The youngest volcanic eruptions in East‐Central Europe—new findings from the Ciomadul lava dome complex,East Carpathians,Romania

Violent explosive eruptions occurred between c. 51 and 29 thousand years ago—during the Last Glacial Maximum in East‐Central Europe—at the picturesque volcano of Ciomadul, located at the southernmost tip of the Inner Carpathian Volcanic Range in Romania. Field volcanology, glass geochemistry of tephra, radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescene dating, along with coring the lacustrine infill of the two explosive craters of Ciomadul (St Ana and Mohos), constrain the last volcanic activity to three subsequent eruptive stages. The explosivity was due to the silicic composition of the magma producing Plinian‐style eruptions, and the interaction of magma with the underlying, water‐rich rocks resulting in violent phreatomagmatic outbursts. Tephra (volcanic ash) from these eruptions are interbedded with contemporaneous loess deposits, which form thick sequences in the vicinity of the volcano. Moreover, tephra layers are also preserved in the older Mohos crater infill, providing an important archive for palaeoclimate studies. Identifying the final phreatomagmatic eruption of Ciomadul at c. 29.6 ka, which shaped the present‐day landform of the 1600‐m‐wide St Ana explosion crater, we were able to correlate related tephra deposits as far as 350 km from the source within a thick loess‐palaeosol sequence at the Dniester Delta in Roxolany, Ukraine. A refined tephrostratigraphy, based on a number of newly found exposures in the Ciomadul surrounding region as well as correlation with the distal terrestrial and marine (e.g. Black Sea) volcano‐sedimentary record, is expected from ongoing studies.     

A note on strong mass loss from early sun and warm and wet Mars

Recently, the possibility of strong mass loss from an early sun has been proposed in connection with the lithium depletion problem along with early solar system problems. However, the time scale for this enhanced mass loss is uncertain. Using an empirical relation for the dependence of the Martian surface temperature on solar luminosity and surface pressure, we find that the mass loss time scale for a 1.1 M sun should be about 1 × 10⁹ years or longer if Mars had liquid water on its surface 3.8 billion years ago. The minimum surface pressure on early Mars should be about 5 bars of CO₂.     

Long-period fading in atmospherics during severe meteorological activity and associated solar geophysical phenomena at low latitudes

The records of VLF atmospherics over Calcutta and then over Kalyani (West Bengal) during the torrential rainfall, caused by violent monsoon and post-monsoon depressions, exhibit distinct long-period fadings both at day and night. Interesting results obtained from an analysis of round-the-clock atmospherics data and associated meteorological parameters are reported in this paper. A possible correlation between the severe meteorological activity with the solar geophysical phenomena was studied. The results are indicative of an interesting sequence of solar-terrestrial events. A tentative conclusion is reached, suggesting an origin of the fading from atmospheric gravity waves generated in the centre of activity of the depressions concerned.Currently at: Department of Physics, Serampore College, Serampore, 712 201 West Bengal     

Alkaline intrusion in a granulite ensemble in the eastern ghats belt,India: Shear zone pathway and a pull-apart structure

The alkaline complex of Koraput, Orissa, India, is one of several bodies in the high-grade Eastern Ghats belt, but this one is an integral part of the high-grade belt and remote from the western boundary against the Bastar craton. The Koraput complex forms a lozenge-shaped intrusion into the metapelitic granulites and is bounded by shear zones. The combined effect of movement along these shear zones, is a northeasterly elongated sygmoidal cavity with maximum width along the northwesterly trending Reidel shear. Thus the Koraput alkaline complex can be considered to have been emplaced in a pull-apart structure, developed in the granulitic country rocks. Moreover, in view of the fact that the western margin of the high-grade Eastern Ghats belt bears clear evidence of collisional features, rather than that of rifting or break-up, the rift-valley model for the alkaline magmatism in this high-grade belt appears untenable.     

Grey analytic hierarchy process applied to effectiveness evaluation for groundwater potential zone delineation

An attempt has been made to identify plausible groundwater potential zones (GWPZ) based on Grey Analytic Hierarchy Process Method (Grey-AHP) using integrated remote sensing and geographic information system. Grey-AHP combines the advantages of classical analytic hierarchy process and grey clustering method for accurate estimation of weight coefficients. The method also examines the effectiveness of GWPZ identification process. The proposed methodology has been applied to the Hirakud canal command area, Odisha (India). Feature layers [e.g. soil type, geology] are utilized for groundwater potential index (GWPI) calculation. The resulting GWPI map has been classified into three GWPZ namely: good, moderate and poor. Effectiveness based on grey clustering method is found to be in between ‘better’ and ‘common’ classes. Value of coefficient of determination (R² = 0.865) supports the obtained effectiveness evaluation result. This analysis demonstrates the potential applicability of the methodology for a general aquifer system.     

High mortality and poor growth of green mussels, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Perna viridis</Emphasis>, in high chlorophyll-<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis> environment

The current study was carried out from May 2014 to April 2015 to estimate the stock status of P. viridis in Marudu Bay. The gonad development was monitored by histological examination, while the population parameters including asymptotic length (L_∞), growth coefficient (K), mortality rate (Z, F and M), exploitation level (E) and recruitment of P. viridis were estimated using the lengthfrequency data. Results of the current study demonstrated that P. viridis in Marudu Bay spawned throughout the year with two major peaks, one in April to May and another one in October to December. The recruitment pattern was continuous with the peak in May to June 2014, which corresponded to the first spawning peak in April. However, no significant recruitment was observed from the second spawning peak due to the difference in spawning timing between male and female populations. The estimated asymptotic length (L_∞), growth coefficient (K), total mortality (Z), natural mortality (M), fishing mortality (F) and growth performance (ф) of P. viridis in Marudu Bay were estimate to be 117 mm, 0.97 yr^-1, 4.39 yr^-1, 1.23 yr^-1, 3.16 yr^-1 and 4.123, respectively. The exponent b of the lengthweight relationship was 2.4 and exploitation level (E) was 0.72. The high mortality, low condition indices and negative allometric of P. viridis in Marudu Bay is caused by a lack of suitable food in the surrounding water.     

Generation of granitic plutons during Crustal orogenesis: An example from the Eastern Ghats granulite belt

Stock-like granite plutons in the Eastern Ghats belt and their host granulites exhibit similar solid state fabric. Both mineralogically and chemically these plutons are peraluminous and granitic in composition with S-type granite affinities. The granite plutons are product of a variety of mica dehydration melting reactions, as evident from their (1) compositional plots in the (FeO + MgO) ?? Na₂O.Al₂O₃ ?? K₂O.Al₂O₃ (MNK) pseudoternary diagram and (2) trace element contents. Muscovite and/or biotite breakdown reaction with or without plagioclase are the characteristic melting reactions. Restitic signature is evident in the host metapelitic granulites, locally known as khondalites (Qtz-Kfs-Grt-Sil-Fe-Ti oxides-bearing gneisses). The compositional variability of the associated khondalites can be a result of (1) original compositional variation and (2) they represent different stages of restites. Trace element monitoring following restite separation model suggests that these granite plutons are largely saturated equilibrium melts. The granites are chemically discriminated as syn-collisional. The plutons could also be the product of segregation during the regional exhumation of the Eastern Ghats terrain.     

Middle to Late Holocene climate,vegetation and sea-level changes in NW Tripura,northeast India,based on palynological and mineral magnetic evidence

Journal of Paleolimnology - The sediment deposits of northwestern Tripura, northeast India, revealed the enhanced proximity to the marginal marine environments, forest cover variations and...     

Discovery of Gondwana plant fossils and palynomorphs of Late Asselian (Early Permian) age in the Karakoram Block

We report the discovery of Early Permian (late Asselian, ∼280–275 Ma) plant fossils and associated palynomorphs from a marine sedimentary sequence of the eastern Karakoram plate, in northern India. These specimens show affinities with those found in marine Lower Gondwana sediments of the Indian subcontinent. This supports the contention that during the Early Permian Period, the Karakoram plate was Peri-Gondwanan. It is suggested to have had an intermediate position between the Indian plate and the Qiangtang–Lhasa microcontinents, at a latitude of about 35° south.