Some aspects of the role of intergranular fluids in the compositional evolution of metamorphic rocks

Minerals that react with each other during the progressive evolution of metamorphic terranes are not always in physical contact. As such, an “intergranular fluid” could play a major role in element transfer and chemical evolution. However, the nature of this fluid and its specific role remains somewhat elusive. Recent experiments in our laboratory shed some light on the behavior of such a fluid. Here we present a simple mathematical model which accounts for diffusion within crystals and fluid, solubility in the fluid and mass balance between the various reservoirs. The model elucidates the nature of element exchange between two minerals via the mediation of an intergranular fluid. It is shown that a coupling of thermodynamics and kinetics controls the evolution of the system and the concentration of an element in the intergranular fluid is a key parameter of interest. The results have important implications for standard tools of metamorphic petrology such as geothermometers and barometers, geospeedometry and the closure of isotopic systems. For example, homogeneity of mineral grains may be a poor criterion for equilibrium and the rim compositions of minerals showing diffusion zoning may be out of equilibrium with distant exchange partners, even in the presence of a fluid in which transport is fast.     

Deformation Pattern in the Kurnool and Nallarnalai Groups in the Northeastern Part (Palnad Area) of the Cuddapah Basin, South India and its Implication on Rodinia/Gondwana Tectonics

The Proterozoic basins of India adjoining the Eastern Ghats Granulite Belt (EGGB) in eastern and southern India contain both Mesproterozoic and Neoproterozoic successions. The intracratonic set-up and contractional deformation fo the Neoproterozoc successions in the Paland sub-basin in the northeastern part of Cuddapah basin and similar crustal shortening in contemporaneous successions lying west of the EGGB and Nellore Schist Belt (NSB) are considered in relation to the proposed geodynamic evolution of the the Rodinia and Gondwana supercontinents. Tectonic shortening in the Palnad sub-basin (northeast Cuddapah), partitioned into top-to-westnorthwest thrust shear, flexural folds and cleavage development under overall E-W contraction, suggests foreland style continental shortening within an intracratonic set-up. A thrust sheet containing the Nallamalai rocks and overlying the Kurnool rocks in the northeastern part of Palnad sub-basin exhibits early tight to isoclinal folds and slaty (phylllitic) cleavage, which can be correlated with early Mesoproterozoic deformation structures in the nothern Nallamalai Fold Belt (NFB). NNE-SSW trending folds and cleavage affect the Kurnool Group and overprint earlier structures in the thrust sheet. Thrusting of the Nallamalai rocks and the later structures may have been related to convergence of the Eastern Ghats terrane and the East-Dharwar-Bastar craton during Early Neoproterozoic (Greenvillian) and/or later rejuvenation related to Pan-African amalgamation of East and West Gondwana.     

Diffusion coupling between trace and major elements and a model for calculation of magma residence times using plagioclase

Residence times of plagioclase crystals in magma reservoirs can be determined by modeling the compositional zoning of trace elements in these crystals. We present a formulation to model diffusion of trace elements in plagioclase paying special attention to certain thermodynamic and kinetic aspects. In particular, we account for the compositional dependence on anorthite content of the chemical potential and diffusion coefficients of trace elements (e.g., Mg), the choice of suitable boundary conditions and potential effects of diffusion in more than one dimension. We show that contrary to intuition, diffusive fluxes of trace elements may be coupled to major element concentration gradients, and ignoring such coupling can lead to incorrect estimates of timescales. We illustrate application of the model using plagioclase crystals from a suite of gabbroic xenoliths from a Holocene dacitic lava flow of Volcán San Pedro (Chilean Andes, 36°S). The inferred timescale for metasomatism of the xenoliths by evolved liquids is on the order of 100 (30 to 148) yr and serves to illustrate how trace element zoning in plagioclase provides a window into timescales of magmatic processes inaccessible by isotopic or other methods.     

Nonlinear kinetic energy interactions and their contributions to the growth and decay of atmospheric waves in the lower troposphere during summer monsoon, 1979

Summary Lower tropospheric (1000–500) hPa kinetic energy (KE), temporal variations of KE and nonlinear KE transfer of rotational and divergent flows and energy conversion between them, partitioning further into stationary and transient components in the Fourier spectral domain and the mechanism for the evolution of significant transient waves for the month July 1979 in the latitudinal belt 10° S–30° N are studied.Divergent zonal and eddy KE show their maxima at the lowest level 1000 hPa. Lower tropospheric monsoon motion provides a non-divergent level close to 850 hPa. The daily flow patterns bear little resemblence to the climatology over tropics at 500 hPa. Although the transient mode of synoptic scale waves is stronger than that of planetary scale waves they are comparable. Analysis of energetics over global tropics can get signature of transient activities embedded in the large scale system. Summer momentum flux in the lower troposphere is essentially associated with stationary planetary and transient synoptic scale waves. Waves 1, 3 and 6 are the most preferred transient waves. Divergent to rotational KE conversion is the most dominating mechanism for the maintenance of planetary and synoptic scale waves. All categories of waves contribute towards the maintenance of zonal flows. The primary source of energy for transient synoptic scale waves is the transient divergent rotational KE transfer whereas the interaction between zonal stationary and transient wave is likely to be secondary source. Transient KE and all transient interactions, stationary KE and all stationary interactions are found to be strongest at 500 hPa and 850 hPa respectively. Growth and decay of transient waves 1 and 3 are mainly controlled by divergent-rotational KE conversions whereas those of transient wave 6 are controlled by KE transfer due to zonal-wave interaction.With 13 Figures     

Comparative performance of per-pixel classifiers using ers-1 sar data for classification of rice crop

Three-date ERS-1 SAR data acquired on August 24, September 28 and November 2, 1995, was used to classify rice crop in a predominant rice growing region of West Bengal. India, Artificial neural network, maximum likelihood, decision rute and K-Means clustering classifiers were used. Classification accuracy was evaluated from the error matrix of same set of training and validating pixels. Rice classification accuracy improved significantly using neural network classifier. The decision rule based classifier performed equally good for most of the sites, indicating the feasibility of deriving a common rule based algorithm for large area application. Law aecuracy was observed for maximum likelihood classifier.     

Frequency Distribution of Tropospheric Triad Energy Interactions During Summer Monsoon 1988

—In order to understand the physical mechanism for maintenance of low frequency waves, computations of nonlinear kinetic energy (KE) exchanges into individual triad interactions in frequency domain by use of cross-spectral technique over global tropics (20°S–30°N) at 850 hPa and 200 hPa for June, July and August of 1988 are carried out. The KE exchanges among different frequencies and the interactions between the transient eddies and the time mean flow are found to be an order of magnitude smaller in the lower troposphere than those in the upper troposphere. The results show two distinct spectral peaks of periods 45 and 25 days in nonlinear energy transfer in the lower troposphere. The former is more pronounced than the latter. The role of time mean flow on the low frequency transients is found to be secondary compared to the effect of the leading term due to nonlinear interactions in the lower troposphere. Low frequency waves suffer a net loss of energy in the upper troposphere. In the lower troposphere, north of 20°N low frequency waves lose energy through nonlinear triad interactions, unlike the upper troposphere where gain of energy is noticed. Longitude-frequency distributions suggest that wave-CISK process and strong gradient of SST are the possible mechanisms for the strong energy interactions associated with low frequency waves in the lower troposphere over the west Pacific and east coast of Africa, respectively. The study may aid investigation of the rapid loss of predictability of low frequency modes over the tropics.     

Isotopic and sedimentological clues to productivity change in Late Riphean Sea: A case study from two intracratonic basins of India

Enriched¹³C/¹²C ratios with δ¹³C ∼3%0 (w.r.t PDB) of two Late Riphean (∼ 700-610 Ma) intracratonic carbonate successions viz., Bhander Limestone of Vindhyan Basin and Raipur Limestone of Chattisgarh Basin suggest higher organic productivity during this period. This view is supported by sedimentological evidence of higher biohermal growth and consequent increase in depositional relief in the low gradient ramp settings inferred for these basins. Oxygen isotope analysis of these carbonates show distinct segregation between enriched deeper water carbonate mudstone and depleted shallow water stromatolite facies that received fresh water influx. This shows that facies-specific analyses can be useful in understanding the depositional setting of these sediments.     

Stable isotope variations in a coral (Favia speciosa) from the Gulf of Kutch during 1948–1989 A.D.: Environmental implications

The stable isotopic analyses (δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C) of a coralFavia speciosa spanning forty two years (1948–89 A.D.), collected from the Pirotan island (22.6°N, 70°E) in the Gulf of Kutch have been carried out to assess its potential for retrieving past environmental changes in this region. It is seen that the summer (minima) δ¹⁸O variations in the coral CaCO₃ are negatively correlated with seasonal (summer) monsoon rainfall in the adjoining region of Kutch and Saurashtra and a qualitative reconstruction of historical rainfall variations in this region can be obtained by analyzing the δ¹⁸O in this species of coral. The observed mean seasonal range of δ¹⁸O variations is 0.34 ±0.17‰ (n = 42), whereas the expected range calculated (from available SST and measured δ¹⁸O of sea water) is ∼ 1.1 ±0.15‰ The difference is due to the coarse resolution of sampling, which can be corrected. The seasonal range in δ¹³C is ∼ l‰ and is explained by changes in: a) the light intensity related to the cloudiness during monsoons and b) phytoplankton productivity.     

Inflationary solutions for anisotropic model in scalar-tensor theory

In this paper we have studied B-D theory and general scalar tensor theory of Gravitation for anisotropic cosmological model in the false vacuum state. The possibility of both exponential inflation and power function inflation are examined for constant or variable coupling parameter . Also asymptotic limit of the scalar field and are discussed.     

Analysis of multibeam-Hydrosweep echo peaks for seabed characterisation

Echo-peak data of outer and normal incidence beams from five different Southern Ocean bottom topographic regions have been analysed. The Rice and Extremal probability density function (PDF) statistical approaches reveal that the seabed roughness is, in general, Gaussian in nature except in the case of the Kainan Maru seamount summit (area D). The outer beams of the Enderby abyssal plain (area C) echo-peak PDF statistics reveal the highest possible large-scale feature dominance. Interestingly, Extremal PDF fit parameters (!) from the Agulhas Basin (area A) show a less dominant large-scale roughness than in the case of area C. Large-scale feature dominance up to 15° beam angle is observed in the case of mixed roughness seabeds such as area B (southwest Indian ridge) and area E (Meteor Rise). No increase in the 30°-beam Extremal PDF parameters is observed in these areas. Maximum microtopographic roughness is documented in area D on the summit of Kainan Maru seamount. The estimated fit parameters using Extremal statistics of outer-beam peak data provide a better understanding of the scattering process. Previously determined power law and volume roughness parameters using composite roughness theory are given for the five different areas. These support the results obtained using Rice and Extremal PDFs. The existence of higher volume roughness parameters and power law parameters for medium-scale roughness, along with dominant microtopographic features, are evident from the results of this study.