Discriminatory Analysis for Determining the Environment of Deposition of South-central Part of Kaladgi Basin,Belagavi District,Karnataka, India

Doklady Earth Sciences - Kaladgi rocks are very well exposed in Belgaum district of Karnatak state, with adjacent to Maharashtra state. The rocks exposed in the study area comprises mainly of...     

Effectiveness of post-fire salvage logging stream buffer management for hillslope erosion in the U.S. Inland Northwest Mountains

Active wildfire seasons in the western U.S. warrant the evaluation of post-fire forest management strategies. Ground-based salvage logging is often used to recover economic loss of burned timber. In unburned forests, ground-based logging often follows best management practices by leaving undisturbed areas near streams called stream buffers. However, the effectiveness of these buffers has not been tested in a post-wildfire setting. This experiment tested buffer width effectiveness with a novel field-simulated rill experiment using sediment-laden runoff (25 g/L) released over 40 min at evenly timed flow rates (50, 100 and 150 L/min) to measure surface runoff travel length and sediment concentration under unburned and high and low soil burn severity conditions at 2-, 10- and 22-month post-fire. High severity areas 2-month post-fire had rill lengths of up to 100 m. Rill length significantly decreased over time as vegetation regrowth provided ground cover. Sediment concentration and sediment dropout rate also varied significantly by soil burn severity. Sediment concentrations were 19 g/L for the highest flow 2-month post-fire and reduced to 6.9–14 g/L 10-month post-fire due to abundant vegetation recovery. The amount of sediment dropping out of the flow consistently increased over the study period with the low burn severity rate of 1.15 g L⁻¹ m⁻¹ approaching the unburned rate of 1.29 g L⁻¹ m⁻¹ by 2-year post-fire. These results suggest that an often-used standard, 15 m buffer, was sufficient to contain surface runoff and reduce sediment concentration on unburned sites, however buffers on high burn severity sites need to be eight times greater (120 m) immediately after wildfire and four times greater (60 m) 1-year post-fire. Low burn severity areas 1-year post-fire may need to be only twice the width of an unburned buffer (30 m), and 2-year post-fire these could return to unburned widths.     

Thermal structure of the atmosphere of Venus from Pioneer Venus radio occultations

Eighty-seven measurements of the thermal structure in the atmosphere of Venus between the altitudes of about 40 and 85 km were derived from Pioneer Venus Orbiter radio occultation data taken during four occultation seasons from December 1978 to October 1981. These measurements cover latitudes from ?68 to 88° and solar zenith angles of 8 to 166°. The results indicate that the characteristics of the thermal structure in both the troposphere and stratosphere regions are dependent predominantly on the latitude and only weakly on solar illumination conditions. In particular, the circumpolar collar cloud region in the northern hemisphere (latitude 55 to 77°) displays the most dramatic changes in structure, including the appearance of a large inversion, having an average magnitude of about 18°K and a maximum of about 33°K. Also in this region, the tropopause altitude rises by about 4.8 km above its value at low latitudes, the tropopause temperature drops by about 60°K, and the pressure at the tropopause decreases by an average of about 240 mbar. These changes in the collar region are correlated with observations of increased turbulence and greater amplitude of thermal waves in the region, which is located where the persistent circulation pattern in the Venus atmosphere changes from zonally symmetric retrograde rotation to a hemispherical circumpolar vortex. It was shown that the large zonal winds associated with this circulation pattern are not likely to produce distortions in the atmosphere of a magnitude that could lead to temperature errors of the order of the mesosphere inversions observed in the collar region, but under certain circumstances zonal wind distortion could cause errors of 3–4°K.     

Chemistry of snow and lake water in Antarctic region

Surface snow and lake water samples were collected at different locations around Indian station at Antarctica, Maitri, during December 2004–March 2005 and December 2006–March 2007. Samples were analyzed for major chemical ions. It is found that average pH value of snow is 6.1. Average pH value of lake water with low chemical content is 6.2 and of lake water with high chemical content is 6.5. The Na⁺ and Cl^? are the most abundantly occurring ions at Antarctica. Considerable amount of SO ₄ ^2? is also found in the surface snow and the lake water which is attributed to the oxidation of DMS produced by marine phytoplankton. Neutralization of acidic components of snow is mainly done by NH ₄ ⁺ and Mg²⁺. The Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and K⁺ are nearly equally effective in neutralizing the acidic components in lake water. The NH ₄ ⁺ and SO ₄ ^2? occur over the Antarctica region mostly in the form of (NH₄)₂SO₄.     

Laboratory kinetics of C2H radical reactions with ethane, propane, and n-butane at T = 96-296 K: implications for Titan

The kinetics of the reactions of C₂H radical with ethane (k₁), propane (k₂), and n-butane (k₃) are studied over the temperature range of T = 96-296 K with a pulsed Laval nozzle apparatus that utilizes a pulsed laser photolysis-chemiluminescence technique. The C₂H decay profiles in the presence of both the alkane reactant and O₂ are monitored by the CH(A²Δ) chemiluminescence tracer method. The results, together with available literature data, yield the following Arrhenius expressions: k₁(T) = (0.51 ± 0.06) × 10⁻¹⁰ exp[(−76 ± 30)K/T] cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ (T = 96-800 K), k₂(T) = (0.98 ± 0.32) × 10⁻¹⁰exp[(−71 ± 60)K/T] cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ (T = 96-361 K), and k₃(T) = (1.23 ± 0.26) × 10⁻¹⁰ cm³ molecule⁻¹ s⁻¹ (T = 96-297 K). At T = 296 K, k₁ is measured as a function of total pressure and has little or no pressure dependence. The results from this work support a direct hydrogen abstraction mechanism for the title reactions. Implications to the atmospheric chemistry of Titan are discussed.     

Partially Fused Granite Blocks from Mt. Elephant, Victoria, Australia

Petrological and chemical evidence is presented to show thatsmall patches of brown glass found in blocks of granite eruptedin basaltic scoria at Mt. Elephant are the result of the partialfusion of biotite and quartz. The glass has moderate SiO₂ (63–66per cent), high AI₂O₃ (17.5–19 per cent), high FeO (3.8–5.2per cent) and very high K₂O (7.0–7.8 per cent) relativeto Na₂O (3.3–3.7 per cent) and is similar in compositionto many high K alkali syenites and trachytes.     

Evaluating the production and bio-stimulating effect of 5-methyl 1, hydroxy phenazine on microbial fuel cell performance

The role of endogenous redox mediators has considerable importance in electron shuttling reactions and associated performance of microbial fuel cell. Single-chamber microbial fuel cell-II with dual air-cathode assembly (area = 18.84 cm²) supported highest bacterial (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) density (6.7 × 10⁹) and active biomass [4.4 ± 0.3 mg cm^?2 (carbon content = 0.48 ± 0.1 mg cm^?2)] on anode thereby resulting in maximum production of redox metabolite, 5-methyl 1, hydroxy phenazine (301 ppm) and voltage (595 ± 5 mV) than similar cells with relatively less surface area of cathode. It was further revealed that 5-methyl 1, hydroxy phenazine production was positively correlated with chemical oxygen demand removal rate (77 ± 2.5%) and power generation (66.6 ± 2.2 mW cm^?2) efficiency of single-chamber microbial fuel cell-II. Maximum power density of 258 ± 4.5 mW cm^?2 was generated when reactor was supplemented with 2 ml crude extract of 5-methyl 1, hydroxy phenazine metabolite, whereas power output was about 229 ± 2.5 mW cm^?2 when reactor was bio-stimulated with 1 ml pure extract of 5-methyl 1, hydroxy phenazine. With this concentration, the electrochemical response of mixed culture biofilm (sediment) was enhanced by 99.3%. However, further increase in concentration of endogenous mediator proved to be limiting on reactor performance. Pyrosequencing and phylogenetic analysis on the basis of partial 16S rRNA sequences demonstrated both culturable and unculturable bacterial species in anodic biofilm and relative abundance of family Pseudomonadaceae was found to be maximum, i.e., 61.7% followed by Rhodocyclaceae 19.2%, Xanthomonadaceae 6.3% and Opitutaceae 3.18%.     

Ultramafic–Mafic Assemblage of Plutonic Rocks and Hornblende Schists of Shirshov Rise,Bering Sea,and Stalemate Ridge,Northwest Pacific: Geodynamic Interpretations of Geochemical Data

The paper presents data on plutonic and metamorphic rocks dredged during Cruise 249 of the German R/V Sonne to the Stalemate Ridge, Northwest Pacific Ocean and the Shirshov Rise, western Bering Sea. Dredges in the northwestern sector of the Stalemate Ridge and central portion of the Shirshov Rise show that the plutonic and metamorphic rocks obtained here are amazingly similar. Our petrologic and geochemical data led us to view the rocks as members of a mafic–ultramafic assemblage typical of cumulate portions of ophiolite complexes and backarc spreading centers. The plutonic complexes of the Shirshov Rise and Stalemate Ridge show similarities not only in the petrography and mineralogy of their protoliths but also in the character of their metamorphic transformations. Plutonic rocks from both areas display mineralogical evidence of metamorphism within a broad temperature range: from the high-temperature amphibolite facies to the greenschist facies. Relations between the index mineral assemblages indicate that the metamorphic history of plutonic complexes in the Stalemate Ridge and Shirshov Rise proceeded along a retrograde path. Hornblende schists accompanying the plutonic rocks of the Stalemate Ridge and Shirshov Rise are petrographically close to foliated amphibolites in subophiolitic metamorphic aureoles. Within the framework of geodynamic interpretations of our results, it is realistic to suggest that the examined plutonic complexes were exhumed from subduction zones of various age.