Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel - Part II : Submitted to The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India 31 August 2011 : Geological and Biological Landscapes

Opinion
       28/10/2018
                  1508.

SUB : Report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel - Part II : Submitted to The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India 31 August 2011 : Geological and Biological Landscapes

2. Geological and Biological Landscapes :-

Drawing on Pascal (1988), Daniels (2010), in a paper commissioned for the WGEEP, classifies the entire Western Ghats into nine geological landscapes across three regions – Surat-Goa, Goa-Nilgiris, and South of Palghat Gap.

These nine landscapes are :-

1. Surat-Goa Deccan Trap Landscape (extending between Surat and Belgaum) – L1
2. Goa-Nilgiris Pre-Cambrian Dharwar System Landscape (extending between Panaji and Kudremukh) – L2
3. Goa-Nilgiris Pre-Cambrian Peninsular Gneiss Landscape (extending between Shimoga-Kodachadri and Mysore) – L3
4. Goa-Nilgiris Pre-Cambrian Charnockites Landscape (extending between Kasargod and Nilgiris) – L4
5. Goa-Nilgiris Recent Sedimentary Rocks Landscape (extending between Malabar and Trichur) – L5
6. South of Palghat Gap Pre-Cambrian Charnockites Landscape (extending from Anamalai and Palani Hills till Shencottah Pass) – L6
7. South of Palghat Gap Pre-Cambrian Peninsular Gneiss Landscape (extending from Madurai to Kanyakumari; west of 78oE) – L7
8. South of Palghat Gap Pre-Cambrian Khondalites Landscape (extending westwards and south of Shencottah Pass till about Trivandrum) – L8
9. South of Palghat Gap Recent Sedimentary Rocks Landscape (extending from Cochin through Travancore) – L9

L1- Surat-Goa Deccan Trap Landscape
L2- Goa-Nilgiris Pre-Cambrian Dharwar System Landscape
L3- Goa-Nilgiris Pre-Cambrian Peninsular Gneiss Landscape
L4- Goa-Nilgiris Pre-Cambrian Charnockites Landscape
L5- Goa-Nilgiris Recent Sedimentary Rocks Landscape
L6- South of Palghat Gap Pre-Cambrian Charnockites Landscape
L7- South of Palghat Gap Pre-Cambrian Peninsular Gneiss Landscape
L8- South of Palghat Gap Pre-Cambrian Khondalites Landscape
L9- South of Palghat Gap Recent Sedimentary Rocks Landscape

The Surat-Goa region which covers around a third of the entire Western Ghats is also relatively the most homogeneous in terms of geology and can be treated as a large geological landscape (L1; see Map), while the Goa-Nilgiris has 4 distinct geological landscapes within it.

The smallest region is the South of Palghat Gap with 4 distinct geological landscapes within it. Relative to its size, the South of Palghat region that consists of landscapes L6–9 is the most spatially heterogeneous.

This region also has the highest peak (the Anaimudi) in the Western Ghats. It is further characterized by its wetness (example Valparai) and shortest dry season (2–3 months in Travancore; Pascal 1988).

At the other extreme, it also accommodates the driest hills in the Western Ghats, viz., the east Palani Hills (Kodaikanal).

The geological landscape L3 is of considerable interest in the context of landscape level resilience. The landscape, Daniels suggests, can be more precisely identified as the ‘South Karnataka Western Ghats’ that stretches between Shimoga and Mysore, including the coastal zone.

Further, he says that ‚< it is likely that the diversity in wet evergreen vegetation types found here is due to the high rainfall, shorter dry season and human impacts?.

In summary, he says, the unexplained diversity in the types of wet evergreen vegetation in L3, and the rather abrupt disappearance of wet evergreen vegetation in L1 and just north of L2 only point to the adverse roles of the longer dry season and human impacts.

NEXT : He suggests that although there is not adequate amount of published information to substantiate this observation, Pascal (1988) can be used as a basis for the following speculation : -

To be continued ...

OPINION :-

1. COMMUNISTS LEAD BY LDF GOVERNMENT'S ACTION ON SABARIMALA SO PROVOKING, JUST THINK, THAT THE GADGIL REPORT WAS SUBMITTED ON 2011, THE STUPID GOVERNMENT, WILLINGLY, INTENTIONALLY, KEPT AWAY IMPLEMENTATION WHY? BECAUSE THAT IT EFFECTS ON MAFIA GROUPS SUPPORTED BY COMMUNIST
 AND OTHER SUNDRIES IN LDF, SO THE NEGLIGENCE AND DISREGARD TOWARDS NATURE, SRI GADGIL DECLARED THAT THE RECENT FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES WERE BECAUSE OF DESTRUCTION OF NATURE BY MAFIA GROUPS;

2. CONGRESS LEAD UDF ARE EQUALLY RESPONSIBLE WITH LDF, AS BOTH DEMONS ARE JOINT TITLE HOLDERS OF CORRUPTION, AS THEY ARE EQUALLY BLAMED, AS THEY FAILED TO IMPLEMENT IN THEIR TENURE, CONGRESS WAS BUSY WITH SARITHA NAIR SOLAR SCAM, CONGRESS LEADERS TAKING SEXUAL FAVOURS FROM SARITHA NAIR FOR HER SOLAR PROGRAMS;

3. BJP KERALA UNIT REMAIN PASSIVE, AS USUAL, NO ATTEMPTS MADE TO OVERTHROW THESE UDF CUM LDF COMBINATION OF EVIL POWERS FROM THIS SACRED LAND, BIRTH PLACE OF SWAMI SRI ADI SANKARACHARYA, LEFT FREELY TO COMMUNAL AND DESTRUCTIVE FORCES UDF AND LDF TO USE THIS LAND A PLAYGROUND TO DEVELOP VARIOUS MAFIAS, CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC COMMUNAL GROUPS;

4. THE KERALITES CORRUPTED, FOOLISH PEOPLE, SO CALLED PRABHUDHA MALAYALEES WORST CREATURES OF EXAMPLES IN LAZINESS, EASY NO WORK LIFE ENGAGED IN " NOKKU COOLI" LIKE PROJECTS.

5. THE COMMUNIST MINDED  SANDEPANADAGIRI TYPES OF PSEUDO SANYASINS, AND MANY FRAUDS IN THE SAME CATEGORY, AND MANY MORE FREQUENT FOREIGN VISITING PSEUDO SO CALLED BUNCH, ALL OF THEM A CURSE TO THIS HOLY LAND, MANY MATHS LIKE SIVAGIRI HAS BEEN HIJACKED BY SNDP AS THEIR PERSONAL PROPERTY, BY VELLAPULLI FAMILY, FOR PERSONAL ADVANTAGES, HIS HAND-SHAKE WITH BJP AND NDA IS ALSO WITH CORRUPT MOTIVE.

JAIHIND
VANDEMATHARAM