Indian satellite finds buried courses of River Sarasvati

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HinduThought, "kalyan97" <kalyan97> wrote:

Indian satellites finds water under desert

 

Hyderabad July 28. India's remote sensing satellites have traced the

buried course of Saraswati, the mythical Himalayan river, kindling

hopes of finding drinking water under the hot sands of the Thar

desert in Rajasthan.

 

Mentioned in the Rig Veda, the Hindu scripture, and other ancient

literature, the river is believed to have once flowed, parallel to

the Indus, through what is now desert before falling into the

Arabian

Sea.

 

According to published literature, the river disappeared between

5000

BC and 3000 BC due to tectonic events in the Himalayas, that cut off

the water supply, and climatic changes that converted what was once

a

lush green Rajasthan into an arid zone.

 

Past attempts to accurately trace the lost river and reconstruct its

drainage system did not succeed.

 

"Recent advancements in space-based sensors and in data processing

technologies made it possible", says J. R. Sharma of the Jodhpur-

based Remote Sensing Service Centre of the Indian Space Research

Organisation (ISRO).

 

He and his colleagues, A. K. Gupta and G. Sreenivasan have mapped

the "palaeo channels" — relics of the river and its tributaries —

using data from three different sensors on board Indian satellites.

 

Mr. Sharma said over telephone that 13 borewells drilled along the

predicted river course have yielded water at a depth of 35 to 40

metres.

 

The size of the palaeo channels, as estimated from satellite data,

was huge, about 15 to 40 metres thick, implying that there was

plenty

of water out there. "The Government of Rajasthan is planning to

increase the number of borewells to 50 in two months and has

earmarked Rs. 40 million for the project," he said,

adding, "chemical

analysis indicates these palaeo channels could form a source for

good

quality ground water."

 

The ISRO scientists do not to the theory that Saraswati is

flowing as a subterranean river. "Radioactive tracer studies show

that the maximum flow of water is 15 cms per year — too slow to

indicate that connection with the Himalayan source is still there,"

Mr. Sharma said.

 

— PTI

 

http://www.hinduonnet.com/stories/2002072901060800.htm

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