Seismic velocity imaging of the Kumaon–Garhwal Himalaya,India

Natural Hazards - Since the initial collision at 55 Ma, rocks of the Indian crust below the Himalayas have undergone modification chemically and compositionally due to the ongoing...     

Axially-symmetric viscous fluid interacting with the gravitational field

The problem of an axially-symmetric viscous fluid interacting with the gravitational field has been investigated. Exact solutions have been obtained for the pressure and density of the viscous fluid. Physical interpretation of the solutions in respect of the expansion factor, acceleration components reality conditions of the distribution, etc., have been made.     

Relevance of Pentane- and Hexane-Utilizing Bacterial Indicators for Finding Hydrocarbon Microseepage: A Study from Jamnagar Sub-basin, Saurashtra, Gujarat, India

Mesozoic sediments are source rocks for nearly half the world’s hydrocarbon reserves. Hence, there is great interest in the oil industry to know the trap and sub-trappean sediment thickness and their extent in the trap covered regions of Jamnagar study area. The microbial prospecting method is applied in the Jamnagar sub-basin, Gujarat for evaluating the prospects for hydrocarbon exploration by investigating the anomalous abundance of n-pentane- and n-hexane-oxidizing bacteria of this area. A total of 150 near-surface soil samples were collected in Jamnagar sub-basin, Gujarat for the evaluation of hydrocarbon resource potential of the basin. In this study, bacterial counts for n-pentane-utilizing bacteria range between 1.09 × 10² and 9.89 × 10⁵ cfu/g and n-hexane-utilizing bacteria range between 1.09 × 10² and 9.29 × 10⁵ cfu/g. The adsorbed hydrocarbon gases consisting of ethane plus hydrocarbons (ΣC₂₊) of 1–977 ppb and n-pentane (nC₅) of 1–23 ppb. The integrated geomicrobial and adsorbed soil gas studies showed the anomalous hydrocarbon zones nearby Khandera, Haripur, and Laloi areas which could probably aid to assess the true potential of the basin. Integrated geophysical studies have shown that Jamnagar sub-basin of Saurashtra has significant sediment thickness below the Deccan Traps and can be considered for future hydrocarbon exploration.     

Aerosols and their influence on radiation partitioning and savanna productivity in northern Australia

Aerosols have been shown to affect the quantity and quality of solar radiation on the Earth’s surface. Savanna regions are subject to frequent burning and release of aerosols that may impact on radiation components and possibly vegetation productivity in this region. Therefore, in this study, we have analyzed the optical properties of aerosols (aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom coefficient) from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement site in Darwin for the periods from April 2002 to June 2005 as measured by a multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer. The influence of aerosols and their effect on surface shortwave incoming solar radiation and savanna productivity were examined for the dry season using sky radiation collection of radiometers and eddy covariance measurements from the Howard Springs flux site. Results indicated that aerosol concentrations in the region were relatively low compared to other savanna regions with the maximum monthly average AOD over the period being the greatest in October (0.29?±?0.003 standard error at 500 nm). The highest monthly average Angstrom exponent was also found in October (1.38?±?0.008). The relatively low aerosol concentration in this region can be attributed to the mixture of smoke aerosols with humidity haze and local circulations. Over a range of AODs from 0.1 to 0.4, we found a modest increase in the fraction of diffuse radiation to total radiation from 11% to 21%. This small increase in diffuse fraction did not affect the carbon flux significantly. However, because the current range of AOD in the region is relatively low, the region could be sensitive to increases in aerosols and diffuse fraction in the future.     

Cosmological models with generalised gravitational and cosmological constants

We consider cosmology with the gravitational and cosmological constants generalized as coupling scalars in Einstein’s theory. A general method of solving the field equations is given. We study here the exact solutions for negative pressure models satisfying G=G ₀(R/R ₀) ⁿ .     

Light hydrocarbons geochemistry of surface sediment from petroliferous region of the Mehsana block,North Cambay Basin

A study was carried out to test the usefulness of surface geochemical methods as regional evaluation tools in petroliferous region of the Mehsana block, North Cambay Basin. A suite of 135 soil samples collected from the depth of 2.5 m, were analyzed for adsorbed light gaseous hydrocarbons and carbon isotopes (δ¹³C_methane and δ¹³C_ethane). The light gaseous hydrocarbon analysis show that the concentration ranges 402 ppb, 135 ppb, 70 ppb, 9 ppb and 18 ppb of C₁, C₂, C₃, iC₄ and nC₄, respectively. The value of carbon isotopic ranges of methane −29.5 to −43.0‰ (PDB) and ethane −19.1 to −20.9‰ (PDB). This data, when mapped, indicates patterns coinciding with major known oil and/or gas field of Sobhasan/Linch in this study area. The existence of un-altered petroliferous microseeps of catagenetic origin is observed in the study area. A regional study, such as the one described here, can provide important exploration facts concerning the regional hydrocarbon potential in a block. This method has been confirmed and can be applied successfully in frontier basins.     

A Novel Approach of Despeckling SAR Images Using Nonlocal Means Filtering

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is a day and night, all weather satellite imaging technology. Inherent property of SAR image is speckle noise which produces granular patterns in the image. Speckle noise occurs due to the interference of backscattered echo from earth’s rough surface. There are various speckle reduction techniques in spatial domain and transform domain. Non local means filtering (NLMF) is the technique used for denoising which uses Gaussian weights. In NLMF algorithm, the filtering is performed by taking the weighted mean of all the pixels in a selected search area. The weight given to the pixel is based on the similarity measure calculated as the weighted Euclidean distance over the two windows. Non local means filtering smoothes out homogeneous areas but edges are not preserved. So a discontinuity adaptive weight is used in order to preserve heterogeneous areas like edges. This technique is called as discontinuity adaptive non local means filtering and is well-adapted and robust in the case of Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) model. But speckle is a multiplicative random noise and hence Euclidean distance is not a good choice. This paper presents evaluation results of using different distance measures for improving the accuracy of the Non local means filtering technique. The results are verified using real and synthetic images and from the results it can be concluded that the usage of Manhattan distance improves the accuracy of NLMF technique. Non local approach is used as a preprocessing or post processing technique for many denoising algorithms. So improving NLMF technique would help improving many of the existing denoising techniques.     

Engaging indigenous people as geo-crowdsourcing sensors for ecotourism mapping via mobile data collection: a case study of the Royal Belum State Park

ABSTRACT

Web 2.0 and the proliferation of built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) on smartphones have influenced the increase of geo-crowdsourcing activities in a number of different contexts. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of indigenous people’s use of mobile collection applications that are embedded in a smartphone to facilitate ecotourism asset mapping. In order to achieve this, field usability testing was conducted where structured observational method was used to assess the performance. The findings indicate majority of them can complete the data entry tasks using mobile data collection. The performance of data entries using radio button, icons, camera and audio methods were identified as better than free text and drop-down list methods. There was a correlation between the level of education with the ability of using radio button, drop-down list and image icon as data entry methods. The paper also discusses the extent of local knowledge relating to ecotourism within the community. The findings should be useful in the understanding of the design of mobile geo-crowdsourcing tools for use within other contexts that focus on data collection by semiliterate and indigenous groups.     

Geomorphic appraisals of active tectonics associated with uplift of the Gohpur–Ganga section in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India

The Gohpur–Ganga section is located southwest of Itanagar, India. The study area and its adjacent regions lie between the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) and the Himalayan Front Fault (HFF) within the Sub-Himalaya of the Eastern Himalaya. The Senkhi stream, draining from the north, passes through the MBT and exhibits local meandering as it approaches the study area. Here, five levels of terraces are observed on the eastern part, whereas only four levels of terraces are observed on the western part. The Senkhi and Dokhoso streams show unpaired terraces consisting of very poorly sorted riverbed materials lacking stratification, indicating tectonic activity during deposition. Crude imbrications are also observed on the terrace deposits. A wind gap from an earlier active channel is observed at latitude 27°04′42.4″ N and longitude 93°35′22.4″ E at the height of about 35 m from the present active channel of Senkhi stream. Linear arrangements of ponds trending northeast–southwest on the western side of the study section may represent the paleochannel of Dokhoso stream meeting the Senkhi stream abruptly through this gap earlier. Major lineament trends are observed along NNE–SSW, NE–SW and ENE–WSW direction. The Gohpur–Ganga section is on Quaternary deposits, resting over the Siwaliks with angular contact. Climatic changes of Pleistocene–Holocene times seem to have affected the sedimentation pattern of this part of the Sub-Himalaya, in association with proximal tectonism associated with active tectonic activities, which uplifted the Quaternary deposits. Older and younger terrace deposits seem to mark the Pleistocene–Holocene boundary in the study area with the older terraces showing a well-oxidized and semi-consolidated nature compared to the unoxidized nature of the younger terraces.