GSI begins systematic mapping of Landslide prone areas

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has started systematic mapping of all landslide prone areas in the country to avert damages, its Director General Dinesh Gupta said today.

The GSI has identified parts of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Darjeeling area of West Bengal, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir and some portions of South India comprising hills - and undertaken systematic mapping of which area is prone to landslides, Gupta told reporters here.

"Any slight movement will be recorded, fed into the system and used to warn state authorities about any possible occurance (of landslide)," he said at the meet called to highlight GSI's activities.

Data pertaining to 1.71 sq km area was already available and all one would have to do was to type the location and see the result on map, Gupta said.

He said that by 2021, the entire data feed process is expected to be completed.

On early warning system for earthquakes, he said there is no technology to forecast it but GSI is cautioning people about which area is more prone to quakes, and which kinds of building needed to be built.

"We are studying sub-surface and it is a continuous process," he said.

He said GSI is giving greater thrust on mineral exploration to give more auctionable blocks to respective state governments.

India is leading in mineral explorations in coal, mangonese, iron ore and lignite and the state governments were fully cooperating with the GSI exploration, he said.

On GSI mapping, he said of the 3.146 million sq km mappable area of the country, 3.1 million sq km have so far been covered by systematic geological mapping on 1:50,000 scale, bringing the total coverage to 99.35 per cent till date.

"No other country, even the advanced ones, have the luxury of having geological map on 1:50,000 scale, prepared based on actual field work on ground," he said.

He said the National Geochemical Mapping (NGCM) has been taken up since 2001-2002 to generate baseline geochemical data base on 1:50,000 scale to identify prospective areas for probable mineral occurrences to create a seamless geochemical base map on 1:50,000 scale and till March, 2018, GSI has covered 9.30 lakh sq. km area by NGCM.

"Again, no other country has geochemical map of such a high data density and so much of coverage," Gupta said.