Search for periodicities of the solar irradiance data from the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) using the periodogram method

We have analyzed the solar irradiance data from the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite(ERBS)during the time period from 1984 October 15 to 2003 October 15.By first filtering the data by Simple Exponential Smoothing,we have applied the periodogram method to the processed data in order to search for its time variation.The study exhibits multi-periodicities on these data around 110,118,574 and 740d with very high confidence levels(more than 99%).These periods are significantly similar to the periods of other solar activities which may suggest that solar irradiance may be associated with other solar activities.     

On the possible origin of troilite‐metal nodules in the Katol chondrite (L6‐7)

Microtextural study of a single troilite‐metal nodule (TMN) from the Katol L6‐7 chondrite, a recent fall (May, 2012) in India suggests that the TMN is primarily an aggregate of submicron‐scale intergrowth of troilite and kamacite (mean Ni: 6.18 wt%) juxtaposed with intensely fractured silicates, mainly olivine (Fa: 25 mole%), low‐Ca pyroxene (Fs: 21.2 mole%), and a large volume of maskelynite. Evidence of shock textures in the TMN indicates a high degree of shock metamorphism that involves plagioclase‐maskelynite and olivine‐wadsleyite/ringwoodite transformations and formation of quenched metal‐sulfide melt textures due to localized shear‐induced frictional melting. It is inferred that the TMN formation is an independent, localized event by a high energy impact and its subsequent incorporation in the ejected chondritic fragment of the parent body. Katol chondrite has been calibrated with a peak shock pressure of S5 (~45 GPa) after Stöffler et al. (1991), whereas peak shock pressure within the TMN exceeds the shock facies S6 (>45 GPa) following Bennett and McSween (1996) and Stöffler et al. (1991). Overall, the shock‐thermal history of the Katol TMN is dissimilar as compared to the host chondrite.     

New insights on petrography and geochemistry of impactites from the Lonar crater,India

The Lonar impact crater, India, is one of the few known terrestrial impact craters excavated in continental basaltic target rocks (Deccan Traps, ~65 Ma). The impactites reported from the crater to date mainly include centimeter‐ to decimeter‐sized impact‐melt bombs, and aerodynamically shaped millimeter‐ and submillimeter‐sized impact spherules. They occur in situ within the ejecta around the crater rim and show schlieren structure. In contrast, non–in situ glassy objects, loosely strewn around the crater lake and in the ejecta around the crater rim do not show any schlieren structure. These non–in situ fragments appear to be similar to ancient bricks from the Daityasudan temple in the Lonar village. Synthesis of existing and new major and trace element data on the Lonar impact spherules show that (1) the target Lonar basalts incorporated into the spherules had undergone minimal preimpact alteration. Also, the paleosol layer as preserved between the top‐most target basalt flow and the ejecta blanket, even after the impact, was not a source component for the Lonar impactites, (2) the Archean basement below the Deccan traps were unlikely to have contributed material to the impactite parental melts, and (3) the impactor asteroid components (Cr, Co, Ni) were concentrated only within the submillimeter‐sized spherules. Two component mixing calculations using major oxides and Cr, Co, and Ni suggest that the Lonar impactor was a EH‐type chondrite with the submillimeter‐sized spherules containing ~6 wt% impactor components.     

Čerenkov radiation within the Earth's upper atmosphere

A brief review of erenkov radiation within the upper atmospheric plasma has been presented. Different attempts in this context are systematically discussed. The results of analysis about the nature and characteristics of VLF hisses in terms of incoherent erenkov radiation are given in a concise manner. The occurrence of resonance cone has also been reported.     

Nonlinear kinetic analysis of phenol adsorption onto peat soil

Phenolic compounds are considered as a serious organic pollutant containing in many industrial effluents particularly vulnerable when the plant discharge is disposed on land. In the present study, the phenol removal potential of peat soil as adsorption media was investigated as the adsorption process are gaining popular for polishing treatment of toxic materials in industrial wastewater. Batch experiments were performed in the laboratory to determine the adsorption isotherms of initial concentrations for 5, 8, 10, 15, and 20 mg/L and predetermined quantity of peat soil with size ranges between 425 and 200 μm poured into different containers. The effects of various parameters like initial phenol concentration, adsorbent quantity, pH, and contact time were also investigated. From experimental results, it was found that 42 % of phenol removal took place with optimized initial phenol concentration of 10 mg/L, adsorbent dose of 200 g/L, solution pH 6.0 for the equilibrium contact time of 6 h. The result exhibits that pseudo-first-order (R ² = 0.99) and Langmuir isotherm models are fitted reasonably (R ² = 0.91). Adams–Bohart, Thomas, Yoon–Nelson, and Wolborska models were also investigated to the column experimental data of different bed heights to predict the breakthrough curves and to determine the kinetic coefficient of the models using nonlinear regression analysis. It was found that the Thomas model is the best fitted model to predict the experimental breakthrough curves with the highest coefficient of determination, R ² = 0.99 and lowest root mean square error and mean absolute performance error values.     

Changes in physical and chemical properties of three soil types in India as a result of amendment with fly ash and sewage sludge

The use of coal fly ash and domestic sewage sludge in agriculture is being considered as one of the methods for recycling of these wastes in an environmental beneficial manner. Mixtures with soil were prepared at different proportions of fly ash and sludge, either alone or in combination at a maximum application rate of 52 t ha^-1. The changes in the selected properties and heavy metal contents of three soil types in India were studied after incubating the respective mixtures for 90 days at near field capacity moisture level. Sewage sludge, due to its acidic and saline nature, high organic matter and heavy metals content, had more impact on soil properties than the fly ash. Sludge application produced several changes including an increase in available nitrogen, organic carbon, salinity and water-holding capacity of the soils. The concentrations of major cations and heavy metals also increased because of the sludge application and the pH was decreased. However, the levels of individual metal concentrations in all the mixture types were below the allowable limits prescribed by several environmental agencies. Using fly ash either alone or in equal quantity with sewage sludge had little influence on soil properties and heavy metal content. The relative availability (RA) of heavy metals in three soils amended with 52 t ha^-1 of sewage sludge was observed to be highest in oxisol, followed by alfisol and vertisol.     

Successive development of plane noncylindrical folds in progressive deformation

In the history of superposed deformations of the iron formations at the western border of the Kolar Gold Field in S India, an important event was the successive growth of broadly coaxial plane noncylindrical folds in course of a progressive deformation concomitant with development of ductile mesoscopic shear zones. The noncylindrical folds were initiated as active folds by the creation of a buckling instability at successive stages on newly developed foliation surfaces. The nucleation of noncylindrical folds and the subsequent axial-plane folding of the tightened mature folds are explained by the mechanical inhomogeneity of the rocks and the heterogeneous character of strain. The correlation between increasing tightness and increasing noncylindricity of the folds indicates that the initial curvatures of hinge lines were accentuated by an extension parallel to the subhorizontal stretching lineation. From the patterns of deformed lineations over folds of varying tightnesses, it is concluded that the passive accentuation of hinge-line curvatures was mostly achieved when the folds had already become isoclinal or very tight.     

Strain distribution in superposed buckling folds and the problem of reorientation of early lineations

Two series of experiments were carried out with soft model-materials in order to assess the relative importance of initial homogeneous strain, external rotation and late-stage strain in reorienting early lineations during superposed buckle-folding. In the first series cylindrical buckling folds were produced in embedded planar sheets containing a “lineation”. In the second series noncylindrical folds were produced by compression of a set of cylindrical folds. The experiments indicate that the ratio of buckle shortening to layer-parallel strain is much smaller when the principal extension is parallel to the fold-axis than in the case when the principal extension is perpendicular to the fold-axis. In very competent rocks, the reorientation of old lineations is mainly by external rotation and by the associated concentric longitudinal strain. In moderately competent rocks, the orientation of early lineations always changes by initial homogeneous strain before buckling becomes significant. Because of the unlike amounts of initial strain in layers of different competences, orientations of unrolled lineations may not be parallel in disharmonically folded layers of unlike competences. Under certain conditions the early lineation may become virtually parallel to the later fold-axis. The experiments indicate that the effects of late-stage strain in buckle-folding are largely restricted to the incompetent layers of a multilayer. Hence, if orientation data of early lineations in both competent and incompetent rocks are lumped together, the pattern of orientation may become quite complex. Even for a single competent layer, the pattern of early lineations can locally become complex because of the complex nature of concentric longitudinal strain (and strain resulting from stretching of middle surface of the layer), development of conical folds, development of shear strain along hinge zones of deformed early folds and also because of the development of different orders of folds in both the first and the second deformations.     

Lithology-dependent seismic anisotropic amplitude variation with offset correction in transversely isotropic media

Analysis of amplitude variation with offset is an essential step for reservoir characterization. For an accurate reservoir characterization, the amplitude obtained with an isotropic assumption of the reservoir must be corrected for the anisotropic effects. The objective is seismic anisotropic amplitude correction in an effective medium, and, to this end, values and signs of anisotropic parameter differences (Δδ and Δε) across the reflection interfaces are needed. These parameters can be identified by seismic and well log data. A new technique for anisotropic amplitude correction was developed to modify amplitude changes in seismic data in transversely isotropic media with a vertical axis of symmetry. The results show that characteristics of pre-stack seismic data, that is, amplitude variation with offset gradient, can be potentially related to the sign of anisotropic parameter differences (Δδ and Δε) between two layers of the reflection boundary. The proposed methodology is designed to attain a proper fit between modelled and observed amplitude variation with offset responses, after anisotropic correction, for all possible lithofacies at the reservoir boundary. We first estimate anisotropic parameters, that is, δ and ε, away from the wells through Backus averaging of elastic properties resulted from the first pass of isotropic pre-stack seismic inversion, on input data with no amplitude correction. Next, we estimate the anisotropic parameter differences at reflection interfaces (values and signs of Δδ and Δε). We then generate seismic angle gather data after anisotropic amplitude correction using Rüger's equation for the P-P reflection coefficient. The second pass of isotropic pre-stack seismic inversion is then performed on the amplitude-corrected data, and elastic properties are estimated. Final outcome demonstrates how introduced methodology helps to reduce the uncertainty of elastic property prediction. Pre-stack seismic inversion on amplitude-corrected seismic data results in more accurate elastic property prediction than what can be obtained from non-corrected data. Moreover, a new anisotropy attribute (ν) is presented for improvement of lithology identification.     

Biosedimentary record of postglacial coastal dynamics: high‐resolution sequence stratigraphy from the northern Tuscan coast (Italy)

Integrating analysis of the benthic palaeoecological record with multivariate ordination techniques represents a powerful synergy able to provide an improved characterization of coastal depositional facies in a sequence stratigraphical perspective. Through quantitative analysis of benthic foraminifer, ostracod and mollusc associations from the postglacial succession of Core M3 (Arno coastal plain, Tuscany, Italy), and application of detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) to the mollusc sub‐data set, we offer a refined picture of stratigraphical variations in faunal content from a paralic depositional setting, and reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental gradients that account for such variations. Despite distinct ecological behaviours, and taphonomic and sedimentological constraints, a strong ecological control on meio‐ and macrofaunal biofacies and taxa turnover is documented across the study succession. Amongst all possible mechanisms that may play a role in ‘shaping’ fossil distribution, the ecological signal driven by salinity represents the most prominent factor controlling the composition of fossil associations in the cored succession. Molluscs can even provide outstanding quantitative estimates of palaeosalinity along the sampled core. When plotted stratigraphically, the three fossil sub‐data sets show consistent patterns of vertical evolution that enable prompt identification of the key surfaces for sequence stratigraphical interpretation in otherwise lithologically indistinguishable deposits. The concomitant maximum richness of species with strong marine affinity, paralleled by the highest DCA salinity estimates, allows recognition of the maximum flooding zone, dated to ～7.7 cal. ka BP, within a homogeneous succession of outer lagoon clays. These clays are sandwiched between early transgressive, swamp to inner lagoon deposits and overlying prograding coastal?alluvial plain facies.