Isotopic signatures of deposition and transformation of Lower Cambrian saliferous rocks in the Irkutsk amphitheater: Communication 1. Sulfur isotopic composition

New isotope data on Lower Cambrian rocks of the Irkutsk amphitheater are reported in three communications. The first communication is devoted to the sulfur isotopic composition, which is most sensitive to ostsedimentary geochemical transformations of sulfate rocks in saliferous formations. It is shown that δ³⁴S values in Bel’sk and Zhigalovo boreholes are within 22–35‰ The lowest values are close to the sulfur isotopic composition of a halogenic basin, while the highest values are related to epigenetic sulfate reduction. This process was responsible for the elimination of 100 m of anhydrites from the Lower Cambrian section.     

Early Proterozoic syn-and postcollision granites in the northern part of the Baikal fold area

Early Proterozoic granitoids are of a limited occurrence in the Baikal fold area being confined here exclusively to an arcuate belt delineating the outer contour of Baikalides, where rocks of the Early Precambrian basement are exposed. Geochronological and geochemical study of the Kevakta granite massif and Nichatka complex showed that their origin was related with different stages of geological evolution of the Baikal fold area that progressed in diverse geodynamic environments. The Nichatka complex of syncollision granites was emplaced 1908 ± 5 Ma ago, when the Aldan-Olekma microplate collided with the Nechera terrane. Granites of the Kevakta massif (1846 ± 8 Ma) belong to the South Siberian postcollision magmatic belt that developed since ～1.9 Ga during successive accretion of microplates, continental blocks and island arcs to the Siberian craton. In age and other characteristics, these granites sharply differ from granitoids of the Chuya complex they have been formerly attributed to. Accordingly, it is suggested to divide the former association of granitoids into the Chuya complex proper of diorite-granodiorite association ～2.02 Ga old (Neymark et al., 1998) with geochemical characteristics of island-arc granitoids and the Chuya-Kodar complex of postcollision S-type granitoids 1.85 Ga old. The Early Proterozoic evolution of the Baikal fold area and junction zone with Aldan shield lasted about 170 m.y. that is comparable with development periods of analogous structures in other regions of the world.     

Petrogenesis and geotectonic setting of the PanAfrican basement rocks in Bamenda Massif, Obudu Plateau, southeastern Nigeria： Evidence from trace element geochemistry

1 IntroductionThe study area is part of the Obudu Plateau,which forms part of the Precambrian Pan-African tec-tonothermal belt, lying between the West African Cra-ton and the Gabon-Congo Craton ( Fig. 1). It isbounded by the Benue Trough, in the NE-SW axi…     

GGM02 – An improved Earth gravity field model from GRACE

A new generation of Earth gravity field models called GGM02 are derived using approximately 14 months of data spanning from April 2002 to December 2003 from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE). Relative to the preceding generation, GGM01, there have been improvements to the data products, the gravity estimation methods and the background models. Based on the calibrated covariances, GGM02 (both the GRACE-only model GGM02S and the combination model GGM02C) represents an improvement greater than a factor of two over the previous GGM01 models. Error estimates indicate a cumulative error less than 1 cm geoid height to spherical harmonic degree 70, which can be said to have met the GRACE minimum mission goals. Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at     

Analysis of geophysical networks derived from multiscale digital elevation models: a morphological approach

We provide a simple and elegant framework based on morphological transformations to generate multiscale digital elevation models (DEMs) and to extract topologically significant multiscale geophysical networks. These terrain features at multiple scales are collectively useful in deriving scaling laws, which exhibit several significant terrain characteristics. We present results derived from a part of Cameron Highlands DEM.     

Resourcesat (IRS-P6) value added data products

Remote sensing data products need to meet stringent geodetic and geometric accuracy specifications irrespective of intended user applications. Georeferencing is the basic processing step towards achieving this goal. Having known the imaging geometry and mechanism, the mathematical models built with the use of orbit and attitude information of the spacecraft can correct the remote sensing data for its geometric degradations only up to system level accuracy (IRS-P6 DP Team, 2000). The uncertainties in the orbit and attitude information will not allow the geometric correction model to generate products of accuracy that can meet user requirements unless Ground Control Points (GCP) are used as reference geo-location landmarks. IRS-P6 data processing team has been entrusted with developing a software system to generate data products that will have desired geodetic and geometric accuracies with known limitations. The intended software system is called the Value Added Data Products System (VADS). Precision corrected, Template Registered, Merged and Ortho Rectified products are the value added products planned with VADS.     

Land surface temperature retrieval and its validation using NOAA AVHRR thermal data

The retrieval of land (soil-vegetation complex) surface temperature (LST) was carried out over semi-arid mixed agriculture landscape of Gujarat using thermal bands (channel 4 and 5) and ground emissivity from atmospherically corrected NDVI of NOAA AVHRR LAC images. The atmospheric correction of Visible and NIR band reflectance was done using SMAC model. The LST computed from split-window method and subsequently corrected with fractional vegetation cover were then compared with near synchronous ground observations of soil and air temperatures made during 13–17 January and April, 1997 at five Land Surface Processes Experiment (LASPEX) sites of Anand, Sanand, Derol, Arnej and Khandha covering 100 km x 100 km. The fractional vegetation cover corrected LST at noon hrs. varied from 301.6 – 311.9K in January and from 315.8 – 325.6K in April. The LST_corr were found to lie in the mid way between AT and ST during January. But in April, LST were found to be more close to ST which may be due to relatively poor vegetation growth as indicated by lower NDVI values in April indicating more contribution to LST from exposed soil surface.     

Assessment of sedimentation in the Linganmakki Reservoir using remote sensing

The reservoir surveys carried out using the conventional equipments like theodolite, plane table, sextant, range finders, sounding rods, echo-sounders and slow moving boats etc. are time consuming and sometime it takes up to three years to complete the survey of a major reservoir like Hirakud. During such longtime of survey, the siltation pattern and the bed levels also get changed. So, the need to update the sediment measurement techniques and to introduce latest technology available in the field was felt to overcome the difficulties faced in the conventional method especially in major reservoirs. With this objective, the present study of the assessment of the sedimentation in Linganmakki reservoir is carried out using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The revised capacities in the zone of reservoir levels (533.05 – 548.78 m) for the year 1989–1990 and 2001–2002 in the zone of 532.20 – 545.91 m of reservoir levels were determined, which is found 2837.84 M cum and 2207.95 M cum respectively. Based on these results, the sedimentation rates in the zone (533.05 – 548.78 m) come out to be 8.96 ham/100 km²/year and for the zone (532.20 – 545.91 m) is 8.57 ha-m/100 km²/year. It is found that the results are comparable during and the uniform sediment rate of 8.57 ha-m/100 km²/ year can be considered.