Detrital iron-ore deposits in the Iron Ore Group of rocks,northern Orissa,eastern India

Detrital iron deposits (DID) are located adjacent to the Precambrian bedded iron deposit (BID) of Joda near the eastern limb of the horseshoe-shaped synclinorium, in the Bonai–Keonjhar belt of Orissa. The detrital ores overlie the Dhanjori Group sandstone as two isolated orebodies (Chamakpur and Inganjharan) near the eastern and western banks of the Baitarani River, respectively. The DID occur as pebble/cobble conglomerates containing iron-rich clasts cemented by goethite. Mineralogy, chemistry and lamination of these clasts are similar to that found in the nearby BID ores. Enrichment of trace and rare-earth elements in the DID relative to the BID is attributed to their concentration during the precipitation of cementing material. The detrital iron orebodies formed when Proterozoic weathering processes eroded pre-existing BID outcrops located on the Joda Ranges, and the resulting detritus accumulated in the paleochannels. In situ dissolution in association with abundant organic material produced Fe-saturated groundwater, which re-precipitated as goethite within the aggraded channel to cement the detritals. Growth of microplaty hematite in the goethite matrix suggests some level of subsequent burial metamorphism.     

Modulational instability of ion-acoustic waves in electron–positron–ion plasmas

The stability of modulation of ion-acoustic waves in a collisionless electron–positron–ion plasma with warm adiabatic ions is studied. Using the Krylov–Bogoliubov–Mitropolosky (KBM) perturbation technique a nonlinear Schrödinger equation governing the slow modulation of the wave amplitude is derived for the system. It is found that for given set of parameters having finite ion temperature ratio (T _i /T _e ) the waves are unstable for the values of k lying in the range k _min<k<k _max. On increasing the ion temperature ratio (T _i /T _e ), it is found that k _min and k _max, both decreases and product PQ increases. The range of unstable region shifts towards the small wave number k, as temperature ratio (T _i /T _e ) increases. The positron concentration and temperature ratio of positron to electron, change the unstable region slightly. As positron concentration increases both k _min and k _max for modulational instability increases and maximum value of the product PQ shifts towards the larger value of k.     

Five dimensional bulk viscous cosmological model with wet dark fluid in general relativity

In this paper, we have constructed a five dimensional LRS Bianchi type I cosmological model with wet dark fluid (WDF) in general relativity with the matter field described as bulk viscosity. It is found that in presence of bulk viscosity an inflationary effective stiff fluid cosmological model is obtained, whereas in absence of bulk viscosity the wet dark fluid degenerate to stiff fluid. Some physical and geometrical properties of the model are also discussed.     

Temperature of interstellar warm ionized medium

This investigation on the temperature of the interstellar warm ionized medium (WIM) is characterized by the number and energy balance of the constituents of the WIM complex plasma viz. H plasma (electrons/ions/neutral atoms) and graphite dust, having a size distribution, characterized by the MRN (Mathis, Rumpl and Nordsieck) power law. Ionization of neutral atoms, electron–ion recombination, photoemission of electrons from and accretion on the dust and cooling through electron collisional excitation, followed by radiative decay of atoms has been included in the analysis. An appropriate expression for the rate of emission and mean energy of photoelectrons emitted from the surface of positively charged dust particles has been used which takes into account the dependence of absorption efficiency on wavelength of the radiation, radius of the particle and spectral irradiance distribution. The results of the parametric analysis have been displayed graphically. It is seen that the consensus values of temperature, surface potential on the dust particles and electron/ion/neutral atom densities, characteristic of interstellar warm ionized medium can be explained on the basis of plausible combinations of the dust particle density n _d and the parameter f _ex α _ex , where f _ex is the fraction of the energy of the neutral gas atoms which gets irradiated, α _ex n _e n _n is the number of the neutral atoms, which get excited per unit volume per unit time and n _e (n _n ) correspond to the density of electrons (neutral atoms).     

Drought characterization: a probabilistic approach

Using the alternative renewable process and run theory, this study investigates the distribution of drought interval time, mean drought interarrival time, joint probability density function and transition probabilities of drought events in the Kansabati River basin in India. The standardized precipitation index series is employed in the investigation. The time interval of SPI is found to have a significant effect of the probabilistic characteristics of drought.     

In-situ measurement of dielectric parameter of soil at microwave frequencies

Knowledge of dielectric permittivity of the soil provides direct measure of soil moisture content. A methodology to determine soil moisture based on the reflection coefficient measurement by a pseudo vector method using a horn antenna has been presented. To verify the efficacy of the method, measurements have been carried out at S, C & X band frequencies at two moisture levels and the corresponding emissivity parameters computed. Results so obtained are in good agreement with the already reported data and the direct moisture measurements. This method is expected to be of interest to agricultural scientists and to those involved in the application of remote sensing in crop studies.     

Application of dried plant biomass as novel low-cost adsorbent for removal of cadmium from aqueous solution

Heavy metals are a threat to human health and ecosystem. These days, great deal of attention is being given to green technologies for purification of water contaminated with heavy metal ions. Biosorption is one among such emerging technologies, which utilizes naturally occurring waste materials to sequester heavy metals from wastewater. Cadmium has hazardous impact on living beings; therefore, its removal through green and economical process is an important task. The aim of the present study was to utilize the locally available Portulaca oleracea plant biomass as an adsorbent for cadmium removal from aqueous solution. The biomass was obtained after drying and grinding the portulaca leaves and stem. No chemical treatment was done on the adsorbent so that it remained green in a true sense. Batch experiments were performed at room temperature. The critical parameters studied were effects of pH, contact time, initial metal ion concentration and adsorbent dose on the adsorption of cadmium. The maximum adsorption was found to be 72 %. The kinetic data were found to best fit the pseudo-second-order equation. High adsorption rates were obtained in the initial 45 min, and adsorption equilibrium was then gradually achieved in about 100 min. Adsorption increased with increase in pH for a range 2 and 6. The equilibrium adsorption results closely followed both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The values of constants were calculated from isotherms. Results indicated that portulaca plant biomass could be developed as a potential material to be used in green water treatment devices for removal of metal ions.     

Nature and source of the ore-forming fluids associated with orogenic gold deposits in the Dharwar Craton

Neoarchean orogenic gold deposits, associated with the greenstone-granite milieus in the Dharwar Craton include(1) the famous Kolar mine and the world class Hutti deposit;(2) small mines at HiraBuddini, Uti, Ajjanahalli, and Guddadarangavanahalli;(3) prospects at Jonnagiri; and(4) old mining camps in the Gadag and Ramagiri-Penakacherla belts. The existing diametric views on the source of ore fluid for formation of these deposits include fluids exsolved from granitic melts and extracted by metamorphic devolatilization of the greenstone sequences. Lode gold mineralization occurs in structurally controlled higher order splays in variety of host rocks such as mafic/felsic greenstones, banded iron formations, volcaniclastic rocks and granitoids. Estimated metamorphic conditions of the greenstones vary from lower greenschist facies to mid-amphibolite facies and mineralizations in all the camps are associated with distinct hydrothermal alterations. Fluid inclusion microthermometric and Raman spectroscopic studies document low salinity aqueous-gaseous(H_2O + CO_2 ± CH_4 + NaCl) ore fluids,which precipitated gold and altered the host rocks in a narrow P-T window of 0.7-2.5 kbar and 215-320℃. While the calculated fluid O-and C-isotopic values are ambiguous, S-isotopic compositions of pyrite-precipitating fluid show distinct craton-scale uniformity in terms of its reduced nature and a suggested crustal sulfur source.Available ages on greenstone metamorphism, granitoid plutonism and mineralization in the Hutti Belt are tantamount, making a geochronology-based resolution of the existing debate on the metamorphic vs.magmatic fluid source impossible. In contrast, tourmaline geochemistry suggests involvement of single fluid in formation of gold mineralization, primarily derived by metamorphic devolatilization of mafic greenstones and interlayered sedimentary rocks, with minor magmatic contributions. Similarly, compositions of scheelite, pyrite and arsenopyrite point toward operation of fault-valves that caused pressure fluctuation-induced fluid phase separation, which acted as the dominant process of gold precipitation,apart from fluid-rock sulfidation reactions. Therefore, results from geochemistry of hydrothermal minerals and those from fluid inclusion microthermometry corroborate in constraining source of ore fluid,nature of gold transport(by Au-bisulfide complex) and mechanism of gold ore formation in the Dharwar Craton.     

Redshifts of the brightest X-ray QSO's

The plot of the X-ray luminosity (in 0.5–4.5 KeV band and for Friedmann universe withq ₀=+1) of the brightest X-ray QSO at each redshift against redshift shows that the X-ray luminosity increases more or less monotonically with redshift uptoz3. This result has been attributed to the selection effect known as the volume effect. When this selection effect is taken into account in the optical, radio and X-ray windows of the electromagnetic spectrum, a sample of the brightest X-ray QSO's is obtained which shows a small dispersion in X-ray luminosity: logL ₁=46.15±0.25. The redshift-X-ray flux density plot for this sample gives slopes of both regression lines which agree, at a confidence level of 95% or greater, with the slopes expected theoretically if the redshifts of the QSO's are cosmological in nature.     

On steady plane rotating hydromagnetic flows

We consider the steady plane rotating, constantly inclined magnetohydrodynamic flows of a viscous incompressible fluid when the velocity magnitude is constant on each individual stream line. Hodograph transformation is employed and resulting partial differential equations are used to obtain the solution and the geometries for these flows whenJ0 andJ=0.