Mapping and Assessment of Groundwater Potential in Bilrai Watershed (Shivpuri District, M.P.)—A Geomatics Approach

The main objective of the present work is to delineate the groundwater potential zones in Bilari watershed of district Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh. Remote Sensing data and GIS were used to delineate the groundwater potential zones of the area. IRS-1D (LISS III) data have been utilized to extract information on various themes such as geomorphology, structure, drainage and land use/land cover. Available lithology and soil maps have also been used. DEM has been generated from contours taken from Survey of India topographical maps in order to obtain the slope percentage and slope aspect of the area. The groundwater potential zones were delineated by weighted overlay analysis. The themes geology, geomorphology, slope and soil were considered and the weightages assigned to different classes of respective themes according to their role in groundwater potential. Finally, five groundwater potential zones viz., very good, good, moderate; poor and very poor were delineated for the study area. It was estimated that about 110.41?sq km area which forms 37.55% of the total area are in the zones of very poor, poor and moderate category and about 183.75?sq km (62.45%) in zones of good and very good category.     

Distribution and risk assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the remote air and soil of Manipur,India

∑₂₅PCB congeners including dioxin-like compounds were analyzed at three sites of Manipur India to assess the level of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in air and soil. The ∑₂₅PCBs were higher in urban air (average 2,454 pg/m³), followed by the mountain air (average 2,109 pg/m³) and rural air (average 1,756 pg/m³). PCB levels observed in urban air were higher compared to PCB levels reported in major Indian metropolitan cities especially along the coastal region and were comparable with the pristine sites of India and also with some pockets of China and Europe. The heavier congeners (tetra, penta, tri and hexa) were dominant in both air and soil samples and show significant correlation with the ambient temperature. Emission of PCB congeners was investigated from soil surface. The total organic carbon present in soil shows the significant correlation (r ² = 0.8; p < 0.05) with the PCBs could indicate that the PCBs originated from the similar sources. Principal component analysis revealed that the sources of higher chlorinated PCB congeners are local emissions while long-range atmospheric transport process is responsible behind elevated levels of lower chlorinated PCBs. Total calculated toxic equivalent (TEQ) levels in soil (37.17–160.5 pg/g) were superior to reported TEQ level of agricultural soil in Delhi, India (0.01–105.40 pg/g). Back trajectory analysis showed that the observed high levels of PCB at Manipur may due to movement of air masses, mostly from the Northern and Southern India and to some extent from Myanmar.     

Spectroscopic Studies on Astrophysically Interesting TaO TaS, ZrS and SiO+ Molecules

The true experimental potential energy curves for the electronic ground states of astrophysically important TaO, TaS, ZrS and SiO⁺molecules are constructed by using the Rydberg–Klein–Rees method as modified by Vanderslice et al. The ground state dissociation energies are determined by curve fitting techniques using the five parameters Hulburt-Hirschfelder (H-H) function. The estimated dissociation energies are 8.19 ± 0.17, 6.9 ±0.14, 5.89 ± 0.12 and 5.75 ± 0.12 eVfor TaO, TaS, ZrS and SiO⁺ respectively. These values are in good agreement with the literature values. The r-centriods and Franck–Condon factors (FC Factors) for the bands of K ² φ _5/2 - X ² Δ _3/2 (K-X) system of TaO, A-X ² Δ (A-X) and B-X ² Δ (B-X)systems of TaS, B ¹ Π - X¹ Σ⁺ (B-X) system of ZrS and B ²Σ⁺ - X² Σ⁺ (B-X) and A ² Π - X² Σ⁺ (A-X)systems of SiO⁺ molecules have been calculated. The Franck–Condon factors (FC factors) are evaluated by the approximate analytical methods of Jarmain and Fraser. The absence of the bands of these systems is explained. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Tracking Fishes With a Microwatt Acoustical Receiver —An Archival Tag Development

This paper presents the design of an ultralow-power acoustical receiver circuit intended to track small aquatic animals. The receiver forms a crucial component of a versatile data logger capable of sensing and storing a variety of biologically important data such as geographic position, ambient temperature, pressure, etc. The size of the final tag will be determined by the size of the cylindrical hydrophone, which will serve as housing for all electronic components, the external sensors, the timing crystal, and the battery. The receiver circuit was prototyped on a 0.5-mum complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) chip. Extensive lab tests proved all system component functional. The fully operational receiver consumes 21 muW at 3 V. Results from a preliminary field test, conducted with a source generating a sound pressure level of 180 dB re 1 muPa, predict a tracking range of 100-120 km     

Impacts of sea-level rise on coastal zones of Mauritius: insights following calculation of a coastal vulnerability index

Natural Hazards - Whilst climate change has been regarded as a growing concern in recent years due the disruptive and detrimental effects experienced across the globe, one of its most compelling...     

A higher-dimensional string cosmological model in Brans–Dicke theory of gravitation

Field equations in the presence of cosmic string source are obtained in a scalar tensor theory of gravitation proposed by Brans and Dicke (Phys. Rev. 124, 925 (1961)) with the aid of a five-dimensional Kaluza–Klein metric. An exact string cosmological model is presented which represents a five-dimensional Reddy string (Astrophys. Space Sci. 286, 2003b) in Brans–Dicke theory. Some physical properties of the model are also discussed     

Causal viscous universe coupled with zero-mass scalar field in higher derivative theory

Cosmological solutions in the presence of an imperfect fluid and zero-mass scalar field are obtained in higher derivative theory. We investigate both power law and exponential expansion of the universe described by full causal theories proposed by Israel and Stewart. It is observed that energy density, co-efficient of bulk viscosity decrease with time in the presence of massless scalar field and temperature increase with expansion of universe.     

Mesoproterozoic differential metasomatism in subcontinental lithospheric mantle of Central Indian Tectonic zone: Evidence from major and trace element geochemistry of padhar mafic-ultramafic complex

Metasomatism above subduction zone is an important process capable of producing a heterogeneous mantle wedge with locally varying characters. This, in turn, leads to variation in character of the mafic and intermediate rocks produced through partial melting of lithospheric mantle. The Padhar mafic-ultramafic complex is situated in western part of the Betul belt, Central India, shows enrichment in Rb, Ba, Th and Pb and depletion in Nb, Hf and Zr. Major and trace element data along with REE, confirms the presence of a metasomatized mantle above a Mesoproterozoic subduction zone. Differential petrological evolution, corresponding to the different magma batches, as reflected in almost all of the binary element / oxide variation diagrams, testifies small scale metasomatic heterogeneity in the underlying suprasubduction zone mantle wedge.     

Hydrogeomorphological and groundwater prospects of the Pageru river basin by using remote sensing data

Hydrogeomorphology and lineament studies have been completed by using satellite data for the Pageru river basin, Cuddapah district, Andhra Pradesh, India through visual interpretation of IRS-1B-LISS II FCC (57J/6, J/7, J/10 and J/11) on a 1:50,000 scale. The area has been visually interpreted to delineate various hydrogeomorphic units and lineaments for the development of groundwater. From these studies, various geomorphic units were classified as favourable, moderately favourable and poor zones of groundwater. The integration of geomorphology and lineament studies reveal that shallow groundwater occurrence is controlled by geomorphological characteristics whereas faults/fractures control the yield of groundwater at intermediate depths.