Daham Taranga Jayawardana (Sri Lanka)

Email: taranga23 @yahoo.com

Web: www.geocities.com/geoolab03/taranga

Thesis title:  Geochemical studies of sediment, soils, and Water; Implications of environmental changes in tsunami affected lagoons and study mobilization of fluoride into ground water in Sri Lanka.

Supervisor:  Prof Hiroaki Ishiga (2008-2011).
Local advisor:  Dr. H. M. T. G. A. Pitawala

The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 contaminated many coastal lagoons of Sri Lanka with tsunami sediments. My MSc study reviewing these sediments found reducing conditions were present even at shallow depths, and many reactions can occur under such circumstance. Therefore the first part of my doctoral research targets detailed investigation of lagoon sediments and water from geochemical aspects.

The second part of the study is considers groundwater-related environmental issues in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Fluoride is one of the major groundwater contaminants in the dry zone, and many people in the area suffer from water-related health problems such as kidney disease.

The specific objectives of my study are:

• Investigation of provenance and tectonic signatures in lagoon sediments.
• Study the environmental impact on lagoons and groundwater around the lagoons after the tsunami.
• Interpretation of organic geochemistry of lagoon sediments and establish the behavior of metallic elements.
• Determination of elution of fluoride from different elements in source rock.
• Examine mobilization of fluoride from source rock to surface soil.
• Establish the causative factors affecting renal disease and their relationship with soil geochemistry.
• Study the provenance and tectonics in the fluoride-rich dry zone area.
• Geographical Information System (GIS) modeling of geochemical data using open source software.