Primary sedimentary structures and MISS in Gulcheru quartzite along SW part of Cuddapah basin

Sedimentary structures are very useful in paleocurrent analysis and interpretation of siliciclastic shallow marine environment. These interesting sedimentary structures such as parallel bedding, cross bedding, ripples, and mud cracks as well as synaeresis cracks, are best studied in the field. They are formed by a variety of sedimentary processes, including fluid flow, sediment-gravity flow, soft-sediment deformation and biogenic activity. Gulcheru Formation has evidence of interaction of microbial communities with clastic sedimentation during Palaeoproterozoic time. Because of high porosity-permeability of siliciclastics of Gulcheru Formation, palaeontologists do not expect many fossils preserved in such rocks and thus they have been overlooked. Microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS) are highlighted in the Gulcheru Formation. They are indicative of shallow marine environment. Gulcheru Formation shows alluvial fan to shallow marine shelf environments within a limited thickness of about ~ 110m, which indicates an alluvial plain coast where alluvial deposits are modified by wave forces.     

Groundwater Governance in a Water‐Starved Country: Public Policy,Farmers' Perceptions,and Drivers of Tubewell Adoption in Balochistan,Pakistan

Pakistan faces the challenge of developing sustainable groundwater policies with the main focus on groundwater management rather than groundwater development and with appropriate governance arrangement to ensure benefits continue into the future. This article investigates groundwater policy, farmers' perceptions, and drivers of tubewell (groundwater bore) adoption and proposes possible pathways for improved groundwater management for Balochistan, Pakistan. Historical groundwater policies were mainly aimed at increasing agricultural production and reducing poverty, without consideration of adverse impact on groundwater availability. These groundwater policies and governance arrangements have resulted in a massive decline in groundwater tables. Tubewell owners' rankings of the drivers of groundwater decline suggest that rapid and widespread installation of tubewells, together with uncontrolled extraction due to lack of property rights, electricity subsidy policies, and ineffective governance, are key causes of groundwater decline in Balochistan. An empirical “tubewell adoption” model confirmed that the electricity subsidy significantly influenced tubewell adoption decisions. The article proposes a more rational electricity subsidy policy for sustaining groundwater levels in the short‐run. However, in the long run a more comprehensive sustainable groundwater management policy, with strong institutional support and involvement of all stakeholders, is needed.     

Improving the Representation of the Nocturnal Near-Neutral Surface Layer in the Urban Environment with a Mesoscale Atmospheric Model

A new approach to improve the representation of surface processes in the Global Environmental Multiscale (GEM) atmospheric model associated with the exchanges between the urban canopy and the atmosphere is presented. Effects of the urban canopy on the evolution of surface-layer wind, temperature, moisture, and turbulence are directly parametrized in order to allow realistic interactions between the canopy elements (i.e., roofs, roads, and walls) and the atmosphere at GEM’s multiple vertical levels that are positioned inside the canopy. Surface energy budgets as implemented in the Town Energy Balance (TEB) scheme have been used to determine temperatures of the urban canopy elements for the proposed multilayer scheme. Performance of the multilayer scheme is compared against standard implementations of the TEB scheme for one nighttime intensive observation period of the Joint Urban 2003 experiment held in Oklahoma City, USA. Although the new approach is found to have a negligible impact on urban surface-layer wind profiles, it improves the prediction of near-neutral nocturnal profiles of potential temperature close to the surface. The urban heat island effect is simulated with a better accuracy by the multilayer approach. The horizontal temperature gradient across the central business district of the city along the direction of flow is also reasonably well captured by the proposed scheme.     

An approach of understanding acid volcanics and tuffaceous volcaniclastics from field studies: A case from Tadpatri Formation,Proterozoic Cuddapah basin,Andhra Pradesh,India

The lower stratigraphic part of the Cuddapah basin is marked by mafic and felsic volcanism. Tadpatri Formation consists of a greater variety of rock types due to bimodal volcanism in the upper part. Presence of bimodal volcanism is an indication of continental rift setting. Various genetic processes involved in the formation of such volcanic sequence result in original textures which are classified into volcaniclastic and coherent categories. Detailed and systematic field works in Tadpatri–Tonduru transect of SW Cuddapah basin have provided information on the physical processes producing this diversity of rock types. Felsic volcanism is manifested here with features as finger print of past rhyolite-dacite eruptions. Acid volcanics, tuffs and associated shale of Tadpatri Formation are studied and mapped in the field. With supporting subordinate studies on geochemistry, mineralogy and petrogenesis of the volcanics to validate field features accurately, it is understood that volcanism was associated with rifting and shallow marine environmental condition. Four facies (i.e., surge, flow, fall and resedimented volcaniclastic) are demarcated to describe stratigraphic units and volcanic history of the mapped area. The present contribution focuses on the fundamental characterization and categorization of field-based features diagnostic of silica-rich volcanic activities in the Tadpatri Formation.     

Photo-characters of vindhyan sedimentaries in parts of chittorgarh district,Rajashtan

Variable tonal densities, erosional resistance, drainage pattern, density and channel profile together with landuse pattern, vegetation pattern and structural expressions have been used as recognition elements for the lithological mapping of the Vindhyan Basin, Rajas than. Local relationship of superposition, spatial continuity and ground truth have been used for establishing lithostratigraphy in the Parsoli-Bichor syncline. The recognition elements established may serve as guide for rapid lithological mapping through extrapolation techniques.     

Identification of the influencing factors on groundwater drought and depletion in north-western Bangladesh

Groundwater drought is a specific type of hydrological drought that concerns groundwater bodies. It may have a significant adverse effect on the socio-economic, agricultural, and environmental conditions. Investigating the effect of different climatic and anthropogenic factors on groundwater drought provides essential information for sustainable planning and management of (ground) water resources. The aim of this study is to identify the influencing factors on groundwater drought in north-western Bangladesh, to understand the forcing mechanisms. A multi-step methodology is proposed to achieve this objective. The standardised precipitation index (SPI) and reconnaissance drought index (RDI) have been used to quantify the aggregated deficit between precipitation and the evaporative demand of the atmosphere, i.e. meteorological drought. The influence of land-cover patterns on the groundwater drought has been identified by calculating spatially distributed groundwater recharge as a function of land cover. Groundwater drought is defined by a threshold method. The results show that the evapotranspiration and rainfall deficits are determining meteorological drought, which shows a direct relation with groundwater recharge deficits. Land-cover change has a small effect on groundwater recharge but does not seem to be the main cause of groundwater-level decline (depletion) in the study area. The groundwater depth and groundwater-level deficit (drought) is continuously increasing with little correlation to meteorological drought or recharge anomalies. Overexploitation of groundwater for irrigation seems to be the main cause of groundwater-level decline in the study area. Efficient irrigation management is essential to reduce the growing pressure on groundwater resources and ensure sustainable water management.     

Behaviour,of stratospheric NO2 during stratospheric warming of January‐February 1979

Abstract

Ground‐based measurements of stratospheric NO₂, using absorption spectroscopy of twilight sky in the spectral region 437–451 nm, have been made at Calgary (51.08°N, 114.13°W), Alberta, Canada, during the period December 1978‐March 10, 1979. The NO₂ showed a rather steady behaviour in the month of December when there was no stratospheric warming in progress; the monthly average of the afternoon vertical column abundance for December was 1.7 × 10¹⁵ cm². In the rest of the observation period the NO₂ showed a complex behaviour, but this behaviour appears to be explicable in terms of the stratospheric circulation changes taking place in that period due to the occurrence of a stratospheric warming event.     

Sorptive Potential of Beach Sand to Remove Ni(II) Ions: An Equilibrium Isotherm Study

The potential to remove Ni(II) ions from aqueous solutions using sea beach sand, a carbonate‐quartz mineral, was thoroughly investigated. The effects of relevant parameters such as solution pH, adsorbent dose, metal ions concentration, and temperature on Ni(II) sorption onto beach sand were examined. The sorption data followed the Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin‐Radushkevich (D‐R) isotherms. The adsorption was endothermic in nature at ambient temperature and the computation of the parameters, ΔH, ΔS and ΔG indicated the interactions between sorbate and sorbent to be thermodynamically favorable. Equilibrium was achieved very quickly within 30 min of shaking. A pseudo‐first order Lagergren equation was used to test the adsorption kinetics. Other kinetic models, e. g., the Morris‐Weber and Reichenberg equations, were used to calculate the rate constant of intraparticle diffusion and the fate of the diffusion process, respectively. The influence of some of the common cations and anions were also a subject of this study.     

Evolution of the Archean-Palaeoproterozoic Bundelkhand Massif, central India—evidence from granitoid geochemistry

The Bundelkhand massif of Archean-Palaeoproterozoic age is primarily a granite-gneiss complex. Three distinct granitoid suites have been identified within the massif hornblende granitoids, biotite granitoids and leucogranitoids, in order of decreasing age. These granitoids were emplaced in previously deformed basement consisting of gneisses, banded iron formations and other metasediments, mafic to felsic volcanics.
The granitoids exhibit a large compositional range from quartz diorite to syenogranite and show a calc-alkaline trend. They are metaluminous to peraluminous and have I-type characteristics. The SiO₂ content ranges from 49 to 77 wt%. Low K₂O/Na₂O characterizes the granitoids. The oldest hornblende granitoids have low Rb and Yb contents compared to the younger biotite granitoids and leucogranitoids. Rb/Sr values for most of the granitoids are low (< 1). K/Rb ratios range from 95 to 373 which is, in general, comparable with other calc-alkaline suites. Y/Nb ratios of the granitoids are > 1.2 which is a characteristic feature of magmas derived from sources chemically similar to island arc or continental margin basalts.
The features mentioned above coupled with concentrations of Rb, Y, Nb, Yb, Ta and Th indicate a volcanic-arc tectonic setting for the granitoids. It is proposed that the massif represents subduction-related magmatism of an ocean in the southern part of the massif (an Andean plate margin).