COGNIZANCE 2010 

 Department of Earth Sciences.

Spotlight
Earth Science to the villagers’ rescue

The large number of cases of a peculiar disease afflicting the people of Jawaharnagar has
prompted the intervention of the state government. The disease has been traced to
contaminated ground water but the authorities are unsure about the source of the perplexing
contaminant because of the absence of an obvious source in the vicinity of the village. They
have thus turned to Roorkee Consulting Group for help. You as technical head, RCG, have
been assigned the task of getting the root of the problem and suggesting a solution.
Fortunately, RCG has already sent its team of field experts, who have returned with a wealth
of geological and (simple, fully processed) geophysical data. Your job is to use this
information to identify exactly where, why and how contamination is occurring. Further, you
need to draft a viable, cost-effective proposal to ensure the availability of clean ground water
in Jawaharnagar. The idea is not to set up water treatment plants but to make sure that ground
water itself does not get contaminated.

Besides the provided data, all you’ll need is elementary knowledge of the earth sciences and a
desire to use your classroom knowledge for the good of society.

Your annual bonus, the reputation of RCG and the well-being of a thousand people is at
stake.

Contact: Arjun Datta (arjun_datta23@hotmail.com, 09760515015)

M.Tech Applied Geophysics 2nd year.

Rules:

 You will need absolutely nothing more to solve the problem than what is provided to you. 
You do not need to search the internet or go through journals. Hints will be provided in 
further detailed problem. 
 Groups of no more than two people are allowed per submission. 
 The best five presentations (Numbers may vary according to the quality of the theses.) will 
be chosen to audio‐visually present their theses at Cognizance 2010 at IIT Roorkee.  
 The judge’s in‐charge of evaluation of the theses as well as the presentations are among the 
best geoscientists in the country and their decision will be considered paramount and 
unquestionable. No objections in this regard would be accepted. 
 Your submitted thesis will become a property of the Department of Earth Sciences and it is 
completely the jurisdiction of the Head, Department of Earth Sciences to decide whether a 
manuscript should be returned to the author after review. 
 Your submission should contain: 
 
 
Names: 
Institute: 
Institute Address: 
Department: 
Phone Number: 
E‐Mail Address: (important as most notifications would come to you via e‐mails.)