Dr. Sreenivasulu Ganugapenta received his Ph.D. from the Department of Geology, Yogi Vemana University, Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, India and currently working as a research associate at Coastal Processes Group, National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Over the past five years, Sreenivasulu worked as INSPIRE Fellow of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India at Yogi Vemana University. He has been attended many events and activities related to his relevant area of specialization within India as well as abroad.

Sreenivasulu has mainly engaged in the research of Micropaleontology, Coastal Morphodynamics and Satellite Remote Sensing. In his thesis, he worked on a burning issue that the government of India has proposed a major port to be named as Dugarajapatnam port at Andhra Pradesh, Southeastern part of India. Many organizations like Wildlife department and other environmental protestant were strongly opposed. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was also raised concerns on the development of a new port and suggested some restrictions on the port operations during a satellite launch. He was studied ecological, morphological and heavy metal status of the study area and conveyed both advantages and disadvantages of the major port in the region.

Recently, he has published three papers from his Ph.D. thesis. In his papers, he studied coastal morphodynamics and heavy metal pollution from a major port proposal site. Sreenivasulu is active on Researchgate (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sreenivasulu_Ganugapenta3), twitter (https://twitter.com/seenu9441).

Coastal Morphodynamics of Tupilipalem Coast, Andhra Pradesh, Southeast Coast of India

Current science 2017, 112(4), 823-829, doi: 10.18520/cs/v112/i04/823-829

Influence of coastal morphology on the distribution of heavy metals in the coastal waters of Tupilipalem coast, Southeast coast of India

Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment 2018, 10, 190-197, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2018.04.003

Assessment of heavy metal pollution from the sediment of Tupilipalem Coast, southeast coast of India

International Journal of Sediment Research 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsrc.2018.02.004

Multitemporal satellite images of IRS P6 LISS-III and Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS data from 2011 to 2015 was used to delineate changes in Tupilipalem coast. The subsequent short-term lagoon mouth closure and the long-term coastal erosion and accretion rates were calculated for the periods between 2011 and 2015. Low river inflow, wind, tides, the movement of the waves and littoral currents play a key role in the closure of the lagoon mouth and also for the dynamic activities of erosion and accretion. Moreover, the impact on socio-economy and ecology of the study area during the lagoon mouth closure period has been studied. Based on the above study, he has concluded that the proposed construction of a new major port in the study area has both advantages and disadvantages. Opening of the lagoon mouth and construction of a new port will always pave the way for the betterment of socioeconomic conditions of the society. The port development may harm the marine biodiversity of Pulicat lake including National Pelican Bird Sanctuary situated in the vicinity.

To understand the influence of coastal morphology on the distribution of heavy metals from the waters of Tupilipalem coast, bottom water samples were analyzed with ICP-OES for the heavy metal concentrations. The results indicated that these metals had complicated geochemical behaviors. The highest concentrations of studied heavy metals are observed from the brackish environment during the lagoon mouth closure. After the lagoon mouth was opened, consequently the concentrations of the studied heavy metals were decreased due to inflow and outflow of water. It was a stock pollutant and is extremely harmful in various concentration levels to the marine life.

The authors believe that the baseline information will form a flat form for the stakeholders to monitor the coastal pollution by inexpensive biomarkers, and also to manage and conserve the study area from further pollution hazards. Further, the pollution levels for the study area can be constantly monitored in order to safeguard the fishing community and biodiversity.