Hydrothermal Hgbomite Associated with Vanadiferous-Titaniferous(V-Ti) Bearing Magnetite Bands in Bhakatarhalli Chromite Mine,Nuggihalli Greenstone Belt,Western Dharwar Craton,Karnataka, India

Hgbomite, a rare exotic mineral, is found to be associated with the vanadiferous–titaniferous(V-Ti) bearing magnetite bands at Bhakatarhalli, Nuggihalli greenstone belt, western Dharwar Craton, India. We report on a second occurrence of hgbomite from the Dharwar craton in Karnataka, which is the sixth documented occurrence of this mineral from India. We evaluate the chemical characteristics of hgbomite and associated Fe-Ti-minerals in an attempt to identify its formation as a primary hydrothermal mineral in a metamorphosed magnetite layer.We report here the presence of hgbomite as a complex oxide of Fe, Mg, Al and Ti with accessory of Zn, V and Sn. Petrographic studies suggest the(V–Ti) bearing magnetite(Mt) contain spinel, hgbomite, chlorite, martite, ilmenite(Il) and minor amounts of diaspore. The hgbomite displays euhedral to subhedral textures, and is up to 250 μm along the grain boundaries of magnetite and ilmenite. In the samples studied, hgbomite is prismatic, irregular and elongated in shape. The genesis of hgbomite in veins between magnetite and ilmenite implies its precipitation from fluids without involving complicated reactions. Several models were proposed for the formation of hgbomite; however, the subject is still debatable.     

Mapping of Coal Fire in Jharia Coalfield,India: a Remote Sensing Based Approach

In India, Jharia Coalfield (JCF) has one of the densest congregations of surface-subsurface coal fires known worldwide. Systematic investigation and quantification of actual scenario of coal fires in JCF is always necessary to plan sustainable mining, industrial growth and environmental remediation on a long term basis. The present approach involves evaluation and mapping of coal fire using ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection) data. Mapping reveals that the area located around western, eastern and south-eastern parts of JCF covering territories of Shatabdi opencast, Barora; Sijua opencast; Godhar colliery; Kusunda; Bokapahari; Kujama and Lodna are under intense fire with cumulative coverage of 6.23 km². The ASTER derived Land Surface Temperature (LST) of the anomalous areas have been subsequently validated by the field observations, carried out in JCF in February, 2010. The methodology adopted in the present study would provide precise evaluation and monitoring of coal fire in Jharia.     

An effective ensemble classification framework using random forests and a correlation based feature selection technique

Accurate classification of heterogeneous land surfaces with homogeneous land cover classes is a challenging task as satellite images are characterized by a large number of features in the spectral and spatial domains. The identifying relevance of a feature or feature set is an important task for designing an effective classification scheme. Here, an ensemble of random forests (RF) classifiers is realized on the basis of relevance of features. Correlation‐based Feature Selection (CFS) was utilized to assess the relevance of a subset of features by studying the individual predictive ability of each feature along with the degree of redundancy between them. Predictability of RF was greatly improved by random selection of the relevant features in each of the splits. An investigation was carried out on different types of images from the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (Landsat ETM+) and QuickBird sensors. It has been observed that the performance of the RF classifier was significantly improved while using the optimal set of relevant features compared with a few of the most advanced supervised classifiers such as maximum likelihood classifier (MLC), Navie Bayes, multi‐layer perception (MLP), support vector machine (SVM) and bagging.     

Premonsoonal water characteristics and circulation in the east central Arabian Sea

The hydrographic structure in the east central Arabian Sea during premonsoon period undergoes significant temporal change in the thermal field of upper 100 m, wherein temperature rises by about 0–5°C on an average from May to June. The major contribution in increasing the surface layer temperature comes from surface heat exchange processes, while the horizontal advective process tends to remove the heat from the upper layer. The geostrophic flow patterns are similar from May to June in the major part of the study area while in the coastal areas off Goa a southerly current sets in June in response to coastal upwelling.     

An evaluation of the undiscovered mineral resources of India based on the concept of unit regional value

Unit regional value (URV) and unit regional weight (URW) are relatively new concepts which are used to measure the intensity of the development of the mineral resources of any particular region. URV and URW of the mineral resources of India have been evaluated by sector, by commodity, as well as by state. The results are compared with values for the U.S.A. established by earlier workers and which can be taken as a standard for comparison with the mineral resources of other regions. URV of India, evaluated through the years 1898–1985, shows that the total mineral resources produced stands at $24.4 billion U.S. (deflated to 1967 value). Log URV of India lies below one standard deviation of the value for the states of the U.S. Like the U.S. India's major contribution to its URV is from fuels, but it is much less compared to that of the U.S. Next to fuels, metals, nonmetals, construction materials, and precious materials follow in that order. Except for two states, viz. Bihar and West Bengal, all other states are just below two standard deviations of the states of the U.S. The state of J&K is even much lower than the two standard deviations mark. It is concluded that India has a high potential for undiscovered mineral resources. However, this will require a large investment in exploration, on the order of Rs. 7760 crores, in the next few years.     

Quality characterization of groundwater in Koilsagar project area,Mahabubnagar District,Andhra Pradesh,India

Studies of groundwater chemistry in the Koilsagar project area of Andhra Pradesh indicate that the waters are sodium bicarbonate, sodium chloride, mixed cationic-mixed anionic, mixed cationic Na dominating bicarbonate, and mixed cationic Ca dominating bicarbonate types. Of them, sodium bicarbonate and mixed cationic Mg dominating bicarbonate types of waters are more prevalent.Isocone mapping of specific conductance indicates that the ionic concentration increases from east to west in the area. Graphical treatment of chemical data reveals that, in general, the area has basic water, whereas the left flank canal area is dominated by secondary alkaline water, and Pallamarri and Pedda Rajmur villages have strongly acidic waters. Ion-exchange studies show that cation-anion exchanges exist all over the area except for two places, which have a base exchange hardened type of water.Graphical representation further shows that most of the area has medium salinity-low sodium (C₂S₁) water useful for irrigation purposes. High salinity-low sodium (C₃S₁) and high salinity-medium sodium (C₃S₂) waters are present in some areas, which need adequate drainage to overcome the salinity problem.     

Hydrogeochemical investigation and qualitative assessment of surface water resources in West Bokaro coalfield,India

A hydrogeochemical study of surface water of the West Bokaro coalfield has been undertaken to assess its quality and suitability for drinking, domestic and irrigation purposes. For this purpose, fourteen samples collected from rivers and ponds of the coalfield were analysed for pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), major cations (Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺ and K⁺), major anions (HCO₃^-, F^-, Cl^-, SO₄^2- and NO₃^-) and trace metals. The pH of the analysed water samples varied from 7.3 to 8.2, indicating slightly alkaline in nature. The electrical conductivity (EC) value varied from 93 μs cm^-1 to 906 μs cm^-1 while the TDS varied from 76 mg L^-1 to 658 mg L^-1. HCO₃^- and SO₄^2- are the dominant anion and Ca²⁺ and Na⁺ the cation in the surface water. The concentration of alkaline earth metals (Ca²⁺ + Mg²⁺) exceed the alkali metals (Na⁺ + K⁺) and HCO₃^- dominates over SO₄^2- + Cl^- concentrations in the majority of the surface water samples. Ca²⁺ -Mg²⁺ -HCO₃^- and Ca²⁺ -Mg²⁺ -Cl^- are the dominant hydrogeochemical facies in the surface water of the area. The water chemistry is mainly controlled by rock weathering with secondary contribution from anthropogenic sources. For quality assessment, analyzed water parameter values compared with Indian and WHO water quality standard. In majority of the samples, the analyzed parameters are well within the desirable limits and water is potable for drinking purposes. However, concentrations of TDS, TH, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Fe are exceeding the desirable limits in some water samples and needs treatment before its utilization. The calculated parameters such as sodium absorption ration, percent sodium, residual sodium carbonate, permeability index and magnesium hazard revealed good to permissible quality and suitable for irrigation purposes, however, higher salinity, permeability index and Mg-ratio restrict its suitability for irrigation at few sites.     

Evaluation of extreme dust storm over the northwest Indo-Gangetic plain using WRF-Chem model

Natural Hazards - This study uses a high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with the chemistry module (WRF-Chem) to analyze the dust storm that occurred during 12?17...