Remote sensing for geology,geomorphology and lineament study of Vindhyan basin,north of Shivpuri,Madhya Pradesh

The study area comprises Bundelkhand Granite of Archaean age in the east, unconformably overlain by Upper Vindhyan sequence, ranging from Upper Kaimur Sandstone to Lower Bhander Sandstone Groups, in the west. Geomorphologically, the area has been divided into three geomorphic provinces viz. (1) Bundelkhand inselberg — pediplain, (2) Vindhyan structural plateau, consisting of two major sub-levels of Upper and Lower Bhander Sandstone Groups and two minor sub-levels of Upper and Lower Rewa Sandstone Groups, separated by escarpment and/or valleys, and (3) Chambal alluvial plain. Photo-interpretation and field studies indicate that there are three sets of lineament trends in the area out of which the NNW-SSE trend comes out very strongly on imagery and is correlatable with basement fracture trend of Bundelkhand massif. The synoptic view through imagery also gives the impression that the course of Chambal river towards north and west is controlled by a major lineament, possibly a regional fault trending NE-SW. The NNW-SSE lineament trend mentioned above then probably reflects tension release aspect of the faulting. The field check has brought out some very broad, gentle warps also with NNE-SSW trend in the area. The paper presents the salient observations on geological, structural and geomorphological studies for Shivpuri area based on remote-sensing techniques and their utility for such regional investigations.     

Aerial photographs-a useful aid in delineation of the ophiolite belt along indo-burmese border

The eastern border of India with Burma represents a fairly young tectonic zone. The main rock types of the area belong to the Disang Group of Eocene to Upper Cretaceous age. The Ophiolites have concordant relationship with these rocks. The 200 km long belt of NNE -SSW trending Ophiolite suite of rocks in Manipur and Nagaland is of great academic importance as it has been postulated as probable plate boundary along which ophiolites have been emplaced. It holds immense economic importance too, being the carrier of elements of strategic mineral importance, such as nickel, chromium, platinum etc. Photo-interpretation has been successfully used in delineating the extensions of and location of the important NNE-SSW. lineament along which ophiolite has been emplaced. It has been possible to demarcate .the ophiolite bodies on the basis of their distinct photo-characters from that of sedimentaries. An attempt has also been made to decipher its structural and tectonic relationship with country rocks.     

Quantitative treatment of annealing of charged particle tracks in common minerals

A semi-empirical approach has been used to obtain an analytical expression for the annealing of charged particle tracks in minerals as a function of time and temperature. The new formalism allows quantitative evaluation of the extent of annealing in samples for any specified temperature and track production history. The validity of the present approach depends upon the applicability of the Arrhenius equation to the process of annealing of nuclear tracks in solids. Laboratory track annealing studies confirm the predictive aspects of the present approach and also the applicability of Arrhenius' equation to track annealing over a wide time-temperature range (5 seconds/1200 K to 5 × 10⁶ seconds/500 K). The present quantitative treatment of track annealing in rock minerals should permit an in-depth study of a variety of problems in meteoritics and earth sciences.     

Measurements of reflection coefficients of stratified layers using X-band bistatic scatterometers

Laboratory modelling of earth’s subsurface stratification has been carried out using X-band microwave bistatic scatterometer system. Look angle variation of reflectivity for various subsurface layers under dry and wet conditions have been measured. From measured reflectivity data and the reciprocity theorem the emissivity and the brightness temperature variations have been computed, and the data are in good agreement with reported results. The importance of laboratory and field measurements and its remote sensing application has been discussed.     

Automatic Tree Identification and Diameter Estimation Using Single Scan Terrestrial Laser Scanner Data in Central Indian Forests

Forest inventory parameters, primarily tree diameter and height, are required for several management and planning activities. Currently, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) is a promising technology in automated measurements of tree parameters using dense 3D point clouds. In comparison with conventional manual field inventory methods, TLS systems would supplement field data with detailed and relatively higher degree of accurate measurements and increased measurement frequency. Although, multiple scans from TLS captures more area, they are resource and time consuming to ensure proper co-registration between the scans. On the other hand, Single scans provide a fast and recording of the data but are often affected by occlusions between the trees. The current study evaluates potential of single scan TLS data to (1) develop an automatic method for tree stem identification and diameter estimation (diameter at breast height—DBH) using random sample consensus (RANSAC) based circle fitting algorithm, (2) validate using field based measurements to derive accuracy estimates and (3) assess the influence of distance to scanner on detection and measurement accuracies. Tree detection and diameter measurements were validated for 5 circular plots of 20 m radius using single scans in dry deciduous forests of Betul, Madhya Pradesh. An overall tree detection accuracy of 85 and 70% was observed in the scanner range of 15 and 20 m respectively. The tree detection accuracies decreased with increased distance to the scanner due to the decrease in visible area. Also, estimated stem diameter using TLS was found to be in agreement with the field measured diameter (R² = 0.97). The RMSE of estimated DBH was found to be 3.5 cm (relative RMSE ~20%) over 202 trees detected over 5 plots. Results suggest that single scan approach suffices the cause of accuracy, reducing uncertainty and adds to increased sampling frequency in forest inventory and also implies that TLS has a seemingly high potential in forest management.     

Geochemistry of Paleo to Mesoproterozoic Metasedimentary Units of Chandil Formation,North Singhbhum Crustal Province: Implications for Provenance and Source Area Weathering

The Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary units of Chandil Formation belong to the northern part of Singhbhum crustal province, eastern India. The Formation lies north of Dalma volcano-sedimentary belt and is separated from the Meso- Neoproterozoic Chhotanagpur granite gneissic complex (CGGC) by Tamar-Porapahar shear zone (TPSZ), i.e. South Purulia shear zone, (SPSZ) at its northern boundary. The metasedimentary unit comprises of quartz-mica-sericite-schist, quartzite, amphibolites and carbonaceous phyllites, which have not been studied well, so far in terms of their geochemistry, source rock and provenance characterization. In this work, the existing gaps in all those aspects are studied to infer the provenance of these metasedimentary sequences. The high silica contents of the Chandil Formation (~95% for the quartzites and ~70% for the metapelites) and low trace element concentrations indicate silica-rich source. The REE patterns of the quartzites and the metapelites exhibit LREE enrichment and HREE depletion with moderate negative Eu-anomalies which strongly favor felsic nature of the provenance. The significant enrichment of LREE, flat HREE patterns and negative Eu-anomalies of the metapelites suggest their derivation from an old upper continental crust, which is composed of felsic components and the negative Eu-anomalies indicate intra-crustal differentiation. The higher concentrations of the HFSE i.e. Zr, Hf and Ta, within the Chandil metasediments relative to those of EPC (Early Proterozoic Continental Crust), also suggests a felsic provenance. The geochemical signatures of the Chandil metasediments indicate that the sediments were derived during a prolonged period of weathering due to the slow upliftment and unroofing of the southern evolving Singhbhum granitic complex (SGC).     

Trace elemental signatures and mineral chemistry of clays associated with the alteration halos of the Paleoproterozoic U mineralization in Bijawars of the Sonrai Basin,Central India

Acta Geochimica - Paleoproterozoic Bijawars of the Sonrai basin consists of (a) Sonrai (mostly carbonate carbonaceous shale and phosphatic breccia) and (b) Solda Formations (commonly chloritic and...     

Geospatial analysis of Tamil Nadu Eastern Ghats forest types at landscape level with reference to fragmentation and species diversity

The present study has generated spatial databases on the vegetation type with plant biodiversity, forest fragmentation and disturbance regimes in Tamilnadu parts of Eastern Ghats (EG), India. These databases have been analysed geospatially with landscape ecology approach. The study also includes ground inventory of plant species based on Remote Sensing (RS) data stratification. The vegetation type map was generated from the visual interpretation of two season IRS LISS III data. The spatial landscape analysis of the remotely sensed interpreted images was carried out using customized software, SPLAM. This is first such study in Tamilnadu Eastern Ghats that provides a comprehensive spatial database on vegetation types, disturbance regime and plant species diversity. The study has shown that the dry deciduous and thorn forests have shown better resistance to disturbance compared to the most disturbed evergreen and semievergreen forests. The study outputs are being utilized by forest department and biodiversity boards for conservation action planning and compliance to Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).     

Studies of multiple stellar systems – III. Modulation of orbital elements in the triple-lined system HD 109648

The triple-lined spectroscopic triple system HD 109648 has one of the shortest periods known for the outer orbit in a late-type triple, 120.5 d, and the ratio between the periods of the outer and the inner orbits is small, 22:1. With such extreme values, this system should show orbital element variations over a time-scale of about a decade. We have monitored the radial velocities of HD 109648 with the CfA Digital Speedometers for 8 yr, and have found evidence for modulation of some orbital elements. While we see no definite evidence for modulation of the inner binary eccentricity, we clearly observe variations in the inner and the outer longitudes of periastron, and in the radial velocity amplitudes of the three components. The observational results, combined with numerical simulations, allow us to put constraints on the orientation of the orbits.     

Dust color temperature distribution of two FIR cavities at IRIS and AKARI maps

By systematically searching the region of far infrared loops, we found a number of huge cavity-like dust structures at \(60\,\mu \hbox {m}\) and \(100\,\mu \hbox {m}\) IRIS maps. By checking these with AKARI maps (\(90\,\mu \hbox {m}\) and \(140\,\mu \hbox {m}\)), two new cavity-like structures (sizes \(\sim \) \( 2.7\,\hbox {pc} \times 0.8\,\hbox {pc}\) and \(\sim \) \( 1.8\,\hbox {pc} \times 1\,\hbox {pc}\)) located at R.A. (\(\hbox {J}2000)=14^{h}41^{m}23^{s}\) and Dec. \((\hbox {J}2000)=-64^{\circ }04^{\prime }17^{{\prime }{\prime }}\) and R.A. \((\hbox {J}2000)=05^{h}05^{m}35^{s}\) and Dec. \((\hbox {J}2000)=-\,69^{\circ }35^{\prime } 25^{{\prime }{\prime }}\) were selected for the study. The difference in the average dust color temperatures calculated using IRIS and AKARI maps of the cavity candidates were found to be \(3.2\pm 0.9\,\hbox {K}\) and \(4.1\pm 1.2\,\hbox {K}\), respectively. Interestingly, the longer wavelength AKARI map gives larger values of dust color temperature than that of the shorter wavelength IRIS maps. Possible explanation of the results will be presented.