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#01 Gegoraphy News-Letter
#01 Gegoraphy News-Letter
#01 Gegoraphy News-Letter
01 NEWSLETTER
A Fortnightly Ini a ve!
By Himanshu Sir
Topic - UTTARAKHAND GLACIER DISASTER
1. What : A glacial breakage at the Ron peak triggered flash floods in Chamoli district on
February 7, in which two dams, 12 km apart, were destroyed within 20 minutes. [Owing
to SNOWBALL EFFECT].
A Reminder!
Kedarnath flash floods, 2013: in which around 6,000 people died and 200,000 pilgrims were
trapped. That me, too, roads and bridges got washed away in the neighbouring Rudraprayag
district a er the moraine (a mass of rocks and sediment carried by glaciers) holding the waters of
Chorabari glacial lake exploded following 72 hours of rain and a cloud burst.
2. What was done to ascertain the CAUSE: Agencies conducted field and aerial surveys, analysed
satellite imagery and submi ed a preliminary report to the government, saying the disaster has
been caused by rock avalanche.
3. What caused the glacial break that triggered the Chamoli flash floods:
A Rock Avalanche That Fell In The Rishiganga Caused The Flash Flood. The Rock Avalanche Was
Caused Due To Breaking Of A Glacier. But There Is No Consensus On What Caused The Glacier To
Break
01 011-45586829, 9718793363 website: www.guidanceias.com
4. View-Points put forward for the GLACIER BREAK-OFF?
Few hypotheses were postulated:
View-Point #1: The hanging glacier was lying over a highly weathered mica (a highly foliated
medium-grade metamorphic rock). Due to temperature fluctua ons, such rock masses some mes
go through thawing and refreezing and develop small cracks. Rainwater might have percolated into
these cracks and freezed up, increasing in volume and exer ng pressure from within. This glacier
rock mass might have gone through such thawing and refreezing in geological me, eventually
becoming so weak that it fell due to gravity.
View-Point #2: The hanging glacier might have reached a cri cal stage over a period of me where
any small factor toppled it over. It could have been wind or even snowfall. Before the event, on
February 3-4, there was some snowfall in the region. It might have accumulated and added weight
to the glacier which was already placed on a highly-weathered rock mass.
View-Point #3: Points at rising temperatures. Just before the event, temperatures in the region
were unusually high. Snow might have melted and percolated through the mica's fractured path,
making the overlaying rock mass slippery.
Such rising temperatures could have played a significant role in the rock avalanche. The glacial ice
could have melted to form liquid water and then destabilise the rock, and even lubricate the
bedrock, thereby contribu ng to its failure.
..
warmer winters have led to the mel ng of a lot of snow.
The thermal profile of ice has been
increasing. Earlier, the temperature of ice
ranged from -6°C to -20°C and now it is -2°C,
.. average).
The higher Himalaya became even warmer on average in the same period.
Several other studies also indicate that glacial mel ng are becoming frequent in a warming
world. Climate change has an indirect effect on landslides occurring at high al tudes by
degrading permafrost and mel ng glaciers, which may increase magnitude and frequency
of landslides”.
For example: The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report (2019): had pointed out that
one-third of the Hindu Kush Himalaya's glaciers would melt by 2100. It may happen even
if all the countries in the region fulfilled their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Youngest Highly
mountain prone to
range erosion
Bank erosion
is also extensive
wherever the Higher
rivers take a Himalayas
sinuous course Rainstorms
and cloud also do not
bursts are have vegeta on
very common
Ambi ous Char Dham Project: Widening the roads can prove detrimental!
The Chamoli flash floods hove once again fumed the spotlight on the Union government's
ambi ous Char Dham Na onal Highway project. Stretching 899-km, the project is to
connect the Hindu pilgrimage sites of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yomunotri in the
..
Garhwal Himalayas of U arakhand.
The project will convert the highways into two lanes with 12 bypass roads, 15 big
flyovers, 101 small bridges, 3,596 culverts and two tunnels, it will widen the roads by at
least 10 m and make them all-weather. All this ac vity will destabilise hill slopes. Felling
of trees and the reverbera ons from the construc on will cause disturbance of glaciers
..
like the one involved in Chamoli flash floods.
Issues in EIA: The exact ecological impact of the Char Dham project is difficult to assess as
there has been no Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of the project as a whole.
Ghatak says the government got around the EIA process by claiming that the project is
actually a combina on of 53 smaller projects, each less than 100 km long as such
projects do not require EIA.
MOHD ABDUL GIRDHAR BHAWNA SHIVANSH AWASTHI RAHUL JAIN DHRUV MITTAL
AIR 57 AIR 61 AIR 68 AIR 77 AIR 87 AIR 99
SAGAR JAIN MANISH CHOUDHARY KALE AMIT NIKETA ROHATGI ABHISHEK KUMAR SIDDHARTH DHAPOLA INDERVEER SINGH
Junaid Ahmad
JISHNU J RAJU AJAY JAIN SHAFQAT AMNA
AIR 132 AIR 141 AIR 186 AIR 160 AIR 205 AIR 212 AIR 221 AIR 243 AIR 255 AIR 259
..
dams of above 25 MW were in either the Alaknanda or the Bhagirathi valley.
“According to Ministry of Environment & Forests: 80,826.91 ha of forests have been diverted to
non-forest use in U arakhand since 1980. The diversion for hydropower produc on is 5312.11 ha:
of about 7,500 football fieldsl.
Most of the diversion for roads and hydropower has been in U arkashi, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and
..
Pithoragarh districts, the ones most affected by the June 2013 disaster.
Of the 26 hydroprojects that have been stopped by the Supreme Court in 2014 or by the Group of
..
space for river to regenerate and revive.
The 2014 Supreme Court-appointed commi ee report, for instance, says while hydropower
projects emit less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels, they have a huge environmental impact.
Construc on ac vi es like making approach roads, tunnelling and quarrying lead to
deforesta on, muck dumping and slope destabilisa on. “Blas ng with the use of explosives is a
common feature in all these ac vi es. Unscien fic blas ng creates environmental problems in the
form of ground vibra ons, air overpressure and flyrock,” it notes.
It is conceivable that such incorrect blas ng can loosen masses of earth leading to a rock or debris slide,
create fissures or enlarge exis ng ones, increase slope instabili es, change underground water
courses, dry up springs and lead to cracks in houses and other structures.”
05 011-45586829, 9718793363 website: www.guidanceias.com
The Supreme Court, in April 2014, stayed the construc on of the 24 projects that wii recommended to
be scrapped. It also men oned how the tunnelling for the Tapovan-Vishnugad project in 2010 ruptured
an aquifer, which caused a discharge of 60-70 million litres of water daily, enough to sustain 2-3 million
people.
However, over the past couple of years, the government has started gravita ng towards hydropower
projects again.
Thus, the tragedy is a failure to draw a balance between fragile ecosystems & topography and
development impera ves, compounded by climate-change effects. The increased pace of
development in the region has also heightened fears about fallout from deforesta on and other
environmental troubles.
#2
#4
mmmmm
MOHD ABDUL GIRDHAR BHAWNA SHIVANSH AWASTHI RAHUL JAIN DHRUV MITTAL
AIR 57 AIR 61 AIR 68 AIR 77 AIR 87 AIR 99
SAGAR JAIN MANISH CHOUDHARY KALE AMIT NIKETA ROHATGI ABHISHEK KUMAR SIDDHARTH DHAPOLA INDERVEER SINGH
Junaid Ahmad
JISHNU J RAJU AJAY JAIN SHAFQAT AMNA
AIR 132 AIR 141 AIR 186 AIR 160 AIR 205 AIR 212 AIR 221 AIR 243 AIR 255 AIR 259