General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - March 2019

Mar 2019

Jan 07, 2021

Chengalpattu Records Heaviest Single-day Rainfall in over a Century

Heavy rainfall battered Tamil Nadu with Chengalpattu district recording 21 cm of rainfall, the heaviest single-day rainfall for January in over a century. Earlier, the adjoining district of Chennai had recorded its highest single-day rainfall in this month on January 15, 1915 at 21.5 cm.
This was recorded in Kelambakkam station that comes under Chengalpattu district.

Jan 06, 2021

GSI Draws Up Strategic Plan to Step up Exploration

With the demand for rare earth elements (REE) increasing significantly, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has drawn up a strategic plan for enhancing REE exploration in India that outlines a roadmap for the next five years.
REEs are a group of seventeen metals that are used in a wide range of critical products enabling many emerging green energy technologies, high tech applications and defence systems. This includes electronics, medical instrumentation, renewable energy, alloys, high strength magnets, ceremics, hybrid vehicles, lasers, nuclear science, biofuels and rechargeable batteries.
At present, India obtains its REE raw materials from foreign sources like Canada, Russia and China. According to available information, China is the world's largest producer or REEs, with an output of 132,000 metric tonnes in 2019, followed by the Unites States with 26,000 metric tones. India produced 3,000 metric tonnes that year.
GSI will also focus its exploration efforts on various potential geological environments and areas which warrant accelerated exploration efforts. Concentration of REE elements will also be studied in the suitable bauxite deposits having a genetic linkage with REE rich segments.

Jan 05, 2021

South Korea to cut railway carbon emissions by replacing diesel trains by 2029

South Korea aims to cut some 30% of carbon emissions from railway travel by replacing all diesel passenger locomotives with a new bullet train by 2029, President Moon Jae-in said.
Moon joined a trial run of the KTX-Eum, an electric multiple unit train as South Korea, one of world's most fossil-fuel reliant economies, envisages a "greener" recovery from the novel coronavirus. Eum means link in Korean.

The Year 2020 was Eighth Warmest Since 1901: IMD

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the year 2020 was the eight warmest since 1901, but it was substantially lower than the highest warming observed in 2016.
During the year, annual mean land surface air temperature averaged over the country was 0.29 degree Celsius above normal (based on the data of 1981-2010).
The year 2020 was the eighth warmest year on record since nation-wide records commenced in 1901. However, this is substantially lower than the highest warming observed over India during 2016 (+0.71 degree Celsius).
The five warmest years on record in order were: 2016 (+ 0.71 degree C), 2009 (+0.55 degree C), 2017 (+0.541 degree C), 2010 (+0.539 degrees C), and 2015 (+0.42 degree C).

Jan 04, 2021

World's Oldest Python Found in Messel Pit

Together with his colleague Hussam Zaher of the University in São Paulo, Senckenberg scientist Krister Smith described the world's oldest known fossils of a python. The almost completely preserved snake with a length around one metrre was discovered in the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Messel Pit" and is about 47 million years old. The new python species, Messelopython freyi, was named in honour of paleontologist Eberhard "Dino" Frey of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe.
Reaching a length of more than six meters, pythons are among the world's largest snakes. Today, various species of these constrictors are found primarily in Africa, Southern and Southeast Asia, and Australia. The geographic origin of pythons is still not clear. The discovery of a new python species in the Messel Pit is therefore a major leap forward in understanding these snakes' evolutionary history.
The new python species Messelopython freyi is the oldest known fossil record of a python anywhere in the world.

Jan 03, 2021

Two Lakh-year-old Tools Unearthed in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi Arabian scientific team from the Heritage Authority discovered stone tools used by the inhabitants of Assyrian civilisation in the Paleolithic period that date back to 2,00,000 years.
The Heritage Authority said that the discovered stone tools from the Shuaib Al-Adgham area, located east of the Al-Qassim region, are stone axes from the Middle Paleolithic period.

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