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Soil erosion is a major environmental problem that affects land and w ater resources. It has many negative implications that lead to deforestation, poor agricultural practices, loss of soil fertility, and siltation that hinder socio-economic development. In view of this, the present study was conducted with the aim of estimating soil loss in relation to long-term land use/land cover change (LULC) in the Dehar watershed, Himachal Himalaya, North India. The study was carried out using Landsat and Sentinel imageries for the years 1999, 2010, and 2020. A GIS-based Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model was applied to assess the potential soil risk. The parameters used as input for computing the spatiotemporal changes of soil loss were rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, topographic, crop management, and conservation support practice factors. The results showed a mean soil loss of 63.71, 60.99, and 66.71 t/ha/yr for the years 1999, 2010, and 2020, respectively. In the LULC class defined as Built-up Land, the mean soil loss decreased from 32.19 t/ha/yr in 1999 to 18.77 t/ha/yr in 2010, and in the year 2020 the mean soil loss slightly increased to 20.15 t/ha/yr. Moreover, the LULC class Barren Land registered a decrease in mean soil loss for the years 1999, 2010, and 2020 of 86.43, 74.60, and 73.19 t/ha/yr, respectively. Regarding the Agriculture Land class, the rate of mean soil loss slightly increased from 32.55 t/ha/yr in 1999 to 33.35 t/ha/yr in 2010, and the mean soil loss decreased to 25.43 t/ha/yr in the year 2020. Areas covered under Forest Land experienced an increase in mean soil loss from 65.30 t/ha/yr in 1999 to 65.87 in 2010 and 74.72 t/ha/yr in 2020. The study demonstrated that LULC changes apparently influenced the soil loss in the Dehar watershed. Therefore, urgent interventions are required with the involvement of scientists, policymakers, and the general public for conservation and management of soil resources.

Groundwater is a vital natural resource in the Kathua region of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Northern India, where it is used for domestic, irrigation, and industrial purposes. The main purpose of this study was to assess the hydrochemistry of the groundwater and to determine its suitability for drinking, irrigation, and industrial uses in the Kathua region. In this study, 75 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed for the physicochemical parameters such as electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids , pH, and various cations and anions. The analyzed data were computed for designing groundwater quality index to know the suitability for drinking purposes. The EC, sodium percentage, permeability index, and magnesium hazard were assessed to evaluate groundwater suitability for irrigation. Further, the corrosivity ratio was assessed to find the groundwater quality criteria for industrial purposes. The comprehensive results obtained from the water quality index indicate that almost all groundwater samples are suitable for drinking. The ionic abundance is in the order of Ca2+ > Na+ > Mg2+ > K+ for cations, and HCO3− > SO42− > Cl− > NO3− for anions, respectively. The Piper diagram shows that hydrochemistry of the groundwater is dominated by alkaline earth metals (Ca2+, Mg2+) and weak acids (HCO3−). According to the Gibbs diagram, the chemistry of groundwater is mainly controlled by the rock–water interaction process, indicating that most of the groundwater samples of the area are of bicarbonate type. The EC results classify the groundwater as excellent to good; the sodium percentage also indicates that the water is fit for irrigation. According to the Wilcox and USSLS diagrams, and permeability index, a majority of samples are suitable for irrigation with a few exceptions. The magnesium hazard depicts that there are few samples (19%), which are unsuitable for irrigation. According to the corrosivity ratio, 65 samples are safe for industrial use while the remaining 10 samples are considered to be unsafe. Thus, it is found that most of the groundwater in the area can be used for drinking, irrigation, and industrial purposes.

All living organisms on the earth require elements (major, minor, and trace) for their survival, and excessive or insufficient consumption of such elements cause serious health problems. These elements usually reside in earth material of the geosphere from where they enter into biosphere through various continuously operating geological processes such as weathering, erosion, transportation, or volcanic eruptions. Medical geology is a new and emerging branch of geosciences that studies material derived from geological processes and its effects on the health of animals and plants. The relationship between elements derived from the geological processes and their impacts on human beings had been recognized from ancient times. Keeping the importance of medical geology to the society, various organizations had been working to popularize medical geology and to bring its benefits to the society by organizing various activities and offering courses in medical geology. Currently, medical geology is being developed as an interdisciplinary science with the coordination of geoscientists and health researchers to unfold the health issues associated with the use of material derived from the natural geo-environment. This paper presents a historical overview of medical geology from the very beginning to the present and highlights areas where future research attention is required. Keywords: Earth Material, Medical Geology, Geochemical Elements, Health, Geogenic Contaminants, Geo-biosphere