Earthquake pangs and the rise of new born mud volcano off the coast of Pakistan

Earthquake relief is yet to reach certain remote places of Pakistan's Sindh and Balochistan province due to 7.7 magnitude earthquake (on the Richter scale) that struck the region leaving 500 people dead followed by saturday's massive aftershock measuring 6.8. The earthquake owes its birth to grinding of the two plates Indian and the Eurasian plates along the Chaman fault zone, triggering the destructive temblors. The official death count stands at 515, unofficial figures are as high as 700, with more than 800 injured (and counting). The earthquake has left more than 50,000 people homeless in these areas. I hope they receive the required help and attention.

But what has caught the eyes of many people is the rise of a new island off the port of Gwadar after the Fridays quake. The island is about 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 meters) high, up to 300 feet (91 meters) wide, and up to 120 feet (37 meters) long. 

The new island that emerged from the sea following Fridays earthquake, off Pakistan's Gwadar coastline in the Arabian sea. (Source: Reuters)

The reason for the rise of the mud volcano is attributed to the seismic waves causing fluid material under the seafloor to expand under the crust giving way to pressurized fluid and gases to rise, spitting out buried mud with rocks and other seafloor creatures. Evidence of rocks and stones suggest that the mud might have been thrown out of the sea at great speed. The island will soon disappear under the sea as the waves will erode away the island rocks.

Further reading on the causes of the rise of mud volcano - LiveScience.com and also images from NASA Earth Observatory (before and after the rise of the new island).

And similar articles of rise of similar new mud volcano islands off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago in the recent century.

Are we banking on more dams to reap more disasters?

An article in the International weekly Journal of Science - Nature on Flood of protest hits Indian dams, Himalayan plans pose ecological threat, researchers warn raises concerns and highlights the agitations by native people on huge number of dams to be built on the youthful rivers of Himalayas. More than all the concerns raised, I am surprised that such places are focal areas of huge earthquakes and are totally ignored when building such reservoirs. Haven't we had enough deaths and have enough problems with displacement of people, loss of livelihood, loss of biodiversity, slicing of our beautiful mountains, loss of culture and language ...and the list goes no. Are we banking on more Dams to have a so called 'Economic growth' and want to reap disasters with more interest??

Courtesy: Nature, International weekly journal of Science.

Recent conclave concluded at Mahabaleshwar for Saving the Western Ghats highlighted the very dangers of big reservoirs that has posed on the rich biodiversity nestled in the Western wall of India, session taken by South Asia network on dams, rivers and people. I hope my readers would take note of the articles published by SANDRP, which are really insightful into the problems of our unplanned development. Also worth mentioning was the accelerated transformation of the landscape in the Western Ghats in the past couple of decades and its future changes expected due to rising population was really scary given by a research institute on Population studies based in Bangaluru (Just don't remember their name right now).

I hope that our Earth is protected from the greed of having more than what we require, but I don't think that the motion we have set in can be undone anymore, if at all there is an inner revolution in every individual to change this present scenario and restrict our wants. There would be more conflicts and tensions over sharing this limited natural resources in the years to come and it is already happening (eg. Water) with ever increasing population. And I don't think that we can really change the wishes, thoughts and actions of people, only if it starts from 'Me'.

Unravelling the mystery behind the curved tree trunks near Budher caves

   It has been quite some time that I had some observations to write about the curved tree trunks that I noticed during my visit to Chakrata especially at Budher area which is located at an altitude of 2738 m approx. in the middle Himalayan ranges of Uttarakhand. Apart from noticing the rich biodiversity and enjoying tall trees especially the Deodhar and wild fox, birds, plants, etc.; the curved tree trunks kept on showing in almost all our treks especially on the upper reaches of the mountains. I was wondering if the Deodhar trees and others likewise have some growth problems. But the occurrence of groundwater oozing out from the rocks as springs and landslides were common phenomenon that were noticeable, where an entire slope had slid down and blocked the roads. Evidence of it was visible also on our walk to Tiger fall where the sides of the valley are loaded with evidence of past landslides. On which the people now do their terrace farming. Though people living in the mountains have a good system of selective logging for the trees when cutting for timber. I fear  that uprooting or cutting has made the slopes more prone and susceptible to landslides and degradation.

Area showing curved tree trunks at Budher, Chakrata, Uttarakhand. (Courtesy: Google Earth)

Curved Tree trunks on the way to Budher Caves. (Photo Credit: Amar Oke)

Curved tree trunks on the mountain slopes. (Photo Credit: Amar Oke)

   But when I started connecting all these dots I started to realize that the trees has a message in its curved trunk growth at its base. As this became more evident when I bumped onto a research paper by R. Ian Harker from Department of Geology, University of Pennsylvania, titled “Curved Tree Trunks: Indicators of Soil Creep and Other Phenomena” published by the University of Chicago Press in the  The Journal of Geology, Vol. 104, No. 3 (May, 1996), pp. 351-358. The trees curved at the base that were studied at Mount Rainer National Park and the curved tree trunks of Budher area are very similar and fitting. The Budher area is underlined by limestone rocks which are shattered due to metamorphism and the water has carved out an interesting system of caverns underneath.

View from inside of the limestone cave. (Photo Credit: Nikhil Rajwade)

Stalactites inside the caves at Budher. (Photo Credit: Nikhil Rajwade) 

Spring water flowing down the gully.  (Photo Credit: Gurudas Nulkar) 

Water acts as a lubricating fluid for landslides. (Photo Credit: Gurudas Nulkar) 

      The trees grown on this terrain show curved trunk as a result of the unstable, brittle geology and also many external factors like snow/ice pressure, availability of light, catastrophic events and soil creep. These curved trunks at Budher are indicative of soil creep and are a useful indication of slope instability. Curves induced by soil creep are quite distinct from those from other factors mentioned earlier. His paper describes very well about this curved tree phenomenon. If the trunk curvature is of a character to be expected on selected slopes as a result of soil creep then similar such studies should be carried out by The Geological Survey of India to ascertain any impending dangers to the ecosystem and the local people. As the purpose of this is that we protect this fragile  landscape from further degradation. Not to mention the extent of how the winding roads have made the slopes more prone to instability.

Himalayan Pit Viper near Budher. (Photo Credit: Nikhil Rajwade) 

Common bluebottle butterfly at Budher. (Photo Credit: Nikhil Rajwade)