Discrimination between anthropogenic (pollution) and lithogenic magnetic fraction in urban soils (Delhi,India) using environmental magnetism

In this paper magnetic property of the Delhi topsoil has been used to characterize the potentially polluted areas in terms of magnetic minerals and grain (Magnetic Domain) concentration as a factor of toxic metals and other mutagenic pollutant concentration. The Saturation magnetisation (Ms) and Saturation remanence (Mrs) has been taken as proxy for ferrimagnetic mineral concentration. However, delineation of anthropogenic magnetic fraction from lithogenic (geogenic) magnetic fraction has been done by the paramagnetic/diamagnetic contribution of soil with the fact that the fresh soil contains higher paramagnetic and diamagnetic minerals than polluted. Predominantly, the topsoils of Delhi are dominated with ferrimagnetic minerals (Magnetite and Maghemite phase). Significantly the industrial areas contain highest concentration of the ferrimagnetic minerals with negligible paramagnetic/diamagnetic fraction which leads to anthropogenic contribution. Heavy traffic and densely populated areas of the Delhi exhibit moderate to low soil pollution while green areas show lowest with higher paramagnetic/diamagnetic contribution. The soils in Delhi are dominated with Pseudo-Single Domain (PSD) magnetic grain, though the industrial areas in Delhi show coarser Multidomain (MD) grains in comparison to Stable Single Domain (SSD) in forest areas. Our study reveals that the fine grain particle does not show significant link with higher concentration of ferrimagnetic minerals at least in soils. The presence of the lithogenic magnetite crystal in the forest soil and anthropogenically produced spherules in industrial areas and higher concentration of the heavy metal in Delhi soil strengthen our findings.     

Fall,classification and cosmogenic records of the Sabrum (LL6) chondrite

Abstract— The petrographic and chemical characteristics of a fresh Indian meteorite fall at Sabrum are described. Its mean mineral composition is defined by olivine (Fa_31.4), orthopyroxene (Fs_25.1,Wo_2.0), clinopyroxene (Wo₄₅En_45.6Fs_9.4) and plagioclase (An_10.6Ab_83.6Or_5.8). The meteorite shows moderate shock features, which indicate that it belongs to the S4 category. Based on mineralogical and chemical criteria the meteorite is classified as an LL6 brecciated veined chondrite. Several cosmogenic radioisotopes (⁴⁶Sc, ⁷Be, ⁵⁴Mn, ²²Na and ²⁶Al), noble gas (He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe), nitrogen isotopes, and particle tracks density have been measured. Concentrations of cosmogenic ²¹Ne and ³⁸Ar indicate that its cosmic‐ray exposure age is 24.8 Ma. Small amounts of trapped Kr and Xe, consistent with petrologic class 5/6, are present. The track density in olivines is found to be (1.3 ± 0.3) × 10⁶/cm². Activities of most of the short‐lived isotopes are lower than those expected from solar cycle variation. ²²Na/²⁶Al (1.12 ± 0.02) is found to be significantly anomalous, being ?25% lower than expected from the Climax neutron monitor data. These results indicate that the cosmic‐ray flux during the terminal segment of the meteoroid orbit was low. The activities of ²⁶Al and ⁶⁰Co and the track density indicate small meteoroid size with a radius ?15 cm.     

Waterlogging induced loss and damage assessment of urban households in the monsoon period: a case study of Dhaka,Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - Every monsoon period, the households in Dhaka face extensive waterlogging in their localities. This recrudescing event leads to tangible and intangible losses in the lives of...     

Nature and origin of arsenic carriers in shallow aquifer sediments of Bengal Delta,India

Sediments from shallow aquifers in Bengal Delta, India have been found to contain arsenic. Rivers of Ganga-Brahmaputra system, responsible for depositing these sediments in the delta, have created a store of arsenic. Geomorphological domains with different depositional styles regulate the pattern of distribution of zones with widely different content of groundwater arsenic. The high arsenic zones occur as narrow sinuous strips confined to channel deposits. A few iron-bearing clastic minerals and two post-depositional secondary products are arsenic carriers. Secondary siderite concretions have grown on the surface of the clastic carriers in variable intensity. The quantity of arsenic in all clastic carriers is in excess of what is generally expected. Excess arsenic is contributed by the element adsorbed on the concretion grown on the surface of the carriers, which adds up to the arsenic in the structure of the minerals. Variable abundance of concretions is responsible for the variable quantity of arsenic in the carriers and the sediment samples. Fe²⁺ for the growth of siderite concretions is obtained from the iron-bearing clastic carriers. The reaction involves reduction of trivalent iron to bivalent and the required electron is obtained by transformation of As³⁺ to As⁵⁺. It is suggested that oxidation of As³⁺ to As⁵⁺ is microbially mediated. In the Safe zone arsenic is retained in the carriers and groundwater arsenic is maintained below 0.05 mg/l. In the Unsafe zone sorbed arsenic is released from the carriers in the water through desorption and dissolution of concretion, thereby elevating the groundwater arsenic level to above 0.05 mg/l.     

Geochemistry of the Neoproterozoic Narji limestone,Cuddapah Basin,Andhra Pradesh,India: implication on palaeoenvironment

The Neoproterozoic Narji Formation of Cuddapah Basin, Southern India is mainly composed of limestones with minor amount of clastic rocks. Limestones are massive as well as laminated and occasionally chert bearing. Geochemistry (major, trace, and REE) of limestones is studied to strengthen the knowledge on depositional environment of Narji Formation in the direction to better figure out the development of Cuddapah Basin during Neoproterozoic era. Average SiO₂ (25.97), Al₂O₃/TiO₂ (16.67), and K₂O/Al₂O₃ (0.21) ratios suggest clastic contamination in the Narji limestones. PAAS (Post Archean Australian Shale) normalized REE?+?Y pattern of Narji limestones are showing seawater like REE?+?Y pattern. The Er/Nd and Y/Ho ratios (average 0.17 and 35.68, respectively) of Narji limestones indicate the retention of normal seawater character with the signatures of terrigenous input and diagenesis process. Positive Ce anomaly, high U/Th (>?1.25), and V/(V?+?Ni) (>?0.5) ratios of Narji limestones clearly indicate their deposition in dyoxic to anoxic condition.     

Evolution of Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic open coast ramp-clues from stromatolite-bearing carbonate facies of Vempalle Formation,Cuddapah Basin,India

The carbonate-dominated Palaeo-Mesoproterozoic Vempalle Formation of the Cuddapah Basin, Southern India, represents deposition in a supratidal-subtidal setting. The facies associations, deciphered from this study, are consistent with continued gradual rise of sea level with little or no sedimentary influx during the deposition of sediments, wherein gradual deposition of carbonates are recorded with increased accommodation. The broad development of stromatolites in different layers of sediments across the coast indicates a moderately high-energy open coastline. The prolific volcanism as recorded at the top of the succession ultimately shuts down the Vempalle carbonate factory.     

Spatial geochemical variation of major and trace elements in the marine sediments of Mumbai Harbor Bay

The resulting concentration data sets of major (Na, K, Mg, Ca and Fe) and trace elements (Cu, Ni, Co and Mn) in bed and suspended sediments were used to evaluate the enrichment factor for anthropogenic influences and principal component analysis for identifying the origin of source contributions in the studied area. Normalization of metals to Fe indicated that high enrichment factors in the bed sediment were in the order of Co > Cu > Na > Ca > Ni except Mg, K and Mn while for suspended sediments, only Co has a high enrichment factor. High enrichment of Co and Cu reflected the contamination of sediments from anthropogenic sources. The high influence of Na and Ca in sediments may be caused for seawater salinization factor. A significant positive correlation among enrichment factors of various elements of interest suggests a common origin/identical behavior during transport in the sediment system.     

Some observations from radiometric ‘8 bit’ data of sediment thin sections based on alternative petrographic image analysis method

This paper deals with the experiment of sediment microstructure analysis especially microfabric mapping by digital imaging. For that purpose the greyscale images (Red band from RGB combination) of the thin sections have been prepared from the selected 12 samples. The basis of this mapping is the reflectance capacity of different sediments which is influenced by the physical parameters like grain size and colour. The reflectances of different sediments are represented in digital format by different DN values from 0–255 within the radiometric ranges of ‘8 bit’ data. Density slicing has been chosen as the method of microstructure mapping in this research. This study shows that lower DN values normally present dark coloured coarser sand and clay while higher DN values present light coloured finer sediment samples. In the selected samples for this study the maximum DN value has been found from micaceous materials. Another remarkable thing observed from the microfabric mapping is that the presence of coarser sediments forms complex microfabric pattern than the finer sediments in the study area. Though this method have some demerits, still its simple technique can be very useful for accurate microstructure analysis.