Scribd
Upload
14 views

Lecture 1

Uploaded by

anony
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
14 views

Lecture 1

Uploaded by

anony
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 9

Department of Earth Sciences

Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur

Course ES451A-Environmental Geology


Lecture 1
S. Wajih A. Naqvi
Distinguished Visiting Professor
IIT- Kanpur

Formerly at:
National Institute of Oceanography
Dona Paula, Goa
Recommended Reading

Edward A. Keller (1917) Introduction to Environmental


Geology, Fifth Edition, Prentice-Hall.
Environmental Geology
The study of interactions between humans
and their geologic environment: rocks,
water, air, soil, life.

Two-way interactions: Earth processes


impact humans, whose activities, in turn,
impact Earth processes.
An applied branch of Geology
Application of geologic information to
- solve conflicts in land use
- minimize environmental degradation
- maximize beneficial results of using environments & resources
requires study of
• Earth materials (minerals, rocks, soils and water bodies) - how
they form, their uses including as waste disposal sites, and their
effects on human health
• Land for site selection, land-use planning, and environmental
impact analysis
• Hydrologic processes of groundwater and surface water to
evaluate water resources and solve water pollution problems
• Geologic processes (e.g. mountain formation, weathering, flow
of surface and underground waters, sedimentation, etc.)
• Local, regional, and global changes
• Natural hazards (e.g. floods, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic
activity, etc.) for minimizing loss of human life and property
Fundamental Concepts

1. Human population growth


2. Sustainability
3. Earth as a system
4. Hazardous Earth processes
5. Scientific knowledge and value
Human population growth
• 7.9 billion today (increasing
@1.05%/yr)
• Exponential growth: Pt=Po.ert
rt = ln (Pt/Po)
Doubling time (D) = ln (2)/r = 70/R(%)
- Before ~9,000 BC: P <10 M,
R=0.0001%/yr, D=700,000 yr
- Upto 1600 AD: P≈500 M, R=0.03%/yr,
D=2,300 yr
- 1600-1800 AD: P=1 B, R=0.1%/yr, D=700
yr
- 1800-2000: P=6.1 B, R=1.4%/yr, D=50 yr
- Rate decreasing 1970 onwards
Source: Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_growth#:~:
text=Population%20growth%20is%20the%20increase
,to%207.9%20billion%20in%202020.
Causes of population variability
Natural hazards
Toba catastrophe (74,000 yr BP):
Super-volcanic eruption led to
decrease in human population
<10,000 – Population Bottleneck
Human drivers
• Agriculture, settled life style
• Improved hygiene, sanitation,
healthcare - modern medicines Source: Introduction to
Environmental Geology
• Inexpensive energy resources
• Decreasing trend in growth rate in the last 50 years due to
population control measures; also approaching sustainable
limit (~8 billion); Still, population will rise by 3 billion by 2050
PRESENT TREND NOT SUSTAINABLE
How you will be evaluated?

% Marks
Mid-sem examination 35
End-sem examination 40
Internal assessment 15
Class attendance 10

You might also like