Daily Prelims Notes 25 September 2022

Daily Prelims Notes

25 September 2022

Table Of Contents

1. Churn under sea: Can increase in seafloor spreading speed up global warming
2. MEA has asked the Indians in Canada to be cautious and vigilant
3. Time to watch out for BF.7
4. A Jain heritage site in TN battles the elements
5. Evolution of Lumpy Skin Disease virus
6. World Rivers Day 2022: the three most famous rivers of India
7. Rhinos

1. Churn under sea: Can increase in seafloor spreading speed up global warming

Subject: Geography

Introduction–

• During Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) period (14-17 Million years ago), temperatures soared (around 10°C higher than today) and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels rose to 1,000 parts per million (PPM) against the current 419 PPM, leading to the disappearance of glacial masses and several species.
• At a time when human activities are already spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, pushing the planet towards a climate tipping point, it is crucial to understand the factors that triggered those changes.

Sea Floor Spreading and its correlation with Global climate change–

• Mid-ocean ridge system, spewing molten magma from the Earth’s interiors, which gradually moves away from the ridge and cools down to form rocks.
• Since a new ocean floor or crust is created during such seafloor spreading, to maintain the planetary balance, the Earth returns a similar area into the deep mantle elsewhere by pushing the older seafloor towards subduction zones, where the heavier tectonic plate sinks below a lighter one into the Earth’s interiors.
• Scientists have long known that seafloor spreading rates impact CO2 levels.
• Faster spreading plates have more volcanic activity and inject more CO2 into the water, some of which eventually end up in the atmosphere.
• They also influence sea levels.
• When plates spread rapidly, the entire base of the seafloor rises, as do sea levels.
• But during slow movement, the base and sea levels fall as the crust material cools.

Major Findings–

• Using magnetic records of the seafloor, available in their complete forms for the last 19 million years, Scientists have mapped the spread rates of 18 major mid-ocean ridges.
• Some 15 million years ago, the rate of seafloor spreading was 200 mm a year, whereas now, on average, it is 140 mm a year. So, spreading has slowed by 35 per cent.
• But not all ridges moved alike; while some sped up, others slowed down.
• 15 of the 18 ridges slowed down.
• The fastest known spreading rate of a tectonic plate is 210-220 mm a year — roughly the rate of the growth of human hair.
• Slow plates spread less than one-tenth as much as their faster counterparts.
• Ridges along the eastern Pacific have such plates whose spread rates are nearly 100 mm a year slower compared to 19 million years ago, lowering the world’s average.
• The reduced rates in this region could be because the Pacific Ocean is getting smaller while the Atlantic and Indian Oceans are getting bigger.
• The reason for this slowdown is unknown, mantle circulation may be driving it. 
• This is similar to how the water moves when you boil it on a stove. As circulation slows, it changes spreading rates.

Definite link to CO2 levels–

• Studying seafloor spreading rates will show how tectonic forces contribute to the global carbon budget.
• Tectonic plates are known to recycle carbon. During volcanic eruptions at the ocean ridges, CO2 trapped in the lava escapes into the atmosphere.
• At subduction zones, the gas is removed from the surface when organisms such as corals and plankton die and sink to the bottom of the seafloor. Their shells, made of calcium carbonate, combine with sediments to form limestone that ferry the trapped carbon into the mantle.
• Faster seafloor spreading is linked with higher CO2 levels during the MCO period.
• During the MCO period, magnetic records show that the total new crust production rate was 3.5 sq km per year due to fast-spreading plates.
• Since then, the new crust production rate has dropped to a little above 2.5 sq km a year.
• To estimate the levels of CO2, the team analysed the ratio of boron isotopes found in fossils of foraminifera, a single-celled organism that builds complex shells using minerals in the seawater.
• The analysis shows that CO2 levels varied between 500-1,000 PPM during the MCO.
• This does not prove that CO2 contributed to the speed of the spread, but there is a strong link between the two.
• The idea is that the amount of CO2 released from underwater volcanoes should be approximately proportional to the amount of seafloor generated at the mid-ocean ridge.
• Researchers from Australia find that during the Cretaceous Period 145-66 million years ago, when dinosaurs dominated the land, atmospheric CO2 levels shot above 1,000 PPM, taking the mean annual temperatures up to 10°C higher than today.
• The study said that 66 million years ago when Earth entered the Cenozoic era,CO2 levels dropped to 300 PPM and the seafloor spreading slowed down.

Conclusion–

• Seafloor spreading, caused by an upwelling of magma, has led to episodes of global warming in the geologic past; the spread rate has slowed down in the last 19 million years but could gather momentum.

2. MEA has asked the Indians in Canada to be cautious and vigilant

Subject : Internal Security/ PIC

Context : Citing a “sharp increase in incidents of hate crime, sectarian violence, and anti-India activities” in Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued an advisory for Indian nationals and students who are in Canada.

 Concept :

The advisory has come a few days after media reports of a “Khalistan referendum” in Canada, as well as reports of the vandalising of a Hindu temple recently.

 Khalistan Movement

The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khalistān in the Punjab Region. Such a state existed in Punjab from 1709 to 1849.

Historical events responsible for Khalistan:

• 1947 Partition of India –Independence of India was not a joyful event for Sikhs, partition left Sikhs in a lot of discontentment with regard to their traditional lands being lost to Pakistan.
• The fight for a separate Sikh state owes its origins to the Punjabi Suba Movement. The Akali Dal – a Sikh-dominated political party – sought to create a separate Sikh Suba or Province.
• When the States Reorganization Commission, constituted to assess the demand for separate states by linguistic groups, made its recommendations, it rejected the Akali Dal’s
• But after a series of violent protests, the Indira Gandhi government relented in 1966.
• The state was trifurcated into Punjabi-majority Punjab, Hindi-majority Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Some hilly regions of the state were merged into Himachal Pradesh.
• However, the Anadpur Sahib resolution reignited the passion of Sikhs and sowed the seeds of Khalistan movement

  Causes:

• The Khalistan movement is a Sikh nationalist movement that wants to create an independent state for Sikh people, via armed struggle or political, inside the current North-Western Republic of India Such a state existed in Punjab from 1709 to 1849.
• The idea of Khalistan was an idea first created in 1940s, remained idle but was revived by an NRI seeking a separate homeland for Sikhs.
• In early 1980s, the movement had emerged as a major separatist movement, fed mostly by bias of Indian Government against Punjab in the case of Chandigarh and sharing of Ravi-Beas waters.
• There was intense political rivalry between Congress Party and the Akali Dal, Akali Dal was gradually gaining ground as the political representative of the Sikh community.
• Congress leadership of that time tried to divide the Akalis by propping up diverse groups of people within the Akali Dal.
• Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale led the Khalistan as an extremist movement, he was initially used by Congress to counter Akali Dal but later he was inspired by the Khalistan ideology and turned against Indian government.
• The movement was fed on arms under the patronage of Pakistan’s ISI who was seeking revenge for creation of Bangladesh.
• Bhindranwale emerged as the extremist voice of Sikhs, over-ruling the moderate voices of leaders declared himself as the protector and arbiter of Sikh rights and acquired arms.
• Demands for separate nation-hood for Punjab was carried out through violent protests and killings of high profile persons in Indian government.

Present status of the movement

• At the present, Khalistan movement is a dormant movement in India.
• It does not hold much traction in the urban or local populace of Punjab. .
• But the movement gets ideological support from Sikhs living in Canada, UK or USA.
• They pump money, ideological support to the struggle, ISI of Pakistan is still pumping money and effort in reviving the movement.

3. Time to watch out for BF.7

Subject : Science & technology

Context : For almost a year now, omicron and its lineages and sub-lineages have dominated the global COVID-19 variant map. This is the first time since the pandemic’s start that a variant of concern and its off springs have circulated for so long.

Concept :

• A new variant of COVID-19 termed BF.7, an alias for B.1.1.529.5.2.1.7, is slowly but surely gaining a foothold in several countries. Most cases for this variant have been reported from Belgium, accounting for 25 per cent of the global share.
• Denmark, Germany and France have recorded 10 per cent each of the global caseload of this variant, according to data from cov-lineages.org, a COVID data repository.
• Its presence has doubled rapidly from just 0.8 per cent to 1.7 per cent in the last two weeks in the US, data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed.
• It remains to be seen whether BF.7 will behave any differently in terms of severity or its immunity-evading characteristic. However, it does have changes in its spike protein which may give it a growth advantage, allowing it to infect people even more quickly. Alpha, beta, gamma, delta and omicron were unrelated evolutionary events from the same starting point. But all these recent sub-variants build on omicron.
• Variant-specific boosters offer some hope as countries face a surge in cases as fall and winter inches closer. However, uptake of even the first booster of the original vaccine remains low — at just 31 per cent globally, according to Our World in Data.
• According to the World Health Organisation, a variant of concern translates to a rise in transmissibility, an increase in fatality and a significant decrease in effectiveness of vaccines, therapy and other health measures.
• 275 Emerges as major sublineage in Maharastra
• Since the first case of SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020, India has witnessed three pandemic waves. Delta (B.1.617.2) and its sublineages caused the second wave, and Omicron (B.1.1.529) and its sublineages (BA.1 and BA.2) are driving the third wave.
• After the waning of the third wave, India saw a surge in COVID-19 cases from May 2022. On sequencing, these variants were characterised as BA.2 by Pangolin.
• However, the predominance of BA.2 after the waning of the third COVID wave was unexplainable. Subsequently, the Indian isolates of BA.2 were further classified into sub-lineages BA.2.74, BA.2.75 and BA.2.76.
• Since their designation, these new sub-lineages have already spread to over 40 countries.
• They have acquired additional mutations in their spike protein compared to BA.2. These added mutations, over and above those of the parental BA.2 variant, have raised concerns about their impact on viral pathogenicity, transmissibility, and immune evasion properties of the new variants.

About Omicron

• The 1.1.529 variant (Omicron) was first reported to WHO from South Africa on 24 November 2021 and the WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) on 26th November 2021 has classified it as Variant of Concern (VoC) in view of large number mutations noted in the variant, some of which may make this mutation more transmissible and have immune escape behavior.

4. A Jain heritage site in TN battles the elements

Subject : Art and Culture

Context : With much of the art vandalized in sittannavasal, Archaeological Survey of India has undertaken conservation measures and also introduced digital checks to track public access. Concept :

About Sittanavasal Caves

• Sittanavasal Caves is a 2nd-century Tamil Ramaa cave complex located in Sittanavasal hamlet in Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai district. A rock-cut monastery or temple serves as a monument. It is known as the Arivar Koil.
• Sittanavasal is a north-south running rock-cut cave located on the western side of the middle part of a hill.
• The Sittanavasal village dates from the 1st century BC to the 10th century AD, when Jainism was prevalent in the region.
• There are also Jain stone beds (Eladipattam) on top of the hill, indicating that this area was a pilgrimage site during the Jain era, which lasted until the 9th century AD.
• This cave temple was built by Pallava King Mahendravarma (580–630 AD) prior to his conversion from Jainism to Hinduism.
• An inscription, however, credits its restoration to a Pandyan king, most likely Maran Sendan (654–670 AD) or ArikesariMaravarman (670–700 AD).
• The Ramaa beds on the hilltop are thought to have belonged to a Jain pilgrimage center that lasted until the 9th century AD.
• However, many megalithic burial sites from much older have been discovered in the Pudukkottai region, where the monuments are located.
• Sittannavasal literally translates to “abode of the great saints” in Tamil. It has relics of important frescoes from the seventh century.

5. Evolution of Lumpy Skin Disease virus

Subject : Science and technology

Context:

• The virus that causes Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) primarily affects cattle. The LSD virus (LSDV) is a poxvirus of the genus It was first identified after an outbreak in Zambia in 1929. Prior to the 1980s, repeated LSD outbreaks were exclusive to the African continent. Israel reported the first cases of HIV outside of Africa in 1989.
• It is not a zoonotic disease, meaning the disease cannot spread to humans.
• It is a contagious vector borne disease spread by vectors like mosquitoes, some butter flies and usually affects the host animal like cow and water buffaloes.
• It primarily consists of fever, fluid excretion from eyes and nose, dribbling of saliva from the mouth and blisters on the body. The animal stops eating and faces problems while chewing or eating, resulting in a sharp drop in milk production. However it is safe to consume milk from the infected cattle.

Recombinant viruses

• In Russia,epidemics of LSD were reported between 2015 and The virus genomes isolated in 2015 and 2016 were similar to those from preceding years. In spite of the introduction of homologous (attenuated) LSDV vaccination in 2016, the outbreak continued, and in 2017 vaccine-like isolates were obtained from infected cattle. By 2018, all LSDV field isolates in Russia had been replaced by viruses expressing genetic signatures of the LSDV vaccine, suggesting that the 2017-2019 LSD outbreak in Russia  was caused by an unique LSDV recombinant strain.
• In 2019, LSDV infections were first confirmed in China following outbreaks in multiple regions. Another vaccine-recombinant strain with 25 recombination events between a field strain and a vaccination strain was identified by whole-genome sequencing. However, the strain from China was notably divergent from the vaccine-recombinants discovered in Russia, indicating that a virulent recombinant of LSDV of unknown origin was responsible for the 2019 and 2020 LSD outbreaks in China.
• In cells co-infected by viruses of the same or a different genus, recombination events are mediated by the poxvirus DNA polymerases. Therefore, recombination of pathogenic and vaccine strains is probable when an infected animal is immunised or when infection develops in the pre-immune phase following vaccination. Prior to the widespread distribution of homologous attenuated vaccines, utmost vigilance and genetic follow-up studies are necessary.
• Additionally, there is evidence for existence of an additional mutation in two samples from the same animal found in India and the high number of mutations suggest that LSDV may be able to rapidly evolve within its host.
• Attenuated Vaccine: Attenuated vaccines can be made in several different ways. Some of the most common methods involve passing the disease-causing virus through a series of cell cultures or animal embryos (typically chick embryos). When the resulting vaccine virus is given to a human, it will be unable to replicate enough to cause illness, but will still provoke an immune response that can protect against future infection.

6. World Rivers Day 2022: the three most famous rivers of India

Subject: Geography

Introduction-

• Celebrated in every fourth Sunday of September, this year World Rivers Day will be celebrated on September 25.
• India is the city of rivers starting with its civilisation from the Indus river flowing through the hills of the Himalayas, each river holds a beautiful story as it flows across the country singing wonderful lullabies of its pride and beauty.
• World Rivers Day stems from the 2005 United Nations’ Water for Life Decade initiative.
• The campaign was established to promote awareness about how our water resources need to be nurtured.
• After this, World Rivers Day was established following a proposal from renowned river advocate, Mark Angelo, who had previously established a similar regional observation.
• Since the inaugural World Rivers Day event, the observation has spread to over 100 countries with several million individuals participating in the events.

7. Rhinos

Subject :Environment

Context: Three lifeless rhinos have risen from the ashes of the most conspicuous part of the herbivore, at the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

Concept

• Rhinos are listed in Schedule 1 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 as an endangered animal and there is an international ban on trade of rhino horns under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna).
• Three species of rhino—black, Javan, and Sumatran—are critically endangered.
• Today, a small population of Javan rhinos is found in only one national park on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Java.
• A mainland subspecies of the Javan rhino was declared extinct in Vietnam in 2011.
• Successful conservation efforts have led to an increase in the number of greater one-horned (or Indian) rhinos, from around 200 at the turn of the 20th century to around 3,700 today.

Indian Rhino Vision 2020

• Launched in 2005, Indian Rhino Vision 2020 is an ambitious effort to attain a wild population of at least 3,000 greater one-horned rhinos spread over seven protected areas in the Indian state of Assam by the year 2020.
• Seven protected areas are Kaziranga, Pobitora, Orang National Park, Manas National Park, Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary, Burachapori wildlife sanctuary and DibruSaikhowa wildlife sanctuary.
• It is a collaborative effort between various organisations, including the International Rhino Foundation, Assam’s Forest Department, Bodoland Territorial Council, World Wide Fund – India, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Kaziranga National Park

• It is located in the State of Assam and covers 42,996 Hectare (ha). It is the single largest undisturbed and representative area in the Brahmaputra Valley floodplain.

Status of the National park:

• It was declared as a National Park in 1974.
• It has been declared a tiger reserve since 2007. It has a total tiger reserve area of 1,030 sq km with a core area of 430 sq. km.
• It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
• It is recognized as an Important Bird Area by Bird Life International.

Important Species Found:

• It is the home of the world’s most one-horned rhinos. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary has the highest density of one-horned rhinos in the world and second highest number of Rhinos in Assam after Kaziranga National Park.
• Much of the focus of conservation efforts in Kaziranga are focused on the ‘big four’ species— Rhino, Elephant, Royal Bengal tiger and Asiatic water buffalo.
• Kaziranga is also home to 9 of the 14 species of primates found in the Indian subcontinent.

Rivers and Highways:

• The National Highway 37 passes through the park area.
• The park also has more than 250 seasonal water bodies, besides the Diphlu River running through it.

Other national parks in Assam are:

• Dibru-Saikhowa National Park,
• Manas National Park,
• Nameri National Park,
• Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park