A portion of Odisha coastline in Paradip. Telegraph picture

Paradip, Dec. 25: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is on the job to study and explore the seabed off Paradip coast.

With its state-of-the-art floating craft, Samudra Manthan, GSI experts are now on the job of carrying out systematic geo-scientific studies and data generation in coastal, near shore and offshore waters, said a Paradip port official.

“The geo-physical survey of seabed along the Paradip coast is now under way. The emphasis is on for investigation of minerals in the continental shelf, survey in the estuary and coastal areas for non-conventional energy resources. Besides, the seabed study would explore and examine the environmental impact assessment, pollution studies and evaluation of environmental hazards in the coastal domains, said a GSI official.

The survey would come in handy for geological, geophysical and geo-chemical mapping of the seabed. The generated data will be useful for creating and updating the national database in the fields of earth science, oceanography and offshore mineral resources and exploitation of mineral resources embedded under the sea. The geo-scientific survey is being conducted under the stewardship of trained geologists, geophysicists and chemists of the GSI, added the official.

“Scientific experts from the GSI had sought authorisation from the port for the survey. The Paradip Port Trust had accorded consent for geo-physical survey of seabed,” said the port trust’s deputy conservator Gouri Prasad Biswal.

In another development, an improvised, sea-worthy vessel, with in-built laboratory facilities, is being pressed into service in February 2014 for monitoring the Paradip coast and research on coastal ecology.

The vessel worth Rs 2.5 crore would be deployed in a 12 nautical mile-stretch of the coastal zone. Besides, a centre for management of coastal eco-system is coming up at New Sandhakud on the outskirts of Paradip.

“The project to monitor coastal eco-system is being put in place under the World Bank-funded Integrated Coastal Zone Management Programme. It would be the firth of its kind to get implemented in Odisha. The project is being implemented under the stewardship of researchers of the state pollution control board. The improvised vessel, with its built-in scientific laboratory, would cover a 12 nautical miles distance stretching from Paradip to Dhamra to monitor offshore and inshore monitoring of environmental coastal parameters,” said nodal officer of the project Anupam Behera.

The board, which has been dealing with air, water and environmental pollution, is yet to be equipped with the mechanism to monitor seawater. Once it is commissioned, it would add to its capacity building in monitoring and carrying out scientific study of the coastal eco-system. The wetland sites and eco-system of the Bhitarkanika National Park would also come under the purview of the research surveillance centre for management of coastal eco-system. The management centre would also have an online weather warning system, said an official.