Analysis of the Tsunami of December 26, 2004, on the Kerala Coast of India—Part I: Amplitudes

The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, not only affected the Bay of Bengal coast of India but also part of the Arabian Sea coast of India. In particular, the tsunami caused loss of life and heavy damage on some parts of the Kerala coast in southwest India. The tsunami traveled west, south of Sri Lanka, and some of the tsunami energy was diffracted around Sri Lanka and the southern tip of India and moved northward into the Arabian Sea. However, tsunami, being a long gravity wave with a wave length of a few hundred kilometers, has to take a wide turn. In that process, it missed the very southern part of the Kerala coast and did not achieve large amplitudes there. However, further north, the tsunami achieved amplitudes of upto 5 m and caused loss of life and significant damage. Here we identify the physical oceanographic processes that were responsible for selective amplification of the tsunami in certain locations.     

Karroo basalts from western Zambia and geochemical provinces in central and southern Africa

New chemical analyses of Mesozoic basalts from Zambia show that low K₂O tholeiites are present in central as well as southern Africa. The distribution of geochemical provinces thus recognised supports the view that the Karroo Volcanic Cycle was initiated by the convective uprise of mantle material beneath the Nuanetsi area of Zimbabwe.

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Zusammenfassung Neue chemische Analysen mesozoischer Basalte von Zambia zeigen, da\ Tholeiite mit niedrigen Gehalten an K₂O sowohl in Zentralals auch in Südafrika vorkommen. Die auf diese Weise ermittelte Verbreitung geochemischer Provinzen unterstützt die Ansicht, da\ der Vulkanische Zyklus von Karroo durch den konvektiven Aufstieg von Mantelmaterial unter dem Gebiet von Nuanetsi Zimbabwes ausgelöst wurde.

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Résumé De nouvelles analyses chimiques de basaltes mésozoÎques de Zambie indiquent que des tholéiites à teneur basse en K₂O se présentent dans le centre aussi bien que dans le sud de l'Afrique. La distribution des provinces géochimiques ainsi reconnue confirme la théorie que »La Période Volcanique de Karoo« débuta par le soulèvement convectif du matériau du manteau sous la région de Nuanetsi en Zimbabwe.

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Occasional paper No. 75 Geological Survey of Zambia. Published by permission of the Director.

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Publishes with the approval of the Director, Institute of Geological Sciences (N.E.R.C.). U.K.     

A study of transient variations in the Earth’s electromagnetic field at equatorial electrojet latitudes in western Africa (Mali and the Ivory Coast)

In the framework of the French-Ivorian participation to the IEEY, a network of 10 electromagnetic stations were installed at African longitudes. The aim of this experiment was twofold: firstly, to study the magnetic signature of the equatorial electrojet on the one hand, and secondly, to characterize the induced electric field variations on the other hand. The first results of the magnetic field investigations were presented by Doumouya and coworkers. Those of the electric field experiment will be discussed in this study. The electromagnetic experiment will be described. The analysis of the electromagnetic transient variations was conducted in accordance with the classical distinction between quiet and disturbed magnetic situations. A morphological analysis of the recordings is given, taking into consideration successively quiet and disturbed magnetic situations, with the results interpreted in terms of the characterization of external and internal sources. Particular attention was paid to the effects of the source characteristics on the induced field of internal origin, and to the bias they may consequently cause to the results of electromagnetic probing of the Earth; the source effect in electromagnetic induction studies. During quiet magnetic situations, our results demonstrated the existence of two different sources. One of these, the S_R^E source, was responsible for most of the magnetic diurnal variation and corresponded to the well-known magnetic signature of the equatorial electrojet. The other source (the S_R*^E source) was responsible for most of the electric diurnal variation, and was also likely to be an ionospheric source. Electric and magnetic diurnal variations are therefore related to different ionospheric sources, and interpreting the electric diurnal variation as induced by the magnetic field diurnal variation is not relevant. Furthermore, the magnetotelluric probing of the upper mantle at dip equator latitudes with the electromagnetic diurnal variation is consequently impossible to perform. In the case of irregular variations, the source effect related to the equatorial electrojet is also discussed. A Gaussian model of equatorial electrojet was considered, and apparent resistivities were computed for two models of stratified Earth corresponding to the average resistive structure of the two tectonic provinces crossed by the profile: a sedimentary basin and a cratonic shield. The apparent resistivity curves were found to depend significantly on both the model used and the distance to the center of the electrojet. These numerical results confirm the existence of a daytime source effect related to the equatorial electrojet. Furthermore, we show that the results account for the observed differences between daytime and night-time apparent resistivity curves. In particular, it was shown that electromagnetic probing of the Earth using the classical Cagniard-Tikhonov magnetotelluric method is impossible with daytime recordings made at dip latitude stations.     

Mbosi: An anomalous iron with unique silicate inclusions

Abstract— The Mbosi iron meteorite contains millimeter size silicate inclusions. Mbosi is an ungrouped iron meteorite with a Ge/Ga ratio >10, which is an anomalous property shared with the five-member IIF iron group, the Eagle Station pallasites and four other ungrouped irons. Neither the IIF group nor the four other ungrouped irons are known to have silicate inclusions. Chips from three Mbosi inclusions were studied, but most of the work concentrated on a whole 3.1 mm circular inclusion. This inclusion consists of a mantle and a central core of different mineralogies. The mantle is partially devitrified quartz-normative glass, consisting of microscopic crystallites of two pyroxenes and plagioclase, which are crystalline enough to give an x-ray powder diffraction pattern but not coarse enough to permit analyses of individual minerals. The core consists of silica. The bulk composition does not match any known meteorite type, although there is a similarity in mode of occurrence to quartz-normative silicate inclusions in some HE irons. Mbosi silicate appears to be unique. The bulk rare earth element (REE) pattern of the mantle is flat at ? 7×C1; the core is depleted in REE but shows a small positive Eu anomaly. The O-isotope composition of bulk silicate lies on a unit slope mixing line (parallel and close to the C3 mixing line) that includes the Eagle Station pallasites and the iron Bocaiuva (related to the IIF irons); all of these share the property of having Ge/Ga ratios >10. It is concluded that Mbosi silicate represents a silica-bearing source rock that was melted and injected into metal. Melting occurred early in the history of the parent body because the metal now shows a normal Widmanstätten structure with only minor distortion that was caused when the parent body broke up and released meteorites into interplanetary space. The cause of Ge/Ga ratios being >10 in these irons is unknown. The fact that silicates in Mbosi, Bocaiuva (related to IIF irons) and the Eagle Station trio of pallasites, all characterized by a Ge/Ga ratio >10, lie on a unit slope mixing line in the O-isotope diagram suggests that their origins are closely related. The C3 chondrites appear to be likely precursors for silicates in Mbosi, Bocaiuva and the Eagle Station pallasites.     

Variable pulse profile and the accretion geometry in GX 1+4

We suggest that the variable pulse profile of GX 1+4 in the low-energy X-ray region results from the superposition of polar and disk components. The anomalous appearance during the spin-down episode can then be explained, if we consider a transition from thin to thick accretion disk configuration which can develop at midly super-Eddington luminosity levels of the source. a close examination of the data suggests that the intrinsic period of the pulsar is 4 min. A switching disk geometry can provide a natural explanation to pulse profile variations in more luminous accreting binary pulsars and also account for the transition between high and low spectral states seen in the case of the Cyg X-1 and low-mass X-ray binary systems.     

An approach to aid INS using time-differenced GPS carrier phase (TDCP) measurements

This paper presents a simple and effective approach that incorporates single-frequency, L1 time-differenced GPS carrier phase (TDCP) measurements without the need of ambiguity resolution techniques and the complexity to accommodate the delayed-state terms. Static trial results are included to illustrate the stochastic characteristics and effectiveness of the TDCP measurements in controlling position error growth. The formulation of the TDCP observation model is also described in a 17-state tightly-coupled GPS/INS iterative, extended Kalman filter (IEKF) approach. Preliminary land vehicle trial results are also presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the TDCP which provides sub-meter positional accuracies when operating for more than 10 min.     

Influence of the total atmospheric optical depth and cloud cover on solar irradiance components

Broadband solar irradiance data obtained in the spectral range 400–940 nm at Kwangju, South Korea from 1999–2000 have been analyzed to investigate the effects of cloud cover and atmospheric optical depth on solar radiation components. Results from measurements indicate that the percentage of direct and diffuse horizontal components of solar irradiance depend largely on total optical depth (TOD) and cloud cover. During summer and spring, the percentages of diffuse solar irradiance relative to the global irradiance were 5.0% and 4.9% as compared to 2.2% and 3.0% during winter and autumn. The diffuse solar irradiance is higher than the direct in spring and summer by 24.2%, and 40.6%, respectively, which may largely be attributed to the attenuation (scattering) of radiation by heavy dust pollution and large cloud amount. In cloud-free conditions with cloud cover ≤2/10, the fraction of the direct and diffuse components were 66.0% and 34.0%, respectively, with a mean daily global irradiance value of 7.92±2.91 MJ m⁻² day⁻¹. However, under cloudy conditions (with cloud cover ≥8/10), the diffuse and direct fractions were 97.9% and 2.2% of the global component, respectively. The annual mean TOD under cloudless conditions (cloud cover≤2/10) yields 0.74±0.33 and increased to as much as 3.15±0.67 under cloudy conditions with cloud amount ≥8/10. An empirical formula is derived for estimating the diffuse and direct components of horizontal solar irradiance by considering the total atmospheric optical depth (TOD). Results from statistical models are shown for the estimation of solar irradiance components as a function of TOD with sufficient accuracy as indicated by low standard error for each solar zenith angle (SZA).