Development and application of Shannon’s entropy integrated information value model for landslide susceptibility assessment and zonation in Sikkim Himalayas in India

Natural Hazards - The state of Sikkim in India has many steep slopes and has been susceptible to landslides. Since 1968 there have been innumerable losses of lives and properties due to landslides....     

Cation distribution in low-calcium pyroxenes: Dependence on temperature and calcium content and the thermal history of lunar and terrestrial pigeonites

Four pyroxenes with compositions En₄₈Fs₄₈Wo₄, En_47·5Fs_47·5Wo₅, En₄₅Fs₄₅Wo₁₀ and En₄₀Fs₄₀Wo₂₀, synthesized at 1200°C at atmospheric pressure, were heat-treated at 500, 600, 700, and 800°C for various lengths of time. These pyroxenes are variously ordered with respect to Fe²⁺ and Mg²⁺ without unmixing. The Fe²⁺-Mg²⁺ distribution over the two nonequivalent sites M1 and M2, determined through Mössbauer spectroscopy, is found to be a function of both temperature and concentration of Ca²⁺ at the M2 site. The preference of Fe²⁺ for the M2 site increases with decreasing temperature and increasing Ca²⁺. These data can be used to determine cation equilibration temperatures of lunar and terrestrial pigeonites. The lunar pigeonites usually indicate equilibration temperatures of 700–860°C, except the pigeonite from rock 14053, which may have been subjected to shock heating due to meteoritic impact.     

Assessing landslide vulnerability from soil characteristics—a GIS-based analysis

Hilly regions are prone to landslides that cause heavy losses of life and properties every year. A number of researches and analyses are carried out in the GIS environment to identify landslide vulnerability in the region. The important conditioning factors identified by the researchers are slope, geological, geomorphologic features, and land use coupled with triggering factors like rainfall and a few of the anthropogenic activities. Soil forms the uppermost part of the earth crust, and it is expected that various soil characteristics like depth, surface texture, depth texture, soil erosion, hydraulic conductivity, stoniness, etc., play significant roles in causing landslide in the area. These factors have been ignored so far by most researchers while identifying landslide hazard-prone areas. This paper attempts to assess the vulnerability status in parts of East Sikkim, India, by integrating the influence of the various soil attributes. A composite index called soil stability value was determined by aggregating the weights assigned to different soil parameters. Finally, based on the soil stability values, the study area was classified into least vulnerable, moderately vulnerable, and most vulnerable zones of landslide occurrences. Comparison between the vulnerability zones and the actual landslide occurrences yielded a 90% agreement with the density of landslides in the most vulnerable zone, demonstrating the efficacy of soil characteristics as potential indicators of landslide events.     

Phase transitions in ilvaite,a mixed-valence iron silicate

Ilvaite, Ca(Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺) Fe²⁺Si₂O₇O(OH), a mixed-valence iron silicate shows an insulator-semimetal transition with a band gap of 0.13 eV due to thermally induced charge delocalization between Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions (A sites) in double octahedral chains. The charge delocalization induces a second order crystallographic phase transition on heating from monoclinic (P2₁/a) to orthorhombic (Pnam) symmetry at 346 K. The unit cell dimensions within the 295–420 K range and the crystal structures at 295, 320, 340, 360, 380 and 400 K have been determined by high temperature single crystal X-ray diffraction. The degree of charge delocalization determined from the sizes of the Fe(Ao) and Fe(Am) octahedra is the primary order parameter, Q which couples linearly with the spontaneous strain component, ₁₃. The order parameter coupling and the associated free energy expression is given. The calculated normal modes of the space group symmetry change are consistent with the experimentally observed atomic displacements, which are parallel and antiparallel to c. Formation of antiphase lamellar twin domains parallel to (001) in the monoclinic phase is predicted to occur as a result of the phase transition. Above T_c (= 346 K), the slow asymptotic decrease of ₁₃ attaining a zero value at 380 K indicates the presence of fluctuating precursor clusters with considerable short-range order above T_c. A peak in the specific heat (C_p) measurements coincides with the onset of longrange order at 380 K, whereas ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer measurements indicate the onset of charge localization at a considerbly higher temperature (470 K). The coupling of the d⁶ electron of the Fe²⁺ (A) ion with a longitudinal optic phonon with the polarization vector along c ^* is the likely mechanism to drive the phase transition. The electronphonon coupling also provides a charge conduction mechanism through electron hopping, whereby the short-bonded Fe²⁺-Fe³⁺ pair containing the d⁶ electron (intermediate polaron) will break up and re-form, thereby propagating the electron one step along the c axis.     

Lattice dynamics and Raman spectroscopy of protoenstatite Mg2Si2O6

Enstatites (Mg₂Si₂O₆) are important rock forming silicates of the pyroxene group whose structures are characterised by double MgO₆ octahedral bands and single silicate chains. Orthoenstatite transforms to protoenstatite above 1273 K with a doubling of the a axis and a rearrangement of the silicate chains with respect to the Mg₂₊ ions. Lattice dynamical calculations based on a rigid-ion model in the quasi-harmonic approximation provide theoretical estimates of elastic constants, long wavelength phonon modes, phonon dispersion relations, total and partial density of states and inelastic neutron scattering cross-sections of protoenstatite. The computed elastic constants are in good agreement with experimental data. The computed density of states of a chain silicate such as protoenstatite is distinct from that of olivines (forsterite, Mg₂SiO₄ and fayalite, Fe₂-SiO₄) with isolated silicate tetrahedra. The band gaps in the density of states in forsterite are largely due to the separation in the frequency ranges of the external and internal vibrations of the isolated silicate group, whereas in protoenstatite these gaps are filled by the vibrations of the bridging oxygens of the silicate chain. The computed density of states is used to calculate the specific heat, the mean square atomic displacements and temperature factors. Validity of these calculations are supported by Raman scattering measurements. Polarised and unpolarised Raman spectra are obtained from small single crystals of protoenstatite (Li,Sc)_0.6Mg_1.4Si₂O₆ stable at room temperature using the 488 nm or 514.5 nm lines of an Ar⁺ ion laser and a micro-Raman spectrometer with backscattering geometry. The Raman spectra were analysed and interpreted based on the lattice dynamical model. The experimental Raman frequencies and mode assignments (based on polarised single crystal spectra) are in good agreement with those obtained from lattice dynamical calculations.     

Magnetic order in acmite; NaFeSi2O6

The magnetic properties of two samples of acmite, one natural and the other synthetic, were determined using magnetization and susceptibility measurements, Mössbauer spectroscopy and neutron diffraction. Exchange interactions are quite strongly antiferromagnetic, the paramagnetic Curie temperature being -46 K for a purely ferric synthetic sample, but its Néel temperature is only 8 K. The principal magnetic mode has the periodicity of the crystallographic structure and is made of ferromagnetic chains, coupled antiferromagnetically. Moments are oriented in a direction close to the chain axis, c. The antiferromagnetic exchange between adjacent Fe³⁺ ions in the same chain is overcome by their coupling to a common Fe³⁺ neighbour in the next chain. This indicates that the whole (SiO₄) group can act as a superexchange ligand in silicates.     

Strong site preference of Co2+ in olivine,Co1.10Mg0.90SiO4

The crystal structure and site preference of Co²⁺ in a synthetic Co_1.10Mg_0.90SiO₄ olivine have been determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction data collected on an automatic diffractometer. The R factor is 0.044 for 612 reflections. The site occupancies are: Ml site: Co 0.730±0.006; Mg 0.270; M2 site: Co 0.370, Mg 0.630. The Gibbs free energy change, ΔG° for the ion-exchange reaction between M1 and M2 sites is ?4.06 kcals/mole, assuming ideal mixing at each set of sites. This energy may be called ‘site preference energy’ of Co²⁺ in olivine. The strong preference of Co²⁺ for the M1 site can be quantitatively explained by two competing forces: preference of ions larger than Mg²⁺ for the M2 site and stronger covalent bonding of transition metal ions at the M1 site. For Fe²⁺, Mg²⁺, these two effects nearly neutralize each other, explaining the lack of considerable cation-ordering in Fe-Mg olivines.