April 20, 2024 – आवारा मुसाफिर

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Fossils of colossal snake Vasuki unearthed in Kutch mine

April 20, 2024514 Views

Fossil vertebrae unearthed in a lignite mine are the remains of one of the largest snakes that ever lived, a monster estimated at up to 49 feet (15 meters) in length - longer than a T. rex - that prowled the swamps of India around 47 million years ago. Scientists said on Thursday they have recovered 27 vertebrae from the snake, including a few still in the same position as they would have been when the limbless reptile was alive. They said the snake, which they named Vasuki indicus, would have looked like a modern-day large python and would not have been venomous. The mine is located in the Panandhro area of the Kutch district in western India's state of Gujarat. Lignite is the lowest grade of coal. Geological map of Kutch Basin showing fossil locality Fossils revealed a snake...

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Nearly half of China’s major cities are sinking — some ‘rapidly’

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 20, 2024567 Views

Tens of millions of people in the country’s coastal lands might find their homes below sea level by 2120 owing to sinking and sea-level rise One in ten residents of China’s coastal cities could be living below sea level within a century, as a result of land subsidence and climate change, according to a paper published in Science. Some 16% of the mapped area of China’s major cities is sinking “rapidly” — faster than 10 millimetres every year. An even greater area, roughly 45%, is sinking at a “moderate” rate, the paper says, meaning a downward trajectory of greater than 3 mm annually. Affected cities include the capital Beijing, as well as regional capitals, including Fuzhou, Hefei and Xi’an. The situation could see one-quarter of China’s coastal lands slip below sea level within ...