Seismic velocity imaging of the Kumaon–Garhwal Himalaya,India

Natural Hazards - Since the initial collision at 55 Ma, rocks of the Indian crust below the Himalayas have undergone modification chemically and compositionally due to the ongoing...     

Trapezoidal footings on non-linear subgrades

The pressure versus settlement response is highly non-linear for soils, in general. In the present study, a cubic equation of the type p = K₁w ? K₂w³ is suggested to incorporate the non-linear behaviour. A trapezoidal footing with constant depth resting on a subgrade having non-linear response is analysed. The resulting fourth order non-linear differential equation with variable coefficients is solved by using the Galerkin technique and beam characteristic functions are employed to obtain faster convergence. The results are presented in the form of non-dimensional charts for valid ranges of footings and soil parameters.     

Effect of Different Growing Environments on Population Dynamics of Sucking Pests in Relation to Various Spectral Indices in Cotton

Present study was designed to determine the effect of various growing environments on sucking pest population dynamics in cotton and to work out their relation with spectral indices. Crop spectral reflectance in four IRS bands was measured with ground truth radiometer during 1000–1200 h in all the treatment combinations. Incidence of sucking pest in cotton was found out to be highly influenced by growing environments. The leafhopper and whitefly population was highest in 15 May sown cotton crop and was lowest in 15 April sown crop. Cultivar HS-6 was highly affected by both the sucking pest than the other cultivar H-1226. The spectral indices (SR, NDVI and TVI) were highest in 15 April sown crop at all the phenophases and were lowest in 15 May sown crop. The cultivar H-1226 showed higher values of spectral indices as compared to HS-6. The relationship of pests’ population with various spectral indices was established. Multiple regression models based on spectral indices can be used for prediction of sucking pest population more than 69 and 74 % accuracy in leafhopper and whitefly, respectively in cotton crop.     

Application of Hidden Markov Model for avalanche danger simulations for road sectors in North-West Himalaya

Seismic hazard assessment is the key tool for rational planning, safety and design of infrastructures in seismically vulnerable regions. Gujarat is the only state in peninsular India with the maximum seismic hazard of large shallow earthquakes originating from intra-plate seismicity. Probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) of Gujarat is carried out in this paper. Three seismogenic sources, namely Kutch, Saurashtra and Mainland Gujarat, are considered, and seismicity parameters are estimated separately for each region taking into account the completeness of the available earthquake data. Peak ground acceleration (PGA) of the horizontal component and spectral acceleration at specific periods are considered as the intensity measures. Ground motion predictive equation chosen was reported to be based on simulated ground motions and verified against the strong motion records in the study region. Results are reported for the 17 major cities at the bedrock and also for the soil sites. Apart from hazard curves, 2475 and 475 years of return periods are considered for the PGA and uniform hazard spectra (UHS). The results are compared with the present recommendations of Indian Standards. Key observations include (1) Indian Standards underpredict PGA in the entire Gujarat when the soil sites are considered and in a few cities even at the bedrock; (2) amplification of PGA (or short period hazard) on account of soil sites should be included in the Indian Standard, which is currently absent; (3) shape of the UHS indicates that a separate amplification is required at the hyperbolic portion; and (4) ratio of 2475–475 years of PGA, which is considered 2.0 in Indian Standard, should be reduced to 1.5. Time-dependent recurrence model is also included in this paper and compared with conventional PSHA. General observations include that (1) hazard may increase significantly on account of time dependency; (2) this also influences the disaggregation and in turn the selection of ground motions; and (3) time since last earthquake significantly influences the extent of the effect of time dependency.     

Fundamental yet simplified model for liquefaction instability

A fundamental procedure is proposed for the identification of liquefaction in saturated soils based on the instability in the material's microstructure. The disturbed state concept (DSC) provides a unified constitutive model for the characterization of entire stress–strain behaviour under cyclic loading, and the values of disturbance at threshold states in the deforming microstructure provides the basis for the identification of liquefaction. The procedure is verified with respect to laboratory behaviour of two sands, saturated Ottawa and Reid Bedford. A mathematical analysis of the DSC constitutive matrix is also performed. Procedures for the application of the DSC for simplified analysis and design, and in finite element procedures are presented. It is believed that the proposed model can provide a fundamental yet simplified procedure for liquefaction analysis, and as a result, it is considered to be an improvement over the available empirical and energy-based procedures. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comments on the heating of solar active regions by magnetic energy dissipation

The method of Kumar and Narain (1985) to calculate the twisting velocity of magnetic field appears to be erroneous. Hence, their conclusion about Tucker's proposal for the heating of active regions by magnetic energy dissipation may not be correct.     

Area Change and Thickness Variation over Pensilungpa Glacier (J&;K) using Remote Sensing

Accurate representations of the Earth’s surface in the form of digital elevation models (DEMs) are essential for a variety of applications in glaciological and remote-sensing research. In the present study area change and thickness variation over Pensilungpa glacier was attempted using remote sensing approach. It can be remarked that a net loss of 9.23 sq. km. which is 38% of the glacier area mapped in 1962 indicate a drastic change over the glacier area during 1962–2007. Estimation of glacier thickness change on Pensilungpa glacier based on ASTER DEM (2003) and Survey of India (SOI) contour based DEM (1962) indicated increase in the glacier elevation in the accumulation zone mainly by 30 to 90 m and similar reduction by 30 to 90 m in the ablation zone.