Syllabus
Fundamental Principles of Environmental Geology. Geofactor considerations for safe and sustainable development. Soil forming processes, soil types, soil degradation and changing land use pattern. Soil erosion and soil conservation
Concepts of natural ecosystems on the Earth and their mutual inter-relations and interactions (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere). Environmental changes due to influence of human-dominated environment overnature-dominated system. Concept of Biodiversity and Geodiversity.
Mobility of elements. Impact assessment of water availability, quality and contamination of surface water and groundwater. Introduction to medical geology. Atmosphere and air pollution. Soil contamination due to urbanization, industrialization and mining.
Basic tenets of environmental laws. Distribution, magnitude and intensity of earthquakes. Geo-tectonic and seismic hazard assessment. Preparation of seismic hazard maps. Impact of seismic hazards on long and short term environmental conditions. Mechanism of landslides, causes of major floods, cyclones and storms. Deforestation and land degradation. Dryland environments: Droughts and Desertification, Fluvial systems and river basin analysis. Introduction to Floods, Spatio-temporal distribution of floods, flood mitigation strategies
Class projects: Study of seismic and flood prone areas in India, Evaluation of environmental impact of air pollution, contaminated groundwater, landslides, deforestation, cultivation and building construction in specified areas and affected societies.