Vertisols (cracking clay soils) in a climosequence of Peninsular India: Evidence for Holocene climate changes

Smectitic parent material from the weathering Deccan basalt has been deposited in the lower piedmont plains, valleys and microdepressions during a previous wetter climate. The cracking clay soils (Vertisols) were developed in such alluvium during drier climate of the Holocene period. In India they occur in humid tropical (HT), sub-humid moist (SHM), sub-humid dry (SHD), semi-arid moist (SAM), semi-arid dry (SAD) and arid dry (AD) climatic environments and thus indicate an array of soils in a climosequence.The soils show a change in their morphological, physical, chemical and micromorphological properties in the climosequence. Soils of HT climate are dominated by Ca⁺⁺ ions in their exchange complex throughout depth. However, in the sub-humid climates Mg⁺⁺ ions tend to dominate in the lower horizons. The sub-humid moist to aridic climatic environments caused a progressive formation of pedogenic calcium carbonates (PC) with the concomitant increase in Na⁺ ions in soil solution. This facilitated the translocation of Na-clay in the soil profile. This is responsible for the increase in pH, decrease in Ca/Mg ratio of exchange sites with depth and finally in the development of subsoil sodicity. The reduction in mean annual rainfall (MAR) from sub-humid moist to arid climates accelerated the formation of PC and thus the soils of semi-arid and arid climates (SAM, SAD and AD) are more calcareous and sodic than soils of other climates (SHM and SHD).Formation of PC, illuviation of clay and the development of subsoil sodicity are concurrent, contemporary and active pedogenetic processes operating during the climate change of the Holocene period. These processes impaired the hydraulic properties of soils in general, and in soils of drier climates in particular. As a result, cracking pattern, chemical composition and plasmic fabric were more modified in soils of the drier climates. Such modifications in soil properties have a place in the rationale of Vertisol order of the US Soil Taxonomy. The soils of wetter climates (HT, SHM and SHD) are grouped in Typic Haplusterts whereas the soils of drier climates (SAM, SAD and AD) are classified as Aridic Haplusterts, Sodic Haplusterts and Sodic Calciusterts. The present study demonstrates how the intrinsic soil properties of the cracking clay soils in a climosequence may help in inferring the change in climate in a geologic period.     

Application of data assimilation for improving forecast of water levels and residual currents in Singapore regional waters

Hydrodynamic models are commonly used for predicting water levels and currents in the deep ocean, ocean margins and shelf seas. Their accuracy is typically limited by factors, such as the complexity of the coastal geometry and bathymetry, plus the uncertainty in the flow forcing (deep ocean tide, winds and pressure). In Southeast Asian waters with its strongly hydrodynamic characteristics, the lack of detailed marine observations (bathymetry and tides) for model validation is an additional factor limiting flow representation. This paper deals with the application of ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF)-based data assimilation with the purpose of improving the deterministic model forecast. The efficacy of the EnKF is analysed via a twin experiment conducted with the 2D barotropic Singapore regional model. The results show that the applied data assimilation can improve the forecasts significantly in this complex flow regime.     

Evaluation of the saltation process of bed materials by video imaging under altered bed roughness

The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of particle saltation and movement over the beds of fixed roughness from flume experiments. A series of experiments are carried out to study the saltation of individual sand particles of different sizes over rough beds under different flow conditions. A 3‐D acoustic Doppler velocimeter is used to record the fluid velocity components; subsequently, under different flow conditions, the images of released sand particles are recorded using high‐speed video imaging technique. Systematic analysis is made with regard to the forces acting on the grains and the variation of their magnitudes along the saltation trajectories of the grains. Relations between the saltation parameters, flow intensity and bed roughness are developed. The distributions of the angle of orientations during a single saltation follows almost a Gaussian distribution. The shape of the Gaussian distribution depends on the particle size and bed roughness. Particle collisions with rough beds and the resulting coefficients of restitution are also discussed. A theoretical framework is developed to compute the mean particle velocity considering the spin in the energy balance equation. Results of the detailed analysis using the imaging technique are much better than in previously reported studies. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of Composts from Agricultural Wastes with Fish Pond Sediment as Bulking Agent to Improve Compost Quality

Composts with five different ratios of agricultural wastes, viz. rice straw (RS), wheat straw (WS), potato plant (PP), and mustard stover (MS) were prepared with or without fish pond bottom sediment to investigate the compost maturity and their suitability for field application. The composting process was monitored through the changes in physico‐chemical parameters and germination index (GI) at every 7 days interval of the composting process. All the composts were dark brown and smelled like forest soil within 56 days of composting, which reflected its matured status. On the basis of the physico‐chemical parameters (bulk density: 0.84 g/cm³; pH 7.05; electrical conductivity: 3.52 mS/cm; cation exchange capacity:82.4 cmol/kg; total carbon:321.4 g/kg; total nitrogen: 16.9 g/kg; As: 6.8 mg/kg; Cd: 2.96 mg/kg; Cr: 29.6 mg/kg, Cu: 243.6 mg/kg; Hg: 0.019 mg/kg; Ni: 24.3 mg/kg; Pb: 62.1 mg/kg and Zn: 812 mg/kg) and GI (89–96%), it could be concluded that RS/WS/PP/MS, 1:1:2:1 v/v/v/v with fish pond sediment produced better compost in accordance with the Indian compost standard. Application of a combined randomized block design analysis revealed that there is a significant difference in the responses of the five composts, in relation to the time of composting. Hierarchical clustering algorithm was applied with a view to form homogeneous groups of five different composts on the basis of different physico‐chemical parameters. Therefore, the ratio of waste incorporation is an important decision for composting and addition of pond sediment can improve the quality of compost.     

Generation and study of satellite gravity over Gujarat,India and their possible correlation with earthquake occurrences

High-resolution satellite gravity data have been generated and utilized to infer subsurface geological structures in the area of devastating earthquake that struck the Bhuj region in Gujarat on 26 January 2001. Latitudinal gravity profiles have been generated in the Bhuj, Anjar and IBF regions across the epicentres (23.5° N, 69.8° E/M_w 7.0 in 2001; 23.2° N, 70° E/M_w 7.0 in 1956; 24.2° N, 69.2° E/M_w 7.8 in 1819). Substantial differences in gravity anomaly patterns as high as 37 mGal could be observed existing near the epicentre regions. These gravitational differences might have caused due to the plate tectonic processes and due to the changes in densities of different lithospheric zones/sedimentary layers. Temporal variations of the satellite-derived gravity and their probable relations with already occurred major earthquakes in this region have been studied. Hence we conclude that drastic changes in gravity anomalies can be considered as a precursor for occurrences of substantially large earthquakes.     

Spatio-Temporal Coherence Based Technique for Near-Real Time Sea-Ice Identification from Scatterometer Data

The identification of sea-ice has frequently been cited as one of the most important tasks for deriving the sea-ice parameters and to avoid erroneous retrieval of wind vector over sea-ice infested oceans using space-borne scatterometer data. Discrimination between sea-ice and ocean is ambiguous under the high wind and/or thin/scattered ice conditions. The pre-launch technique developed for Oceansat-2, utilizes the dual-polarized QuikSCAT scatterometer data by using the spatio-temporal coherence properties of sea ice in addition to backscatter coefficient and the Active Polarization Ratio. Results were compared with the operational sea-ice products from National Snow and Ice Data Center. The threshold API value of −0.025 was found optimum for sea-ice and ocean discrimination. The overall sea-ice identification accuracy achieved was of the order of 95 per cent, ranging from 92.5% (during December in Southern Hemisphere) to 98% (during March in Northern Hemisphere). The applicability of the algorithm for both the Arctic as well as Antarctic makes it suitable for its operational use with the Oceansat-2 scatterometer data.     

A panoptic view of western margin of Sundaland: Causes of seismic vulnerability of Sumatra

The western margin of Sundaland is affected by two major tectonic events, the India-Eurasia collision and subduction along the Burmese-Andaman-Sunda Arc. Geotectonic analysis of the Burmese-Andaman-Sunda Arc areas reveals that it represents an arc setting exposed both in land and sea environment. Within this broad arc setting, there are individual segments that illustrate discernible trends in terms of structural, seismic and geological characteristics. The Equatorial Region around Sumatra has some peculiar geological/geophysical characteristics that make it a tectonic hotspot. Here a relationship between the active volcanism and the development of forearc basins is established. It is also proposed that the downgoing oceanic plate is more strongly coupled to the overlying plate where it is youngest (～ 40 Ma), has the highest temperature and is topographically most elevated with highest seismic activity. In particular, an increase in convergence rate and presence of youngest oceanic crust appear to be the main controlling factor underpinning the tectonics and surge of recent seismic activity in Sumatra.     

Groundwater discharge along a channelized Coastal Plain stream

In the Coastal Plain of the southeastern USA, streams have commonly been artificially channelized for flood control and agricultural drainage. However, groundwater discharge along such streams has received relatively little attention. Using a combination of stream- and spring-flow measurements, spring temperature measurements, temperature profiling along the stream-bed, and geologic mapping, we delineated zones of diffuse and focused discharge along Little Bayou Creek, a channelized, first-order perennial stream in western Kentucky. Seasonal variability in groundwater discharge mimics hydraulic-head fluctuations in a nearby monitoring well and spring-discharge fluctuations elsewhere in the region, and is likely to reflect seasonal variability in recharge. Diffuse discharge occurs where the stream is incised into the semi-confined regional gravel aquifer, which is comprised of the Mounds Gravel. Focused discharge occurs upstream where the channel appears to have intersected preferential pathways within the confining unit. Seasonal fluctuations in discharge from individual springs are repressed where piping results in bank collapse. Thereby, focused discharge can contribute to the morphological evolution of the stream channel.