Seismicity and source parameters of local earthquakes in Bilaspur region of Himachal Lesser Himalaya

The pattern of local seismicity (110 events) and the source parameters of 26 local events (1.0?≤?Mw?≤?2.5) that occurred during May 2008 to April 2009 in Bilaspur region of Himachal Lesser Himalaya were determined. The digital records available from one station have been used to compute the source parameters and f _max based on the Brune source model (1970) and a high-frequency diminution factor (Boore 1983) above f _max. The epicentral distribution of events within 30 km of local network is broadly divided into three clusters of seismic activity: (1) a cluster located to the south of the Jamthal (JAMT) station and falls to the north of the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) which seems to reflect the contemporary local seismicity of the segment of the MBT, (2) an elongated zone of local seismicity NE–SW trending, delineated NE of JAMT station that falls in the Lesser Himalaya between the MBT and the Main Central Thrust, and (3) NE–SW trending zone of local seismic activity located at about 10 km east of NHRI station and about 15 km northeast of NERI station and extending over a distance of about 20 km. Majority of events occur at shallow depths up to 20 km, and the maximum number of events occurs in the focal depth range between 10 and 15 km. The entire seismic activity is confined to the crust between 5 and 45 km. The average values of these source parameters range from 3.29?×?10¹⁷ to 3.73?×?10¹⁹?dyne-cm for seismic moment, 0.1 to 9.7 bars for stress drops, and 111.78 to 558.92 m for source radii. The average value of f _max for these events varies from 7 to 18 Hz and seems to be source dependent.     

Strange pulsar hypothesis

It appears that there is a genuine shortage of radio pulsars with surface magnetic fields significantly smaller than ∼10⁸ G. We propose that the pulsars with very low magnetic fields are actually strange stars locked in a state of minimum free energy and therefore at a limiting value of the magnetic field which cannot be lowered by the system spontaneously.     

Solar Impulsive Hard X-Ray Emission and Two-Stage Electron Acceleration

Heating and acceleration of electrons in solar impulsive hard X-ray (HXR) flares are studied according to the two-stage acceleration model developed by Zhang for solar 3He-rich events. It is shown that electrostatic H-cyclotron waves can be excited at a parallel phase velocity less than about the electron thermal velocity and thus can significantly heat the electrons (up to 40 MK) through Landau resonance. The preheated electrons with velocities above a threshold are further accelerated to high energies in the flare-acceleration process. The flare-produced electron spectrum is obtained and shown to be thermal at low energies and power law at high energies. In the non-thermal energy range, the spectrum can be double power law if the spectral power index is energy dependent or related. The electron energy spectrum obtained by this study agrees quantitatively with the result derived from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) HXR observations in the flare of 2002 July 23. The total flux and energy flux of electrons accelerated in the solar flare also agree with the measurements.     

Halo ejection in distant radio galaxies: jet feedback in massive galaxy formation

We present results from a Keck optical and near IR spectroscopic study of the giant emission line halos of the z>3 High Redshift Radio Galaxies (HiZRGs) 4C 41.17, 4C 60.07 and B2 0902+34. The outer regions of these halos show quiet kinematics with typical velocity dispersions of a few hundred km s⁻¹ and velocity shears consistent with rotation. The inner regions contain shocked, clumpy cocoons of gas closely associated with the radio lobes with disturbed kinematics and expansion velocities and/or velocity dispersions >1000 km s⁻¹. We also find evidence for the ejection of chemically enriched material in 4C 41.17 up to a distance of ∼60 kpc along the radio-axis. We infer that these HiZRGs are undergoing a final jet-induced phase of star formation with the ejection of most of their interstellar medium before evolving to become “red and dead” Elliptical galaxies.     

Monitoring of River Center Line and Width—A Study on River Brahmaputra

Monitoring of river width and centerline is one of the most important activities in river engineering. Changes in the width and center line can be attributed to several reasons and monitoring these changes can be conveniently achieved with the aid of remote sensing images. In this study, digital image processing techniques have been implemented using the image processing tool-box available in MATLAB for studying temporal variations of width and centerline of the river Brahmaputra in its 300 Km reach in the state of Assam, India. The current study uses relatively high resolution imageries acquired from the LANDSAT series of satellites. Apart from the LANDSAT imageries, the low resolution imageries acquired by MODIS program is also used in order to see the variation in the obtained results. The evaluation of the results shows that the digital image processing technique is very handy and can be applied to obtain the centerline and width of a river. The evaluation also shows that the low resolution image can also be used for obtaining centerline of a river. However, it may give erroneous result when width of the river is narrow or very large.     

A geospatial assessment of flood hazard in north-eastern depressed basin,Bangladesh

Floods are a frequently occurring calamity in deltaic Bangladesh. This paper aims to assess the temporal expansion of waterbodies during flooding using geospatial techniques. Several water indices were applied to classify the satellite images at various temporal scales. Among them, the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) showed the highest correlation (r = 0.831; where p = 0.01) with rainfall data. Specifically, the NDWI results showed that perennial waterbodies measured 37 km² and 60 km² in Sunamganj District in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The area of waterbodies notably increased 52-fold from March to April (37 km² to 1958 km²) during the pre-monsoon flash flood of 2017. During the July 2019 monsoon flood, waterbodies started to extend after May and flooded 2784 km² in area. NDVI analysis showed that in 2019, floodwater submerged 361.7 km² of vegetation cover. At the same time, the Surma River's flooding resulted in a 73.9 per cent inundation of the total area of the Sunamganj District. We hope that this study will provide better understanding of the varying nature of floods that occur in the low lying bowl shaped Haor region which will in turn assist the government with flood mitigation.     

Imaging and visualizing the spectral signatures from Landsat TM and ‘τ’ value-based surface soil microzonation mapping at and around Agartala (India)

This work aims to assess the soil microzonation of Agartala city and its surrounding areas based on spectral geophysical signatures. Different spectral resolutions of Landsat TM have been used for assessing the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index, spatial thermal emission representation and plant water moisture representation. Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) was measured from band 4 (near-infrared (NIR)) and band 3 (photosynthetically active radiation (PAR)). The Digital Number (DN) values of thermal infrared band (TIR) were used for measuring spatial variation of thermal representation in the city area. A very simple model was developed for measuring thermal emission representative index from NDVI and automated classified TIR band. Overlaid NDVI and classified TIR shows the spatial distribution of thermal emission representative values. Classified mid-wave infrared band (MWIR) was used for measuring the surface geotherm units (τ) which are related with different types of soil. On the basis of spatial distribution of τ value which is clearly visible in a thermal emission representative map overlaid by classified MWIR, the soil microzonation map of the study area was prepared. This soil microzonation map shows that Agartala and its surrounding areas are characterized by four types of soil which are related to different geomorphic and geological units. The soil of this area is classified as dry sandy soil and sandy clay soil of the highland areas and wet sandy alluvium and clayey alluvium of the flood plain area.     

Turbulent unsteady flow profiles over an adverse slope

When an unsteady free surface flow encounters an adverse slope, it results in a decelerating flow up the adverse slope. The time dependent turbulent flow is treated here by appropriately reducing the two-dimensional Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equation along with the equation of continuity considering turbulence closure. With suitable choice of parameters, the resulting differential equations are numerically solved to compute free surface and streamwise velocity profiles with time. It is found that initially the advancing free surface is convex upwards for a short time, followed by a jump of the free surface with a negative streamwise velocity that is a backwater rolling breaker due to deceleration of flow. At later time, however, the velocity becomes positive, that is, the breakers roll forward. This dual feature of motion, that is a surge followed by rolling breakers, is repeated for sometime before the jumps stop. The theoretical analysis presented here is motivated by tidal bores propagating upstream in an estuarine river.