Download Delta

Shaped like a triangle, a delta is a
low, watery land formed at the mouth
of a river. The term ‘Delta’ was coined
by the Greek historian Herodotus.
How is Delta formed?
Delta is usually formed from the silt,
sand and small rocks that flow downstream and get deposited at the mouth of
a river or stream through which it enters a
lake or an ocean. Thus, unlike other landforms that are formed by flowing water, a
delta is not created by eroding the landscape. Instead, water builds up a delta.
How does Delta nurture its
habitat?
Deltas have played a vital role in the
history of human civilisation. The deposits
brought by the river include fertile silts
which provide good soil for farming. Fish
life is abundant in the creeks and chan-
nels as well as in the mouth of the delta
due to the plentiful water, adapted vegetation and nutrients in the silt deposits.
This supports the fishing industry and adds
extra source of food for the people. Thus
deltas serve as fishing, farming and living
sites.
What disadvantage does a
Delta offer in spite of
nurturing life?
As deltas are formed on low lying and
flat land, they are easily flooded. It is difficult to construct any solid foundations as
the land beneath is marshy. The front or
seaward side of deltas are easily eroded
by tide and wave action as they are made
of weak deposits and soft rocks. The river
channels or distributaries crossing deltas
get easily clogged up by river deposits and
so have to be constantly dredged to make
them navigable for ships.
Trivia:
The Ganges-Brahmaputra delta is the largest
delta in the world. Its southern region is largely a
swamp forest area of nearly 16, 900 square kilometers known as the Sundarbans and is home to the endangered Royal Bengal Tiger.
Mine Matters
Limestone is a type of
sedimentary rock composed of the
mineral calcite (CaCO3), which
upon calcination, yields lime (CaO)
for commercial use.
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Recrystallised limestone takes
good polish and is used as a
decorative and building stone. This
form of limestone is called
‘marble’.
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Limestone is readily available
and relatively easy to cut into
blocks or more elaborate carving.
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Limestone is extracted for
roadbeds, building, landscape
constructions and cement
manufacture. Therefore, it is
popular in architectural
constructions around the world.
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In India, Andhra Pradesh has
about 32 per cent of the country’s
total limestone reserves.
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ManMade Marvels
The Swaminarayan Temple
of the BAPS Swaminarayan
sect is located in the Chicago
suburb of Bartlett, in the
United States. It is one of the
largest traditional Hindu Vedic
stone temples outside India,
based on ‘Shila Shastras’ – an
ancient Hindu text about
building and sculpture techniques. Inaugurated in 2004
with absolute grandeur, the
estimated cost of the temple is
around $19 million.
Magnifying aura
Built on 30 acres of land
with a total area of 22, 442
square feet the temple stands
at an elevation of 78 feet from
the ground. The exterior of the
temple is done up with Turkish
Limra limestone with a marvelous main floor made of Italian Carrara marble. This huge
stone temple consists of a total
of 8430 tons of stone and
comprises
40,000
stone
pieces.
Glimpses of
ethnicity
The temple has a huge
main dome beside six other
domes. A total of 129 arches
10 n Young ExplorEr n august 2009
offer a splendid view of the
spectacular wall carvings. The
temple stands on a rock solid
foundation of 151 pillars intricately hand-carved in India;
each pillar depicting a famous
incident from Hindu scriptures.
This apart, the temple has numerous windows with intricate
carvings marking the very ethnicity of the Hindu sculptures
with intricate geometric patterns and rosettes.
Technical excellence
The temple has centralised
heating and cooling to gel with
the temperatures around. An
advanced technique of Gel
tube floor heating is an added
comfort to the devotees. The
entire temple is well-lit with
fiber optic lighting.
Trivia
Wonders of nature
Geo watch
The temple was
awarded the ‘Best Building Suburb’ award by
the Chicago Building
Congress (CBC) for displaying ‘distinctive design and outstanding
construction.