Mapping of apple orchards using remote sensing techniques in cold desert of Himachal Pradesh,India

The present study was conducted to map Apple orchards in dry alpine Spiti region of Indian Himalaya using LISS III satellite image. The barren terrain with sparse woody vegetation helped in classification of apple orchards with 91.3 % accuracy. The orchards were found in 154.6 ha of the study area and are anticipated to expand owing to its economic importance.     

Paleo-ocean chemistry records in marine opal: Implications for fluxes of trace elements, cosmogenic nuclides (Be and Al), and biological productivity

Here, we provide evidence suggesting that marine (diatom) opal contains not only a high fidelity record of dissolved oceanic concentrations of cosmic ray-produced radionuclides, ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al, but also a record of temporal variations in a large number of trace elements such as Ti, Fe, Zn and Mn. This finding is derived from measurements in purified biogenic opal that can be separated from detrital materials using a newly developed technique based on surface charge characteristics. Initial results from a sediment core taken near the present-day position of the Antarctic Polar Front (ODP Site 1093) show dramatic changes in the intrinsic concentrations of, Be, Al, Ti, Fe, Mn and Zn in the opal assemblages during the past ∼140 kyr BP. The results imply appreciable climatically controlled fluctuations in the level of bioreactive trace elements. The time series of total Be, Al, Ti, Fe and ¹⁰Be in the sediment core are all well correlated with each other and with dust records in the polar ice cores. The observations suggest that a significant flux of these trace metals to oceans is contributed by the aeolian dust, in this case, presumably from the Patagonia. This observation also allows determination of fluxes of dust-contributed ¹⁰Be to the Antarctica ice sheets. However, our data show that the relationships among the various metals are not perfectly linear. During periods of higher dissolved concentrations of trace elements (indicated by Fe and Ti) the relative concentrations of bioreactive elements, Be, Al, Mn and Zn are decreased. By contrast, the Fe/Zn and Fe/Mn ratios decrease significantly during each transition from cold to warm periods. The relative behavior could be consistent with any of the following processes: (i) enhanced biological productivity due to greater supply of the bioreactive elements (e.g. Zn) during cold periods (ii) increased biological and inorganic scavenging of particle active elements (e.g. Be and Al) during early interglacial periods (iii) differential uptake/removal of the metals by the various diatom taxa whose relative productivity or growth rate changes with large scale climate. In any case, with one sedimentary phase and in single sedimentary sections, we now have the potential to compare directly a proxy for aeolian input of micronutrients (e.g. Fe or Ti), with a proxy for production (e.g. ²⁶Al/Al ratios). We expect that studies of the temporal records of trace elements and cosmogenic nuclides in contrasting regions of upwelling and productivity, which exhibit different sensitivities to global climate fluctuations and micronutrient inputs, would lead to a direct and comprehensive test of ideas such as the hypothesis of iron control of atmospheric carbon dioxide [Martin, J.H., 1990. Glacial-interglacial CO₂ change: the iron hypothesis. Paleoceanography5, 1-13]. Our present data from a single site do not show that increases in dissolved Fe concentrations, per se, were responsible for increased biological productivity. However, a much clearer picture of the effect of increased dust fluxes should emerge when we have data for trace elements and the cosmogenic nuclides, ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al from various oceanic provinces.     

Computable extensions of generalized fractional kinetic equations in astrophysics

Fractional calculus and special functions have contributed a lot to mathematical physics and its various branches.The great use of mathematical physics in distinguished astrophysical problems has attracted astronomers and physicists to pay more attention to available mathematical tools that can be widely used in solving several problems of astrophysics/physics.In view of the great importance and usefulness of kinetic equations in certain astrophysical problems,the authors derive a generalized fractional kin...     

Spatio-temporal shift of western bank of the Ganga river,Allahabad city and its implications

Ganga is one of the largest rivers of the world which supports millions of population on its banks. It is a tectonically controlled Himalayan river which also creates havoc due to perennial floods every year. Like most large river systems, it also shifts its course in the Gangetic plains in space and time. The present study measures the variable shift in a selected flood-prone stretch of the Allahabad city lying on the western bank of the Ganga river, taking into account the historical, annual to monthly data (including pre- and post-monsoon shifts) to show the ongoing changes in the river course with possible causes and futher implications. It also discusses for the first time the down stream effect of the Tehri dam on the Ganga river course after it became functional.     

New age constraints on the cooling and unroofing history of the Trans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith (Kargil area), N. W. India

Thermotectonic history of the Trans-Himalayan Ladakh Batholith in the Kargil area, N. W. India, is inferred from new age data obtained here in conjunction with previously published ages. Fission-track (FT) ages on apatite fall around 20±2 Ma recording cooling through temperatures of ∼100°C and indicating an unroofing of 4 km of the Ladakh Range since the Early Miocene. Coexisting apatite and zircon FT ages from two samples in Kargil show the rocks to have cooled at an average rate of 5–6°C/Ma in the past 40 Ma. Zircon FT ages together with mica K−Ar cooling ages from the Ladakh Batholith cluster around 40–50 Ma, probably indicating an Eocene phase of uplift and erosion that affected the bulk of the batholith after the continental collision of India with the Ladakh arc at 55 Ma. Components of the granitoids in Upper Eocene-Lower Oligocene sediments of the Indus Molasse in Ladakh supports this idea. Three hornblende K−Ar ages of 90 Ma, 55 Ma, and 35 Ma are also reported; these distinctly different ages probably reflect cooling through 500–550°C of three phases of I-type plutonism in Ladakh also evidenced by other available radiometric data: 102 Ma (mid-Cretaceous), 60 Ma (Palaeocene), and 40 Ma (Late Eocene); the last phase being localised sheet injections. The geodynamic implications of the age data for the India-Asia collision are discussed.     

Extra-terrestrial influx rates of cosmogenic isotopes and platinum group elements: realizable geochemical effects

We present estimates of “realizable” influx of selected cosmogenic isotopes, ³He, ¹⁰Be, ²⁶Al, and ¹⁴C, and platinum group elements, Ir, Os, and Re on the earth via influx of meteoroids. We define realizable as the particulate fraction of mass influx which is included in standard geochemical analyses of terrestrial sediments. This is the surviving mass fraction of size < 0.5-1 cm, which gets mixed with terrestrial samples, and is analyzed in normal terrestrial assays of sediments. Larger surviving meteoroid fragments, of the order of cm to m or larger, obviously belong to the non-realizable flux category, since (i) their distribution in terrestrial samples would be very patchy, resulting in a highly variable density matrix, and (ii) they would also generally (except in wide-diameter cores) be excluded from sediment cores. We estimate the realizable influx of meteoritic particles, based on a recent model describing production of smaller size fragments arising during the atmospheric entry of meteoroids. Implicit in this work is the assumption that the secondary fragments are not subject to much heating and therefore most of the initial ³He (and noble gases) would be preserved in the secondary fragments since after break-up they are not subjected to much heating. Under this assumption, production of small size fragments in the ablation process constitutes a “safe” landing mechanism for parts of the meteoroid. In this paper, we show that the meteoritic ablation/fragmentation process produces a significant flux of ³He, platinum group metals, and cosmogenic ²⁶Al. In fact, measurements of these isotopes in ocean sediments should allow a reasonable estimate of temporal variations in the flux of meteoroids of 50 cm to 5 m radii, which produce most of the secondary fragments in the size range <1 cm.We would like to state here that, as pointed out in our previous work, stratospheric collections would be biased towards collection of the primary incident extra-terrestrial particles, whereas terrestrial accumulations representing large (area × time) accumulations, as in the case of ocean sediments, would efficiently sample the fragmented particles.     

Analytical representation of spatial and temporal variations of the geomagnetic field in the Indian region

The magnetic measurements of declination (D), horizontal (H) and vertical (Z) components of earth’s magnetic field, collected from ground surveys between 1962 and 1966, are used to develop an analytical model of geomagnetic field variations over Indian region for the epoch 1965. In order to reflect spatial features with wavelengths of approximately 1000 km, sixth degree polynomial as a function of differential latitude and longitude is calculated by the method of least squares. The root mean square fit of the model to the input data is better than that accounted by the International Geomagnetic Reference Field for 1965.0. Isomagnetic charts drawn forD, H, Z and total force (F) reflect more details than that shown on world magnetic charts. Further, the values of the field at common repeat stations recorded between 1962 and 1974, after eliminating the field values for the epoch 1965.0, are used to get the secular variation as well as its spatial dependence again by means of polynomial which now includes coefficients which are functions of time and of geographical locations. The accuracy of coefficients is tested against the behaviour of secular variation at permanent magnetic observatories. The merits and limitations of the model are discussed.