Groundwater potential zonation for basaltic watersheds using satellite remote sensing data and GIS techniques

This paper summarizes the findings of groundwater potential zonation mapping at the Bharangi River basin, Thane district, Maharastra, India, using Satty’s Analytical Hierarchal Process model with the aid of GIS tools and remote sensing data. To meet the objectives, remotely sensed data were used in extracting lineaments, faults and drainage pattern which influence the groundwater sources to the aquifer. The digitally processed satellite images were subsequently combined in a GIS with ancillary data such as topographical (slope, drainage), geological (litho types and lineaments), hydrogeomorphology and constructed into a spatial database using GIS and image processing tools. In this study, six thematic layers were used for groundwater potential analysis. Each thematic layer’s weight was determined, and groundwater potential indices were calculated using groundwater conditions. The present study has demonstrated the capabilities of remote sensing and GIS techniques in the demarcation of different groundwater potential zones for hard rock basaltic basin.     

Plane symmetric inhomogeneous perfect fluid universe with electromagnetic field in Lyra geometry

A new class of plane-symmetric inhomogeneous cosmological models of perfect fluid distribution with electro-magnetic field based on Lyra’s geometry is obtained by considering a time dependent displacement field. The source of the magnetic field is due to an electric current produced along the z-axis. Only F ₁₂ is a non-vanishing component of electromagnetic field tensor. To get the deterministic solutions, the free gravitational field is assumed to be of Petrov type-II non-degenerate. It has been found that the displacement vector β(t) behaves like cosmological term Λ which is consistent with the recent observations of type Ia supernovae. It is also observed that β(t) affects entropy. Some geometric and physical behaviour of the models are also discussed in presence of magnetic field.      

Exact solution of perfect fluid massive string cosmology in Bianchi type?III space-time with decaying vacuum energy density?Λ

Exact solution of Einstein’s field equations is obtained for massive string cosmological model of Bianchi III space-time using the technique given by Letelier (Phys. Rev. D 20:2414, 1983) in presence of perfect fluid and decaying vacuum energy density Λ. To get the deterministic solution of the field equations the expansion θ in the model is considered as proportional to the eigen value s² ₂\sigma^{2}_{~2} of the shear tensor s^j _i\sigma^{j}_{~i} and also the fluid obeys the barotropic equation of state. The vacuum energy density Λ is found to be positive and a decreasing function of time which is supported by the results from recent supernovae Ia observations. It is also observed that in early stage of the evolution of the universe string dominates over the particle whereas the universe is dominated by massive string at the late time. Some physical and geometric properties of the model are also discussed.     

Pattern recognition techniques for evaluating the spatial impact of copper mining on surface waters

In this study, multivariate statistical approaches, namely hierarchical cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA), were employed to understand the impact of copper mining on surface waters located in Central-East India. The data set generated consisted of nine parameters, namely pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), alkalinity, total dissolved solids, copper, iron, manganese, zinc and fluoride, collected in forty sampling points covering all seasons. As delineated by CA, the entire data set for both the surface waters was bifurcated into groups, namely Banjar River inclusion of seepage points (BRISP) and Banjar River exclusion of seepage points (BRESP), Son River inclusion of seepage points (SRISP) and Son River exclusion of seepage points (SRESP). Four latent factors were identified, namely copper, iron, fluoride and manganese, explaining 84.7 % of variance for BRISP, 71.9 % of variance for BRESP, 66.7 % of variance for SRISP and 68 % of variance for SRESP. The extensive application of PCA on BRISP, BRESP, SRISP and SRESP reveals that the main stream of both the rivers remains unaffected by mining operations when seepage points were excluded. Additionally, iron content is considerably significant throughout the stream due to the geogenic sources and it is considered as a major factor for the depletion of DO level in the streams. This study reveals the level of contamination in the studied surface waters and the effectiveness of multivariate statistical techniques for evaluation and interpretation of complex data matrix in understanding the spatial variations and identification of pollution sources.     

Flash flood risk estimation along the St. Katherine road,southern Sinai,Egypt using GIS based morphometry and satellite imagery

Flash floods are considered to be one of the worst weather-related natural disasters. They are dangerous because they are sudden and are highly unpredictable following brief spells of heavy rain. Several qualitative methods exist in the literature for the estimations of the risk level of flash flood hazard within a watershed. This paper presents the utilization of remote sensing data such as enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), coupled with geological, geomorphological, and field data in a GIS environment for the estimation of the flash flood risk along the Feiran–Katherine road, southern Sinai, Egypt. This road is a vital corridor for the tourists visiting here for religious purposes (St. Katherine monastery) and is subjected to frequent flash floods, causing heavy damage to man-made features. In this paper, morphometric analyses have been used to estimate the flash flood risk levels of sub-watersheds within the Wadi Feiran basin. First, drainage characteristics are captured by a set of parameters relevant to the flash flood risk. Further, comparison between the effectiveness of the sub-basins has been performed in order to understand the active ones. A detailed geomorphological map for the most hazardous sub-basins is presented. In addition, a map identifying sensitive sections is constructed for the Feiran–Katherine road. Finally, the most influenced factors for both flash flood hazard and critical sensitive zones have been discussed. The results of this study can initiate appropriate measures to mitigate the probable hazards in the area.     

Relationship of Hyperspectral Reflectance Indices with Leaf N and P Concentration,Dry Matter Accumulation and Grain Yield of Wheat

A field experiment was conducted on wheat during rabi season of year 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 at IARI, New Delhi to study the reflectance response of wheat to the nutrient omissions and identify the appropriate indices for assessing the nutrient deficiencies. Treatments comprised omission of N, P, K, S and Zn, 50% omission of N, P, and K, absolute control and optimum dose of nutrition (150–26.4–50–15–3 kg/ha N–P–K–S–Zn). The R² were significant and higher for the hyperspectral indices than the broad band vegetation indices. GMI-I, RI-2 dB and RI-3d, GNDVI, VOGa, VOGb, VOGc, ND₇₀₅, PRI, PSNDc and REIP had higher R² (>0.61) for the leaf N concentration. The hyperspectral indices having highly significant correlation with leaf P concentration were PSSRc, GMI-1, ZM, RI-half, VOGa, VOGb, VOGc, mSR and REIP. Among the indices analysed PSSRc, GMI-I, VOGa, RI-2 dB, RI-3 dB, GNDVI, VOGb, VOGc and ND₇₀₅ had almost a similar degree of relationship with DM accumulation with R² values ranging from 0.70 to 0.73. However, REIP displayed a higher degree of relationship with leaf N concentration, drymatter accumulation and grain yield as indicated by R² of 0.85, 0.81 and 0.95 (P = ≤0.01), respectively. It can be concluded from the study that among the hyperspectral indices REIP had a highly significant relationship with leaf N concentration, DM accumulation and grain yield. However, for leaf P concentration several hyperspectral indices viz PSSRc, GMI-1, ZM, RI-half, VOGa, VOGb, VOGc, mSR had though significant but almost similar R² values.     

A theoretical qualitatively-explained new-variant of Modified-Newtonian-Dynamics (MOND)

It is surprising that we hardly know only 4% of the universe. Rest of the universe is made up of 73% of dark-energy and 23% of dark-matter. Dark-energy is responsible for acceleration of the expanding universe; whereas dark-matter is said to be necessary as extra-mass of bizarre-properties to explain the anomalous rotational-velocity of galaxy. Though the existence of dark-energy has gradually been accepted in scientific community, but the candidates for dark-matter have not been found as yet and are too crazy to be accepted. Thus, it is obvious to look for an alternative theory in place of dark-matter. Milgrom (Astrophys. J. 270:365, 1983a; 270:371, 1983b) has suggested a ‘Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND)’ which appears to be highly successful for explaining the anomalous rotational-velocity. But unfortunately MOND lacks theoretical support. The MOND, in-fact, is (empirical) modification of Newtonian-Dynamics through modification in the kinematical acceleration term ‘a’ (which is normally taken as a=\fracv²ra=\frac{v^{2}}{r}) as effective kinematic acceleration a_effective = a m(\fracaa₀)a_{\mathit{effective}} = a \mu(\frac{a}{a_{0}}), wherein the μ-function is 1 for usual-values of accelerations but equals to \fracaa₀ ( << 1)\frac{a}{a_{0}} (\ll1) if the acceleration ‘a’ is extremely-low lower than a critical value a ₀(10⁻¹⁰ m/s²). In the present paper, a novel variant of MOND is proposed with theoretical backing; wherein with the consideration of universe’s acceleration a _d due to dark-energy, a new type of μ-function on theoretical-basis emerges out leading to a_effective = a(1 -K \fraca₀a)a_{\mathit{effective}} = a(1 -K \frac{a_{0}}{a}). The proposed theoretical-MOND model too is able to fairly explain ‘qualitatively’ the more-or-less ‘flat’ velocity-curve of galaxy-rotation, and is also able to predict a dip (minimum) on the curve.