Thakuran River of the estuarine Sunderbans. These areas are delineated based on studies of the granulometric properties. A coarsening of graphic mean size (M Z), betterment of sorting (ó 1), and negative to positive skewness (SK 1) have been noticed from the seaward to landward direction. Variations of these textural parameters are related to decreasing energy levels along the same direction. A bipartite granulometric model of sedimentation having sand-to-mud from the seaward to the landward direction of the tidal creek has been discerned. This is in contrast to a tripartite granulometric model typical of estuaries.
Geomorphologically defined areas like mid-channel bars or flood-tidal delta, river mouth bar or e... more Geomorphologically defined areas like mid-channel bars or flood-tidal delta, river mouth bar or ebb-tidal delta, point bar, swash platform, wash-over flat and river banks (levee) have been identified in the Thakuran River of the estuarine Sunderbans. These areas are delineated based on studies of the granulometric properties. A coarsening of graphic mean size (M), betterment of sorting (ó), and negative to positive skewness (SK) have been noticed from the seaward to landward 1 1 direction. Variations of these textural parameters are related to decreasing energy levels along the same direction. A bipartite granulometric model of sedimentation having sand-to-mud from the seaward to the landward direction of the tidal creek has been discerned. This is in contrast to a tripartite granulometric model typical of estuaries.
Bioturbation structures produced by the interaction of living organisms and soft sediments have m... more Bioturbation structures produced by the interaction of living organisms and soft sediments have manifested itself in the wide range of forms like tracks and trails, footprints, burrows, mounds, pellets etc. in different geomorphic domains of meso-macrotidal estuarine environment of Sunderbans. Study of behavioural pattern of these organisms through bioturbation structures helps geologists in deciphering the environmental condition prevalent during the intervening period of deposition of soft sediments and their lithification. They may be of lesser magnitude but the processes of bioturbation have the potentiality to alter depositional sequences and sediment chemistry through the process of exhumation and subsurface mixing of sediments as evidenced in cases of burrows in the intertidal muddy flats of Sunderbans. The present paper deals with the interactions of macrobenthos and other organisms with the estuarine sediments of Sunderbans leading to a wide variety of bioturbation structures and also describes their geometry and significance.
Of late the teaching community reached very crucial points for its inability to impart quality te... more Of late the teaching community reached very crucial points for its inability to impart quality teaching and also for acquiring the vice of evasion of duties. Further reasons thereto may be found in the appointment of substandard and comparatively aged teachers.
Almost all the Bengalee people of the present generation fail to remain the memory of the inciden... more Almost all the Bengalee people of the present generation fail to remain the memory of the incident of language martyrs and their movement happened adjacent to the Silchar station, Assam. The language martyrs sacrificed their lives only to get right of their mother tongue Bengali as officiating language at Barak valley.
Peaceful Lepchas and their descent community meet difficulties and inconveniences since the intru... more Peaceful Lepchas and their descent community meet difficulties and inconveniences since the intrusion of British into their mother land. Faced with several attacks by the Nepali and Bhutias even earlier than the British era Lepchas laid stress belief in tolerance
Peaceful Lepchas and their descent community meet difficulties and inconveniences since the intru... more Peaceful Lepchas and their descent community meet difficulties and inconveniences since the intrusion of British into their mother land. Faced with several attacks by the Nepali and Bhutias even earlier than the British era Lepchas laid stress belief in tolerance. ‘Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet (Rousseau)’ are the characteristics and habits of the Lepchas who are the original tribes of the Himalayas. Other community in the mountainous Himalayan region call them Lepchas (means ‘nonsense talks’). But Lepchas of Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas call themselves Rong. They speak, tattle and exchange their opinions among themselves in Rong Ring. The Lepcha people invented their own language i.e. Rong Ring. Lepchas think that they are very lucky people because they have very potential power to develop their own language but no one had had this potential power of inventing language in this large mountainous space of the Himalayan region
District-wise forest cover change matrix reflects dwindling of South Bengal’s forest cover alarmi... more District-wise forest cover change matrix reflects dwindling of South Bengal’s forest cover alarmingly from the 1980s of the last century; yet a shift to joint forest conservation by making stakeholders in forestry initiatives and social forestry plantation managed by the forest department has yielded the present results. Plantation under the social forestry scheme in almost all the districts of West Bengal has started showing results for the growing stocks. District-wise break-up revealed that South 24 Parganas, Uttar Dinajpur, Murshidabad and Howrah have recorded decrease in forest cover, while Bankura, Paschim Medinipur, Purulia and Birbhum have recorded a rise. District-wise statistics assessed from the biennial reports of the Forest Survey of India revealed the yearly changing scenario of the forest cover for the districts of West Bengal. Specifications of relevant forest related information like forest types, myths and history, current forestry practices, joint forest management, and eco-development committee are included for all districts.
Forest cover mapping exercise for the state of West Bengal reflects the district-wise status of f... more Forest cover mapping exercise for the state of West Bengal reflects the district-wise status of forests and its present trends and provides inputs for monitoring of forests with the implementation of different forest models and strategies for forest restoration. Several forest models are identified and recognized during the forest survey and the befitted models and strategies are prescribed for implementation in the suitable forest patches in the concerned districts in necessity. The current forest cover of 23 districts in West Bengal has recorded about half of a goal of nation-wide forest cover of 33% of the geographical area of the state which was envisaged in the National Forest Policy of India. The current forests cover about 19.04% of the total geographical area of West Bengal and lies chiefly in the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, South 24 Parganas, Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura, Purulia, Paschim Bardhaman, and in some parts of Birbhum district. District-wise statistics and classification of forest types, forest models, and forest strategies provide a scientific basis for forest research, management of wildlife and biodiversity, identification and classification of floral and faunal assemblages, assessment of biomass and carbon stock at forest floors of diverse applications.
Forest patches are scattered in almost all the districts of West Bengal. Among them, four remarka... more Forest patches are scattered in almost all the districts of West Bengal. Among them, four remarkably important forest patches of Bankura and Paschim Bardhaman districts are considered as model forest stands for mapping of the overall scenario of the forest patches of West Bengal. In the selected forest patches, the increased growth of growing stock in the forest cover needs to review the present forest health of the district through estimation of physico-chemical properties of forest soils and overall scenario of changing matrix of forest areas along with floral diversity. Physico-chemical properties of soil and soil organisms present in the forest floor as independent and/or dependent variables have a decisive influence on forest vegetation. Denser the forest, more soil-health potential is gained through improvement of soil characteristics by litter fall on the forest floor and microbial biomass decomposition thereon. Summing up data on soil physico-chemical properties, floral characteristics and gradual changing pattern of the forest cover all together will have immense help for further afforestation particularly in the degraded and wastelands in and around the forest areas of the districts. To examine the role of soil physico-chemical properties upon the forest vegetation, Joypur and Beliatore, two forest ranges of Bankura district, and Garh Jangal and Aduria forests of Paschim Bardhaman district are taken into consideration as experimental sites which have been found promising in rejuvenating forest vegetation. The soil type and its properties, and their impact on vegetation are investigated and evaluated after selecting different pedons in the study areas. Another reason for such enhanced status of forest cover of the districts might be the people’s participation adoring and rescuing the forest for their own interest through the implementation of Joint Forest Management (JFM) policy by the forest department.
Statistical analysis of forest substrate soil parameters is an attempt for the interpretation of ... more Statistical analysis of forest substrate soil parameters is an attempt for the interpretation of different aspects of the forest stands characteristics and monitoring of forest restoration. Such statistical estimation in the field of forest research plays multidisciplinary roles and the application of specific statistical techniques are useful directly or indirectly for the determination of vegetation pattern, species diversity, similarity indices, wildlife conservation, man-wildlife conflict, physico-chemical parameters of forest soils or even applied for the occupational pattern of the tribal community living in the vicinity of the forest stands in West Bengal. Availability of such statistically estimated data pools has immense use for the researchers in the field of forests and forestry, for integrity monitoring of the forest stands and afforestation programme by the foresters, and for the overall management by the government sector for regeneration and restoration of the forests of the state. In this field of study, conventional standard statistical methods like random sampling with or without replacement, determination of variance and standard deviation, estimation of standard error and ratio estimator, analysis of multiple correlation coefficients, goodness of fit test, similarity indices are applied for the analysis of possible samples and for the data pool generation. Results obtained from statistical analysis come out to be unbiased in most cases showing truthfulness for different aspects of the forests and forestry research.
Analysis of vegetation characteristics and their occurrences including timber and non-timber spec... more Analysis of vegetation characteristics and their occurrences including timber and non-timber species by random sampling, estimation of biomass stock and carbon content, and determination of wood volume are considered for several forest patches of West Bengal. For determination of required optimum sample size in the forests including the nature of the vegetation pattern, a survey has been taken up for statistical analysis on the sampled data collected from the 27 forests of West Bengal. Sampled data are analyzed in three phases separately applying probability measures of statistical methods. From the analysis, higher the survey spots, lower the required optimum sample size is revealed. Results obtained from the statistical analysis for the forest show likely indications and positive trends that help to understand the vegetation categories, types of dominant timber trees and stem-diameters of the other forest areas in the state. Similarity measurement of such timber trees is the determination of the properties of communities that helps to suggest whether the communities may be classified together or in necessity to be separated. Not only similarity measurements, but the biomass stock mapping of such uprooted timber trees helps for the estimation of carbon content of dead wood in the community forest created under the social forestry scheme.
The forest areas of West Bengal are well-known for its evergreen vegetation situated in the north... more The forest areas of West Bengal are well-known for its evergreen vegetation situated in the north and south with numerous plant species that reflects relative abundances of species, evenness, and species richness. Species richness is simply a count of species living in a certain location indicating the number of different species as the representatives in an ecological community, whereas the number of species and their abundances of each species in a particular ecological community is the species diversity. Species richness never reveals the accountability of species abundances or relative abundance distribution of the species in that ecological community. Occurrences of common or rare species relative to other species in an ecological community is referred to as the relative species abundances. A quantitative measure of different types of individuals in a dataset and their phylogenetic relationships among each other including distributions of all types of individuals such as divergence, evenness, or richness is referred to as a diversity index. The biodiversity of floral assemblages and faunal community of the forest stands is estimated using Shannon-Wiener Index which is a commonly used measure among other diversity indices as Shannon-Wiener Index is a comparatively better way of representing biodiversity, species diversity, species richness, evenness. Biodiversity among plant and animal communities at different forest patches has been compared and the diversity indices reflect the way in which abundance is distributed among the different species constituting the community. The result obtained after the computation of Shannon-Wiener Index shows the maximum possibility of diversity in terms of natural log of species richness for the forest vegetation. Such diversity indices of the floral assemblages and faunal community in the forest patches of West Bengal are measured using standard statistical methods and the results obtained from the statistical analysis are assumed to be unbiased in nature.
Man-wildlife conflict is common where forests exist in the vicinity of human habitation. Such con... more Man-wildlife conflict is common where forests exist in the vicinity of human habitation. Such conflicts like man-tiger conflict in the Sunderbans and man-elephant conflict in the forests of Dooars and Jungle Mahal are considered in this study. Human-elephant conflict is an incidental occurrence of the Jungle Mahal which is seasonally disturbed by the intrusion of the herd of elephants in the agricultural lands adjacent to the forest areas. Incidentally, elephants of the Jungle Mahal and Dooars enter the paddy field or in the farms of vegetables and greens only when they are filling half the stomach. The members of the herd have become violent when they are barred or restricted from their feast in the farms of vegetables and greens by the local inhabitants. Consequently, people are sometimes injured by the violent elephants and thus people particularly of adventurous types are attacked by the elephants. A list of such attacked persons is prepared by a rapid sampling method, but there might be vagueness in the number of attacks per person by the elephants. Determination of variance by means of standard error on the number of elephant-attacks on the attacked persons and encountered by the same persons to the elephants is the objective of this study applying statistical methods of random sampling with replacement. In such sampling, things get more complicated when the true value in a population is estimated with a sample of persons. Like elephants of Dooars and Jungle Mahal, tigers attacked and killed the fishermen, woodcutters, and the honey collectors in the mangrove forest of the Sunderbans. Further, tiger straying incidents in the villages and that of tiger attacks upon the human being has become a serious problem causing man-tiger conflict. Such incidents of man-animal conflicts are somehow correlated and that correlation is estimated to establish the relationships of incidents applying the statistical measures on the average month-wise data of tiger straying incidents and average number of persons killed by the tiger attacks.
This book explains several basic concepts of forests and forestry research like social distancing... more This book explains several basic concepts of forests and forestry research like social distancing of trees, solitary trees, green infrastructure of trees including typical forest stands like pocket forests, forgotten forests, community forests, and social forestry from one forest stand to another scattered in the districts of West Bengal. In the field of forest floors, depleting status of the forests stimulates to find out different models of afforestation programme like tree-island and rescue forest strategy through plantation programme. Huge loss of tree canopy ravaged by the series of cyclonic storms particularly in the districts of South Bengal seems to be recovered by bioeconomic model with the implementation of social forestry schemes. Thoughts of such models incited the author to go through statistical analysis on different matters and parameters of the forest stands. Determination of physico-chemical parameters of the forest soil are carried on hand in hand with the identification of Alfisol profile exposures in the forest floors. For finding out the present status of forests, district-wise review is worked out. Though scattered in the format of the forest patches, forest stands in the Jungle Mahal are remarkably interesting for any surveyor or tree-lover. Because of the reasons, surveys in the specific forest lands like Joypur and Beliatore of Bankura district and Garh Jangal and Aduria Forests under Bardhaman Forest Division are given special impetus for statistical measures, soil properties analysis, and identification of vegetation pattern. All these salient features inspire the author to take an attempt disseminating information and related characteristics of the forests and forestry of West Bengal. Researchers and students will get sufficient material from this book to enrich their knowledge on the forest environment and the author believes that this book will act as the pioneer work for the flourishment and amelioration of the forestry of West Bengal.
This book is the outcome of rigorous and continuous research work done by the author over about t... more This book is the outcome of rigorous and continuous research work done by the author over about three decades on the open ecosystem and dynamic environment of the estuarine Sunderbans. The objective of this work is to identify the field and factors changing gradually upon this active delta over the years, decades and centuries. The deltaic Sunderbans yet not mature enough, has been changing in its natural course with time. Further, anthropogenic interferences disturb the environments and accelerate degradation of nature of this fragile ecosystem simultaneously. Roles played by almost all the agents including man and environment and their involvement are identified for the changing environmental scenario of the Sunderbans.
This book covers an overview of research on sediment textures, sedimentary structures, sediment c... more This book covers an overview of research on sediment textures, sedimentary structures, sediment composition and bioturbation structures including other aspects of tidal sedimentation. The analytical results for the tidal river sedimentation and essential aspects of relevant field studies along the entire stretch of the Thakuran River are being presented in this book. Filled with interesting results obtained from minutely observations, this book brings together outstanding facts of the tidal river sedimentation and can be considered as a pioneer work on the dynamic estuarine environment of the Sunderbans River. Anyone in academia or NGOs interested in this river basin will find interesting information in this book that will enrich their knowledge on the sedimentation patterns of tidal river systems.
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Garfa police station areas carrying domestic
sewage from Tollygunge and Jadavpur areas was
entirely covered with
such harmful herbaceous
Parthenium plant species
along the entire stretch
up to Jora Bridge of
Santoshpur since 2011
causing breathing
problems with their
wind-blown pollens.
pleasant surprise to lovers of nature. Almost all
the trees may social distance to avoid diseases.
In the forests, the canopy stretches for vast
distances. Despite overlapping tree branches,
canopy trees rarely interlock or even touch. They
are separated from one another by a few feet.
Researchers still keep up working on why the
branches of these trees do not touch which is
still a mystery, but it is thought that it might
help the trees as protection from the attack
of tree-eating caterpillars and other diseases
including mangroves maintain mysterious gaps,
called crown shyness that could serve trees share
resources and help staying healthy.
kilometers stretch, in and around the Baruipur
Municipality, is a stagnant water body, filled only
with the rain water which is static fresh water
covered with weeds and marshes, having the depth
of water on an average 6 feet in summer time and
16 to 18 feet during monsoon season.
flowers. Khirai village is located in front of
Kansai Bridge on the bank of Kangsabati River
(also known as Kansai) in Panskura 1 Block
of Purba Medinipur District. On the road from
the National Highway to Khirai, one can see a
variety of seasonal flowers across the fields on
both sides of the narrow Kansai River.
Garfa police station areas carrying domestic
sewage from Tollygunge and Jadavpur areas was
entirely covered with
such harmful herbaceous
Parthenium plant species
along the entire stretch
up to Jora Bridge of
Santoshpur since 2011
causing breathing
problems with their
wind-blown pollens.
pleasant surprise to lovers of nature. Almost all
the trees may social distance to avoid diseases.
In the forests, the canopy stretches for vast
distances. Despite overlapping tree branches,
canopy trees rarely interlock or even touch. They
are separated from one another by a few feet.
Researchers still keep up working on why the
branches of these trees do not touch which is
still a mystery, but it is thought that it might
help the trees as protection from the attack
of tree-eating caterpillars and other diseases
including mangroves maintain mysterious gaps,
called crown shyness that could serve trees share
resources and help staying healthy.
kilometers stretch, in and around the Baruipur
Municipality, is a stagnant water body, filled only
with the rain water which is static fresh water
covered with weeds and marshes, having the depth
of water on an average 6 feet in summer time and
16 to 18 feet during monsoon season.
flowers. Khirai village is located in front of
Kansai Bridge on the bank of Kangsabati River
(also known as Kansai) in Panskura 1 Block
of Purba Medinipur District. On the road from
the National Highway to Khirai, one can see a
variety of seasonal flowers across the fields on
both sides of the narrow Kansai River.
and others, river Matla has gradually been declining
naturally as its river bed at Canning is silted up in
such an extent that it is navigable only during the
flood tide either in the full moon or new moon. Once it
was a river of vigorous current and navigable for the
large ship and steamers only of 150 years back. The
then Canning of Matla River was a proposed port,
thinking it as an auxiliary port of Calcutta. De