On the Dynamics of the Seasonal Components of Induced Seismicity in the Koyna–Warna Region,Western India

The spatial and time dynamics are analyzed for the seasonal components of induced seismicity in the Koyna–Warna region of Western India. The peculiarities of the variations in these components are compared to the changes in the local tectonic regime inferred from the focal mechanism data of the earthquakes. Based on this, the hypotheses about the probable nature of the dynamics in the seasonal components of seismicity are suggested. It is noted that the variations in the seasonal seismic activity after the impoundment of the Koyna reservoir in the north are caused by the spatial migration of the induced seismicity and activation of the normal faults in the south. It is hypothesized that the process of fracture migration from the north to the south at this stage advanced the diffusion of the fluid from the Koyna reservoir, and as the water front reached the southern zone of normal faulting, this caused reactivation of the seasonal seismicity. An explanation is suggested for the stronger response of the seasonal activity in the region of Warna reservoir compared to the Koyna area: in contrast to Koyna, filling the Warna reservoir was geographically close to the area of activated seismicity. It is shown that the localization and sizes of the areas of the instantaneous and delayed components in the seasonal activity of the induced seismicity are determined by the localization and sizes of the areas of high stresses created by the increase in the pore pressure in highly permeable fault zones.     

Dynamics of Induced Seismicity during the Filling of the Nurek Reservoir

The seismological data in the area of induced seismicity in the region of the Nurek reservoir are analyzed. The analysis is based on the developed database for the earthquakes that occurred from 1955 to 1989 and is aimed at finding the regularities in the variations of the parameters of the transitional seismic regime caused by filling a reservoir. These parameters include the b-value—the slope of the graph of the Gutenberg–Richter frequency–magnitude relationship, the fractal dimension d of the set of the epicenters, and fracture cycle parameter q = αb ? d, where coefficient α determines the ratio between the magnitude and source size M = α log l + β. It is shown that during the filling of a reservoir, these parameters undergo statistically reliable variations: at the initial stages, the b-value increases, the fractal dimension of the set of epicenters decreases, and the fracture cycle parameter q grows and becomes positive in the middle of the time interval of reservoir filling. After a reservoir is filled, these parameters recover their background values. The aftershock sequences of the three strongest earthquakes—before, in the beginning, and in the middle of the reservoir filling period—are studied. It is confirmed that the Omori parameter p for the aftershock sequences during filling is smaller than for the earthquake before filling. Based on the dynamics of the studied parameters, it is conjectured that the relaxation time of the transitional seismic regime after the emergence of induced seismicity is about 10 years.     

The behavior of seasonal variations in induced seismicity in the Koyna–Warna region,western India

Based on the earthquake catalog data for the Koyna–Warna region of induced seismicity in western India, the seasonal variations in seismic activity associated with annual fluctuations in the reservoir water level are analyzed over the time span of the entire history of seismological observations in this region. The regularities in the time changes in the structure of seasonal variations are revealed. The seasonal seismic activity is minimal in May–June when the reservoir level is lowest. During the remaining part of the year, the activity has three peaks: the fall peak in September, winter peak in November–December, and spring peak in February–March. The first mentioned peak, which falls in the phase of the water level reaching its maximal seasonal value is considered as the immediate response of the fluid saturated medium to the additional loading under the weight of reservoir water. The two subsequent maxima concur with the decline phase in the reservoir level and are interpreted as the delayed response associated with the changes in the properties of the medium due to water diffusion. It is shown that the intensities of the immediate and delayed responses to the seasonal water level variations both vary with time as does their ratio. The probable factors affecting the variations in the intensity of the seasonal components of the reservoir-induced seismicity are discussed.     

Geodynamic Modeling of the Process of the Formation and Evolution of Lithospheric Structures: the Experience of Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth,RAS

Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth - The main results obtained at the Institute of Physics of the Earth of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IPE RAS) in the numerical geodynamic modeling of the...     

Influence of Star Formation on Large Scale Structures of Galactic Magnetic Fields

In order to study magnetic field generation in galaxies with active processes such as intensive star formation, supernovae explosions, etc, a model is needed to differentiate between the properties of interstellar medium in different parts of the galactic disk. In this paper we consider galactic dynamo equations with stochastic coefficients where the parameters responsible for dissipation randomly depend on time and spatial coordinates and are distributed around two values corresponding to aweakly heated neutral component and a hot ionized component. Ionized gas is assumed to be concentrated in small regions evenly distributed over the galactic disk plane. The ratio of the total area of such regions to the entire disk plane corresponds to the mean surface star-formation density in the given region of the galactic disk. Unlike in our previous papers, we take into account the dissipation in the disk plane. We have obtained numerical estimates of the exponential growth rate for different numbers of areas containing ionized gas. We show that the influence of the fluctuations on the magnetic field behavior has a threshold nature; intensive star formation leads to the destruction of large scale magnetic field structures.     

Layered Jurassic intrusions in Antarctica

The paper addresses the current understanding of the inner structure of the layered intrusions at Dufek Massif in the Pensacola Mountains and the Utpostane and Muren intrusions in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, which are still poorly known to Russian geologists. The magmatic events at approximately 180 Ma, including the emplacement of layered intrusions, are thought to had predated the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent. The spatiotemporal similarities of the intrusions determine the importance of the problem of whether they were produced by a single or more than one parental magmas, which are thought to have been derived under the effect of a superplume.     

Multimodel Evaluation of Phytomass Dynamics of Tundra Plant Communities Based on Satellite Images

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - This paper presents a two-stage method for solving the problem of predicting phytomass and the corresponding two-component model of phytomass dynamics....     

The most distant quasar at z = 7.08: Probable retrograde rotation of an accreting supermassive black hole

We estimate the value of the spin of the supermassive black hole (SMBH) of the high‐redshift quasar ULAS J112001.48 +064124.3 using new observational data for its mass, bolometric luminosity, and X‐ray spectrum. We show that, assuming equilibrium between the magnetic and the accretion gas pressures at the event horizon radius, the spin of the SMBH is negative. This result implies that the SMBH in this quasar is rotating retrograde with respect to the accretion disk. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Nuclear activity of NGC 4151 as inferred from UBVRI observations in 1989–2000

We present our broadband UBVRI observations of the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 4151 from 1989 until 2000 at three astronomical observatories: the Crimean Station of the Sternberg Astronomical Institute, the Special Astrophysical Observatory in the Caucasus, and the Maidanak Observatory of the Ulugbek Astronomical Institute in Uzbekistan. All data have been reduced to a single system and are given for an A=27.″5 aperture. Regular R and I observations show that the pattern of optical variability is the same in all bands; the relative variability amplitude decreases from U to V, but it is even slightly larger in R than in V. The variability amplitude of the component fluctuating on time scales of several months is proportional to the UBV flux from the component varying on times scales of several years. The correlation between the slow and rapid components significantly weakens in the red, and no correlation has been found between the flux from the slow component and the amplitude of the rapid component in R. The color characteristics correspond to the recombination radiation from an optically thick plasma beyond the Balmer limit.