Tectonics of the southern Asian Plate margin along the Karakoram Shear Zone: Constraints from field observations and U–Pb SHRIMP ages

New geological observations, recent published data and U–Pb SHRIMP zircon dating from the Karakoram Mountains along the Nubra and Shyok Rivers reveal that the initial subduction of the Tethyan oceanic lithosphere took place ~ 110 Ma beneath the Paleozoic–Mesozoic platform of the southern edge of the Asian Plate. This has produced the I-type plutons within the Karakoram Batholith Complex, well before the juxtaposition of the Asian Plate along the Karakoram Shear Zone. Within this shear zone, U–Pb zircon crystallisation ages of ~ 75 Ma from mylonitised granitoids and 68 Ma from undeformed Tirit granodiorite constrain the timing of suturing of the Karakoram terrain with the Trans-Himalaya between 75 and 68 Ma. Post-shearing leucogranite was episodically generated within frontal migmatised Karakoram Metamorphic Belt and emplaced between 20 and 13 Ma within the shear zone. Presence of a low resistivity zone as a possible indication of mid-crustal partial molten crust underneath the Higher Himalaya–Ladakh–Karakoram terrains manifests the impingement of the Indian Plate along the Main Himalayan Thrust at depth.

Physical continuity of the Baltoro granite belt into the Karakoram Batholith is established as well as the continuity of the Shyok suture as the Shiquanhe Suture Zone in western Tibet through the Chushul–Dungti sector. The Karakoram Shear Zone, therefore, displays a complex geological history of movements since ~ 75 Ma and plays a very significant role in the overall India–Asia convergence, rather than merely being a strike-slip fault for eastward extrusion of a segment of Asia in Tibet.     

Use of fuzzy synthetic evaluation for assessment of groundwater quality for drinking usage: a case study of Southern Haryana,India

A method based on concept of fuzzy set theory has been used for decision-making for the assessment of physico-chemical quality of groundwater for drinking purposes. Conventional methods for water quality assessment do not consider the uncertainties involved either in measurement of water quality parameters or in the limits provided by the regulatory bodies. Fuzzy synthetic evaluation model gives the certainty levels for the quality class of the water based on the prescribed limit of various regulatory bodies and opinion of the experts from the field of drinking water quality. In this paper, application of fuzzy rule based optimization model is illustrated with twenty groundwater samples from Sohna town of Gurgaon district of Southern Haryana, India. These samples were analysed for 15 different physico-chemical parameters, out of them nine important parameters were used for the quality assessment using fuzzy synthetic evaluation approach. From this study, it has been concluded that all the water samples are in acceptable category whose certainty level ranges from 44 to 100%. Water from these sources can be used for the drinking purposes if alternate water source is not available without any health concern on the basis of physico-chemical characteristics.     

Sensitivity of direct global warming potentials to key uncertainties

The concept of global warming potential was developed as a relative measure of the potential effects on climate of a greenhouse gas as compared to CO₂. In this paper a series of sensitivity studies examines several uncertainties in determination of Global Warming Potentials (GWPs). For example, the original evaluation of GWPs for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1990) did not attempt to account for the possible sinks of carbon dioxide (CO₂) that could balance the carbon cycle and produce atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ that match observations. In this study, a balanced carbon cycle model is applied in calculation of the radiative forcing from CO₂. Use of the balanced model produces up to 21% enhancement of the GWPs for most trace gases compared with the IPCC (1990) values for time horizons up to 100 years, but a decreasing enhancement with longer time horizons. Uncertainty limits of the fertilization feedback parameter contribute a 20% range in GWP values. Another systematic uncertainty in GWPs is the assumption of an equilibrium atmosphere (one in which the concentration of trace gases remains constant) versus a disequilibrium atmosphere (one in which the concentration of trace gases varies with time). The latter gives GWPs that are 19 to 32% greater than the former for a 100 year time horizons, depending upon the carbon dioxide emission scenario chosen. Five scenarios are employed: constant-concentration, constant-emission past 1990 and the three IPCC (1992) emission scenarios. For the analysis of uncertainties in atmospheric lifetime (τ) the GWP changes in direct proportion toτ for short-lived gases, but to a lesser extent for gases withτ greater than the time horizontal for the GWP calculation.     

A comparative study on synthetic aperture radar and optical imagery of ocean waves

This note describes estimation of the zero-plane displacement derived from experimental windspeed measurements above an 18 m pine forest and an 8–9 m savannah using a ‘mass conservation technique’ mentioned by Tajchman (1981). The results obtained using this analysis exhibit a lack of sensitivity to experimental errors which is in marked contrast to those commonly obtained over tall vegetation using more conventional least-square analyses. The consistency in the results allows an investigation of the windspeed dependence of the aerodynamic properties of the mean horizontal airflow over tall vegetation, and permits consideration of the effect of experimental errors on such dependence.     

A Laboratory Study to Assess Separate and In-combination Effects of Zinc,Chromium and Nickel to the Fish Mystus vittatus

The present investigation is designed to work out the isolated and in-combination effects of Zn²⁺, Cr⁶⁺ and Ni²⁺ to a fish Mystus vittatus. From all the 12 combinations, 6 are antagonistic and 6 are synergistic. The combination Cr/Ni is highly synergistic while combination (Cr + Ni)/Zn is highly antagonistic in nature. The possible mechanisms responsible for antagonistic and synergistic combinations have been discussed and indicated as the occupation of critical receptor sites by less toxic metal (antagonism) or intrinsic affinity of the individual metal for the critical site or relative concentration and distribution of the metals within the target organ site (synergism). The results drawn can be indicated in terms of the effective concentration required to reach a particular level for a particular biological end point and can be expressed as follows.     

Analytical models for low-rise buildings with flexible floor diaphragms

The observed behaviour of buildings during earthquakes indicates clearly the importance of the flexibility of floor and roof diaphragms in the response of many structures. This paper presents a new analytical method for the dynamic analysis of some one- and two-storey buildings whose floors may have significant in-plane flexibility. The method begins by treating the floors as bending beams and the walls as shear beams. The equations of motion and the boundary conditions for the floors and the walls are then formulated in one coordinate system and solved exactly to obtain the characteristic equation for the system, which can be solved numerically to obtain the natural frequencies. These, in turn, can be used to determine the mode shapes of the system and the participation factors for earthquake response. Solutions are given for one- and two-storey buildings that resist lateral loads in the transverse direction by two end walls. Perturbation techniques are also applied to simplify further the determination of the fundamental frequency of such single-storey structures. To illustrate the method, a two-storey structure, the Arvin (California) High School Administration Building, damaged in the Kern County earthquake of 1952, has been analysed in its transverse direction. It is seen that the first two modes, dominated by the floor and the roof vibrations, make the largest contributions to the total base shear in the structure.     

Nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor instability in partially ionized plasma and the equatorial spread-F

The nonlinear evolution of the collisional gravitation induced RayleighTaylor (R-T) instability in the equatorialF region is investigated taking into account the finite larmor radius (FLR) effects and the complete ion inertial term in ion equation of motion. A special class of coherent weakly nonlinear modes as solutions to the wave equation describing R-T instability driven modes is obtained. The leading nonlinear effects in the wave equation are found to appear throughV _l, the ion diamagnetic drift which essentially gives the FLR corrections. It is shown that the R-T modes in the equatorialF region can evolve into coherent, nonlinear, almost sinusoidal, stationary wave structures. These structures are found to travel with a constant phase velocity and to have slightly distorted sinusoidal shapes. These results seem to have a good agreement with many of the recent rocket and satellite observations of the equatorial spreadF irregularities.     

Stratigraphy and provenance of Late Palaeozoic diamictites in parts of Garhwal Lesser Himalaya,India

The Garhwal Lesser Himalayan Krol Belt contains two well developed diamictite horizons in the Late Palaeozoic Blaini Formation. Structureless and massive diamictites contain clasts of different shape, roundness and lithologies comprising mainly shale, slate, phyllite, quartzite, vein quartz and limestone dispersed in fine sandy argillaceous and calcareous matrix.Clast composition and petrography of the diamictites and other lithologies of the Blaini Formation reveal the presence of sedimentary and low grade metamorphic rocks in the provenance of the Blaini. The provenance seems to be the Lesser Himalayan terrain of the Simla Slate, Jaunsar and Shali-Deoban carbonates which had probably undergone structural deformation prior to the Late Palaeozoic. Two glacier advances deposited the diamictites near the shoreline of the Krol Basin during Late Palaeozoic.

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Zusammenfassung Im Krol Belt des Kleinen Himalaya sind in der jungpaläozoischen Blaini-Formation zwei Horizonte mit sedimentären Diamictiten enthalten. Die strukturlosen und massiven Diamictite enthalten Klastika verschiedener Form, Rundung und Lithologie. So findet man Schiefer, Phyllite, Quarzite, Gangquarze und Kalke in einer feinsandigen, tonigen Matrix mit Karbonatanteilen. Die Zusammensetzung der Klaste und die Petrographie der Diamictite sowie der übrigen Gesteine der Blaini-Formation zeigen die Anwesenheit von Sedimentgesteinen und schwach metamorphisierten Gesteinen im Einzugsbereich der Blaini-Formation. Dieser Bereich kann die Simla-Schiefer und die Jaunsar- und Shali-Deoban-Karbonate des Kleinen Himalaya mit umfassen, die vermutlich vorjungpaläozoisch metamorphisiert wurden. Während zweier Gletschervorstöße sind die Diamictite randlich im Krol-Becken während des Jungpaläozoikums abgelagert worden.

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Résumé Dans la ceinture de Krol de l'Himalaya mineur, la Formation de Blaini, d'âge Paléozoique supérieur, renferme deux horizons à diamictites sédimentaires. Celles-ci, massives et sans structure interne, contiennent des éléments clastiques de forme arrondi et lithologie différents; ce sont des schistes métamorphiques, des phyllites, des quartzites, du quartz-filonien et des calcaires disposés dans une matrice fine, argilosableuse avec participation carbonatée. La composition des éléments clastiques et la pétrographie des diamictites, comme celles des autres roches de la Formation de Blaini, montrent la présence de roches sédimentaires et de roches faiblement métamorphiques de même provenance que la formation de Blaini; cette provenance peut comprendre les schistes de Simla et les roches carbonatées de Jaunsar et de Shali-Deoban qui furent métamorphisées probablement avant le Paléozoique supérieur. C'est au cours de deux avancées glaciaires que les diamictites ont été déposées en bordure du bassin de Krol pendant le Paléozoique supérieur.

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Envelope soliton solution for finite amplitude equatorial waves

Using shallow water equations on an equatorial beta plane, the nonlinear dynamics of the equatorial waves is investigated. A general mathematical procedure to study the nonlinear dynamics of these waves is developed using the asymptotic method of multiple scales. On faster temporal and spatial scales the equations describe the equatorial wavesviz, the Rossby waves, Rossby gravity waves, the inertia gravity waves and the Kelvin waves. Assuming that the amplitude of these waves are functions of slower time and space scales, it is shown that the evolution of the amplitude of these waves is governed by the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. It is then shown that for the dispersive waves like Rossby waves and Rossby-gravity waves, the envelope of the amplitude of the waves has a ‘soliton’ structure.     

Mapping and monitoring of urban landuse of Hisar Town,Haryana using remote sensing techniques

Aerial photographs for the year 1965 and 1975 and Landsat TM (FCC) 1986 data on 1:50,000 scale were used to map and monitor the pattern of growth and development of Hisar Town during the last 20 years. The different landuse categories identified are residential, commercial, industrial, recreational, vacant lands etc. The original shape of the town was nucleated one, but presently it is star-shaped, which is due to extension of the urban centre along the radiating roads. It has mainly elongated itself along the Delhi and Rajgarh roads. The presence of Government Livestock Farm (GLF), Equine Breeding Farm and HAU Farm towards North-west of the town has completely checked its growth on these sides. The total residential-cum-commercial area has nearly doubled during 1965–1975 and trebled by 1986. The change in net area under different types of urban land-use categories, described above has also been calculated. Degraded scrub lands and sandy wasteland on the fringes of the town have been identified where further development can be planned to avoid encroachment on good agricultural lands. Recommendations have been given for future urban planning of the town.