Some aspects of an early summer monsoon onset over Andaman Sea and further progress towards the Indian mainland

This work addresses the mechanisms that leads to an early onset of monsoon over Andaman Sea but advances further rapidly (slowly) to the Indian mainland resulting in the early (delayed) onset over Kerala. The upper tropospheric temperature, production of kinetic energy (KE) and outgoing long wave radiation (OLR) from the month of May till onset over Kerala are analysed for two delayed onset years (1997, 1995) and two early onset years (2004, 1990). It is observed that the maximum temperature over Tibetan plateau (TP), an increase in the production of KE and strong equatorial convection in early May, is associated with early onset over Andaman Sea. However, when there is a lull in advance of monsoon after the early onset over Andaman Sea, shifting of the warm region south of TP, weak production of KE in the lower troposphere and convective region shifting to Western Pacific resulted in the delayed onset over Kerala in 1997 and 1995. During the early onset years viz. 2004 and 1990, the warm region moving westwards, high production of KE extending to mid troposphere and deep convection moving westwards in the north Indian Ocean (10–15°N) is noticed.     

Remote sensing application in the study of migration and offset of coastal inlets

The coastal zone of Kerala with moderate energy, monsoonal-storm-dominated wave climate, together with a microtidal range, falls under the major tectonic class of the Amerotrailing edge coasts. In order to have an effective management of this coastal zone, one requires detailed information on various types of coastal landforms and the related processes acting on them. Coastal inlets are one among such landforms, which are relatively short and narrow tidal channels connecting bays and lagoons to the ocean. Coastal inlets and the related landforms form an important type of coastal feature. An examination of coastal maps from any area in the world will reveal that coastal inlets are of migratory and offset in nature. In the present study the migration pattern and offset behaviour of some of the inlets of Kerala coast have been examined using IRS-IA LISS II data and Survey of India topographic sheets. The study reveals that geocoded IRS-IA LISS II data could provide accurate geometrical information which may considerably minimise the field check.     

Perturbation of eigenfrequencies of a cylinder due to a ridge on the surface

Summary An infinite cylinder is assumed to have a small ridge on the surface. The effect of the ridge on the eigenfrequencies of flute mode of oscillation is obtained in the linear approximation. The usefulness of these results in seismological problems is indicated.     

Granite-molybdenite association in Kerala in relation to taphrogenic metallogeny

Two molybdenite-bearing granites from the Kerala region, namely, the Chengannoor and the Ambalavayal granites are discussed here in terms of their salient geochemical characters. The geochemistry of the host rocks indicates a peraluminous, calc-alkaline to alkali-calcic nature and the element levels show good fit with the proposed ‘finger-prints’ for granite-molybdenite systems. Fluid inclusion studies suggest that Mo was probably partitioned in vapour phase, which subsequently combined with available sulphur. Regional distribution of molybdenite strongly favours the view of a molybdenum province in the southern part of the Indian shield. Associations of rare metal mineralization with the riftcontrolled acid magmatic phase in the Kerala region are suggestive of a late Precambrian —Early Palaeozoic taphrogenic metallogeny.     

Gold Mineralization in Kottathara Prospect, Attappadi Valley, Kerala, India: a Preliminary Appraisal

The Kottathara gold prospect of Attappadi Valley in Kerala is located within the Southern Indian Granulite Terrain comprising charnockite and gneisses with enclaves of high-grade supracrustals. The gold mineralization associated with the basic members of the Attappadi supracrustals and the quartz veins traversing them are confined within the Bhavani Shear Zone. Primarily the gold-quartz lode is emplaced in rheologically preferred zones along the contact of the basic members with the enclosing gneisses subsequent to a period of retrogression and shearing. Ore-mineralogical studies reveal that gold got remobilized and this remobilization is identified with the regional Bhavani Shear. SEM studies indicate that gold occurs in free state and also within sulphides especially pyrite. Variation in grain morphology is clearly discernible in gold occurring within oxidised and in non-oxidised zones.Sequencing of deformational events with associated emplacements of known ages suggests the age of gold mineralization of Attappadi area as between 2 Ga. and 2.5 Ga. The secondary mobilization has to be <2.0 Ga or younger possibly of younger Pan-African age related with the Moyar-Bhavani Shear System. The inherent gold content of the komatiitic metapyroxenites together with the auriferous quartz lodes assigns a lithological control on gold mineralisation. Subsequent folding and remobilization due to the regional shear constrained the geometry of the lode zones implying structural control.     

Stratigraphical and palynological appraisal of the Late Quaternary mangrove deposits of the west coast of India

The organic deposits derived from the mangrove swamps form reliable stratigraphic markers within the Late Quaternary sequence of Kerala–Konkan Basin. Three generations of such deposits have been identified. The older one is dated to around 43,000–40,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., with a few dates beyond the range of radiocarbon. The younger ones date from the Middle Holocene to latest Pleistocene (10,760–4540 ¹⁴C yr B.P.) and the Late Holocene (<4000 ¹⁴C yr B.P.). Pollen analyses confirm that the deposits are mostly derived from the mangrove vegetation. Peat accumulation during the period 40,000–28,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. can be correlated with the excess rainfall, 40–100% greater than modern values, of the Asian summer monsoon. The low occurrence of mangrove between 22,000 and 18,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. can be attributed to the prevailing aridity and/or reduced precipitation associated worldwide with Last Glacial Maximum, because exposure surfaces and ferruginous layers are commonly found in intervals representing this period. The high rainfall of 11,000–4000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. is found to be the most significant as the mangrove reached an optimum growth around 11,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. but with periods of punctuated weaker monsoons. From the present and previous studies, it has been observed that after about 5000 or 4000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., the monsoons became gradually reduced leading to drying up of many of the marginal marine mangrove ecosystems. A case study of Hadi profile provided an insight to the relevance of magnetic susceptibility (χ) to record the ecological shift in Late Holocene.     

Monsoon control on trace metal fluxes in the deep Arabian Sea

Particulate fluxes of aluminium, iron, magnesium and titanium were measured using six time-series sediment traps deployed in the eastern, central and western Arabian Sea. Annual Al fluxes at shallow and deep trap depths were 0.47 and 0.46 g m^-2 in the western Arabian Sea, and 0.33 and 0.47 g m^-2 in the eastern Arabian Sea. There is a difference of about 0.9–1.8 g m^-2y^-1 in the lithogenic fluxes determined analytically (residue remaining after leaching out all biogenic particles) and estimated from the Al fluxes in the western Arabian Sea. This arises due to higher fluxes of Mg (as dolomite) in the western Arabian Sea (6–11 times higher than the eastern Arabian Sea). The estimated dolomite fluxes at the western Arabian Sea site range from 0.9 to 1.35gm^-2y^-1. Fe fluxes in the Arabian Sea were less than that of the reported atmospheric fluxes without any evidence for the presence of labile fraction/excess of Fe in the settling particles. More than 75% of Al, Fe, Ti and Mg fluxes occurred during the southwest (SW) monsoon in the western Arabian Sea. In the eastern Arabian Sea, peak Al, Fe, Mg and Ti fluxes were recorded during both the northeast (NE) and SW monsoons. During the SW monsoon, there exists a time lag of around one month between the increases in lithogenic and dolomite fluxes. Total lithogenic fluxes increase when the southern branch of dust bearing northwesterlies is dragged by the SW monsoon winds to the trap locations. However, the dolomite fluxes increase only when the northern branch of the northwesterlies (which carries a huge amount of dolomite accounting 60% of the total dust load) is dragged, from further north, by SW monsoon winds. The potential for the use of Mg/Fe ratio as a paleo-monsoonal proxy is examined.     

Lateritisation as a possible contributor to gold placers in Nilambur Valley, southwest India

Panning for placer gold in the river beds of Punna Puzha and Chaliyar Puzha in the Nilambur Valley, southwest India, has been in vogue among the local people for the last few centuries. The auriferous quartz veins and reefs associated with the Precambrian migmatitic gneisses of the region had been mined for several years. Of late, Au is also being recovered from the laterite matrix of gravels in the old river terraces and from the residual laterites overlying the gneisses. The size of Au nuggets associated with the laterites is much higher (0.5 mm) than that of the Au in vein quartz (0.2 mm) and the associated heavy minerals in the placers (0.2 mm). The Au nuggets show surface and internal textures characteristic of redeposition under low-temperature conditions. Our field and laboratory investigations suggest that dissolution, transport and redeposition of Au occurred in Nilambur concomitant with the lateritisation process.     

HF doppler observations on the occurrence of equatorial spread-F

HF doppler observations of the vertical drift velocity and group height of the 5.5 MHz plasma frequency level of the post-sunset bottomside F-region obtained on a fewESF (equatorial spread-F) and non-ESF days at Trivandrum are presented. The results show that on the non-ESF days, the maximum group height attained is about 400 km and the maximum velocity is less than 30 m/sec. On theESF days, however, the corresponding values are found to be in the range of 400–650 km and 30–50 m/sec. TheESF onset is found to be significantly delayed relative to the velocity peak indicating that it is more closely linked to the layer height than to the drift velocity.     

Microscale Response of Sediment Variables to Benthic Disturbance in the Central Indian Ocean Basin

The response of sediment bacteria and biochemical variables to benthic disturbance was investigated in the Central Indian Ocean Basin from cores at nine stations. Generally, bacterial density and biochemical variables declined vertically with depth in the upper layers of the cores. Mechanical disturbance caused by a hydraulic disturber brought about a substantial decrease in total bacterial numbers. However, the numbers of retrievable bacteria increased by two orders of magnitude. The biochemical parameters decreased in quantity with a shift in the linear relationship. The data suggest that abiotic artifacts will directly affect the biomass and biochemistry of the sediment.