SEABED SURVEY YIELDS IMPORTANT
FINDINGS
RAJYA SABHA
The Systematic seabed
survey conducted by the government over the last five years has
yielded important findings. The surveys were conducted in the
exclusive economic ozone of India in Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal
and Andaman sea. The research vessel "Samudra Manthan" and two
coastal research launches "Samudra Kaustabh" and "Samudra Shaudhhikama"
have been carrying out seabed mapping and locating non-living
resources for the Geological Survey of India.
Some important minerals
like ilmenite, sillimanite, garnertmonazite, zircon and rutile
were found off the coasts of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Kerala and Maharashtra. These minerals could be exploited in near
future for industries relating to paint, alloy, refractories and
also as strategic atomic minerals.
The Department of
Ocean Development conducting these surveys also found lime-mud
occurrences having high calcium oxide content off the Andhra Pradesh
and Gujarat coasts. Huge sand occurrences were also discovered
within the territorial waters in the east coast and west coast.
The Department has
taken up a programme to design and develop a sea-bed mining system,
capable of operating upto a depth of 6000 metres, in phases. In
the first phase, a shallow sea-bed mining system is being perfected.
Technology for deep sea mining is still under development in various
parts of the world.
