Use of remote sensing techniques in geomorphological and soil studies for management of irrigated areas of Chambal Canal,Madhya Pradesh

The problems of large irrigation project are usually presented by water logging and soil salinity. These are associated with geomorphic conditions and type of soils present in the command areas and could be easily identified by use of aerial photographs and remote sensing techniques. The present study aims to make use of satellite data for identification of these problems. The study indicates that satellite information would be useful to locate such problem areas by adopting multistage approach for its interpretation.     

Geochemical factors controlling the chemical nature of water and sediments in the Gomti River, India

 R-mode factor analysis of the recently acquired data on water and sediment chemistry has been performed. Basic chemical parameters have been merged together which aid in interpreting a few empirical geochemical factors controlling the chemical nature of water and sediments of the Gomti River, a major Himalayan tributary of the Ganges drainage basin. Water chemistry seems to be controlled by three factors: bicarbonate, rainfall and silicate and phosphate factors. Sediment chemistry is largely controlled by the following four factors: clay, adsorption/desorption, Fe-Mn hydroxide and mercury factors. These factors show spatial and temporal variability in terms of their R-scores. Received: 8 September 1997 · Accepted: 15 December 1997     

Distribution and fractionation of heavy metals in the surface sediments of the Ganges- Brahmaputra-Meghna river system in the Bengal basin

 The lower Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (G-B-M) drainage basin occupies the total Bengal Basin, which is one of the unique basins of the world because of its location and size, density of population, and catastrophic deposition of sediments. The increased heavy metal concentration in the 63 m fraction of surface sediments shows similarity among major segments of the G-B-M system in the basin, which reflects the homogenization of lithologic and chemical diversity of the greater denudation regime by the river processes. The differences in heavy metal concentation in the lower G-B-M system with that of its upper and middle counterpart is mainly related to the contrast between Himalayan rivers and the other major South Asian rivers, and may be due to the geological differences of their denudation regime. Heavy metals in the Lower G-B-M system have an affinity towards the clay fraction of the sediments. The correlation matix of heavy metals in the lower Brahmaputra and Meghna suggests the importance of Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides in their accumulations. Iron, Ti and Mn are higher in the Meghna main channel, Zn is higher in the Meghna tributaries, and Cr is higher in both the Brahmaputra and Meghna compared to the value for standard shale. The enrichment factor is ≤1 for most of the metals except Mn which is relatively higher in the Meghna and lower Ganges main channels. The geoaccumulation index (I_geo) for most of the heavy metals lies below grade zero, suggesting unpolluted sediment quality. The lower Ganges system shows relatively higher concentration in the nondetrital fraction of heavy metals, probably due to the presence of petroleum refinery, industrial and mining effluents, and agricultural runoff in the drainage basin. The relative uniformity in concentration of heavy metals in vertical profiles may be due to the uniformity in sediment grain size and catastrophic deposition of sediments, where the time period represented by the vertical sediment column is not enough to reflect the cultural accumulation of heavy metals. The Bengal basin thus represents a relatively unperturbed alluvial basin with regards to heavy metal pollution. Received: 21 July 1997 · Accepted: 13 October 1997     

Can the turbulent galactic dynamo generate large-scale magnetic fields?

Large-scale magnetic fields in galaxies are thought to be generated by a turbulent dynamo. However, the same turbulence also leads to a small-scale dynamo which generates magnetic noise at a more rapid rate. The efficiency of the large-scale dynamo depends on how this noise saturates. We examine this issue, taking into account ambipolar drift, which obtains in a galaxy with significant neutral gas. We argue as follows.
(i) The small-scale dynamo generated field does not fill the volume, but is concentrated into intermittent rope-like structures. The flux ropes are curved on the turbulent eddy scales. Their thickness is set by the diffusive scale determined by the effective ambipolar diffusion.
(ii) For a largely neutral galactic gas, the small-scale dynamo saturates, as a result of inefficient random stretching, when the peak field in a flux rope has grown to a few times the equipartition value.
(iii) The average energy density in the saturated small-scale field is subequipartition, since it does not fill the volume.
(iv) Such fields neither drain significant energy from the turbulence nor convert eddy motion of the turbulence on the outer scale into wave-like motion. The diffusive effects needed for the large-scale dynamo operation are then preserved until the large-scale field itself grows to near equipartition levels.     

The Gauribidanur Radioheliograph

A new radio heliograph for obtaining two-dimensional images of the solar corona sequentially at many frequencies in the range 40–150 MHz has been built by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics at the Gauribidanur Radio Observatory (lat. 13°3612 N and long. 77°2707 E) about 100 km north of Bangalore, India. This paper describes various aspects of the antenna system, receiver front end, digital hardware, the data acquisition and the calibration procedure. The performance of the instrument is illustrated with maps of the continuum emission from the undisturbed corona at different frequencies.     

Zooplankton Distribution in Coastal Water off Gopalpur,North-Western Bay of Bengal

An interannual study on zooplankton abundance, biomass, and species composition was carried out during different seasons in two local coastal water types off Gopalpur, north-western Bay of Bengal. Although, Type-1 was observed with higher zooplankton abundance in comparison to Type-2, pattern of variation followed similar seasonal trends in both water types during individual years. Well pronounced seasonality was observed in zooplankton distribution. Zooplankton community was composed of 217 holoplankton and 22 meroplankton. The holoplankton community was predominated by copepod in terms of species diversity and abundance followed by hydrozoa, tintinnida, malacostraca, gastropoda, chaetognatha and chordata. The meroplankton were represented by larval forms viz. bivalve veliger, brachyuran zoea larvae, caridean larvae, copepod nauplii, fish egg and gastropod veliger. Dominance of copepod species viz. Acrocalanus longicornis, Paracalanus aculeatus and Paracalanus parvus were observed frequently in both water types. The species richness was higher in Type-1 in comparison to Type-2 during both the years. Salinity regimes and availability of phytoplankton prey influenced the distribution and species composition of zooplankton assemblage.     

On the origin of transient effects in the solar neutrino experiment

Correlation studies of the pattern of time variation of the recorded solar neutrino flux monitored through the reaction Cl³⁷ → Ar³⁷ with various parameters of solar activity is suggestive of possible emission of a penetrating neutral particle from the sun influencing directly or indirectly the transformation Cl³⁷ → Ar³⁷ deep underground at the required rates. This possibility has to be invoked in view of the difficulties in generating the observed pattern of variations through a large modulatory mechanism involving the electron neutrino. The prediction that follows is the possible existence of a time varying component (diurnal) in the rate of some nuclear transmutations deep underground caused by an unknown neutral radiation having an interaction cross section with matter probably much larger than the canonical value of 10^-36 cm² per nucleon speculated upon by some authors in the WIMP scenario for the sun.     

Concentrations of trace elements in marine fish and its risk assessment in Malaysia

Concentrations of trace elements (V, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Ga, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Cs, Ba, Hg, Tl, Pb and Bi) were determined in muscle and liver of 12 species of marine fish collected from coastal areas in Malaysia. Levels of V, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn, Ga, Sr, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Ba and Pb in liver were higher than those in muscle, whereas Rb and Cs concentrations showed the opposite trend. Positive correlations between concentrations in liver and muscle were observed for all the trace elements except Cu and Sn. Copper, Zn, Se, Ag, Cd, Cs and Hg concentrations in bigeye scads from the east coast of the Peninsular Malaysia were higher than those from the west, whereas V showed the opposite trend. The high concentration of V in the west coast might indicate oil contamination in the Strait of Malacca. To evaluate the health risk to Malaysian population through consumption of fish, intake rates of trace elements were estimated on the basis of the concentrations of trace elements in muscle of fish and daily fish consumption. Some specimens of the marine fish had Hg levels higher than the guideline value by US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indicating that consumption of these fish at the present rate may be hazardous to Malaysian people. To our knowledge, this is the first study on multielemental accumulation in marine fish from the Malaysian coast.