Control of climate and Tethyan legacy on distribution of Paleocene–Eocene gastropods and establishment of the Northern Tropical Realm

Palaeobiogeographical distribution of gastropod genera from the Paleocene and the Eocene has been analysed. Based on this distribution, formal palaeobiogeographical provinces have been established and their relationships are sought. It has been found that the provinces were largely restricted to the palaeo-tropics and subtropics mainly of the northern hemisphere and they share a large proportion of their generic composition. The Northern Tropical Realm has been established to include these provinces. The distribution evinces presence of ocean surface currents in the tropics across longitudes. The possible currents moved through the relict Tethys Ocean, across the Atlantic Ocean and perhaps also across the Pacific. However, planktotrophic larvae of these benthic molluscs could not cross the deep ocean barrier that lay between the Northern Tropical Realm and the Austro-New Zealand Province of the southern hemisphere. The gastropod fauna in the latter province evolved independently. Distribution of all the provinces within palaeo-tropics and subtropics indicates strong control of temperature over it. Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum appears to be responsible for extinction and range contraction of high latitude faunas. Low latitude faunas also suffered significant extinction. However, large diversification in the Eocene was a response to widespread transgression that coincided with the thermal event.     

Rhyolites in continental mafic Large Igneous Provinces: Petrology,geochemistry and petrogenesis

We present a detailed review of the petrological and geochemical aspects of rhyolite and associated silicic volcanic rocks(up to 20 vol%of all rocks)reported to date from twelve well known Phanerozoic continental mafic Large Igneous Provinces(LIPs).These typically spread over<104 km^2(rarely 105 km^2 for Parana-Etendeka)area and comprise<10~4 km^3 of extrusive silicic rocks,erupted either during or after the main basaltic eruption within<5 Myr,with some eruption(s)continuing for≤30 Myr.These rhyolites and associated silicic volcanic rocks(60-81 wt.%of SiO2)are mostly metaluminous to peraluminous and are formed via(ⅰ)fractional crystallization of parental mafic magma with negligible crustal contamination,and(ⅱ)melting of continental crust or assimilation and fractional crystallization(AFC)of mafic magma with significant crustal contribution.Rhyolites formed by extensive fractional crystallization are characterized by the presence of clinopyroxene phenocrysts,exhibit steep negative slopes in bivariate major oxides plots and weak to no Nb-Ta anomaly;these typically have temperature>900℃.Rhyolites formed by significant crustal contribution are characterized by strong negative Nb-Ta anomalies,absence of clinopyroxene phenocrysts,and are likely to have a magma temperature<900℃.Geochemical signatures suggest rhyolite melt generation in the plagioclase stability field with a minor fraction originating from lower crustal depths.A large part of the compositional variability in rhyolites,particularly the SrNd-Pb-O isotope ratios,suggests a significant role of continental crust(upper crustal melting or AFC)in the evolution of these silicic rocks in the continental mafic LIPs.     

Large scale model testing to investigate the influence of granular cushion layer on the performance of disconnected piled raft system

Acta Geotechnica - This paper presents the results of 1g model tests performed on instrumented model foundations, i.e., unpiled raft, single piled raft, single disconnected piled raft (DPR) and...     

Groundwater resources management through flow modeling in lower part of Bhagirathi — Jalangi interfluve,Nadia, West Bengal

Groundwater utilization in Nadia district, West Bengal has been subjected to rapid exploitation in the wake of increasing urbanization and production of agricultural commodities. It is, therefore, necessary to evaluate the existing trend and availability of groundwater in time and space and its movement for proper planning in future. In the present study, an attempt has been made develop a groundwater management model using Visual MODFLOW software. The groundwater flow model for the study area was formulated by using input hydrogeological data and appropriate boundary conditions. The groundwater flow pattern of the study area indicates the occurrence of base flow which feed both the Rivers Bhagirathi and Jalangi throughout the year. The computed hydraulic heads were calibrated by comparing with observed groundwater level data for years 2004 to 2006 and were verified with the data of 2007. The outcome of modeling shows that this model can be used for prediction purpose in the future by updating input boundary conditions and hydrologic stresses during the preceding year. The model optimized unit draft for deep tube well as 556.5 m³/day and the same for shallow tube well as 41 m³/day keeping the existing tube well structures in running condition and maintaining the present and recent past trends of groundwater level. The model can be further improved if more spatial and temporal input parameters are available and can be incorporated into the model for more realistic characterization of groundwater flow.     

Assessment of future climate variability and potential adaptation strategies on yield of peanut and Kharif rice in eastern India

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Temperature and CO2 are the two most important climate parameters that affect crop yield directly. In this study, the impact of these two parameters on the...     

Evolution of narrow-band spectrum of two random Stokes wavetrains in deep water

Ocean Dynamics - Fourth-order nonlinear evolution equation (NLEE), which is an excellent starting point for the analysis of nonlinear deep water surface waves, are used here to investigate the...     

Temperature and precipitation trend analysis of the Iraq Region under SRES scenarios during the twenty-first century

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Iraq is classified as the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to decreased water and food availability, extreme temperatures, and associated health...     

Causal thinking and support for climate change policies: International survey findings

Few comparative international studies describe the climate change policies people are willing to support and the reasons for their support of different policies. Using survey data from 664 economics and business undergraduates in Austria, Bangladesh, Finland, Germany, Norway, and the United States, we explore how perceived risk characteristics and mental models of climate change influence support for policy alternatives. General green policies such as funding research on renewable technologies and planting trees were the overwhelmingly most popular policy alternatives. Around half the students support carbon reduction policies such as requiring higher car fuel efficiency and increasing taxes on fossil fuels. Least popular were engineering alternatives such as fertilizing the oceans and replacing fossil fuels with nuclear power. Variations among nations are generally small. Support for different policy alternatives corresponds with different causal thinking. Those who hold a pollution model of the causes of climate change, tend to blame environmental harms (e.g., air pollution from toxic chemicals), see general green policy alternatives as effective, and support general green policies. Support of carbon reduction strategies is associated with seeing carbon emissions as the cause and reducing carbon emissions as effective solutions. Support of engineering solutions increases with identifying volcanoes among causes and regarding engineering solutions as effective. Although these international students agree that climate change is a threatening problem, their causal thinking correlates with support for different mitigative policy actions, with the most popular ones not necessarily the most effective.