GIS based morphometric analysis of Yamuna drainage network in parts of Fatehabad area of Agra district,Uttar Pradesh

Remote Sensing and GIS techniques have been proved to be efficient tools in the delineation, updating and morphometric analysis of drainage basin. The present study incorporates a morphometric analysis of three sub-basins of Fatehabad area of Agra district using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The morphometric parameters of the sub-basins are classified under linear, areal and relief aspects. The drainage pattern exhibited by the main river Yamuna and its tributaries shows a dendritic pattern indicating homogenously underlain material while the mean bifurcation ratio values suggest that the geological structures are not disturbing the drainage pattern. The form factor value of sub-basins suggests that the main basin is more or less elongated. Circularity ratio values of the three sub-basins fall within range of elongated basin and low discharge. The area has low density indicating that the region has high permeable sub-soil material and dense vegetation. The values of drainage texture, drainage density and infiltration number indicate that sub-basin-III has the highest infiltration rate and low runoff, hence contributing most to the underground water resources. This study also indicates porous and permeable sub-soil condition in sub-basin-III. The values of sub-basin-I indicate low permeable subsoil material owning to high infiltration number value, hence low infiltration and high runoff.     

Speckle interferometric binary system HD375; Is it a sub-giant binary?

Atmospheric modeling is used to build synthetic spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for the individual components of the speckle interferometric binary system HD375. These synthetic SEDs are combined together for the entire system and compared with its observed SED in an iterative procedure to achieve the best fit. Kurucz blanketed models and the measurements of magnitude differences were used to build these SEDs. The input physical parameters for building these best fitted synthetic SEDs represent adequately enough properties of the system. These parameters are: T _eff ^a = 6100 ± 50 K, T _eff ^b = 5940 ± 50 K, log g _a = 4.01 ± 0.10, log g _b = 3.98 ± 0.10, R _a = 1.93 ± 0.20R _⊙, R _b = 1.83 ± 0.20R _⊙, M _v ^a = 3 _· ^m 26 ± 0.40, M _v ^b = 3 _· ^m 51 ± 0.50, L _a = 4.63 ± 0.80 L _⊙, and L _b = 3.74 ± 0.70 L _⊙, in accordance with the new estimated parallax π = 12.02 ± 0.60 mas. A modified orbit of the system is built and compared with earlier orbits, and the masses of the two components are calculated as M _a = 1.35M _⊙ and M _b = 1.25M _⊙. Based on the estimated physical and geometrical parameters of the system, which are confirmed by synthetic photometry, we suggest that the two components are evolved subgiant (F8.5 IV and G0 IV) stars with the age of 3.5 Gyr, formed by fragmentation.     

Radio frequency interference measurements in Indonesia

We report the first measurements of radio frequency spectrum occupancy performed at sites aimed to host the future radio astronomy observatory in Indonesia. The survey is intended to obtain the radio frequency interference (RFI) environment in a spectral range from low frequency 10 MHz up to 8 GHz. The measurements permit the identification of the spectral occupancy over those selected sites in reference to the allocated radio spectrum in Indonesia. The sites are in close proximity to Australia, the future host of Square Kilometre Array (SKA) at low frequency. Therefore, the survey was deliberately made to approximately adhere the SKA protocol for RFI measurements, but with lower sensitivity. The RFI environment at Bosscha Observatory in Lembang was also measured for comparison. Within the sensitivity limit of the measurement equipment, it is found that a location called Fatumonas in the surrounding of Mount Timau in West Timor has very low level of RFI, with a total spectrum occupancy in this measured frequency range being about 1 %, mostly found at low frequency below 20 MHz. More detailed measurements as well as a strategy for a radio quiet zone must be implemented in the near future.     

Shadow of Kerr-Taub-NUT black hole

The shadow of a rotating black hole with nonvanishing gravitomagnetic charge has been studied. It was shown that in addition to the angular momentum of black hole the gravitomagnetic charge term deforms the shape of the black hole shadow. From the numerical results we have obtained that for a given value of the rotation parameter, the presence of a gravitomagnetic charge enlarges the shadow and reduces its deformation with respect to the spacetime without gravitomagnetic charge. Finally we have studied the capture cross section for massive particles by black hole with the nonvanishing gravitomagnetic charge.     

Seasonal changes of water properties and current in the northernmost gulf of aqaba,red sea

Seasonal changes of tide signal(s), temperature, salinity and current were studied during the years 2004-2005 in the northernmost Gulf of Aqaba, which is under developmental activities, to obtain scientific bases for best management and sustainability. Spectrum analysis revealed permanent signals of tide measurements during all seasons, which represented semidiurnal and diurnal barotropic tides. The other signal periods of 8.13, 6.10-6.32, 4.16 and 1.02-1.05 h were not detected in all seasons, which were related to shallow water compound and overtides of principle solar and lunar constituent and to seiches generated in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. Spatial and temporal distribution of temperature, salinity and density showed significant differences between months in the coastal and offshore region and no significant differences among the coastal sites, between the surface and bottom waters and between coastal and offshore waters. Therefore, the temporal and spatial variation of water properties in the northernmost Gulf of Aqaba behave similarly compared to other parts. The coastal current below 12 m depth was weak (3-6 cms^-1) and fluctuated from east-northeastward to west-southwestward (parallel to the shoreline), which may be related to the effect of bottom topography and/or current density due to differential cooling between eastern and western parts in the study area, and windinduced upwelling and downwelling in the eastern and western side, respectively. The prevailing northerly winds and stratification conditions during summer were the main causes of the southward current at 6 and 12 m depths with average speed of 28 and 12 cms^-1, respectively.     

Discrimination of earthquakes and quarry blasts in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey

In recent years, a large number of quarry blasts have been detonated in the eastern Black Sea region. When these blasts are recorded by seismic stations, they contaminate the regional earthquake catalog. It is necessary to discriminate quarry blast records from the earthquake catalogs in order to determine the real seismicity of the region. Earthquakes and quarry blasts can be separated through different methods. These methods should be applied concurrently in order to safely distinguish these events. In this study, we discriminated quarry blasts from earthquakes in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. We used 186 seismic events recorded by the Karadeniz Technical University and Bogaziçi University Kandilli Observatory Earthquake Research Institute stations which are Trabzon, Espiye, Pazar, Borçka, Ayd?ntepe, and Gümü?hane between years of 2002 and 2010. For the discrimination of quarry blasts from earthquakes, we used both, statistical methods (calculation of the maximum ratio of S to P waves (S/P), complexity (C)) and spectral methods (spectrogram calculation). These methods included measuring the maximum amplitude S/P, C, spectral ratio, and time-frequency analysis. We especially relied on two-dimensional time-frequency analysis methods to discriminate quarry blasts from earthquakes in Turkey. As a result of this study, 68 % of the examined seismic events were determined to be quarry blasts and 32 % to be earthquakes. The earthquakes occurring on land are related to small faults and the blasts are concentrated in large quarries. Nearly 40 % of the earthquakes occurred in the Black Sea, most of them are related to the Black Sea thrust belt, where the largest earthquake was observed in the time period studied. The areas with the largest earthquake potential in the eastern Black Sea region are in the sea.     

Finger prints of the formation of geothermal springs on the granitoids: Beypazarı–Ankara, Turkey

The Beypazarı granitoid in central Anatolia was emplaced during the Late Cretaceous and it is partly covered with Early Miocene–Quaternary sedimentary and volcanic units. Compression and tension regimes of the Beypazarı granitoid emplacing along the Sakarya River were evaluated considering the kinematical characteristics of discontinuities on granitoids, petrographic/geochemical works, formation of geothermal spring and irregularities in topographic structure. It was determined that the Beypazarı granitoid was witnessed with NE–SW compressional stress and NW–SE extensional stress which resulted in the formation of the Kapullu normal fault with N55–72°E, 78°SE crossing the Kapullu spring site. There are also several other probable normal faults around this fault in the Sakarya River basin. The results of the geochemical studies reveal that SiO₂, Na₂O, Al₂O_3, CaO and K₂O as a major oxide and As, Rb, Sr, Th and U as trace elements are decreased away from the Kapullu bath spring. On the other hand, the ratio of Fe₂O₃ and MgO as major oxide and Y as a trace element with the lost on ignition (LOI) are increased away from the Kapullu fault. Regard as the regional plate tectonism, there is a consistency between the direction of compression in the Beypazarı granitoid and that developed by the southwesterly movement of the Anatolian plate.     

Isotopic variation in groundwater across the conterminous United States – Insight into hydrologic processes

Groundwater supplies a significant proportion of water use in the United States and is critical to the maintenance of healthy ecosystems and environmental processes, thus characterizing aquifer hydrology is important to managing and preserving these resources. While groundwater isotopes provide insight into hydrologic and ecologic processes, their application is limited to where measurements exist. To help overcome this limitation, we used the random forest algorithm to develop a predictive model for shallow groundwater isotopes in the conterminous United States. Our model uses environmental variables (e.g. temperature, elevation, precipitation isotopes) as predictors. We used our model to develop the first shallow groundwater isoscape of δ²H and δ¹⁸O for the conterminous United States. We describe the patterns in groundwater isotopes using both observations and our modelled isoscape. We find that throughout much of the Eastern United States, groundwater isotopes are close to annual amount weighted precipitation, while groundwater isotopes are significantly depleted relative precipitation across much of the High Plains and Western United States. Furthermore, we compare the observations compiled for this study to isotopes of precipitation, which allows us to determine the relative recharge efficiency (i.e. ratio of groundwater recharge to precipitation) between seasons and the proportion of annual recharge that occurs in a given season. Our findings suggest that winter recharge is generally more efficient than summer recharge; however, the dominant recharge season is more varied as it is the product of both seasonal recharge efficiency and the seasonal timing of precipitation. Parts of the central United States have summer dominant recharge, which is likely the result of heavy summer precipitation/nocturnal summer precipitation. Interestingly, parts of coastal California appear to have summer dominant recharge, which we suggest could be due to recharge from fog-drip. Our results summarize spatial patterns in groundwater isotopes across the conterminous United States, provide insight into the hydrologic processes affecting shallow groundwater, and are valuable information for future ecologic and hydrologic studies.     

Analysis of largest earthquakes in Turkey and its vicinity by application of the Gumbel III distribution

A study of the spatial distribution of seismicity parameters is undertaken along Turkey and its vicinity, using the Gumbel’s third asymptotic distribution of extreme values (GIII). The data set used spans of 111 years (1900–2010). The seismicity of the whole region is subdivided into equal area mesh of 1° lat. × 1° long. Various seismicity parameters examined, resulted from the application of the GIII method. The results show a quite good correlation between the seismicity parameters and the tectonic regime of the studied area. For instance high values concentrated around North Anatolian Fault. The x ²-test is applied throughout the whole process and in every stage of GIII, in order to check the accuracy of the obtained results. The spatial distribution of upper-bound (ω) formed a W-shape pattern, which shows the difference in the mechanical structure of the materials in the examined area.     

Artificial neural networks approach for zeta potential of Montmorillonite in the presence of different cations

In this study, the zeta potential of montmorillonite in the presence of different chemical solutions was modeled by means of artificial neural networks (ANNs). Zeta potential of the montmorillonite was measured in the presence of salt cations, Na⁺, Li⁺ and Ca²⁺ and metals Zn²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cu²⁺, and Al³⁺ at different pH values, and observed values pointed to a different behavior for this mineral in the presence of salt and heavy metal cations. Artificial neural networks were successfully developed for the prediction of the zeta potential of montmorillonite in the presence of salt and heavy metal cations at different pH values and ionic strengths. Resulting zeta potential of montmorillonite shows different behavior in the presence of salt and heavy metal cations, and two ANN models were developed in order to be compared with experimental results. The ANNs results were found to be close to experimentally measured zeta potential values. The performance indices such as coefficient of determination, root mean square error, mean absolute error, and variance account for were used to control the performance of the prediction capacity of the models developed in this study. These indices obtained make it clear that the predictive models constructed are quite powerful. The constructed ANN models exhibited a high performance according to the performance indices. This performance has also shown that the ANNs seem to be a useful tool to minimize the uncertainties encountered during the soil engineering projects. For this reason, the use of ANNs may provide new approaches and methodologies.