A note on India’s water budget and evapotranspiration

Some recent analyses of India’s water budget are based on information attributed to the Ministry of Water Resources. An examination of the budget components indicates that they imply an evapotranspiration estimate that is significantly lower than what one may expect based on information from other sources. If such is the case, India’s water resources situation may be more dire than is otherwise perceived. For, higher evapotranspiration implies correspondingly reduced availability of water for human use. It should be worthwhile to investigate and reconcile the apparent discrepancy between water budget and evapotranspiration, considering the importance of water in the national context.     

Globalization and India’s international trade: does distance still matter?

GeoJournal - This paper attempts to capture the missing ‘distance’ puzzle in the globalization process driven by trade flows. It is widely recognized that the growing global economic...     

Genesis of volatile components at Saturn’s regular satellites. Origin of Titan’s atmosphere

Jupiter’s and Saturn’s regular satellites, which posses much ice, are currently thought to have been formed during the early evolution of the Solar System in circumplanetary protosatellite disks. Two of Saturn’s regular satellites—Titan and Enceladus—were experimentally proved to contain, along with water, other volatile components: molecular nitrogen, and methane (which are the major components of Titan’s atmosphere) and various nitrogen and carbon compounds in water plumes of Enceladus. The protomaterial of these rocky–icy satellites was formed in the outer regions of the gas–dust circumsolar nebula, and its closest analogue currently accessible to study is cometary material. The paper presents a review of experimental data on the chemical and isotopic composition of cometary material as possible sources of volatile components on Titan and Enceladus and model evaluations of temperatures in the circumsolar gas–dust protoplanetary disk and Jupiter’s and Saturn’s protosatellite disks during various evolutionary episodes of the solar system. The P–T parameters of the origin of the protomaterial of Jupiter’s and Saturn’s regular satellites were proved to have been remarkably different, and hence, the material of Europa, a Jupiter’s regular satellite, cannot contain any volatile components other than water, in contrast to Titan and Enceladus. This conclusion is supported by experimental data. Cometary material is likely genetically related to the material of Saturn’s regular satellites Titan and Enceladus. The paper presents results of thermodynamic simulation of the evolution of the chemical and phase composition of Saturn’s satellites and suggests a model for the origin of Titan’s nitrogen–methane atmosphere.     

Facies analysis of Pleistocene limestones from Neil West Coast Formation,Neil Island,Ritchie’s archipelago of South Andaman,India

Petrographic thin section analysis of the samples collected from the type section of Neil West Coast Formation, situated in the west coast of Neil Island yielded moderately preserved coralline red algae, benthic and planktic foraminifers, coral fragments, echinoid spines and gastropod shells. The coralline red algae are represented by both non-geniculate and geniculate forms. The non-geniculate forms belong to melobesids, lithophylloids and mastophoroides. The geniculate forms are represented by species of Amphiroa, Corallina, and Jania. However, the diversity and abundance of coralline algal forms are less in comparison to the benthic foraminifers those are represented by Amphistegina, Neorotalia, Ammonia, Elphidium, Operculina, Assilina, Amphisorus and texularids. Planktic foraminifers like Globigerinoides and other biogenic components viz., gastropod shells, echinoid spines and coral fragments are also common. A foraminiferal-algal grainstone facies has been recognized as observed in the field as well as in thin section analysis. The overall assemblage of the biogenic components and facies analysis indicate intertidal to near shore environment of deposition with high energy condition and increased hydrodynamic activity.     

Estimation of model parameter of Sumatra earthquake using empirical Green’s function technique and generation of hypothetical earthquake scenario for Andaman Island, India

Empirical Green??s function (EGF) technique is considered to be most effective technique for simulation of ground motions due to a finite earthquake source. In the present paper, this technique has been used to simulate ground motion due to a great earthquake. The coastal region of Sumatra Island has been visited by a great earthquake on December 26, 2004. This earthquake has been recorded at several broadband stations including a nearest broadband station PSI in Indonesia. The shear wave contributions in both horizontal components have been simulated at PSI station using EGF technique. The comparison of simulated and observed waveform has been made for various possibilities of rupture parameters in terms of root mean square error. The final rupture model supports rupture velocity of 3.0?km/s with nucleation point supporting northward propagating rupture that coincide with high-slip asperity defined by Sorensen et al. (Bull Seism Soc Am 97:S139?CS151, 2007). The final modeling parameters have been used to simulate record at MDRS station in coastal state of Tamilnadu, India. In an attempt to model a scenario of great earthquake in the Andaman Island, a hypothetical rupture plane is modeled in this region. The event occurred on August 10, 2008 of magnitude 6.2 (M _w ) recorded on strong motion array at Port Blair has been used as EGF to simulate records due to the hypothetical great earthquake. Possibilities of earthquake due to the oblique strike-slip and thrust mechanism have been modeled in the present paper. Several possibilities of nucleation point for both cases has been considered, and it is seen that variation of peak ground acceleration at Port Blair station for strike-slip and thrust mechanism is 126?C738 gals and 647?C2,571 gals, respectively, which indicate high seismic hazard potential of Andaman Island.     

Estimating potential landslide sites of an upland sub-watershed in Western Ghat’s of Kerala (India) through frequency ratio and GIS

The purpose of this study is to assess the susceptibility of landslides in parts of Western Ghats, Kerala, India, using a geographical information system (GIS). Landslide inventory of the area was made by detailed field surveys and the analysis of the topographical maps. The landslide triggering factors are considered to be slope angle, slope aspect, slope curvature, slope length, distance from drainage, distance from lineaments, lithology, land use and geomorphology. ArcGIS version 8.3 was used to manipulate and analyse all the collected data. Probabilistic-likelihood ratio was used to create a landslide susceptibility map for the study area. The result was validated using the Area under Curve (AUC) method and temporal data of landslide occurrences. The validation results showed satisfactory agreement between the susceptibility map and the existing data on landslide locations. As the result, the success rate of the model was (84.46%) and the prediction rate of the model was (82.38%) shows high prediction accuracy. In the reclassified final landslide susceptibility zone map, 5.68% of the total area is classified as critical in nature. The landslide susceptibility map thus produced can be used to reduce hazards associated with landslides and to land cover planning.     

Intrayear irregularities of the Earth’s rotation

The methods of celestial mechanics can be used to construct a mathematical model for the perturbed rotational motions of the deformable Earth that can adequately describe the astrometric measurements of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). This model describes the gravitational and tidal influences of the Sun and Moon. Fine resonant interactions of long-period zonal tides (annual, semiannual, monthly, and biweekly) with the diurnal and semidiurnal tides are revealed. These interactions can be reliably confirmed via a spectral analysis of the IERS data. Numerical modeling of tidal irregularities of the Earth’s axial rotation was carried out, focusing on the analysis and forecasting of variations of the day length occurring within short time intervals of a year or shorter (intrayear variations).     

Distribution and Collection of China’s Dinosaurs

<正>It is estimated that the world has discovered more than1000 species and 800 genera of dinosaurs.Chinese scientists have named more than 170 species of dinosaurs,with 17 genera and 44 species of dinosaur egg fossils,35genera and 39 species of dinosaur footprints,since their first discovery in China in 1902.China has dinosaur occurrences from the Upper Triassic to the Upper     

Tectonostratigraphic evolution of Enjefa’s marginal marine Holocene deposits: highlighting the final stage of Kuwait’s emergence

The Enjefa Beach outcrop comprises marginal marine deposits that are scarcely studied and its facies architecture is largely unknown. With only a few outcrops left in Kuwait, this locality provides an opportunity to better understand the interaction between tectonics and sedimentary processes during the late Holocene, unraveling the final uplift and emergence of Kuwait. Detailed facies analysis revealed that Enjefa outcrop is composed of shoreface and tidal channel facies associations, stacked in a shoaling-upward sequence. One hundred forty-nine paleocurrent measurements were taken at the Enjefa and surrounding areas to understand depositional trends. 2D-structural restoration of seismic data crossing the Ahmadi Ridge was performed along with burial history analysis of a well drilled on the crest of the structure. Facies analysis revealed that the Enjefa outcrop is composed of six depositional facies. These are middle shoreface, upper shoreface, foreshore, lateral accretion, tidal channel, and channel fill/abandonment facies. It is observed that all lateral accretion packages exhibit a unidirectional northern trend. Tectonostratigraphic time-laps simulation revealed that the Ahmadi Ridge final uplift had a direct influence on the tidal channel migration patterns, resulting in a dominant northern migration direction. These results are found to correlate with other Arabian Gulf regions, indicating a regional extent of the late Holocene tectonics.     

Precessional motions of structural blocks of the Earth’s crust

Instrumental observations revealed a new type of motion previously not described in the literature, the precessional motions in the structural blocks of the Earth’s crust. The precession-nutation motions are caused largely by a complex response of a structural block and the adjacent tectonic structure, acting as a discontinuous zone between blocks, to tidal deformation. Irregular precession with a period of about one day complicated by the half a day period nutation defines a complex loading pattern characteristic of the internal structure of faults adjacent to the block.

     

The tectonic history of Adelaide’s scarp-forming faults

A series of linear to arcuate fault scarps separate the Mount Lofty Ranges from the Cenozoic St Vincent and Murray basins of South Australia. Their tectonic, sedimentary and geomorphic evolution is traced from the oldest rock record through to present-day seismicity. The scarps are the latest manifestation of repeated compressive reactivation of ancient, deep-seated crustal faults and fractures whenever the stress field was of appropriate orientation. Formation of the basins and uplift of the ranges resulted from the same processes of repeated compressive reactivation. Continental crust was intensely fractured during three episodes of Neoproterozoic–Cambrian rifting that led to the formation of the Adelaide Geosyncline and break-up of Rodinia. Neoproterozoic eastward-dipping, listric extensional faults provided accommodation space for deposition of the Burra Group. Sediments of the Umberatana and Wilpena groups were deposited under mainly sag-phase conditions. In the early Cambrian, new extensional faults formed the deeply subsident Kanmantoo Trough. Cambrian rift faults swung from east–west on Kangaroo Island through northeasterly on Fleurieu Peninsula to north–south in the easten Mount Lofty Ranges, cutting across the older meridional rifts. These two sets of extensional faults were reactivated as basement-rooted thrusts in the ensuing Delamerian Orogeny. The Willunga Fault originated as a Cambrian rift fault and was reactivated in the Delamerian Orogeny as a thrust dipping southeast under a regional basement-cored antiform on southern Fleurieu Peninsula. Much of southern Australia, including the eroded remnants of the Delamerian highlands, was covered by a continental ice sheet in the Carboniferous–Permian. The preferential preservation of glacial sediments on Fleurieu Peninsula may have resulted from extensional reactivation of the Willunga Fault, possibly in the early Mesozoic. Fleurieu Peninsula was then warped into an open, southwest-plunging antiform, spatially coincident with the much higher amplitude Delamerian antiform. Glacial sediments were eroded from uplifted (up-plunge) areas before formation of a ‘summit surface’ across deeply weathered bedrock and preserved glacial sediments in the later Mesozoic. This surface was covered with fluvial to lacustrine sediments in the middle Eocene. Neotectonic movements under a renewed compressive regime commenced with reactivation of the Willunga Fault, restricting subsequent Eocene to Miocene sedimentation to the St Vincent Basin. The Willunga scarp was onlapped in the Oligocene–Miocene concomitant with continuing uplift and formation of a hanging-wall antiform. In the late Cenozoic, repeated faulting and mild folding, angular unconformities, ferruginisation and proximal coarse sedimentation took place on various faults at different times until the late Pleistocene.     

Preparation of Cristobalite and It’s Thermal Characteristics

The thermal characteristic of cristobalite plays an important role in the application of casting industry. Because the phase transition of silica glass and cristobalite has low volume change, the block cristobalite had been manufactured by calcining fused silica ceramic, the XRD, SEM and thermal characteristics of the cristobalite had been tested. The result shows the formation of porous structure in the block cristobalite, and thermal expansion rate of the phase transition of β/αcristobalite reaches 1.5% at the temperature range of 250-290 ℃.     

Status of China’s Mineral Resources in 2013

正On 22nd April 2014,with the approach of the 45th World Earth Day,China’s Ministry of Land and resources issued the status of China’s mineral resources in 2013.The first task of the prospecting breakthrough strategy action implemented in the last five years has been completed,and China’s security capacity for mineral resources has been significantly improved.In the     

Phosphorus Sorption Dynamics of Hawaii’s Coastal Wetlands

While phosphorus (P) sorption has been studied in Hawaii’s terrestrial soils, P sorption dynamics have yet to be investigated in coastal wetlands. In other coastal zones, wetlands have been shown to sorb P and act as P sinks at the land–sea interface. Thus, the objectives of this study were to examine variance in the P sorption index (PSI) within wetlands along hydrologic gradients and among wetlands of different types and to identify soil properties that best explain variability in the PSI. Forty wetlands on five islands were sampled and P sorption and related properties were measured. Phosphorus sorption index values ranged from −16.4–1,732.5. Hydrologic zone (within sites) and surface water salinity (among sites) accounted for significant proportions of the variance in the PSI. While texture, pH, and carbon content were found to be important predictors of PSI, the highest correlations were found for oxalate-extractable iron.     

Short-time-scale features of the Earth’s polar motion

The fundamental astrometric problem of high-accuracy interpolation and forecasting of the Earth’s polar motion on short time scales from 1–2 to 10–30 days is studied. Hierarchies of interval length and parameter accuracy are established using appropriate models for the process. Filtering algorithms are adjusted using a weighted least squares fit of measurements of the International Earth Rotation Service (IERS). Best-fit estimates for the main features of the motion are obtained for various time intervals; interpolations and forecasts are compared with the IERS measurements.     

Masses of carbon in the Earth’s hydrosphere

Recent data were summarized on the concentration and mass of inorganic and organic carbon in reservoirs of the Earth’s hydrosphere. We compared carbon masses and accumulation conditions in the surface hydrosphere and waters of the sedimentary shell and proportions between carbonate, dissolved, and suspended particulate organic carbon. It was shown that the total masses of carbon in the surface hydrosphere and in the waters of the sedimentary shell are approximately equal to 80 × 10¹⁸ g C at an organic to carbonate carbon ratio of 1 : 36 and 1 : 43, respectively. Three main forms of organic compounds in the ocean (living organisms, suspended particles, and dissolved species) occur in the proportion 1 : 13 : 250 and form the pyramid of masses 4 × 10¹⁵ g, 50 × 10¹⁵ g, and 1000 × 10¹⁵ g C_org. The descending sequence of the organic to carbonate carbon ratio in water, ocean (1 : 36) > glaciers (1 : 8) > lakes (1 : 2) > rivers (1 : 0.6) > wetlands (1 : 0.3), is in general consistent with an increase in the same direction in the mean concentrations of organic matter: 0.77 mg C_org/L in the ocean, 0.7 mg C_org/L in glaciers, 6–30 mg C_org/L in lakes, 15 mg C_org/L in rivers, and 75 mg C_org/L in wetlands. Both the mean concentrations and masses of dissolved organic matter in the pore waters of oceanic sediments and in the waters of the sedimentary shell are similar: 36–37 mg/L and 5 × 10¹⁸ and 5.6 × 10¹⁸ g, respectively. The mass of carbonate carbon in the pore waters of the ocean, (19–33) × 10¹⁸ g, is comparable with its mass in the water column, 38.1 × 10¹⁸ g.