![]() |
Channels | ![]() |
In Focus |
Cartoons |
Education |
Environment |
Opinion |
Photo Essays |
Columns |
Business |
Random Thoughts |
Our Heritage |
Astrology |
Ayurveda |
Buddhism |
Cinema |
Culture |
Festivals |
Hinduism |
History |
People |
Places |
Sikhism |
Spirituality |
Society & Lifestyle |
Parenting |
Perspective |
Recipes |
Society |
Teens |
Women |
Creative Writings |
Computing |
Humor |
Individuality |
Literary Shelf |
Memoirs |
Quotes |
Stories |
Travelogues |
Workshop |
Environment | Share This Page | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nature’s Ire |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
by V. K. Joshi (Bijji) |
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The holy shrine Kedarnath is very much in the news. It witnessed one of the worst natural disasters in the recent years. On the morning of 16th June, 2013, as per the newspaper reports, there was a loud explosion in the Gandhi Sarovar, about four km upstream from Kedarnath. Thereafter a huge mass of rocks and mud and water began engulfing the whole valley. The mudslide was so powerful, that it did not spare anything in its wake.
It is not that, that Kedarnath had not witnessed natural calamities in the past! Between 14th century and 17th century, the shrine and the valley were completely covered with ice for four hundred long years. After the mini-ice age was over, the temple re-emerged unscathed but for the striations left by the retreating ice. These were the clues for the geologists to work out the direction of movement and the weight of the Ice etc. later. Similarly, the temple, since its construction, couple of thousand years ago has stood like a light house against devastating earthquakes that have visited the young, high rise mountains.
Deepak Srivastava, an eminent Glaciologist of Geological Survey Of India, had worked in Kedarnath Valley to study the possibility of avalanches and consequences thereof. Srivastava in one of his papers says that the Mandakini River valley is unique because two glaciers that have separate regimen, orientation and flow occupy this single valley. The two glaciers, Chaurabari and Companion glaciers terminate at different elevations, at the same place. From the moraines it appears that these two glaciers were unified in the past and occupied the entire one kilometer wide valley at Kedarnath. Moraines are the rock boulders of assorted sizes to rock flour produced and carried by the glacier and left behind as they recede. These moraines are well established and held at place by the vegetation for a length of three kilometers up to the snout of the glaciers. The moraines have lots of stories hidden in them. It appears that there were at least four major episodes of glacier recession as marked by the traces of the moraines throughout the valley. In other words, earlier the glaciers had descended down to much lower levels than the present.
The temple has been safe from avalanches through the centuries. Even the present township of Kedarnath has not been hit by a major avalanche. An acute need for further expansion is being felt. For which the terraces on the left side only, up to Lenchuri village have been recommended by the glaciologists of GSI. Only drawback of this portion is the marshy condition due to deep erosion of the terrace. Development of a proper drainage can take care of the condition and habitats can be safely constructed. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Share This: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20-Jun-2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
More by : V. K. Joshi (Bijji) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Views: 3613 Comments: 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Comments on this Article
Dogdom 06/24/2013 12:11 PM
neelam gupta 06/24/2013 05:19 AM
Ashok Patel 06/24/2013 00:34 AM
V.K. Joshi 06/22/2013 08:02 AM
V.K. Joshi 06/22/2013 07:59 AM
S.V.Srikantia 06/22/2013 07:34 AM
surabhi garg 06/22/2013 00:51 AM
Akhilesh Tripathi 06/21/2013 08:20 AM
shiv 06/21/2013 04:01 AM |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Top | Environment |
|