Holocene climatic changes over northwest India: An appraisal

Multidisciplinary studies of the climatic conditions of the present-day arid regions of the northwest Indian region indicate phases of distinct change during the recent post-glacial period. In view of the topical importance of the subject, and the sources of information being scattered throughout multidiscipli-nary research journals, an attempt has been made to summarize and present a coherent picture of the climate of the present-day desert regions of northwest India for the Holocene period. The present-day climatology and physiography of the region is presented as introductory material. The important studies which throw some light on the glacial arid phase, the wet phase, coinciding with the Harappan civilization, and the present-day arid phase are reviewed.     

Mapping of tropical dry deciduous forest and landuse in part of Vindhyan range using satellite remote sensing

Forest vegetation of Vindhyan range located in the north of G.B. Pant Sagar (dam) has been subjected to degradation due to high biotic pressure caused by the installation of thermal power plants, coal mining, heavy cattle grazing etc. In the present study Landsat TM FCC of 1∶250,000 scale was visually analysed with respect to forest vegetation types, crown density and structure along with other landuse/land cover classes. ExceptShorea robusta (Sal) andLagerstroemia parviflora (Lendia) all forest vegetation types show higher percentage of degradation and under-stocked condition with respect to their areal extent under study. Overall classification accuracy of the forest types has been found to be 88.94%. This indicates that for obtaining reliable mapping accuracy in dry deciduous areas, satellite remote sensing data of appropriate season is essential.

     

Some features of the arid area variations over India: 1871–1984

Spatial variability of the annual rainfall over drier regions of India is studied by examining the variations in the arid areas. A long period (1871–1984) arid area series has been prepared for the entire country, including the two broad subregions of North India and Peninsular India, using annual rainfall data from 306 well distributed stations. Following an objectively determined criterion based on rainfall amount alone, the yearly area under arid conditions is obtained by totalling areas which received annual rainfall totals less than 560 mm. The interannual variability of the arid area series is large and its distribution is highly right-skewed, demonstrating large spatial variations in the annual rainfall over India. Statistical tests do not suggest any significant long-term trend in the arid area series, but persistently low values of the arid area after 1941 are noteworthy. Implications for the study of risk analysis and assessment of drought and desertification processes are discussed.     

Electron-probe check of fe-distribution in sphalerite grains of the Nagybörzsöny hydrothermal ore deposits,Hungary

Micron-scale iron-distribution patterns in sphalerite grains derived from two contrasting mineral assemblages of the Nagybörzsöny hydrothermal ore deposits (high temperature stockwork and low temperature veins), were determined with electron microprobe, pointcounter and continuous chart-recorder measurements along radial profiles. A significant oscillation of iron-content ranging from 8.1 to 18 per cent for stockwork and 4.3 to 15.8 per cent for veins took place during crystal growth. Homogeneous crystal cores are characteristic for vein-filling, while replacement occurring in deeper levels of the stockwork results in mosaic cores. Frequent oscillation of iron content is relevant to top-sections of the ore bodies, copious supply being recorded in recurring shells, whereas scanty, unilateral ones produce crescents arranged in onion-like structure.

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Zusammenfassung Bestimmungen der Eisenverteilung wurden an Zinkblendekörnern aus zwei verschiedenen Mineralparagenesen (Hochtemperatur-Stockwerk und Gangfüllungen niederiger Bildungstemperatur) der hydrothermalen Erzlagerstätte Nagybörzsöny im Mikronbereich durch Elektronen-Mikrosonde-Messungen (Punktzählung und kontinuierliche Band-Registrierung) entlang radialer Profile vorgenommen. Bedeutende Schwankungen des Eisengehaltes (8,1–18% für das Stockwerk und 4,3–15,8% für die Gänge) wurden registriert. Homogene Kristallkerne kennzeichnen die Gangfüllungen, wogegen in tieferen Horizonten des Stockwerks Verdrängungen zur Bildung von Kristallen mit Mosaik-Kernen führen. Allgemein ist in den Gipfel-Partien der Erzkörper Fluktuation des Eisengehaltes häufig. Gleichmäßiger Nachschub während des Kristallwachstums führte zu ringförmigen Zonen gleicher Eisengehalte, spärlicher oder einseitiger dagegen zu halbmondförmigen Hüllen mit Zwiebelstruktur.

     

Hydrocarbon degraders from tropical marine environments

Analysis of 20 samples of marine mud and water around Mumbai resulted in the isolation of 17 bacteria and yeasts all of which were able to degrade more than 10% of the supplied crude oil. The yeasts strains were important degraders of the aliphatic fraction of crude. All the isolated yeasts belonged to the genus Candida. Using biochemical tests these were identified as Candida parapsilosis, C. albicans, C. guilliermondii, Yarrowia lipolytica, C. tropicalis and C. intermedia. Y. lipolytica was the best degrader utilizing 78% of the aliphatic fraction of Bombay High crude oil. None of these isolates degraded the aromatic or ashphaltene fractions. All the isolates required aeration, nitrogen and phosphate supplementation for optimal degradation. Four out of the six yeasts are human pathogens.     

Asymmetric behavior of different solar activity features over solar cycles 20–23

This paper presents the study of normalized north–south asymmetry, cumulative normalized north–south asymmetry and cumulative difference indices of sunspot areas, solar active prominences (at total, low (?40°) and high (?50°) latitudes) and Hα solar flares from 1964 to 2008 spanning the solar cycles 20–23. Three different statistical methods are used to obtain the asymmetric behavior of different solar activity features. Hemispherical distribution of activity features shows the dominance of activities in northern hemisphere for solar cycle 20 and in southern hemisphere for solar cycles 21–23 excluding solar active prominences at high latitudes. Cumulative difference index of solar activity features in each solar cycle is observed at the maximum of the respective solar cycle suggesting a cyclic behavior of approximately one solar cycle length. Asymmetric behavior of all activity features except solar active prominences at high latitudes hints at the long term periodic trend of eight solar cycles. North–south asymmetries of SAP (H) express the specific behavior of solar activity at high solar latitudes and its behavior in long-time scale is distinctly opposite to those of other activity features. Our results show that in most cases the asymmetry is statistically highly significant meaning thereby that the asymmetries are real features in the N–S distribution of solar activity features.     

Spread-F during the magnetic storm of 22 January 2004 at low latitudes: Effect of IMF-Bz in relation to local sunset time

The paper describes the results of spread-F at low latitude stations around the world during the magnetic storm starting at 0130 UT on 22 January 2004. The storm can be divided into two phases, first phase up to 1000 UT when interplanetary magnetic field IMF-Bz was highly fluctuating around a small positive value and the second phase after a sudden large southward turning of IMF-Bz at 1030 UT. The first phase produced strong spread-F at Jicamarca, Sao Luis, and Ascension Island and caused complete inhibition of spread-F at Thumba and Waltair in India. It generated weak spread-F at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and strong spread-F at Hainan and Chung Li. The strong spread-F at Hainan and Chung Li were caused by the positive IMF-Bz during the first phase of the storm and not by the negative pulse of IMF-Bz at 1000 UT.     

Fall,classification and cosmogenic records of the Sabrum (LL6) chondrite

Abstract— The petrographic and chemical characteristics of a fresh Indian meteorite fall at Sabrum are described. Its mean mineral composition is defined by olivine (Fa_31.4), orthopyroxene (Fs_25.1,Wo_2.0), clinopyroxene (Wo₄₅En_45.6Fs_9.4) and plagioclase (An_10.6Ab_83.6Or_5.8). The meteorite shows moderate shock features, which indicate that it belongs to the S4 category. Based on mineralogical and chemical criteria the meteorite is classified as an LL6 brecciated veined chondrite. Several cosmogenic radioisotopes (⁴⁶Sc, ⁷Be, ⁵⁴Mn, ²²Na and ²⁶Al), noble gas (He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe), nitrogen isotopes, and particle tracks density have been measured. Concentrations of cosmogenic ²¹Ne and ³⁸Ar indicate that its cosmic‐ray exposure age is 24.8 Ma. Small amounts of trapped Kr and Xe, consistent with petrologic class 5/6, are present. The track density in olivines is found to be (1.3 ± 0.3) × 10⁶/cm². Activities of most of the short‐lived isotopes are lower than those expected from solar cycle variation. ²²Na/²⁶Al (1.12 ± 0.02) is found to be significantly anomalous, being ?25% lower than expected from the Climax neutron monitor data. These results indicate that the cosmic‐ray flux during the terminal segment of the meteoroid orbit was low. The activities of ²⁶Al and ⁶⁰Co and the track density indicate small meteoroid size with a radius ?15 cm.     

Mapping composite vulnerability to groundwater arsenic contamination: an analytical framework and a case study in India

Natural Hazards - Groundwater arsenic (As) contamination affects millions of people in South Asia. In this paper, we propose a composite vulnerability framework to identify, for mitigation, the...