Effects of industrial effluents on germination, growth, protein content and metal accumulation patterns in Hibiscus esculentus L. were studied. Effluent from two factories in the industrial belt of Cochin, Kerala were used to soak the seeds for germination and to irrigate the seedlings in the field after physico-chemical analysis.

Cochin backwaters, a micro tidal estuary, undergo a characteristic transformation from a river dominated system during summer monsoon to a tide-dominant system during pre-monsoon season. The present study observes that as the river flow weakens after monsoon, the flushing of the estuary

Fluoride takes part in a number of geochemical and biochemical reactions. The activity of the fluoride thus makes the ion non conservative in many occations, though the ion is included in the major ions category. Preferential enrichment of fluoride is a general observations in the coastal and estuarine environment.

Mean-sea-level data from coastal tide gauges in the north Indian Ocean were used to show that low-frequency variability is consistent among the stations in the basin. Statistically significant trends obtained from records longer than 40 years yielded sea-level-rise estimates between 1.06