Subbottom profile of ARSRP sediment pond as determined from vertical towed array data

The Acoustic Reverberation Special Research Program (ARSRP) acquired a unique set of towed vertical array data across a sediment pond adjacent to the mid-Atlantic ridge. Processing of the deep-towed vertical array data to map the subbottom structure within the sediment pond provided the basis for a geological interpretation of the pelagic sediments contained within the pond. The layering in this pond is parallel and subparallel in nature with very gentle dips increasing with depths of the sediment. The gentle dips and the faults within the sediment layers are the result of differential compaction and slumping of the sediments.     

Chronology of desert margin in western India using improved luminescence dating protocols

The present study provides improved chronology for the desert margin fluvial sediments of semi-arid region located in the Mahi river basin, western India. The sequence has preserved a near-continuous record of climate change since the Last Interglacial. An earlier attempt of dating based on feldspar IRSL chronology shows a combined effect of anomalous fading and unbleached components resulting in age inversions. The present work tries to explore the possibility of using blue light stimulated luminescence (BLSL) of quartz, infra-red stimulated luminescence (IRSL) of feldspar and the newly developed methodologies, like natural correction factor based single aliquot regeneration (NCF-SAR) protocol and decision making schemes based on distribution of doses and beta heterogeneity concept for luminescence dating of sediments. Observations suggest that quartz suffered from significant sensitivity changes during natural signal measurement and partial bleaching. A combination of NCF-SAR protocol and sample specific equivalent dose computation helped in arriving at better age estimate for present samples. The study also compares the criteria for the selection of different age models that are used at present. The age of the alluvial sequence is now bracketed between 10 ka (upper aeolian unit) and 75 ka (lowermost fluvial unit).     

One-dimensional solute dispersion along unsteady flow through a heterogeneous medium,dispersion being proportional to the square of velocity

Abstract

One-dimensional solute transport, originating from a continuous uniform point source, is studied along unsteady longitudinal flow through a heterogeneous medium of semi-infinite extent. Velocity is considered as directly proportional to the linear spatially-dependent function that defines the heterogeneity. It is also assumed temporally dependent. It is expressed in both the independent variables in degenerate form. The dispersion parameter is considered to be proportional to square of the velocity. Certain new independent variables are introduced through separate transformations to reduce the variable coefficients of the advection–diffusion equation to constant coefficients. The Laplace Transformation Technique (LTT) is used to obtain the desired solution. The effects of heterogeneity and unsteadiness on the solute transport are investigated.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor F.F. Hattermann

Citation Kumar, A., Jaiswal, D.K., and Kumar, N., 2012. One-dimensional solute dispersion along unsteady flow through a heterogeneous medium, dispersion being proportional to the square of velocity. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (6), 1223–1230.     

Advances in microbial bioremediation and the factors influencing the process

Irrational and rapid global human societal development has culminated to a condition of environmental deterioration. Accidental leakage and deliberate use of organic and inorganic chemicals have contaminated the environment up to the level of ecosystem. Advancements have been made in the field of research on bioremediation of the hazardous contaminants especially in last three decades. Microbial bioremediation has been the most understood biotechnological process of environmental restoration. Bacteria and fungi because of their inherent ability to adapt and grow in extreme environments have been employed for either removal or degradation of the chemical contaminants. Researchers all over the world are getting breakthroughs in finding new bacterial strains having plasmid linked degradation/reduction ability. Molecular biology and genetic engineering helped in crafting the microbes for the desired results on environment. Despite having favorable conditions, microbial remediation largely depends on environmental factors and on the basic biological characters of microbes, especially bacteria being Gram-positive or Gram-negative. Metagenomic studies revealed the importance of microbial ecology as microbes work well in community, i.e., consortia. This review along with several other studies suggests the need of precision during microbial community identification, substrate specificity and the designing of microbes.     

Closed form Vaidya-Tikekar type charged fluid spheres with pressure

Recently, Bijalwan (Astrophys. Space Sci. doi:, 2011) discussed all important solutions of charged fluid spheres with pressure and Gupta et al. (Astrophys. Space Sci. doi:, 2010) found first closed form solutions of charged Vaidya-Tikekar (V-T) type super-dense star. We extend here the approach evolved by Bijalwan (Astrophys. Space Sci. doi:, 2011) to find all possible closed form solutions of V-T type super-dense stars. The existing solutions of Vaidya-Tikekar type charged fluid spheres considering particular form of electric field intensity are being used to model massive stars. Infact at present maximum masses of the star models are found to be 8.223931M _Θ and 8.460857M _Θ subject to ultra-relativistic and non-relativistic conditions respectively. But these stars with such are large masses are not well behaved due to decreasing velocity of sound in the interior of star. We present new results concerning the existence of static, electrically charged perfect fluid spheres that have a regular interior. It is observed that electric intensity used in this article can be used to model superdense stars with ultrahigh surface density of the order 2×10¹⁴ gm/cm³ which may have maximum mass 7.26368240M _Θ for ultra-relativistic condition and velocity of sound found to be decreasing towards pressure free interface. We solve the Einstein-Maxwell equations considering a general barotropic equation of state with pressure. For brevity we don’t present a detailed analysis of the derived solutions in this paper.     

Exact solutions: classical electron model

Rahaman et al. (Astrophys. Space. Sci. 331:191–197, 2010) discussed some classical electron models (CEM) in general relativity. Bijalwan (Astrophys. Space. Sci. 334:139–143, 2011) present a general exact solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations in terms of pressure. We showed that charged fluid solutions in terms of pressure are not reducible to a well behaved neutral counter part for a spatial component of metrice ^λ . Hence, these solutions represent an electron model in general relativity. We illustrated solutions in terms of pressure briefly with de-Sitter equation of state and charged analogues of Kohler Chao interior solution as a special cases.     

Metasomatism of ferroan granites in the northern Aravalli orogen,NW India: geochemical and isotopic constraints,and its metallogenic significance

The late Palaeoproterozoic (1.72–1.70 Ga) ferroan granites of the Khetri complex, northern Aravalli orogen, NW India, were extensively metasomatised ~900 Ma after their emplacement, at around 850–830 Ma by low-temperature (ca. 400 °C) meteoric fluids that attained metamorphic character after exchanging oxygen with the surrounding metamorphic rocks. Albitisation is the dominant metasomatic process that was accompanied by Mg and Ca metasomatism. A two-stage metasomatic model is applicable to all the altered ferroan intrusives. The stage I is represented by a metasomatic reaction interface that developed as a result of transformation of the original microcline–oligoclase (An_12–14) granite to microcline–albite (An_1–3) granite, and this stage is rarely preserved. In contrast, the stage II metasomatic reaction front, where the microcline-bearing albite granite has been transformed to microcline-free albite granite, is readily recognisable in the field and present in most of the intrusives. Some of them lack an obvious reaction interface due to the presence of stage II albite granites only. When studied in isolation, these intrusives were incorrectly classified and their tectonic setting was misinterpreted. Furthermore, our results show that the mafic mineralogy of metasomatised granites has a significant impact on the characterisation of such rocks in the magmatic classification and discrimination diagrams. Nevertheless, the stage I metasomatised granites can be appropriately characterised in these diagrams, whereas the characterisation of the stage II granites will lead to erroneous interpretations. The close spatial association of these high heat producing ferroan granites with iron oxide–copper–gold (IOCG), U and REE mineralisation in the region indicates a genetic link between the metasomatism and the mineralisation. World-class IOCG, U and REE deposits are associated with metasomatised ferroan granites, suggesting that such a relationship may act as a critical first-order exploration target for undiscovered mineral deposits.