Sundeep K. Pandita

Reservoir induced landslide at Assar, Jammu and Kashmir: A case study

In February 2009, a huge landslide occurred at Assar in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir state. The slide triggered after the reservoir level of the Baglihar dam increased from initial water level of 850 m to 870 m. The impounding of reservoir water created high angle scarps at number of fossil slide sites on either side of the river within the reservoir area. One such scarp (about 250 m long) at Assar caused a huge landslide washing out about 150 m road stretch. The sliding material is dominated by finer fraction (71.5 %) of micaceous silty sand and coarser fraction of gravel to boulder size. Over saturation of the slope forming material, weak rocks and high absorption and swelling nature of the soil, high slope angle and toe cutting by the water are the main reasons that triggered this slide.

Thecamoebians (Testate Amoebae) Straddling the Permian-Triassic Boundary in the Guryul Ravine Section, India: Evolutionary and Palaeoecological Implications.

Exceptionally well-preserved organic remains of thecamoebians (testate amoebae) were preserved in marine sediments that straddle the greatest extinction event in the Phanerozoic: the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Outcrops from the Late Permian Zewan Formation and the Early Triassic Khunamuh Formation are represented by a complete sedimentary sequence at the Guryul Ravine Section in Kashmir, India, which is an archetypal Permian-Triassic boundary sequence [1]. Previous biostratigraphic analysis provides chronological control for the section, and a perspective of faunal turnover in the brachiopods, ammonoids, bivalves, conodonts, gastropods and foraminifera. Thecamoebians were concentrated from bulk sediments using palynological procedures, which isolated the organic constituents of preserved thecamoebian tests. The recovered individuals demonstrate exceptional similarity to the modern thecamoebian families Centropyxidae, Arcellidae, Hyalospheniidae and Trigonopyxidae, however, the vast majority belong to the Centropyxidae. This study further confirms the morphologic stability of the thecamoebian lineages through the Phanerozoic, and most importantly, their apparent little response to an infamous biological crisis in Earth’s history.

An Early Permian Glossopteris flora from the Umrer Coalfield, Wardha Basin, Maharashtra, India

Tewari, R., Pandita, S.K., Agnihotri, D., Pillai, S.S.K. & Bernardes-De-Oliveira, M.E.C., September 2012. An Early Permian Glossopteris flora from the Umrer Coalfield, Wardha Basin, Maharashtra, India. Alcheringa 36, 359–376. ISSN 0311-5518. A rich and well-preserved Glossopteris-dominated plant fossil assemblage is described from the Barakar Formation of the Makardhokra and Umrer open-cast projects, Umrer Coalfield, Nagpur District, Wardha Basin, Maharashtra, India. The assemblage includes equisetalean axes, cordaitalean leaves (Noeggerathiopsis hislopii), Gangamopteris clarkeana and diverse Glossopteris leaves and a fertile organ assigned to Scutum sp. cf. S. leslii. The flora, although similar to that of the Barakar Formation of the Damodar Basin complex (the reference basin system with respect to the qualitative and quantitative distribution of Indian Permian plant taxa), exhibits unique characteristics and is Artinskian to Kungurian in age. Besides supplementing knowledge of the broader Wardha Basin flora, this is the first systematic documentation of the Glossopteris flora from the Barakar Formation of this basin.

Modern Pollen Rain from Udhampur (Jammu and Kashmir), India: Insights into Pollen Production, Dispersal, Transport and Preservation

ABSTRACT The present communication deals with pollen analyses of moss polsters in order to understand the pollen rain from Udhampur District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. The study revealed that the pollen of Pinus sp. (average 46% pollen) dominates the pollen rain, which could be attributed to its high pollen productivity and excellent pollen dispersal efficiency, followed by Cedrus sp., and Podocarpus sp. However, other conifers such as Abies sp., Picea sp., Juniperus sp. and Tsuga sp., as well as the broad-leaved taxa such Alnus sp., Betula sp., Ulmus sp., Quercus sp., Carpinus sp., Corylus sp., Juglans sp., Ilex sp., Mallotus sp., Elaeocarpus sp. and Aesculus sp., were sporadically recorded which could be due to either their poor pollen dispersal efficiency or poor preservation in the substrate. Tubuliflorae, Poaceae, Amaranthaceae, Malvaceae and Cerealia are the other prominent taxa of the pollen rain, revealing their actual composition in the ground vegetation.

Investigation of landslide at Sangaldan near tunnel-47, on Katra- Qazigund railway track, Jammu and Kashmir

Landslides are the most established geological hazards in the Siwalik and Murree strata of Jammu region. The prolonged rainfall in the area frequently trigger landslides and has become a common phenomenon in hilly areas of Jammu region due to over saturation of slope forming material and cause considerable damage to life and property. The landslide that occurred on the Katra-Qazigund railway track alongside of portal (P2) of tunnel-47 on 25th September 2010 at village Dharam in Sangaldan area of Ramban district caused extensive damage to buildings. The water sensitive lithology (alteration of sandstone and mudstone beds) within the Murree thrust zone has made the area more vulnerable to landslides. Most of the landslides in the area are activated mainly during prolonged rainfall due to increase in pore water pressure as a result of seepage. The present paper is an attempt to study various geological factors along with physio-mechanical properties of slope forming materials to understand their role in failure mechanism.

Geotechnical investigation on slopes failures along the Mughal road from Bafliaz to Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir, India

In this paper, the results of geotechnical investigations on the slope stability condition carried along the historical Mughal road (an important economic corridor of the state) from Bafliaz (Jammu province) to Shopian (Kashmir province) linking NH144 and NH444 respectively is presented. The basic rock mass rating (RMRb), slope mass rating (SMR) techniques (both discrete and continuous functions) with kinematics analysis was applied to analyse the rock mass and slope conditions at 20 selected sites. The RMRb results obtained reveal the slopes can be categorized into very good (5%), good (55%) and fair (40%) whereas SMR results reveal that the slopes are partially stable (50%), unstable (30%) and completely unstable (20%) with probable planar failure mode (20%), toppling failure mode (27%) and wedge failure mode (53%). The discrete and continuous SMR index reveals maximum variation in the end results within an average difference of 4.7 ±6. The kinematic analysis results support inter dependency of RMRb, SMR and critical joint-slope orientation relationships.

Modern pollen assemblages from Reasi (Jammu and Kashmir), India: a tool for interpreting fossil pollen records

Abstract Twenty five surface samples/moss cushions were collected for palynological analysis from open areas of Reasi District, Jammu and Kashmir (India). These samples were used to investigate the relationships between extant vegetation and modern pollen spectra, which serve as modern analogue for the reliable ecological interpretation of fossil pollen records. The present vegetation in the region comprises tropical dry deciduous forests and subtropical pine forests with scattered stands of oak. The pollen analysis reveals that Pinus sp. (average 69% in the pollen assemblages), amongst the conifers, dominates the pollen rain, which can be attributed to its high pollen productivity and exceptional pollen dispersal efficiency. Cedrus sp. and Podocarpus sp. pollen contribute with an average of 16 and 5% to the total pollen rain. Other conifers such as Picea sp., Abies sp., Juniperus sp. and Tsuga sp., as well as broad-leaved taxa such as Quercus sp., Alnus sp., Betula sp., Carpinus sp., Corylus sp., Juglans sp., Ulmus sp., Salix sp., Elaeocarpus sp., Mallotus sp. and Aesculus sp., have lower averages of 1 to 4.5% in the total pollen rain which could be either due to their poor pollen dispersal efficiency or to the poor preservation in the samples. Tubuliflorae (average 25%), Poaceae (average 6.26%), Cerealia and other crop plants (average 7.68%) are other prominent taxa in the pollen rain. The nearly complete absence of members of tropical dry deciduous forests in the pollen spectra likely is due to the fact that most species in this vegetation type are not wind pollinated.