Semi-arid Region

Ecology

ASSIGNMENT
ZARQA BASHER, PhD
Botany, Department
of Botany, University
of Sargodha
Ground water
exploration in an Arid
and Semi Arid zones,
Crop adaptation to
extreme weather and
best adsorbent pf heavy
metals
  QUESTION NUMBER 1
What is the global best practice for groundwater exploration in an Arid and Semi-
Arid zone?

Groundwater is an invisible natural resource.

It is available in different proportions, in
various rock types and at various depths, on
the surface layer of the earth. In the historical
past, when there is no visible flow of water
along the rivers, people used to dig small pits,
in the river alluvium, wait and collect the
groundwater coming through seepage and
use it for their drinking purposes and for
meeting the domestic needs.

imilarly, to the people of mountainous regions,

natural springs provided the sources of water
supply. Springs are the outcome of seepage
from any groundwater system, in hilly terrains
or in limestone regions. More than 60 percent Groundwater prospecting is a very thought
of the global population thrives by using only provoking scientific exercise in most of the
the groundwater resources. The groundwater places. There is a need to understand the
which was existing at shallow depths in the methods of groundwater exploration, as it is a
open wells, has gone deep due to over- practical decision-making approach. This
exploitation. module highlights some of the general
methods of groundwater exploration.
Exploring these water sources become a
Exploring groundwater
challenging task to geo-scientists. Renewable
resource Groundwater is a renewable source.
Groundwater gets replenished after every
rainfall. This is called as rainfall recharge. The
level of water seen in an open well denotes
the uppermost surface of the zone of
saturation of the porous media. This is called
as the water table.

Heterogeneous distribution Groundwater is

not uniformly distributed everywhere. The
occurrence of groundwater varies from
formation to formation. In a typical crystalline Groundwater Exploration is attempted through
hard rock terrain, the quantitative occurrence either by direct or indirect methods. Test
of groundwater depends on the weathered drilling is the direct approach to find out the
and fractured zones. The occurrence of resource.
groundwater in a sedimentary terrain will be
more promising.

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 Exploring groundwater
– Esoteric Methods
Groundwater exploration is a typical task of a – Geomorphologic methods
hydrogeologist or an engineer. Identifying the – Geological & structural Methods
location of its availability is a challenging task. – Soil and Micro-Biological Methods
– Remote Sensing Techniques
Exploration of groundwater requires a basic – Surface Geophysical Methods
understanding of its position in the subsurface
geological setup.

Groundwater Exploration is attempted through

either by direct or indirect methods. Test drilling
The current trend in groundwater exploration
is the direct approach to find out the resource.
is integration of several techniques and based
This is an expensive affair. Every individual can
on available datasets. Remote sensing and
not go for test drilling. During the last two
GIS techniques are utilized to delineate areas
centuries, more and more techniques have been
with greater prospects using various statistical
developed to explore the
and machine learning models e.g. Index
groundwater. They are classified into surface and
overlays, multi-criteria decision analysis,
sub-surface methods.
Frequency ratios, Artificial Neural Networks
Surface methods
etc. The result of the models can suggest
The surface methods are easy to operate and
implement. These require minimum facilities like suitable areas for further hydrogeological and
topo-sheets, maps, reports, some field geo-electric surveys.
measurements and interpretations of data in the
laboratories. The surface methods of groundwater
exploration include the following:
Subsurface methods

The subsurface methods of groundwater exploration

includes both Test Drilling & Borehole
Geophysical Logging techniques. When compared
to the surface methods, the subsurface methods
are very expensive. These are done for government
level projects where large scale investigations are
carried out to ascertain the results of surface surveys.
The subsurface methods are very accurate methods
as the help in direct observations of features in the
form of bore-hole lithologs as core samples and also
geophysical measurements of formation properties.

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  QUESTION NUMBER 2
Looking for suggestion & recommendation to Wheat crop adaptation to extreme weather
events susceptibilities in pakistan?
Pakistan is one of the countries, most vulnerable to
and affected by climate triggered calamities. It is rank
as the seventh most affected country from climate
change.
It is revealing fact that climate change has emerged
as one of the core issue of the current time. It is
affecting a significant portion of the population
worldwide by disturbing food natural ecosystem,
health and water supply in major dimensions.
According to the fourth assessment report of Inter
Governmental Panel on Climate Change intensity
and frequency of weather are changing; there will be
warmer and fewer cold days and nights along with
extreme climate events with frequent heat waves and
heavy precipitation.
Pakistan has experienced extreme climatic events in
the recent past. Floods of 2003, 2005, 2008, and
2010-15 and worst droughts of the history for the
period of 1998-2001. Majority of the population in
Pakistan depends on agriculture for their living. An
erratic and irregular pattern of rainfall, extreme and
sudden variations in temperature could increases
rural farm household’s susceptibility to the climate
change.
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The best way is to move towards adaptation
options.( for eg: the relevant agencies can
introduce flood resistant wheat varieties).
another way is we can maintain a gene pool
for seeds which can preserved for future,
another option could be changing of
harvesting dates.
Adapting by changing irrigation practice is the
most successful strategy for wheat growers;
expected to increase the wheat yield by 24 per
cent. Increase in application of inorganic
fertilizer is another successful strategy for
wheat growers. It is expected to increase the
yield by 13 per cent. However, its combination
with change in the time of sowing will further
increase the yield by 4 per cent . These findings
are in accordance with those of for Pakistan,
where delay in the sowing time is expected to
increase the yield.
The evidence coming from the study strongly
postulates that climate change adaptation has
significant potential to compensate for the adverse
impacts of climate change. First important finding
made during the analysis is that portfolio adaptation
is rewarding in enhancing crop yield, however,
irrigation is the most rewarding strategy to increase
the yield of wheat. Our second major finding is that
the potential of adaptation differs among crop
growth stages, due to differences in the impacts of
climate change at each stages of production. While
our third finding is that higher adaptive capacity to
climate change, education, farm size, farm
experience, access to credit and sources of
information on climate change are important drivers
of farmer’s adaptation decision.
  QUESTION NUMBER 3
Which adsorbent is better for adsorption of heavy metals? Clay (Such as montmorillonite
) or biochar.Can we add clay to sandy soil as amendment?

Heavy metals are discharged into water from

various industries. They can be toxic or
carcinogenic in nature and can cause severe
problems for humans and aquatic ecosystems.
Thus, the removal of heavy metals from
wastewater is a serious problem.

The adsorption process is widely used for the

removal of heavy metals from wastewater because
of its low cost, availability and eco-friendly nature.
Both commercial adsorbents and bioadsorbents are
used for the removal of heavy metals from
wastewater, with high removal capacity.

This review article aims to compile scattered

information on the different adsorbents that are
used for heavy metal removal and to provide
information on the commercially available and
natural bioadsorbents used for removal of
chromium, cadmium and copper, in particular.
Can clay help my soil?
Clay is far better an adsorbent for heavy metals
than the biochar. However for in-situ amendments
of sandy soil biochar is better option than the clay
as biochar provides better favourable
conditions for microbial growth.

Clay can be used in combination with the biocjar

top increase water holding capacity of the soil. A

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mix of 70% of biochar and 30% of clay will work
best as per the reports available.

Since recent time, biochar has been not only a very

popular organic soil amendment but also good
adsorbent of heavy metals, remediation of
contaminated soils and rehabilitation of degraded
soils, including miming sites.The articles below
may be helpful.

THA
NKYOU

Thanky Page 6

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