Despeckle and geographical feature extraction in SAR images by wavelet transform

This paper presents a method to despeckle Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image, and then extract geographical features in it. In this research work, speckle is reduced by multiscale analysis in wavelet domain. In terms of geographical feature preservation the result shows that the method is better compared to spatial domain filters, such as Lee, Kuan, Frost, Ehfrost, Median, Gamma filters. The geographical features such as roads, airport runways, rivers and other ribbon-like shape structures are detected by the new wavelet-based method as proposed by Yuan Yan Tang. Experimental results show that the proposed method extracts geographical features of different width as well as different gray levels.     

Normalized impedance function and the straightforward inversion scheme for magnetotelluric data

This paper investigates the performance of normalized response function obtained by normalizing the Cagniard impedance function by a suitable factor and then rotating the phase by 45‡ to make it purely real for homogeneous half-space and equal to the square root of the half-space resistivity. Two apparent resistivity functions based on respectively the real and imaginary parts of this response function are proposed. The apparent resistivity function using the real part contains almost the same information as that yielded by the Cagniard expression while the one using the imaginary part qualitatively works as an indicator of the number of interfaces in the earth model. The linear straightforward inversion scheme (SIS), developed by the authors employing the concept of equal penetration layers, has been used to validate the proposed apparent resistivity functions. For this purpose, several synthetic and field models have been examined. Five synthetic models are studied to establish the veracity of the new functions and two well-studied published field data sets are inverted through SIS for comparison. We noticed that the new function and SIS compliment each other and lead to better understanding of the data information and model resolution.     

Extraction of Coal Under a Surface Water Body – a Strata Control Investigation

Summary. The extraction of coal seams under built-up structures and especially under water bodies has been a challenge to the miners due to the potential risk of disturbance to the surface. A number of safety and ground control problems are associated with the mining operations under water bodies. These can be dealt with through proper planning for the optimization of coal recovery and systematic strata control investigations. At Godavari khani (GDK) no. 3 incline of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), two panels namely SS-10/1A and SS-10/1B in no. 1 seam, were identified for extraction under the surface water body called Janagaon tank. A feasibility study was carried out by the authors for working these panels, and hydraulic sand stowing method was recommended. Further, strata behaviour monitoring was carried out using remote type geotechnical instruments during the extraction of pillars in one of the panels. The extraction of the pillars in the experimental panel progressed smoothly without any strata control problems. The mine management could extract coal reserves in the panel with more than 60% recovery, which were otherwise unworkable. This paper presents the feasibility of extraction of pillars under the Janagaon tank, and strata behaviour observations made during the actual extraction.     

Alkaline Magmatism Versus Collision Tectonics in the Eastern Ghats Belt, India: Constraints from Structural Studies in the Koraput Complex

Linear domains of deformed alkaline rocks and carbonatites have recently been identified as representing sites of ancient suture zones. In peninsular India, the western margin of the Proterozoic Eastern Ghats Belt (EGB) is characterized by a series of alkaline plutons that are aligned close to the contact with the Archaean Craton. Most of the complexes were deformed and metamorphosed during a subsequent orogenic event. Unlike other plutons in the belt, the alkaline complex at Koraput reportedly escaped deformation and granulite facies metamorphism forming an anomalous entity within the zone. Multiply-deformed country rocks hosting this complex underwent syn-D_1CR granulite facies metamorphism followed by D_2CR thrusting, with pervasive shearing along a NE-SW trending foliation. A second granulite facies event followed localized D_3CR shearing. Within the Koraput Complex, strain partitioning was responsible for preserving igneous textures in the gabbroic core, but aligned magmatic amphibole needles and plagioclase laths occasionally define a S_1AC fabric. Along the margins, S_1AC is rotated parallel to a NE-trending, east-dipping S_2AC fabric in the gabbro, fringing syenodiorite and nepheline syenite bands. Locally, D_3AC shearing follows D_2AC deformation; S_2AC and S_3AC parallel S_2CR and S_3CR in the country rocks. High-grade metamorphism represented by recrystallization of amphibole and plagioclase, and breakdown of amphibole and biotite to garnet, pyroxene and K-feldspar in the complex follows D_3AC. Unlike earlier reports, therefore, the Koraput body is also deformed and metamorphosed. The aligned alkaline complexes in the EGB probably represent deformed alkaline rocks and carbonatites formed by rifting related to an earlier episode of continental break-up that were deformed during subsequent juxtaposition of the EGB with the Archaean Craton. This supports the contention that the western margin of the EGB and its contact with the Archaean Craton is a suture zone related to the Indo-Antarctica collision event.     

Amino acids and hexosamines in the Hess Rise core during the past 220,000 years

Core sediment samples collected from the Hess Rise, North Pacific, were analyzed for 20 common amino acids (AA) and two hexosamines (HA) to understand the relation between glacial–interglacial variations and deposition/preservation of sedimentary organic matter (OM). The sediments are predominantly carbonaceous (carbonates 35–80%). AA-based parameters—aspartic acid/glycine ratio and serine+threonine relative mole content—suggest that calcareous plankton was the major source of OM in these sediments. This inference is supported by the similarity in distribution patterns of AA and HA contents with that of organic carbon. Low values of AA/HA and glucosamine/galactosamine ratios (average 4.4 and 1.1, respectively) imply that much of the planktonic OM was replaced by microbial OM. The relative molar concentration of two nonprotein AA (β-alanine and γ-aminobutyric acid) varied with age of sediments; i.e., they were less abundant in recent sediments and more abundant in the oldest sediments. This trend is an indicator of extremely slow but continuous enzymatic degradation of proteinaceous OM within the sediments. So far, bulk OM has been believed to be one of the best proxies for estimation of primary productivity. However, it may be an underestimate, even for the late Quaternary sediments. Comparison of AA and HA content variations with SPECMAP stack revealed their enhanced deposition and preservation during glacial periods relative to interglacial periods. This, in turn, affected not only the planktonic production in surface waters but also the benthic community, including bacteria on the seafloor.     

Mode‐acceleration approach to seismic response of multiply‐supported secondary systems

A mode‐acceleration approach has been proposed for estimating the seismic response of a linear, classically‐damped, multiply‐supported secondary system within the framework of a power spectral density function (PSDF)‐based stochastic approach, while the primary system is linear and classically‐damped. Response transfer functions have been formulated in terms of chosen numbers of fixed‐base modes of the primary and secondary systems. The proposed approach does not involve the determination of combined system properties, and is applicable to the secondary systems with high mass ratios also. Through a few example primary–secondary systems and an example band‐limited white noise excitation, it has been shown that this approach leads to reasonably accurate results when only a few primary and secondary modes are to be considered. The proposed formulation has been used to obtain input data for a decoupled response spectrum analysis of secondary systems. This data accurately accounts for the effects of interaction between the primary and secondary systems. It is shown to lead to substantial reductions in the errors associated with the envelope spectrum method in the case of moderately heavy to heavy secondary systems and when the spatial coupling does not play a major role. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regular spacing of drainage outlets from linear fault blocks

Outlets of river basins located on fault blocks often show a regular spacing. This regularity is most pronounced for fault blocks with linear ridge crests and a constant half-width, measured perpendicular to the ridge crest. The ratio of the half-width of the fault block and the outlet spacing is used in this study to characterize the average shape (or spacing ratio) of 31 sets of drainage basins. These fault-block spacing ratios are compared with similar data from small-scale flume experiments and large-scale mountain belts. Fault-block spacing ratios are much more variable than those measured for mountain belts. Differences between fault-block spacing ratios are attributed to variability in factors influencing the initial spacing of channel heads and subsequent rates of channel incision during the early stages of channel network growth (e.g. initial slope and uplift rate, precipitation, runoff efficiency and substrate erodibility). Widening or narrowing of fault blocks during ongoing faulting will also make spacing ratios more variable. It is enigmatic that some of these factors do not produce similar variability in mountain belt spacing ratios. Flume experiments in which drainage networks were grown on static topography show a strong correlation between spacing ratios and surface gradient. Spacing ratios on fault blocks are unaffected by variations in present-day gradients. Drainage basins on the Wheeler Ridge anticline in central California, which have formed on surfaces progressively uplifted by thrust faulting during the last 14 kyr, demonstrate that outlet spacing is likely to be determined during the early stages of drainage growth. This dependency on initial conditions may explain the lack of correlation between spacing ratios of fault blocks and slopes measured at the present day. Spacing ratios determine the location of sediment supply points to adjacent areas of deposition, and hence strongly influence the spatial scale of lateral facies variations in the proximal parts of sedimentary basins. Spacing ratios may be used to estimate this length scale in ancient sedimentary basins if the width of adjacent topography is known. Spacing ratio variability makes these estimates much less precise for fault blocks than for mountain belts.