A mid to late Holocene record of palaeoclimatic changes from Nal Sarovar: a palaeodesert margin lake in western India

With a view to obtain palaeoclimatic data from a climatically sensitive region we have studied core samples from Nal Sarovar, a large shallow lake lying within the palaeodesert margin of Thar in western India. A combination of C/N ratios and δ¹³C on a radiocarbon-dated core section have been used as climatic proxies. A high-resolution record extending back to ca. 6.6 ka BP has been reconstructed. The data indicate that, in the past, climate has varied from drier to wetter than present on time-scales of few hundreds to few thousands of years. There are, however, significant differences on the timing of these wet and dry periods, when compared with the available data from lakes farther north, in Rajasthan. Further, it looks unlikely that during the 6.6 ka the catchment areas of Nal Sarovar experienced such a significant increase in rainfall as has been suggested for the Rajasthan lakes. Interestingly, drier periods in Nal Sarovar data appear to correlate well with periods of glacier expansion in Eurasia indicating that the palaeoclimatic variations recorded in Nal Sarovar are a regional feature. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Receiver System for the Ooty Wide Field Array

The legacy Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) is being reconfigured as a 264-element synthesis telescope, called the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA). Its antenna elements are the contiguous 1.92 m sections of the parabolic cylinder. It will operate in a 38-MHz frequency band centred at 326.5 MHz and will be equipped with a digital receiver including a 264-element spectral correlator with a spectral resolution of 48 kHz. OWFA is designed to retain the benefits of equatorial mount, continuous 9-hour tracking ability and large collecting area of the legacy telescope and use of modern digital techniques to enhance the instantaneous field-of-view by more than an order of magnitude. OWFA has unique advantages for contemporary investigations related to large scale structure, transient events and space weather watch. In this paper, we describe the RF subsystems, digitizers and fibre optic communication of OWFA and highlight some specific aspects of the system relevant for the observations planned during the initial operation.     

Impact of gridpoint statistical interpolation scheme over Indian region

An analysis system experiment was conducted for the month of June 2008 with Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) analysis scheme using NCMRWF’s (National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting) T254L64 model. Global analyses were carried out for all days of the month and respective forecast runs are made up to 120-hr. These analyses and forecasts are inter-compared with the operational T254L64 model outputs which uses Spectral Statistical Interpolation (SSI) analysis scheme. The prime objective of this study is to assess the impact of GSI analysis scheme with special emphasis on Indian summer monsoon as compared to SSI.     

Evaluation of regional fracture properties for groundwater development using hydrolithostructural domain approach in variably fractured hard rocks of Purulia district,West Bengal,India

Estimation of geohydrologic properties of fractured aquifers in hard crystalline and/or metamorphosed country rocks is a challenge due to the complex nature of secondary porosity that is caused by differential fracturing. Hydrologic potentiality of such aquifers may be assessed if the geological controls governing the spatial distribution of these fracture systems are computed using a software-based model. As an exemplar, the Precambrian metamorphics exposed in and around the Balarampur town of Purulia district, West Bengal (India) were studied to find out the spatial pattern and consistency of such fracture systems. Surfer and Statistica softwares were used to characterize these rock masses in terms of hydrological, structural and lithological domains. The technique is based on the use of hydraulically significant fracture properties to generate representative modal and coefficient of variance (Cν) of fracture datasets of each domain. The Cν is interpreted to obtain the spatial variability of hydraulically significant fracture properties that, in turn, define and identify the corresponding hydrolithostructural domains. The groundwater flow estimated from such a technique is verified with the routine hydrological studies to validate the procedure. It is suggested that the hydrolithostructural domain approach is a useful alternative for evaluation of fracture properties and aquifer potentiality, and development of a regional groundwater model thereof.     

HYDROLOGICALLY DRIVEN MECHANISMS OF HEADCUT DEVELOPMENT

An analytic investigation of the effect of surface seal mechanical properties, overland flow, and subsurface hydrology was performed on headcut development. Headcut growth rates on upland areas have been observed to be quite small （less than 0.00015 meter per second） and that they occur in increments in which chips break off at points where cracks have developed in surface seals. The substrate soil under the seal collapses and is removed by the flow. This mode of headcut development is the result of a strong interaction between the surface and the subsurface processes. The surface process is energetically controlled by the mechanical features of the seal whereas the subsurface process is hydrologically controlled. The analysis yields estimates of the temporal scale of headcut velocities. In cases of infiltration from the vertical gully wall into the substrate, the flexural wave velocity （seismic sound velocity） was found to inversely affect headcut velocity.     

Assessment of Compressibility Behavior of Naturally Cemented Soft Clays

It Naturally cemented soft clays have components of strength and stiffness, which cannot be accounted for by classical soil mechanics (Leroueil and Vaughan 1990). This stems from the influence of structure caused by cementation due to environmental factors. It is necessary to evaluate the cementation bond strength at preyield and postyield stress levels of loading, to understand comprehensively the observed response from micromechanic considerations. This helps to better understand and evolve approaches to model the constitutive behavior in a consistent manner, according to the physical phenomenon of formation of cementation as an additional component to what is otherwise normally regarded as frictional behavior arising only from particulate nature of clays. Comparing the behavior of deep deposits of Pusan soft clays under stress with corresponding response of the same clay in its remolded state, it has been possible to take into account particulate and nonparticulate responses. The evolution of cementation bonding is modeled for different Pusan clays with the yield stress in oedometer compression as a normalizing parameter for obtaining the generalized relationship of cementation bonding with increase in stress. The already established model for determining the remolded behavior is appropriately modified to assess the behavior influenced by cementation. The model proposed consists of parameters, which are determined in routine investigations.     

TRANSFER FUNCTIONS FOR RIGID RECTANGULAR FOUNDATIONS

Closed-form expressions and comprehensive numerical solutions are presented for the transfer functions of surface-supported, rigid, rectangular foundations excited by horizontally polarized, incoherent shear waves for which the motions are parallel to one of the foundation sides. The free-field ground motion is specified stochastically in terms of a local power spectral density function and an orthotropic incoherence function which decays exponentially with the square of the excitation frequency and the separation distance. The response quantities examined include the lateral and torsional components of the foundation motion. Displayed graphically, the results elucidate the effects and relative importance of the numerous parameters involved. For vertically incident incoherent wave fields, the lateral transfer function of a rectangular foundation is related to that of a judiciously selected square foundation, and the interrelationship of the results is examined. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.