Tidal shelf sedimentation in the Neoproterozoic Chattisgarh succession of central India

The Neoproterozoic Kansapathar Sandstone of the Chattisgarh basin, a shallow marine shelf bar sequence, consists of mineralogically and texturally mature sandstones with subordinate siltstones, mudstones and conglomerates. The sediments were transported, reworked and deposited in subtidal environments by strong tidal currents of macrotidal regime as well as storms, and accumulated as discrete shoaling-upward features, separated from each other by muddy to low-energy sandy deposits. The sandbodies developed into shoaling up linear bars, often more than a kilometre in length, through accretion of thick cross-stratified units in transverse directions under the influence of ebb and flood tidal currents, as well as in longitudinal direction affected by southeasterly flowing along-shore currents. The aggrading upper surfaces of the bars experienced protracted reworking by strong oscillatory wave currents leading to extensive development of subaqueous 2D or 3D dunes mantled with lag pebble deposits at different points. With continued shoaling and progradation, the bars amalgamated into large sandstone sheets with the development of high energy beach deposits and coastal sand flats in the uppermost part of the sequence. The presence of rill marks, flat-topped ripples, wrinkle marks, desiccation cracks and adhesion warts point to intertidal conditions with intermittent exposure. The high energy sandstone bars overlie a thick mudstone-dominated shelf sequence across a sharp interface indicating rapid change in the sea-level, provenance, rate of sediment generation and sediment input, and circulation condition in the shelf. A quiet muddy shelf was replaced by a major sand-depositing environment with strong, open marine circulation. An interplay of tidal currents, oscillatory wave currents and storm currents generated a complex flow pattern that varied in time and space from bimodal-bipolar to strongly unimodal flows. Close parallelism of wave ripple crests, trend of linear bars and unidirectional flows suggest that the elongate bars were parallel to sub-parallel to the coastline, and were strongly influenced by along shore drift. The inferred coastline was broadly N-S. The large-scale structures in the bar sandstones, emplacement of vast amount of sand and migration of large bedforms under strong macrotidal currents collectively indicate that the Kansapathar shelf was intimately connected with an open ocean basin towards north-northwest.     

Modeling of shear failure in fractured reservoirs with a porous matrix

A finite volume-based numerical modeling framework using a hierarchical fracture representation (HFR) has been developed to compute flow-induced shear failure. To accurately capture the mechanics near fracture manifolds, discontinuous basis functions are employed which ensure continuity of the displacement gradient across fractures. With these special basis functions, traction and compressive forces on the fracture segment can be calculated without any additional constraints, which is extremely useful for estimating the irreversible displacement along the fracture (slip) based on a constitutive friction law. The method is further extended to include slip-dependent hydraulic aperture change and grid convergent results are obtained. Further, the change in hydraulic aperture is modeled using an asymptotic representation which respects the experimentally observed behavior of pore volume dilation due to shear slip. The model allows the initial rapid increase in hydraulic aperture due to shear slip and asymptotically approaches a finite value after repeated shearing of a fracture segment. This aperture increase is the only feedback for mechanics into the fluid flow for a linear elastic mechanics problem. The same model is also extended to include poroelastic relations between flow and mechanics solver. The grid convergence result in the case of poroelastic flow-mechanics coupling for flow-induced shear failure is also obtained. This proves the robustness of the numerical and analytical modeling of fracture and friction in the extended finite volume method (XFVM) set-up. Finally, a grid convergent result for seismic moment magnitude for single fracture and fracture network with random initial hydraulic and friction properties is also obtained. The b-value, which represents the slope of seismic moment occurrence frequency decay vs seismic moment magnitude, which is approximately constant in a semi-logarithmic plot, is estimated. The numerical method leads to converged b-values for both single fracture and fracture network simulations, as grid and time resolutions are increased. For the resulting linear system, a sequential approach is used, that is, first, the flow and then the mechanics problems are solved. The new modeling framework is very useful to predict seismicity, permeability, and flow evolution in geological reservoirs. This is demonstrated with numerical simulations of enhancing a geothermal system.     

On the widespread occurence of oxidized chlorites in the pennine zone of the western Italian Alps

Oxidized chlorites, having optical properties quite similar to those of biotite, stilpnomelane or iron-rich vermiculite, are described from the schistes lustrés and other similar metamorphites of the Pennine Zone of the western Italian Alps. Optical, x-ray, chemical, DTA and infrared spectroscopic data are furnished. From the results of the chemical study it seems reasonable to conclude that the chlorite has undergone an internal oxidation. Possible petrogenetic implications of its occurenee are discussed in some details.     

SPH procedures for modeling multiple intersecting discontinuities in geomaterial

A methodology is developed in SPH framework to analyze the behavior of preexisting multiple intersecting discontinuities or joints in rock material. The procedure does not require any additional unknowns to represent discontinuities and to capture velocity jump across them. Instead, a discontinuity is represented by a set of joint particles placed along the discontinuity plane, in which relative velocity and traction vector is evaluated, obeying the Mohr–Coulomb friction law with zero tension constrain. For failure of continuous rock material, the Drucker–Prager yield criterion with tensile cracking is employed in the elastic‐plastic constitutive model. Free‐sip, no‐slip, and symmetric boundary conditions are also implemented in SPH framework for proper representation of physical system. The paper analyzes behavior of a rock sample having a discontinuity plane under uniaxial loading and compares velocity and stress with a theoretical solution derived considering effective vertical stiffness of the joint planes. The efficacy of the proposed method is successfully demonstrated by solving another two problems of jointed rock mass under uniaxial and gravitational loading conditions.Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of meso‐structure on strength and size effect in concrete under tension

The effect of heterogeneity in meso level geometric and material properties on tensile strength and size effect in split cylinder specimens is investigated. Critical meso geometric parameters are identified by studying their influence on the evolution of the fracture process zone. A statistical analysis is used to account for dependencies between the parameters. A reversal of the size effect, important for the strength of field specimens, is observed for certain meso geometries. Meso level explanations for this are proposed, and meso geometries likely to show such a reversal are identified. For moderately sized specimens, major trends in the size effect are seen to be almost entirely explained by heterogeneity in the meso geometry.     

Carbonaceous and inorganic species in PM<Subscript>10</Subscript> during wintertime over Giridih,Jharkhand (India)

Ambient concentrations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and water soluble inorganic ionic components (WSIC) of PM₁₀ were studied at Giridih, Jharkhand, a sub-urban site near the Indo Gangatic Plain (IGP) of India during two consecutive winter seasons (November 2011–February 2012 and November 2012–February 2013). The abundance of carbonaceous and water soluble inorganic species of PM₁₀ was recorded at the study site of Giridih. During winter 2011–12, the average concentrations of PM₁₀, OC, EC and WSIC were 180.2?±?46.4; 37.2?±?6.2; 15.2?±?5.4 and 18.0?±?5.1 μg m^?3, respectively. Similar concentrations of PM₁₀, OC, EC and WSIC were also recorded during winter 2012–13. In the present case, a positive linear trend is observed between OC and EC at sampling site of Giridih indicates the coal burning, as well as dispersed coal powder and vehicular emissions may be the source of carbonaceous aerosols. The principal components analysis (PCA) also identifies the contribution of coal burning? +?soil dust, vehicular emissions?+?biomass burning and seconday aerosol to PM₁₀ mass concentration at the study site. Backward trajectoy and potential source contributing function (PSCF) analysis indicated that the aerosols being transported to Giridih from upwind IGP (Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar) and surrounding region.     

Quality Assessment of Atmospheric Motion Vectors Over the Indian Ocean

Because conventional observations over the oceans are not available, especially during tropical cyclones, multi-spectral atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) estimated from geostationary satellites are routinely assimilated in the numerical weather prediction models at different operational centres across the globe. The derived AMVs are generally validated with radiosonde observations available over land at synoptic hours; however, over the ocean there is a limited scope to assess the quality of AMVs. Over ocean, AMVs can be validated with radiosonde data available from opportunistic ships or using dropsonde data available from aircrafts. In this study, the accuracy of the AMVs derived from the geostationary satellites Kalpana-1 and Meteosat-7 is evaluated over the oceanic region. Radiosonde data available from a ship cruise held in the Bay of Bengal during the period 09 July–08 August 2012 and from the Cal/Val site situated at Kavaratti Island (72.62°E, 10.57°N) in the southern Indian Ocean are used to assess the AMV accuracy. In this study, 83 radiosonde profiles are used to validate the Kalpana-1 AMVs, to allow a better understanding of AMV errors over the Indian Ocean. The RMSVD of Kalpana-1 AMVs for the high-, mid- and low-levels are found to be 7.9, 9.4 and 5.3 m s^?1, respectively, while the corresponding RMSVD for Meteosat-7 AMVs are 9.1, 5.5 and 3.7 m s^?1. A similar accuracy is observed when the AMVs are validated against the NCEP analyses collocated with the nearest radiosonde locations. The high RMSVD and bias for Kalpana-1 AMVs at the mid-level and Meteosat-7 AMVs at the high-level are associated with the limitation of satellite winds to resolve the upper-level easterly jet in conjunction with errors in the height assignment. This study could help the numerical modellers to assign appropriate observation error over this region during the assimilation of AMVs into the NWP models.     

An Operational Application of Automatic Feature Extraction: The Measurement of Cracks in Concrete Structures

An understanding of the evolution of cracks in concrete structures due to long term natural deformation is important to civil engineers, but quantitative measurements can be difficult to make. However, digital imaging offers a potential solution. This short paper illustrates the operational application of automated image processing techniques for accurate, multi-temporal crack measurements. The first part of this paper provides an overview of automatic feature extraction, essential for automatic crack detection. The latter part describes the methods developed for detecting and measuring cracks. Due to the long term nature of the application, operational results have yet to be finalised, although sample results are presented     

Forecasting shield pressures at a longwall face using artificial neural networks

Leg pressure data from all shields of a longwall face are monitored and recorded in the surface computer. An algorithm is developed to detect peak pressures or periodic roof weightings from these pressure data. The intensities and locations of periodic roof weighting are further analyzed using artificial neural network for forecasting of forthcoming shield pressures. The network was trained using data 153 m (500 ft) of face advance. Shield pressures are forecasted for the successive nine mining cycles or approximately 9 m of face advancement. The results obtained validate the efficacy of the developed model.