Contemporary deformation in the Kashmir–Himachal,Garhwal and Kumaon Himalaya: significant insights from 1995–2008 GPS time series

We present new insights on the time-averaged surface velocities, convergence and extension rates along arc-normal transects in Kumaon, Garhwal and Kashmir–Himachal regions in the Indian Himalaya from 13 years of high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS) time series (1995–2008) derived from GPS data at 14 GPS permanent and 42 campaign stations between $29.5{-}35^{\circ }\hbox {N}$ and $76{-}81^{\circ }\hbox {E}$ . The GPS surface horizontal velocities vary significantly from the Higher to Lesser Himalaya and are of the order of 30 to 48 mm/year NE in ITRF 2005 reference frame, and 17 to 2 mm/year SW in an India fixed reference frame indicating that this region is accommodating less than 2 cm/year of the India–Eurasia plate motion ( ${\sim }4~\hbox {cm/year}$ ). The total arc-normal shortening varies between ${\sim }10{-}14~\hbox {mm/year}$ along the different transects of the northwest Himalayan wedge, between the Indo-Tsangpo suture to the north and the Indo-Gangetic foreland to the south indicating high strain accumulation in the Himalayan wedge. This convergence is being accommodated differentially along the arc-normal transects; ${\sim } 5{-}10~\hbox {mm/year}$ in Lesser Himalaya and 3–4 mm/year in Higher Himalaya south of South Tibetan Detachment. Most of the convergence in the Lesser Himalaya of Garhwal and Kumaon is being accommodated just south of the Main Central Thrust fault trace, indicating high strain accumulation in this region which is also consistent with the high seismic activity in this region. In addition, for the first time an arc-normal extension of ${\sim }6~\hbox {mm/year}$ has also been observed in the Tethyan Himalaya of Kumaon. Inverse modeling of GPS-derived surface deformation rates in Garhwal and Kumaon Himalaya using a single dislocation indicate that the Main Himalayan Thrust is locked from the surface to a depth of ${\sim }15{-}20~\hbox {km}$ over a width of 110 km with associated slip rate of ${\sim }16{-}18~\hbox {mm/year}$ . These results indicate that the arc-normal rates in the Northwest Himalaya have a complex deformation pattern involving both convergence and extension, and rigorous seismo-tectonic models in the Himalaya are necessary to account for this pattern. In addition, the results also gave an estimate of co-seismic and post-seismic motion associated with the 1999 Chamoli earthquake, which is modeled to derive the slip and geometry of the rupture plane.     

Interannual and interdecadal variability of ocean temperature along the equatorial Pacific in conjunction with ENSO

In this paper, the leading modes of ocean temperature anomalies (OTA) along the equatorial Pacific Ocean are analyzed and their connection with El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and interdecadal variation is investigated. The first two leading modes of OTA are connected with the different phases of the canonical ENSO and display asymmetric features of ENSO evolution. The third leading mode depicts a tripole pattern with opposite variation of OTA above the thermocline in the central Pacific to that along the thermocline in the eastern and western Pacific. This mode is found to be associated with so-called ENSO-Modoki. Insignificant correlations of this mode with the first two leading modes suggest that ENSO-Modoki may be a mode that is independent to the canonical ENSO and also has longer time scales compared with the canonical ENSO. The fourth mode reflects a warming (cooling) tendency above (below) the thermocline since 2000. Both the first and second modes have a large contribution to the interdecadal change in thermocline during 1979–2012. Also, the analysis also documents that both ENSO and OTA shifted into higher frequency since 2000 compared with that during 1979–1999. Interestingly, the ENSO-Modoki related OTA mode does not have any trend or significant interdecadal shift during 1979–2012. In addition, it is shown that first four EOF modes seem robust before and after 1999/2000, suggesting that the interdecadal shift of the climate system in the tropical Pacific is mainly a frequency shift and the changes in spatial pattern are relatively small, although the mean states over two periods experienced some significant changes.     

Dry spell characteristics over India based on IMD and APHRODITE datasets

Selected characteristics of dry spells and associated trends over India during the 1951–2007 period is studied using two gridded datasets: the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Asian Precipitation-Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of the water resources (APHRODITE) datasets. Two precipitation thresholds, 1 and 3 mm, are used to define a dry day (and therefore dry spells) in this study. Comparison of the spatial patterns of the dry spell characteristics (mean number of dry days, mean number of dry spells, mean and maximum duration of dry spells) for the annual and summer monsoon period obtained with both datasets agree overall, except for the northernmost part of India. The number of dry days obtained with APHRODITE is larger for this region compared to IMD, which is consistent with the smaller precipitation for the region in APHRODITE. These differences are also visible in the spatial patterns of mean and maximum dry spell durations. Analysis of field significance associated with trends, at the level of 34 predefined meteorological subdivisions over the mainland, suggests better agreement between the two datasets in positive trends associated with number of dry days for the annual and summer monsoon period, for both thresholds. Important differences between the two datasets are noted in the field significance associated with the negative trends. While negative trends in annual maximum duration of dry spells appear field significant for the desert regions according to both datasets, they are found field significant for two regions (Punjab and South Interior Karnataka) for the monsoon period for both datasets. This study, in addition to providing information on the spatial and temporal patterns associated with dry spell characteristics, also allows identification of regions and characteristics where the two datasets agree/disagree.     

Dissolved Boron in the Tapi,Narmada and the Mandovi Estuaries,the Western Coast of India: Evidence for Conservative Behavior

The concentrations of dissolved boron have been measured during different seasons in three estuaries, the Tapi, Narmada and the Mandovi situated on the western coast of India, to investigate its geochemical behavior and inputs from the localized anthropogenic pressures of industrial effluents and sewage discharge. The measured boron concentrations in these estuaries (except the Tapi during non-monsoon) at salinity ≤0.1 fall in a narrow range?～?2–4 μmol/kg (average B?～?2.4?±?0.8 μmol/kg) within the reported wide range?～?0.1–18.6 μmol/kg for global rivers. The much higher estimate of boron concentration in the Tapi River during non-monsoon is attributed to its possible additional supply from the sewage and/or industrial effluents discharged along the river course. During monsoon, the rains seem to be a significant source of dissolved boron to all the three rivers. The distribution of dissolved boron in each estuary exhibits a conservative behavior during the seasons sampled suggestive of no measurable addition or removal of boron in the estuarine region. The orders of magnitude differences in boron concentration between the river waters and seawater, and the conservative behavior of dissolved boron indicate that its major contributor to the estuaries sampled is seawater.     

A site-specific study on the measurement of sorption coefficients for radionuclides

A study on the potential of geological media from the vicinity of the mining site in Tummalapalle region of Andhra Pradesh in India for retardation of radionuclide migration in groundwater was conducted. The studies included the measurement of sorption coefficients for six radionuclides, uranium, thorium, lead, bismuth, radium and polonium, between two groundwater simulants and two site-specific samples of geological media. Initial parametric studies involving chemical composition, pH, calcium carbonate and organic carbon contents of both geological media and ground water simulants were carried out. Significant differences in sorption coefficients were observed as a result of varying pH, calcium carbonate and presence of trace quantities of organic contents in simulant solutions. For example, uranium has a hundred fold lower distribution coefficient in the case of simulant solution having higher carbonate content. Similarly, in the case of the geological media having higher calcium carbonate and organic carbon contents, higher distribution coefficients were obtained for all radionuclides. Among the six radionuclides studied thorium showed the largest and radium the smallest distribution coefficient values for the soil samples assessed. The site-specific sorption coefficients will be used for contaminant transport study.     

Overview of the potential of microalgae for CO2 sequestration

An economic and environmentally friendly approach of overcoming the problem of fossil CO₂ emissions would be to reuse it through fixation into biomass. Carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is the basis for the formation of complex sugars by green plants and microalgae through photosynthesis, has been shown to significantly increase the growth rates of certain microalgal species. Microalgae possess a greater capacity to fix CO₂ compared to C₄ plants. Selection of appropriate microalgal strains is based on the CO₂ fixation and tolerance capability together with lipid potential, both of which are a function of biomass productivity. Microalgae can be propagated in open raceway ponds or closed photobioreactors. Biological CO₂ fixation also depends on the tolerance of selected strains to high temperatures and the amount of CO₂ present in flue gas, together with SO_x and NO_x. Potential uses of microalgal biomass after sequestration could include biodiesel production, fodder for livestock, production of colorants and vitamins. This review summarizes commonly employed microalgal species as well as the physiological pathway involved in the biochemistry of CO₂ fixation. It also presents an outlook on microalgal propagation systems for CO₂ sequestration as well as a summary on the life cycle analysis of the process.     

Geochemical characterization and heavy metal contamination of groundwater in Satluj River Basin

Groundwater, a renewable and finite natural resource, vital for man’s life, social and economic development and a valuable component of the ecosystem, is vulnerable to natural and human impacts. The aim of present study is to evaluate hydrogeochemical parameters and heavy metals in groundwater and to study their spatial distribution in the Rupnagar District of Punjab. The spatial distribution of physico-chemical parameters were studied using Arc GIS 9.2. It was observed that the concentration of parameters, such as NO₃, Cd, Cr, Mn and Pb was above permissible limit (World Health Organization, WHO) in southern part of the study area. The heavy metal pollution index (HPI) was calculated for all sampling locations and it was found much above the critical limit of pollution. Geochemical reaction models of selected water groups were constructed using Phreeqc. Geochemical modeling suggests that sodium has source other than halite-albite and calcium has alternate source other than gypsum-carbonate or silicates. It also suggests that evaporites, ion exchange, dissolution along with anthropogenic activities are controlling the hydro-geochemistry of groundwater in the region. Various indices, such as heavy metal pollution index, permeability index, sodium adsorption ratio, were studied to verify suitability of groundwater for drinking and irrigation.     

Appraisal of land use/land cover of mangrove forest ecosystem using support vector machine

Human activities in many parts of the world have greatly changed the natural land cover. This study has been conducted on Pichavaram forest, south east coast of India, famous for its unique mangrove bio-diversity. The main objectives of this study were focused on monitoring land cover changes particularly for the mangrove forest in the Pichavaram area using multi-temporal Landsat images captured in the 1991, 2000, and 2009. The land use/land cover (LULC) estimation was done by a unique hybrid classification approach consisting of unsupervised and support vector machine (SVM)-based supervised classification. Once the vegetation and non-vegetation classes were separated, training site-based classification technology i.e., SVM-based supervised classification technique was used. The agricultural area, forest/plantation, degraded mangrove and mangrove forest layers were separated from the vegetation layer. Mud flat, sand/beach, swamp, sea water/sea, aquaculture pond, and fallow land were separated from non-vegetation layer. Water logged areas were delineated from the area initially considered under swamp and sea water-drowned areas. In this study, the object-based post-classification comparison method was employed for detecting changes. In order to evaluate the performance, an accuracy assessment was carried out using the randomly stratified sampling method, assuring distribution in a rational pattern so that a specific number of observations were assigned to each category on the classified image. The Kappa accuracy of SVM classified image was highest (94.53 %) for the 2000 image and about 94.14 and 89.45 % for the 2009 and 1991 images, respectively. The results indicated that the increased anthropogenic activities in Pichavaram have caused an irreversible loss of forest vegetation. These findings can be used both as a strategic planning tool to address the broad-scale mangrove ecosystem conservation projects and also as a tactical guide to help managers in designing effective restoration measures.     

Monitoring surface elevation changes in Jharia coalfield,India using synthetic aperture radar interferometry

This paper investigates surface elevation changes that occurred during 1996–2004 in the Jharia coalfield through the digital elevation model (DEM) generated using synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) using ERS-1/2 (European Remote Sensing Satellite) tandem and RADARSAT-1 data. The comparison of elevation values derived from the InSAR DEM and topographic height data shows a bias of 23.08 m with root-mean-square error of ±2.31 m (5.8 %). The accuracy of the DEM was investigated by comparing the elevation profiles with the digitized elevation contour data at four different locations. The profile comparison shows a mean bias of 22.68 m. Local topography shows changes in elevation up to ±40.00 m due to mining activities on the 8-year time period. The results of InSAR-derived heights and topographic heights were comparable and well-matched except at a few locations where topographic data were unavailable. DEM generated using InSAR due to its high spatial details is ideal for the detection and estimation of surface elevation changes in mining areas.     

Spatio-temporal dynamics of heavy metals in sediments of the river estuarine system: Mahanadi basin (India)

Dynamics of heavy metals in the surface sediments of Mahanadi river estuarine system were studied for three different seasons. This study demonstrates that the relative abundance of these metals follows in the order of Fe > Mn > Zn > Pb > Cr > Ni ≥ Co > Cu > Cd. The spatial pattern of heavy metals supported by enrichment ratio data, suggests their anthropogenic sources possibly from various industrial wastes and municipal wastes as well as agricultural runoff. The metal concentrations in estuarine sediments are relatively higher than in the river due to adsorption/accumulation of metals on sediments during saline mixing, while there is a decreasing trend of heavy metal concentrations towards the marine side. The temporal variations for metals, such as Fe, Mn, Zn, Ni and Pb exhibit higher values during monsoon season, which are related to agricultural runoff. Higher elemental concentrations are observed during pre-monsoon season for these above metals (except Ni) at the polluted stations and for metals, such as Cr, Co and Cd at all sites, which demonstrate the intensity of anthropogenic contribution. R-mode factor analysis reveals that “Fe–Mn oxy hydroxide”, “organic matter”, “CaCO₃”, and “textural variables” factors are the major controlling geochemical factors for the enrichment of heavy metals in river estuarine sediment and their seasonal variations, though their intensities were different for different seasons. The relationships among the stations are highlighted by cluster analysis, represented in dendrograms to categorize different contributing sites for the enrichment of heavy metals in the river estuarine system.