National Centre for Earth Science Studies

About:

Dr.Prakash is a Marine Scientist by profession. He retired as Scientist-G and Group Head, Coastal Processes Group from National Centre for Earth Science Studies, Ministry of Earth Science, GOI, Trivandrum in July, 2019. He also held highest position as Director during 2016-17. At present he is working as Senior Consultant in the Coastal Processes Group. He has over 35 years’ of research experience in the Coastal and Island areas. His research interests are in Beach and Coastal Processes including the Management aspects. He has extensively worked on coastal placer deposits of SW coast of India for sustainable beach mining through sediment budgeting study. Mr.Prakash has also worked in the coral islands of Lakshadweep on coastal erosion, coastal regulations including the preparation of management plans. He also lead a team to the Lakshadweep Islands for the preparation of Integrated Island Management Plan (IIMP). He has participated in many cruises including the deep-sea research vessel `ORV Sagara Kanya’ of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. He has undergone training at the International Ocean Institute at Malta on the ‘Management and Conservation of Marine Resources’. He has successfully completed many research projects as Principal Investigator including many consultancy projects.

Dr. T. N. Prakash made significant contributions initially to the selective concentration of placer minerals at Chavara in the Neendkara-Kayamkulam coast as part of his doctoral work. Subsequently, on joining as Scientist in the NCESS, his main focus of study has been on beach and coastal processes through a systematic measurement in beach and offshore region including the wave energy distribution and its relation to placer distribution of SW coast of India. The results of wave energy and placer concentration showed good correspondence. His sediment budgeting studies along the placer dominated SW coast are the first few such studies in the country to bring the ill effects of commercial mining. Through this study a sustainable exploitation is suggested on a well-thought-out plan` to ensure the optimum recovery of the mineral wealth with minimum environmental impacts. The two important aspects considered for a long term strategy for the placer development are (i) How much mineral accumulates on the beaches or near shore` every year and how much of it can be mined without causing the degradation of coast and, (ii) How can the offshore and inland deposits be mined with minimum environmental damages and with least socio-economic problems. Further the factors responsible for the depletion of heavy mineral content at Chavara coast are identified and remedial measures to prevent reduction are recommended. In the nutshell a sustainable exploitation of placer mineral resources should be based on ICZM Plan and sediment budgeting approach. The sediment budgeting study carried out by the National Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram for the Indian Rare Earths Ltd., and KMML mining sites of Neendakara-Kayamkulam coast` in Kerala stands out as singular exception.

His work in the estuarine studies is one of the largest joint efforts in the country involving an unprecedented quantity of scientific data on social, economic, fisheries, physical, environmental, chemical and planning aspects. The results of this study have helped us to put up an Asthmudi Management Plan for the sustainable development of the estuary. We have addressed 8 key initiatives in the plan viz., pollution source identification, demarcation of conservation area, stopping of reclamation, curtailing sand mining, upgrade the sanitation facilities in port, phasing of coir retting, etc., Another work taken up is on the evolution of the estuary during Quaternary using different sediment proxies such as variation in granulometry, clay mineralogy, geochemistry, dating, qualitative and quantitative studies of faunal assemblages, etc., The results had indicated the spatio-temporal shore changes and transgression/regression cycles even up to 10 to 15 km inland during the last 25-30ky resulting in the formation of barrier beach system and coast parallel lagoons. The study has brought out the evolution history of this region during Holocene period.His work in Lakshadweep islands is on the preparation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (ICZMP), Integrated Island Management Plan (IIMP) and generation of baseline data on erosion/accretion in the 10 inhabited islands of Lakshadweep is the significant scientific contributions for the Lakshadweep. The results of this study have further translated into many actions plan for the overall development of the islands. Another significant work carried out is on the demarcation of HTL, LTL and preparation of status report for different users in the country. Dr. Prakash’s research results were published in a range of national/international journals including two field guide book and a book.

Education:

Professional career:

Areas of Interests:

Beach and Coastal Processes, Placer Mineral Deposits, Coastal Evolution and Anthropocene.

Membership of Professional Bodies:

1. Life Member, Geological Society of India (Since 1983).
2. Member, Indian  Society of Remote Sensing, Ahmedabad (Since 2008).
3. Member, Referees’ Panel, Indian Journal of Marine Sciences.
4. Corresponding Member, IGCP-274 on SLR during Quaternary period (1991-1992).
5. Member, International Association of Sedimentologist, Belgium (since 2011).
6. Member, Current Science, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (Since 2011).

Training Programmes:

1. Onboard training in the research vessel `ORV Sagara Kanya’ of Dept. of Ocean Development, Govt. of India in the central Indian Ocean (1985).
2. Management and Conservation of Marine Resources (1987), International Ocean Institute, Malta.
3. Digital image processing technique with special reference to coastalsystems, Dec, 1992 at  Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre, Dept. of Space, Govt. of India, Bangalore.
4. Awareness workshop on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at Institute of Physics, Bhuvaneshwar during August 10-14. 1998.
5. Training on Digital Image Processing Techniques at SAC, Ahmedbad during July 1999.
6. Usage of Sophisticated Analytical Facility in Inter institutional collaborative project, University of Waikato, New Zealand, 2001.