Evaluation and analysis of traffic noise along bus rapid transit system corridor

Due to increasing motorization, construction of flyovers and growth in transport network, the noise level has exceeded the prescribed limits in many Indian cities. The health implications of high noise levels are being identified as hypertension, sleeplessness, mental stress, etc. Due to this adverse effect of noise level, it is essential to assess the impact of traffic noise on residents and road users. This research is an effort to quantify and analyze the traffic noise emissions along bus rapid transit corridor in Delhi. Field measurements were carried out to understand and assess various aspects of the impact of bus rapid transit system corridor on land use and social lives of residents and road users. The present analysis presents the comparison between observed and predicted noise level at selected corridors and also describes the mitigatory measures to overcome such type of traffic noise pollution through design of noise barrier along the road and motivate people towards the use of public transport system.     

Modeling of aerosol induced snow albedo feedbacks over the Himalayas and its implications on regional climate

Climate Dynamics - Regional climate model (RegCM-4.6.0) coupled with Community Land Model (CLM4.5), which includes SNow, ICe and Aerosol Radiation (SNICAR) model was used to investigate the effect...     

Morphology,Trace, and Rare Earth Elements of Detrital Zircon of Kayamkulam,Thottappally Placers,South West India—Implications for Provenance

Detrital zircon crystals from beach and were subjected to morphology and Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) analysis to assess the efficacy of the zircon composition as a provenance indicator. The inclusions of rutile and sillimanite in the lattice of the zircon support metamorphic growth. Zircon grains from relatively dry alkalic and igneous rocks tend to be dominated by {100} and {101} forms, whereas those from aluminous to calc-alkaline rocks exhibit various combinations of forms, with a predominance of {211}, and those from water-rich granites and pegmatites tend to have {110} and {101} as their dominant forms. Prismatic faces develop from zircon mainly due to the temperature of the crystallisation, but the pyramidal faces were linked to chemical factors. Light group Rare Earth Element (LREE) is enriched relative to Heavy group Rare Earth Element (HREE) in zircon. It shows significant negative anomalies in Eu, Co, Rb, and Cs and positive anomalies in V, Zn, Sr, Y, Nb, and Ba. The negative anomaly of Eu is maybe due to the redox condition operative at the time of zircon crystallisation from magma, where most of the Eu could be in Eu²⁺ state. The ratio of the Zr/Hf in detrital zircon shows a range of values between 6.56 and 6.25%. This supports the idea of the role ascribed to mafic rocks for the parentage of southwest coastal placer deposits.     

Impact of Estuarine Outflow on Coastal Upwelling

A two-dimensional numerical model is developed facilitating the locationwise study of coastal upwelling. The coastal rigid boundary in the model is replaced with an open boundary to understand the dynamical response of the coastal ocean in the presence of an estuary. The model is applied to the east coast of India in a plane perpendicular to the coast of Kakinada where the Godavari river joins the Bay of Bengal. The model is driven, starting from a state of rest, by the combined effect of the wind stress forcing and the freshwater discharge from the estuary. Two numerical experiments were conducted to study the effect of the variation in the freshwater discharge on upwelling. It is found that the freshwater discharge from the Godavari estuary suppresses the upwelling off Kakinada.     

Relation between sedimentary framework and hydrogeology in the Guarani Aquifer System in São Paulo state,Brazil

This paper presents the results of a new investigation of the Guarani Aquifer System (SAG) in São Paulo state. New data were acquired about sedimentary framework, flow pattern, and hydrogeochemistry. The flow direction in the north of the state is towards the southwest and not towards the west as expected previously. This is linked to the absence of SAG outcrop in the northeast of São Paulo state. Both the underlying Pirambóia Formation and the overlying Botucatu Formation possess high porosity (18.9% and 19.5%, respectively), which was not modified significantly by diagenetic changes. Investigation of sediments confirmed a zone of chalcedony cement close to the SAG outcrop and a zone of calcite cement in the deep confined zone. The main events in the SAG post-sedimentary history were: (1) adhesion of ferrugineous coatings on grains, (2) infiltration of clays in eodiagenetic stage, (3) regeneration of coatings with formation of smectites, (4) authigenic overgrowth of quartz and K-feldspar in advanced eodiagenetic stage, (5) bitumen cementation of Pirambóia Formation in mesodiagenetic stage, (6) cementation by calcite in mesodiagenetic and telodiagenetic stages in Pirambóia Formation, (7) formation of secondary porosity by dissolution of unstable minerals after appearance of hydraulic gradient and penetration of the meteoric water caused by the uplift of the Serra do Mar coastal range in the Late Cretaceous, (8) authigenesis of kaolinite and amorphous silica in unconfined zone of the SAG and cation exchange coupled with the dissolution of calcite at the transition between unconfined and confined zone, and (9) authigenesis of analcime in the confined SAG zone. The last two processes are still under operation. The deep zone of the SAG comprises an alkaline pH, Na–HCO₃ groundwater type with old water and enriched δ¹³C values (<?3.9), which evolved from a neutral pH, Ca–HCO₃ groundwater type with young water and depleted δ¹³C values (>?18.8) close to the SAG outcrop. This is consistent with a conceptual geochemical model of the SAG, suggesting dissolution of calcite driven by cation exchange, which occurs at a relatively narrow front recently moving downgradient at much slower rate compared to groundwater flow. More depleted values of δ¹⁸O in the deep confined zone close to the Paraná River compared to values of relative recent recharged water indicate recharge occur during a period of cold climate. The SAG is a “storage-dominated” type of aquifer which has to be managed properly to avoid its overexploitation.     

Morphological and microstructural characteristics of bauxite developed over a part of Precambrian Iron Ore Group of rocks,Sundergarh District,Eastern India

Bauxite occurring as a blanket over volcanics of Precambrian Iron Ore Group in Kusumdih and Jaldih of Sundergarh district, Odisha, Eastern India exhibits four types of morphology viz. pisolitic, disseminated, spotted and massive. The volcanics/tuffs are altered to shale and is predominantly constituted of kaolinite. Microstructures documented in different morphologies of bauxite are collomorphous, framework, chain, stalactitic, reticulate, vesicle filled and foliated-platy types. Gibbsite, diaspore and kaolinite exhibit the abovementioned morphological and microstructural features. The morphological and microstructural characteristics are interpreted in terms of genetic evolution of aluminous minerals of bauxite in such a setup. Gibbsite and diaspore are formed through solution and precipitation/recrystallisation from kaolinite booklets present in parent tuffaceous shales. Some diaspores were formed at the expense of gibbsites. Small well-ordered kaolinites are of authigenic nature. Kaolinite formed inside a localized closed system containing supersaturated solution exhibits growth spirals. The textural and morphological diversities of the bauxite, abundance of well-ordered bauxite minerals and the absence of any iron/silica phase along with limited occurrence of primary kaolinite together suggest that the deposit has attained a high degree of bauxitisation in weathering environment at surface temperature.     

Investigation of general regression neural network architecture for grade estimation of an Indian iron ore deposit

The mineral resource estimation requires accurate prediction of the grade at location from limited borehole information. It plays the dominant role in the decision-making process for investment and development of various mining projects and hence become an important and crucial stage. This paper evaluvates the use of two distinct artificial neural network (ANN)-based models, general regression neural network (GRNN) and multilayer perceptron neural network (MLP NN), to improve the grade estimation from Koira iron ore region in Sundargarh district, Odisha. ANN-based models capture the inherent complex structure of mineral deposits and provide a reliable generalization of the iron grade. The ANN-based approach does not require any preliminary geological study and is free from any statistical assumption on the raw data before its application. The GRNN is a one-pass learning algorithm and does not require any iterative procedure for training less complex structure and requires only one learning parameter for optimization. In this investigation, the spatial coordinates and multiple lithological units were taken as input variables and the iron grade was taken as the output variable. The comparative analysis of these models has been carried out and the results obtained were validated with traditional geostatistical method ordinary kriging (OK). The GRNN model outperforms the other methods, i.e. MLP and OK, with respect to generalization and predictability of the grades at an un-sampled location.     

Characterisation of respirable dust exposure of different category of workers in Jharia Coalfields

This paper presents dust exposure study of 69 workers engaged in 11 categories of jobs over seven coalmines of Jharia Coalfields. Dust samples were analysed for dust concentration, maximum exposure limit (MEL), free silica and other minerals present, and particle size and shape. Study reveals that workers engaged in vicinity of coal/rock cutting operation, are exposed to higher dust concentration (50% samples exceeding MEL), and contain more fine particles (d ₅₀ < 5 μm) with sharp edges. Samples exceeding MEL are classified as high-risk category which needs special attention for taking preventive and protective measure like use of personal protective equipments, job rotation and reduction in dust generation through engineering control using appropriate technology of dust suppression and dust extraction as per their applicability. The study also suggests presence of kaolinite and asbestos along with quartz which make the dust more harmful in nature necessitating further investigation and careful control measures.     

Stability of a sand spit due to dredging in an adjacent creek

The Jatadharmohan creek lies between Mahanadi and Devi Rivers along the Orissa coast and it is separated from the sea by an elongated sand spit. It was proposed to mine a volume of 15×10⁶ m³ of sand from the creek for land filling, but maintaining the spit intact. For this, the stability of sand spit is studied with different criteria. The results confirm that the creek mouth is a near permanent zone of deposition. The model results obtained for various depth scenarios show that the magnitude of currents would increase considerably when depth is increased by 7.0 m and marginally for further increase in depth by 10.0 m. Accordingly, a dredging scheme has to be designed without affecting the spit stability. Considering the existing hydrodynamics in the creek system, it is recommended that a bed slope of 1:6 (9.5°) be maintained during dredging, which is much less than 13.75°—the evaluated critical slope at the site when seepage flow is parallel to the bed slope. It is observed during monitoring that the creek is very productive, and the sand spit is totally intact.