Geospatial insights into Alphonso mango cultivation: a comprehensive land suitability study in the coastal belt of Maharashtra, India.

Land suitability assessment is integral to the advancement of precision agriculture. This inquiry is focused on identifying optimal regions for cultivating Alphonso mango in the coastal belt of Maharashtra, spanning across Palghar, Raigad, Thane, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts. Employing a GIS-based Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology, 10 crucial parameters have been considered, encompassing climatic, physical, and chemical soil characteristics: cation exchange capacity, organic carbon, slope, rainfall, soil pH, soil texture, mean annual soil temperature, base saturation, soil drainage, and soil depth.

Crustal velocity and interseismic strain-rate on possible zones for large earthquakes in the Garhwal-Kumaun Himalaya.

The possibility of a major earthquake like 2015 Gorkha-Nepal or even greater is anticipated in the Garhwal-Kumaun region in the Central Seismic Gap of the NW Himalaya. The interseismic strain-rate from GPS derived crustal velocities show multifaceted strain-rate pattern in the region and are classified into four different strain-rate zones. Besides compressional, we identified two NE-SW orienting low strain rate (~ 20 nstrain/a) zones; namely, the Ramganga-Baijro and the Nainital-Almora, where large earthquakes can occur.