Serpentinization and the inorganic synthesis of H2 in planetary surfaces

The near-surface inorganic synthesis of molecular hydrogen (H₂) is a fundamental process relevant to the origins and to the sustenance of early life on Earth and potentially other planets. Hydrogen production through the decomposition of water is thought to be a principal reaction that occurs during hydrothermal alteration of olivine, an iron-magnesium silicate abundant near planetary surfaces. We demonstrate that copious amounts of H₂ are produced only when the olivine undergoing alteration (serpentinization) contains 1 to 50 mol% iron over a variety of planetary surface P-T conditions. This suggests that extrasolar Earth-like planets that are hosted by a star with iron contents up to two times the solar value could support life provided they are hydrothermally active and fall within the habitable zone around the star.     

Geological appraisal of Ladakh and Tirit granitoids in the Indus- Shyok Suture Zones of northwest Himalaya,India

New field observations on granitoids and associated lithounits in some parts of Indus-Shyok Suture Zones have been documented in order to re-establish the geological relationships between various volcano-plutonic magmatic lithounits. Careful examination of outcrops and contact relationships between the various lithounits have pin-pointed the sequence of geological events. Field features of granitoids exposed along Leh-Saboo-Khardung_La suggest multiple pulses of mafic-felsic magma interactions (mingling to mixing) with almost 25% of the mafic to hybrid magma input in the evolution of the eastern part of Ladakh batholith. Along Khardung_La-Shyok-Diskit, thick sequence of volcanic lithounits is exposed, which dominantly consist of massive basaltic andesite, porphyritic andesite, dacite and rhyolite forming Khardung Formation. On the other hand Shyok Formation, dipping opposite to the Khardung Formation, composed predominantly of meta-sedimentary lithounits and subordinate amount of volcanic materials at present exposed level. Spectacular intrusive contacts of Ladakh granitoids with metavolcanics and meta-sedimentary country rocks of Shyok Formation near Diskit can be observed, which are manifested by ubiquitous xenoliths near the marginal parts. Although the nature of granitoid melt invasion into country-rocks was relatively winty, granitoid melt has produced leucogranite-pegmatite system because of devolatization and decompression effects. Frequent xenoliths of porphyritic andesite and dacite roof pendants are being reported in Tirit granitoids, which strongly suggest sub-volcanic emplacement of granitoid melt, extensive assimilation and roof collapse of overlying volcanic materials. It is more likely that the xenoliths hosted in Tirit granitoids belong to Shyok volcanics. It is suggested that multiple pulses of coeval mafic and felsic magmatism occurred extensively and emplaced at differential crustal levels.     

Role of debris cover to control specific ablation of adjoining Batal and Sutri Dhaka glaciers in Chandra Basin (Himachal Pradesh) during peak ablation season

As part of the on-going annual mass balance measurements on Batal and Sutri Dhaka glaciers, observations were made during peak ablation (August–September) season in 2013 to understand the response of debris covered and clean-ice (debris free) glacier surface to melting processes. Though, both the Batal and Sutri Dhaka glaciers have almost similar geographical disposition, Batal shows extensive debris cover (90% of the ablation area), while the latter is free from debris (only 5% of the ablation area). The thickness of debris in Batal glacier is inversely proportional to altitude, whereas Sutri Dhaka mostly experienced debris-free zone except snout area. Observation revealed that the vertical gradient of ablation rate in ablation area is contrastingly opposite in these two glaciers, reflecting significant control of debris thickness and their distribution over glacier surface on the ablation rates. While different thickness (2–100 cm) of debris have attenuated melting rates up to 70% of total melting, debris cover of <2 cm thickness has accelerated melting up to 10% of the total melting. Estimated melt ratio reveals that about 90% of the ablation area has experienced inhibited melting in Batal glacier, whereas only less than 5% ablation area of Sutri Dhaka has undergone inhibited melting. Comparison of topographical maps of 1962 with successive satellite images of the area demonstrates a terminus retreat of 373 ± 33.5 m and 579 ± 33.5 m for Batal and Sutri Dhaka glaciers for the period 1962–2013, respectively.     

Improving Ocean State by Assimilating SARAL/AltiKa Derived Sea Level and Other Satellite-Derived Data in MITGCM

Assimilation of satellite-derived surface datasets has been explored in the study. Three types of surface data, namely sea level anomaly, sea surface temperature and sea surface salinity, have been used in various data assimilation experiments. The emphasis has been on the extra benefit arising out of the additional sea level assimilation and hence there are two parallel runs, in one of which sea level assimilation has been withheld. The model used is a state-of-the art ocean general circulation model (OGCM) and the assimilation method is the widely used singular evolutive extended Kalman filter (SEEK). Evaluation of the assimilation skill has been carried out by comparing the simulated depth of the 20°C isotherm with the same quantity measured by buoys and Argo floats. Simulated subsurface temperature and salinity profiles have also been compared with the same profiles measured by Argo floats. Finally, surface currents in the assimilation runs have been compared with currents measured by several off-equatorial buoys. Addition of sea level has been found to substantially improve the quality of simulation. An important feature that has been effectively simulated by the addition of sea level in the assimilation scheme is the near-surface temperature inversion (2-3°C) in the northern Bay of Bengal.     

Nonlinear Evolution of a 3D Inertial Alfvén Wave and Its Implication in Particle Acceleration

A simulation based on a pseudo-spectral method has been performed in order to study particle acceleration. A model for the acceleration of charged particles by field localization is developed for the low-\(\upbeta\) plasma. For this purpose, a fractional diffusion approach has been employed. The nonlinear interaction between a 3D inertial Alfvén wave and a slow magnetosonic wave has been examined, and the dynamical equations of these two waves in the presence of ponderomotive nonlinearity have been solved numerically. The nonlinear evolution of the inertial Alfvén wave in the presence of slow magnetosonic wave undergoes a filamentation instability and results in field intensity localization. The results obtained show the localization and power spectrum of inertial Alfvén wave due to nonlinear coupling. The scaling obtained after the first break point of the magnetic power spectrum has been used to calculate the formation of the thermal tail of energetic particles in the solar corona.     

Formation of Coherent Structures and Impact on Turbulence Scaling in Solar-Wind Plasma

The governing dynamical equations of the right-handed circularly polarized dispersive Alfvén wave (DAW), which becomes dispersive owing to the finite frequency of the wave, and the slow Alfvén wave have been obtained using a two-fluid model. The wave localization at different instants of time and its power spectrum have been investigated. The ponderomotive force associated with the pump wave results in intense localized structures. The steepening of spectra is observed from the inertial range to the dispersive range. The results imply that the DAW may play a significant role in solar-wind turbulence. In addition, the formation of DAW localized structures is further examined considering two primary approaches, parametric instability (filamentation) and the reconnection-based model, to study the impact on the turbulent spectrum in more detail.     

Mapping and Change Detection Study of Nepal-2015 Earthquake Induced Landslides

The devastating earthquake that struck Nepal in 25 April (Mw7.8) and 12 May (Mw7.3) 2015 have triggered numerous landslides and reactivated existing landslides extending over large areas. These two shocks mostly affected the northwest and northeast region of Kathmandu which accelerated large region along with southward up thrusting in the region. To detect the event of the landslides in time and space satellite images have been analysed using space remote sensing techniques like pseudo colour transformation technique and was employed to pre and post-earthquake images of the event to bring out only landslide affected areas from the image by masking the remaining part, where field based survey of the landslides provided information on real nature of it, slope and rock type. Surprisingly the observed mass movements are mostly belong to debris flow and rock fall types beginning from the top part of the ridge slope with south-westerly faces i.e. sun facing. Further, satellite images of different dates could be gathered which facilitated analysis on development of landslide with time. This study also revealed that the NE–SW trending geological faults have controlled the landslide occurrence especially in Ramche area and along the Bagmati river valley near Shital-chowk village on Kathmandu-Hetauda road.