Avalanche hazard mitigation in east Karakoram mountains

Natural Hazards - Karakoram mountains range in north-western part of Himalayas is about 500 km in length and hosts some of the world’s highest peaks and longest glaciers. It is...     

Applicability of Critical State Concept in Determination of Triaxial Strength of Non-Persistent Jointed Rock

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Rocks encountered in civil and mining engineering structures are generally intersected by discontinuities. The triaxial strength behaviour of a jointed...     

Ocean coast effect on magnetotelluric data: a case study from Kachchh, India

The effects of the ocean coast on magnetotelluric (MT) data have been studied and results are described in this article. MT soundings from various sites along coastal plains of Kachchh were acquired where volcanic rocks overlie Mesozoic sediments having potential resource prospects. The region of our study lies in the proximity of Gulf of Kachchh and Arabian Sea. This article describes the effects the presence of a conductive body on the acquired MT data. With the help of synthetic MT modelling and induction arrows we demonstrate the influence of shallow conductive body on the MT data. The modelling results when compared to the field observations show that much of the high frequencies are unaffected by the coast, however low frequencies of the data do seem to be distorted by onshore–offshore resistivity contrasts. The least affect on high frequencies can be attributed to very shallow water depth as well as to the fact that the onshore–offshore resistivity contrasts are not large enough to influence the high frequency data badly. The results presented here report for the first time the effect of the coast on the analysis on MT data from Kachchh. Due to several academic as well as industrial onshore–offshore MT experiments presently being carried out to explore its hydrocarbon potential, our results have an important bearing on designing and acquisition of future MT surveys in this region.     

System identification for nonlinear maneuvering of large tankers using artificial neural network

This paper deals with the application of nonparametric system identification to a nonlinear maneuvering model for large tankers using artificial neural network method. The three coupled maneuvering equations in this model for large tankers contain linear and nonlinear terms and instead of attempting to determine the parameters (i.e. hydrodynamic derivatives) associated with nonlinear terms, all nonlinear terms are clubbed together to form one unknown time function per equation which are sought to be represented by the neural network coefficients. The time series used in training the network are obtained from simulated data of zigzag maneuvers and the proposed method has been applied to these data. The neural network scheme adopted in this work has one middle or hidden layer of neurons and it employs the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm. Using the best choices for the number of hidden layer neurons, length of training data, convergence tolerance etc., the performance of the proposed neural network model has been investigated and conclusions drawn.     

Repercussions of solar high energy protons on ozone layer during super storms

We are very aware of the importance of the ozone layer, without which life on the Earth would not have evolved in the way it has. Solar storms carry energetic protons into the Earth's upper atmosphere,where they boost production of nitrogen oxides which are known as ozone killers and which ultimately increase ultraviolet(UV) radiations. In the present study, we estimate the effects of solar energetic protons during super storms(Dst index -300 nT) over the total ozone column for the last 32 yr. We select a total of seven super storm events that occurred during solar cycles 22–24(for the last 32 yr) having Dst index -300 nT. To that end, we apply superposed epoch analysis(SEA) to verify the impact of storm events on the quantitative variation of total ozone column and on UV radiations during super storm events.After completing the empirical analysis, we conclude that the ozone column gets depleted significantly(22±6.8%) as proton density increases during super storm events and this decrement in the ozone level is further responsible for a substantial increase(26±11.2%) in peak UV radiation intensities.     

Documentation of shock features in impactites from the Dhala impact structure,India

The fundamental approach for the confirmation of any terrestrial meteorite impact structure is the identification of diagnostic shock metamorphic features, together with the physical and chemical characterization of impactites and target lithologies. However, for many of the approximately 200 confirmed impact structures known on Earth to date, multiple scale‐independent tell‐tale impact signatures have not been recorded. Especially some of the pre‐Paleozoic impact structures reported so far have yielded limited shock diagnostic evidence. The rocks of the Dhala structure in India, a deeply eroded Paleoproterozoic impact structure, exhibit a range of diagnostic shock features, and there is even evidence for traces of the impactor. This study provides a detailed look at shocked samples from the Dhala structure, and the shock metamorphic evidence recorded within them. It also includes a first report of shatter cones that form in the shock pressure range from ~2 to 30 GPa, data on feather features (FFs), crystallographic indexing of planar deformation features, first‐ever electron backscatter diffraction data for ballen quartz, and further analysis of shocked zircon. The discovery of FFs in quartz from a sample of the MCB‐10 drill core (497.50 m depth) provides a comparatively lower estimate of shock pressure (~7–10 GPa), whereas melting of a basement granitoid infers at least 50–60 GPa shock pressure. Thus, the Dhala impactites register a strongly heterogeneous shock pressure distribution between <2 and >60 GPa. The present comprehensive review of impact effects should lay to rest the nonimpact genesis of the Dhala structure proposed by some earlier workers from India.     

Assessment of Thermal Maturity,Source Rock Potential and Paleodepositional Environment of the Paleogene Lignites in Barsingsar,Bikaner–Nagaur Basin,Western Rajasthan,India

Natural Resources Research - Investigations on the Paleogene lignites were carried out through geochemical, mineralogical and petrographic analyses to assess their paleodepositional environment,...     

Response and capacity of monopod caisson foundation under eccentric lateral loads

Monopod caisson foundation is a viable alternative for supporting offshore wind turbines located at shallow water depths. This foundation system has to resist overturning moment generated due to resultant lateral load, arising from wind and water wave action, that can act at any loading height above the seabed. This paper presents results of a numerical investigation performed to determine the influence of loading height, caisson geometry and superstructure load on the ultimate lateral capacity, initial stiffness, and soil failure zone of the foundation, when installed in very dense sand. Both the ultimate and serviceable states of the caisson foundation obtained from the analyses are represented in terms of envelopes plotted between lateral load and overturning moment. Simplified expressions, which take into account the influence of caisson geometry, loading height, and soil properties, are also presented to serve as a preliminary base for design of the monopod caisson foundation.     

Template-based classification of SDSS-<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">GALEX</Emphasis> point sources

We have classified a sample of 37,492 objects from SDSS into QSOs, galaxies and stars using photometric data over five wave bands (u, g, r, i and z) and UV GALEX data over two wave bands (near-UV and far-UV) based on a template fitting method. The advantage of this method of classification is that it does not require any spectroscopic data and hence the objects for which spectroscopic data is not available can also be studied using this technique. In this study, we have found that our method is consistent by spectroscopic methods given that their UV information is available. Our study shows that the UV colours are especially important for separating quasars and stars, as well as spiral and starburst galaxies. Thus it is evident that the UV bands play a crucial role in the classification and characterization of astronomical objects that emit over a wide range of wavelengths, but especially for those that are bright at UV. We have achieved the efficiency of 89% for the QSOs, 63% for the galaxies and 84% for the stars. This classification is also found to be in agreement with the emission line diagnostic diagrams.     

Mid-term periodicities and heliospheric modulation of coronal index and solar flare index during solar cycles 22–23

We applied fast Fourier transform techniques and Morlet wavelet transform on the time series data of coronal index, solar flare index, and galactic cosmic ray, for the period 1986–2008, in order to investigate the long- and mid-term periodicities including the Rieger (\({\sim }130\) to \({\sim }190\) days), quasi-period (\({\sim }200\) to \({\sim }374\) days), and quasi-biennial periodicities (\({\sim }1.20\) to \({\sim }3.27\) years) during the combined solar cycles 22–23. We emphasize the fact that a lesser number of periodicities are found in the range of low frequencies, while the higher frequencies show a greater number of periodicities. The rotation rates at the base of convection zone have periods for coronal index of \({\sim }1.43\) years and for solar flare index of \({\sim }1.41\) year, and galactic cosmic ray, \({\sim }1.35\) year, during combined solar cycles 22–23. In relation to these two solar parameters (coronal index and solar flare index), for the solar cycles 22–23, we found that galactic cosmic ray modulation at mid cut-off rigidity (\(\hbox {Rc} = 2.43\hbox {GV}\)) is anti-correlated with time-lag of few months.