C. P. Rajendran

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Chittenipattu Puthenveettil Rajendran
Born (1955-05-29) 29 May 1955 (age 66)
Ottapalam, Palakkad, Kerala, India
Alma mater Kerala University
Cochin University of Science and Technology
Known for Paleoseismology and tectonics
Spouse(s) Kusala Rajendran
AwardsNational Geoscience Award (2009)
Scientific career
FieldsGeology
Institutions Indian Institute of Science
Centre for Earth Science Studies

Chittenipattu Puthenveettil Rajendran, (born 29 May 1955) also known among his peers as CP , is an Indian geologist who has worked mainly on the Indian earthquakes and tectonics.

Contents

Education

Rajendran did his schooling in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and Chennai and did his BSc (1976) in Geology from University College, Kerala University and MSc (1978) from Cochin University of Science and Technology. He joined Centre for Earth Science Studies as a research scientist. After obtaining PhD from the Cochin University of Science and Technology in 1988, he moved to the University of South Carolina (USA) for postdoctoral studies, till 1993.

Profession

CP moved back to Centre for Earth Science Studies, Trivandrum in 1994 where he continued till 2008. He accepted Ramanujan National Fellowship [1] by the Government of India at the Indian Institute of Science in 2009 and now works at the new centre initiated on Earth Science there. He is married to Prof. Kusala Rajendran, currently in the faculty [2] at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Dr. Rajendran is one of India's foremost expert in paleoseismology. He has contributed to the development of this field for the last three decades by his research contributions in seismo-tectonics, earthquake geology, paleoseismology, and tsunami geology in India. His efforts have provided insights into the earthquake recurrence and fault zone deformation in various seismotectonic provinces of India. [3] [4]

He initiated paleoseismological work at various parts of the country including Killari (Latur), [5] Kerala, [5] Rann of Kachchh, [6] Saurashtra, Cambay, Panvel (Maharashtra), Assam, [7] Central Himalaya [8] and Andaman-Nicobar region. [9] His work prior to 2001 Gujarat earthquake on the 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake and the linear elevated tract of land called "Allahbund" in the low-lying Rann in the northwest India has led to basic understanding on earthquake processes in the north western part of India.

His search in the epicentral area of the 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake led to the identification of another event between 800 and 1,000 years B.P. [6] Based on the relative size and frequency of 2001 [10] and older sandblows, he interpreted that the earlier earthquake may have also originated from the same source.

CP was ranked among the top ten young researchers in the country by the "Outlook" Magazine [11] (dated 18 July 2005).

He is able to make original scientific contributions to earthquake studies and seismic hazard in India. Recent years he has also been working on the tsunami geology and hazard and worked in many globally important locations like the Chilean Coast [12] and Makran Coast in Iran. [13] He is also involved in the collaborative work and co-operation on tsunami hazard, among various researchers from many countries. He also writes articles for science popularisation.

Dr. Rajendran has served as a

Awards

He was awarded the National Geoscience Award in 2009 [14] by the Government of India for his contributions in the field of disaster management.

Related Research Articles

Great Rann of Kutch

The Great Rann of Kutch is a salt marsh in the Thar Desert in the Kutch District of Gujarat, India. It is about 7500 km2 in area and is reputed to be one of the largest salt deserts in the world. This area has been inhabited by the Kutchi people.

Kutch district District of Gujarat in India

Kutch district is a district of Gujarat state in western India, with its headquarters (capital) at Bhuj. Covering an area of 45,674 km², it is the largest district of India. The area of Kutch District is larger than the entire area of states like Haryana (44,212 km2) and Kerala (38,863 km2) The population of Kutch is about 2,092,371. It has 10 talukas, 939 villages and 6 municipalities. The Kutch district is home to the Kutchi people who speak the Kutchi language.

Cascadia subduction zone Convergent plate boundary that stretches from northern Vancouver Island to Northern California

The Cascadia subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States. It is a very long, sloping subduction zone where the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, and Gorda plates move to the east and slide below the much larger mostly continental North American Plate. The zone varies in width and lies offshore beginning near Cape Mendocino, Northern California, passing through Oregon and Washington, and terminating at about Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthquakes are the planet's most powerful, with moment magnitudes (Mw) that can exceed 9.0. Since 1900, all earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 or greater have been megathrust earthquakes.

1993 Latur earthquake 1993 earthquake centered in Maharashtra State, India

The 1993 Latur earthquake struck India at 3:56 am local time (UTC+05:30) on 30 September. The main area affected was Maharashtra State in Western India. The earthquake primarily affected the districts of Latur and Osmanabad, including the Ausa block of Latur and Omerga of Osmanabad. Fifty-two villages were demolished in the intraplate earthquake. It measured 6.2 on the moment magnitude scale, and approximately 10,000 people died, whilst another 30,000 were injured. The earthquake's hypocenter was around 10 km deep – relatively shallow – allowing shock waves to cause more damage.

1945 Balochistan earthquake

The 1945 Balochistan earthquake occurred in British India at 1:26 PKT on 28 November 1945 with a moment magnitude of 8.1 and a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale.

Earthquake zones of India

The Indian subcontinent has a history of devastating earthquakes. The major reason for the high frequency and intensity of the earthquakes is that the Indian plate is driving into Asia at a rate of approximately 47 mm/year. Geographical statistics of India show that almost 54% of the land is vulnerable to earthquakes. A World Bank and United Nations report shows estimates that around 200 million city dwellers in India will be exposed to storms and earthquakes by 2050. The latest version of seismic zoning map of India given in the earthquake resistant design code of India [IS 1893 2002] assigns four levels of seismicity for India in terms of zone factors. In other words, the earthquake zoning map of India divides India into 4 seismic zones unlike its previous version, which consisted of five or six zones for the country. According to the present zoning map, Zone 5 expects the highest level of seismicity whereas Zone 2 is associated with the lowest level of seismicity.

Mullaperiyar Dam Dam in Kerala

Mullaperiyar DamIPA: [mulːɐpːeɾijɐːr], is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala It is located 881 m (2,890 ft) above mean sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala, India. It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by John Pennycuick and also reached in an agreement to divert water eastwards to the Madras Presidency area. It has a height of 53.6 m (176 ft) from the foundation, and a length of 365.7 m (1,200 ft). The Periyar National Park in Thekkady is located around the dam's reservoir. The dam is built at the confluence of Mullayar and Periyar rivers. The dam is located in Kerala on the river Periyar, but is operated and maintained by the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. Although the Periyar River has a total catchment area of 5398 km2 with 114 km2 downstream from the dam in Tamil Nadu, the catchment area of the Mullaperiyar Dam itself lies entirely in Kerala and thus not an inter-State river. On 21 November 2014, the water level hit 142 feet for first time in 35 years. The reservoir again hit the maximum limit of 142 feet on 15 August 2018, following incessant rains in the state of Kerala. In a UN report published in 2021, the dam was identified as one among the world's big dams which needs to be decommissioned for being 'situated in a seismically active area with significant structural flaws and poses risk to 3.5 million people if the 100+ years old dam were to fail'.

Lists of 20th-century earthquakes Wikipedia list article

This list of 20th-century earthquakes is a global list of notable earthquakes that occurred in the 20th century. After 1900 most earthquakes have some degree of instrumental records and this means that the locations and magnitudes are more reliable than for earlier events. To prevent this list becoming unmanageable, only those of magnitude 6 and above are included unless they are notable for some other reason.

Rangachar Narayana Iyengar

Rangachar Narayana Iyengar, also known as RNI, is a civil engineer and professor from India. He was with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for about four decades. He has been the director of Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee (1994–2000). He is currently a Raja Ramanna Fellow, and the Director for the Center for Ancient History and Culture (CAHC) at the Jain University, Bangalore. He also setup the Center for Disaster Mitigation (CDM) at the Jain University. He has in the past been the editor of 'SADHANA' published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. Apart from his contributions to Engineering, he is also widely recognized for his work in History of Science.

Tamil Nadu-Kerala dam row

Tamil Nadu-Kerala dam row is an ongoing row and the long legal battle between the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala about the Mullaperiyar Dam on the Periyar river. Although the 126-year-old Mullaperiyar dam is located in Kerala, it is operated by the government of Tamil Nadu which signed a 999-year lease agreement with the former British government to irrigate farmland on its side. The agreement was signed by the Secretary of Madras State under the British Raj and the King of Travancore. From several technical surveys conducted, Kerala states the old masonry dam built with lime surkhi mortar is structurally getting weaker and costly in leakage and massive cracks - shear maintenance in abutments above all poses a significant danger to an approximate 3 million people living in the region and that it needs to be rebuilt – a move opposed by Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu maintains that the endangered dam was repaired in 1979 and insists the dam's walls have been strengthened and that it can hold more water than the current level of 136 ft and also due to the fact it only takes around 25,000 INR per year payment for an estimated usage of water for 8000 acres per British oppression era lease, this does not include how many tmc feet could be shared which is also a blissful loophole in the Mullayar-"Periyar Lease Deed of 1886" that the government is unwilling to waive. In a 1998 affidavit, the Tamil Nadu government admitted that it drew around 21 tmc ft or 594636000000 L annually for around 230,000 acres. Although the Periyar River has a total catchment area of 5398 km2 with 114 km2 downstream from the dam in Tamil Nadu, the catchment area of Mullaperiyar Dam itself lies entirely in Kerala and thus its water source is not an inter-State river.

1968 Tokachi earthquake 8.3 magnitude earthquake

The 1968 Tokachi earthquake occurred on May 16 at 0:49 UTC in the area offshore Aomori and Hokkaido. The magnitude of this earthquake was put at Mw 8.3. The intensity of the earthquake reached shindo 5 in Aomori, Aomori and Hakodate, Hokkaido.

1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake 1819 earthquake and tsunami in Gujarat, India

The 1819 Rann of Kutch earthquake occurred at about 18:45 to 18:50 local time on 16 June. It had an estimated magnitude ranging from 7.7 to 8.2 on the moment magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of XI (Extreme) on the Mercalli intensity scale. It triggered a tsunami and caused at least 1,543 deaths. The earthquake caused an area of subsidence that formed the Sindri Lake and a local zone of uplift to the north about 80 km long, 6 km wide and 6 m high that dammed the Koree / Kori / Puran / Nara river. This natural dam was known as the Allah Bund.

2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes 2012 earthquake near Aceh Province, Indonesia

The 2012 Indian Ocean earthquakes were magnitude 8.6 and 8.2 Mw  undersea earthquakes that struck near the Indonesian province of Aceh on 11 April at 15:38 local time. Initially, authorities feared that the initial earthquake would cause a tsunami and warnings were issued across the Indian Ocean; however, these warnings were subsequently cancelled. These were unusually strong intraplate earthquakes and the largest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded.

Kusala Rajendran is an Indian seismologist and currently a professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India. She prefers to call herself an earth scientist. She has primarily worked on earth quakes and their source mechanisms. She has worked extensively on earth quake patterns in India and is considered to be one of the pioneers in this field.

The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) is an office of India's Ministry of Earth Sciences. The office monitors earthquakes and conducts seismological research. Specifically, it provides earthquake surveillance and hazard reports to governmental agencies. It consists of various divisions:

Main Himalayan Thrust

The Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) is a décollement under the Himalaya Range. This thrust fault follows a NW-SE strike, reminiscent of an arc, and gently dip towards the north, beneath the region. It is the largest active continental megathrust fault in the world.

1803 Garhwal earthquake 1803 earthquake in India

The 1803 Garhwal earthquake occurred in the early morning of September 1 at 01:30 local time. The estimated 7.8-magnitude-earthquake had an epicenter in the Garhwal Himalaya near Uttarkashi, British India. Major damage occurred in the Himalaya and Indo-Gangetic Plain, with the loss of between 200 and 300 lives. It is among the largest Himalaya earthquakes of the 19th-century, caused by the result of thrust faulting.

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to Science and Engineering Research Council". Serc-dst.org. Archived from the original on 19 November 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  2. ↑ "Home". Ceas.iisc.ernet.in. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  3. ↑ "1198.pdf | nov102000 | currsci | Indian Academy of Sciences" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "Current Science – Contents". Ias.ac.in. 25 December 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  5. 1 2 Rajendran, C. P.; Rajendran, Kusala; John, Biju (30 September 1993). "The 1993 Killari (Latur), central India, earthquake: An example of fault reactivation in the Precambrian crust". Geology. Geology.geoscienceworld.org. 24 (7): 651. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1996)024<0651:TKLCIE>2.3.CO;2 . Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  6. 1 2 Rajendran, C. P. (1 June 2001). "Characteristics of Deformation and Past Seismicity Associated with the 1819 Kutch Earthquake, Northwestern India". Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Bssa.geoscienceworld.org. 91 (3): 407–426. Bibcode:2001BuSSA..91..407R. doi:10.1785/0119990162 . Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "Interpreting the style of faulting and paleoseismicity associated with the 1897 Shillong, northeast India, earthquake: Implications for regional tectonism". Agu.org. 6 August 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Rajendran, C.P; Rajendran, Kusala (1999). "Tectonophysics : Geological investigations at Killari and Ter, central India and implications for palaeoseismicity in the shield region". Tectonophysics. 308 (1–2): 67–81. Bibcode:1999Tectp.308...67R. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(99)00086-4.
  9. ↑ Rajendran, C. P.; Rajendran, K.; Anu, R.; Earnest, A.; Machado, T.; Mohan, P. M.; Freymueller, J. (26 December 2004). "Crustal Deformation and Seismic History Associated with the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake: A Perspective from the Andaman–Nicobar Islands". Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Bssa.geoscienceworld.org. 97: S174–S191. doi:10.1785/0120050630 . Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  10. ↑ "Cover Photo – July/August 2002, 73 (4)". Srl.geoscienceworld.org. 6 January 2001. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Kusala & C.P. Rajendran". Outlookindia.com. 18 July 2005. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  12. ↑ Nature (2005). "Predecessors of the giant 1960 Chile earthquake : Abstract". Nature. 437 (7057): 404–407. Bibcode:2005Natur.437..404C. doi:10.1038/nature03943. hdl: 10533/176718 . PMID   16163355. S2CID   4398549.
  13. ↑ "1739.pdf | dec252008 | currsci | Indian Academy of Sciences" (PDF).
  14. ↑ "Press Information Bureau English Releases". Pib.nic.in. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
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