Modeling of SH-Wave Propagation in a Pre-stressed Highly Anisotropic Layered Structure

Mathematical Geosciences - The present study presents the propagation of horizontally polarized shear waves (SH-waves) in highly anisotropic layered media under the effect of horizontal and...     

Univariate and multivariate stochastic modeling of the chemical composition of iron ores in Northern Goa, India

Chemical components such as SiO ₂,TiO ₂,MnO, P ₂ O ₅,and especially Fe ₂ O ₃ of the iron ores of Bicholim Mine, Northern Goa, have been determined for lateral and vertical sections of the mine at equal intervals of 3 and 1 m, respectively, so as to form the spatial (time) series. Univariate stationary models of the type Autoregressive moving average—ARMA (p, q)—were established for each series on the basis of statistical analyses of their auto (acf) and partial auto (pacf) correlation functions. These models were used for forecasting assay values at different lead distances from any pivot. Principles of parsimony simplified all of the candidate ARMA (p, q) models to pure AR (p) models, and the univariate forecasts were significantly improved by multivariate stochastic forecasts.     

Stochastic modelling of mineral deposits

Mineral deposits are characterized by certain continuity of assay values, thickness and top and bottom surfaces of ore zones etc., which are amenable to stochastic modelling with respect to spatial coordinates. The French School (Matheron, 1963) introduced rather difficult terminology of semi-variogram, kriging etc. for quantitative assessment of reserves and average grade of mining property under the assumption of second-order stationarity of first differenced (d=1) data. A more general, powerful and well-known time-domain (spatial) stochastic models (ARIMA (p, d, q); based on Box and Jenkins, 1970, 1976; Anderson, 1976) are introduced herein which include Matheron Model (d=1) as a special case.     

Isotopic evidence of middle proterozoic magmatism from bombay high field: Implications to crustal evolution of western offshore of India

Precambrian granitic basement rocks obtained from well BH-36 of Bombay High Field, western offshore of India has been studied both by Rb-Sr and K-Ar dating methods. Seven basement samples chosen from two cores have yielded whole rock Rb-Sr isochron age of 1446 ± 67 Ma with an initial⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratio of 0.7062 ± 0.0012. This age has been interpreted as the formation/emplacement time of the granite. Two biotite fractions of different grain size separated from a sample CC6B2T have yielded Rb-Sr mineral isochron age of 1385 ± 21 Ma. However, these fractions when studied by K-Ar dating method have yielded slightly higher but mutually consistent ages of 1458 ± 43 Ma and 1465 ± 43 Ma, respectively. Further, two biotites separated from additional samples CC5B9T and CC6B3B have yielded K-Ar ages of 1452 ± 42 Ma and 1425 ± 40 Ma with an overall mean age of 1438 ± 19 Ma. This mean K-Ar age is indistinguishable from whole rock Rb-Sr isochron as well as mineral isochron age within experimental error. The similarity in the whole rock and biotite ages obtained by different isotopic methods suggests that no thermal disturbance has occurred in these rocks after their emplacement/formation around 1450 Ma ago. The present study provides the evidence for the existence of an important Middle Proterozoic magmatic event around 1400-1450 Ma on the western offshore of India which, hitherto, was thought to be mainly confined to the eastern Ghats, Satpura and Delhi fold belt of India. This finding may have an important bearing on the reconstruction of Proterozoic crustal evolution of western Indian shield.     

Accumulation of Metals in Naturally Grown Weeds (Aquatic Macrophytes) Grown on an Industrial Effluent Channel

The ability of seven hyperaccumulator macrophytes which grow naturally in the heavy metal contaminated channels of three different industries (Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd., Eveready Ltd., and Scooter India Ltd.) to accumulate heavy metals was recorded. All these industries use electroplating processes in their manufacturing and are located in the inner area of Lucknow City, U.P., India. Of the three industries monitored, effluent released from Eveready Ltd. contained the highest concentration of heavy metals. In general, accumulations of heavy metals depend upon the plant species and the metal concentration in the media. All plant samples showed heterogeneous metal accumulations, except for Fe or Cd. It was observed that some plant species accumulated high level of metals, e. g., Eichhornnia crassipes for Fe (4052.44 μg/g), Mn (788.42 μg/g), and Cu (315.50 μg/g), and Spirodela polyrhiza for Cd (12.75 μg/g), Pb (20.25 μg/g), and Cr (128.27 μg/g), even when the metal concentrations were not high in the effluent. In summary, these two plants were found to be the best accumulators at each contaminated site. The results will be helpful in the selection of plant species which can be used as bioaccumulators or bioindicators.     

Local Site Effect Due to Past Earthquakes in Kolkata

Kolkata, capital of West Bengal, India, presently congested with moderate to high rise buildings, has undergone low to moderate damages due to past earthquakes. The city is situated on the world’s largest delta island with soft thick alluvial soil layer. In this study, an attempt has been made to study ground response due to a number of past earthquakes, 1897 Shillong earthquake, 1964 Calcutta earthquake and 2011 Sikkim earthquake, for the purpose of preliminary microzonation of the Kolkata city. For this, synthetic ground motions have been generated at bedrock level by stochastic method. By using 1D wave propagation technique, the synthetic ground motion has been computed at surface level for 144 borehole locations in the city. Contours of PGA, PGV and PGD parameters in the city have been drawn for these three earthquakes. Response spectra for these three earthquakes have also been computed and an optimum response spectrum has been determined. A good correlation has been obtained with predicted ground motion at surface level of the city with the reported intensity and damages occurred in buildings of Kolkata during past earthquakes. The scenario of simulated ground motion for the past three earthquakes depicts that Kolkata city is very much prone to damages even due to moderate far and near source earthquakes.     

Effect of uncertainty in $$V_{\mathrm{S}}{-}N$$ correlations on seismic site response analysis

This paper studies the reliability of the calculated shear-wave velocity (\(V_{\mathrm{S}}\)) from different available \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\) and SPT-N correlations in terms of seismic site response analysis. In the present study, various \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\)–N correlations developed for different regions around the globe have been used to calculate the bound of \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\) variations with depth at three different sites in Kolkata city. This bound has later been used to generate the random \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\) profiles using the Monte Carlo simulation. Equivalent linear site response analysis has been performed to study the response of those generated profiles under different input motion excitations. Strong-to-weak ground motion records have been used for this purpose. The amplification spectra of the generated \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\) profiles using all soil types and specific soil-type \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\)–N correlations show significant variations. The study also shows that the \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\)–N correlation may result in quite different \(V_{\mathrm{S},30}\) values and subsequently it may lead to the different site classes according to the NEHRP 2003 classification. So, the random choice of the \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\)–N correlation, where the direct measurement of \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\) is not available, may affect the outcome of seismic hazard analysis significantly. The study points out the need for accurate estimation of the \(V_{\mathrm{S}}\) profile either from in-situ determination or using site-specific correlation.     

Slake durability study of shaly rock and its predictions

More than 35% of the earths crust is comprised of clay-bearing rocks, characterized by a wide variation in engineering properties and their resistance to short term weathering by wetting and drying phenomenon. The resistance to short-term weathering can be determined by slake durability index test. There are various methods to determine the slake durability indices of weak rock. The effect of acidity of water (slaking fluid) on slake durability index of shale in the laboratory is investigated. These methods are cumbersome and time consuming but they can provide valuable information on lithology, durability and weather ability of rock. Fuzzy set theory, Fuzzy logic and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) techniques seem very well suited for typical complex geotechnical problems. In conjunction with statistics and conventional mathematical methods, a hybrid method can be developed that may prove a step forward in modeling geotechnical problems. During this investigation a model was developed and compared with two other models i.e., Neuro-fuzzy systems (combination of fuzzy and artificial neural network systems) and artificial neural network system, for the prediction of slake durability index of shaly rock to evaluate the performance of its prediction capability.     

Mineralogical composition and ash geochemistry of raw and beneficiated high sulfur coals

Coal is one of the most available energy sources on earth. The mineralogical and geo-chemical aspects of coals are of prime importance for their utilization. The mineralogical composition, ash chemistry, and ash fusion temperature (AFT) ranges of raw and beneficiated coals are investigated in this paper. Further, the mineral matter transformation during the beneficiation processes viz. by oxidative desulfurization; alkali extraction and ultrasonication along with the relationship of the ash fusion temperature (AFT) ranges with the ash components in the coal are discussed. The major oxides present in the coal and beneficiated coal ashes include Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, CaO, and MgO, which significantly affect the ash fusion temperature ranges. Initial deformation temperature (IDT) changes with the ash components and, increases with the increase in the Fe₂O₃ content in coal ash. With increasing concentrations of both Al₂O₃ and SiO₂, the initial deformation temperature (IDT) also increases. The increasing and decreasing nature of the initial deformation temperature (IDT) observed is also dependent upon the CaO and MgO contents. XRD analysis of the coal samples revealed significant changes in mineral matter contents with the types of beneficiation processes adopted for coal. The minerals like chlorite, illite, montmorillonite, pyrite, calcite, aragonite, and alumina have been removed during the beneficiation processes. The FTIR spectra also indicate the presence of minerals like gypsum (G), calcite (C) aragonite (Ar), quartz (Q) and kaolinite (K) in the raw coal and their subsequent removal after the beneficiation processes.