Assessment of Estimated Bedrock and Stream Sediment Geochemical Backgrounds in Catchment Basin Analysis

Natural Resources Research - The weighted mean and the multiple regression techniques are two methods that are employed to estimate elemental background concentration of lithologies upstream of...     

Diatoms,spatial distribution and physicochemical characteristics of the Wular lake sediments,Kashmir valley,Jammu and Kashmir

Lakes and wetlands are dynamic geomorphic units of a landscape that hold geochemical signatures of sediment provenance and paleo-environmental shifts and are major sinks for organic matter accumulation. The source of organic matter is diverse in lake sediments and varies widely with the type and size of the lake and hence it is important to understand the source of organic carbon (terrestrial or in situ) in lake systems in order to monitor the health of the lake. Wular lake, located in north Kashmir, is one of the largest fresh water lake in India, situated at an average elevation of 1580m ASL. The lake is fed by a number of watersheds that bring a diverse type of sediments and organic matter and thus deposit them into the Wular lake basin. In order to understand sediment distribution pattern, content and source of organic matter, sediment provenance and the persisting environment in the Wular lake, 32 lake floor sediment samples covering the entire lake were collected and analyzed for organic element analysis, CaCO3, organic matter, sediment texture and diatom analysis. The results indicated that sediments in the lake are dominated by silt and silty clay. The organic carbon in the lake ranged from 0.83%-4.52% and nitrogen varied from 0.06%-0.5%. The Carbon to Nitrogen (C/N) ratios (9.04 to 22.03) indicate a mixed source of organic carbon but dominated by in situ lake sources from the vascular and lake biota accumulation. The diatom analysis revealed the occurrence of a diverse type of species along the sampling sites present within the lake. The wide distribution of the diatom species such as Cymbella, Cyclotella and Tabularia etc. in the lake indicate high organic pollution and alkaline fresh water environment prevailing in the lake.     

Migration behaviour of river ganga between Allahabad and Buxar using remotely sensed data

Channel migration includes any change of river channel geometry within the context of the cross-section, pattern or network in a drainage basin. To study the dynamic behaviour of a river, measurements taken with conventional ground-based instruments are time-consuming and expensive. Remote sensing techniques are capable of providing a measure of surface variability including dynamic behaviour of channels, reasonably quickly due to availability of the repetitive remotely-sensed data. These data are well suited for the assessment and monitoring of dynamic changes on the surface of the earth. In the present study Landsat MSS and TM data of winter season in the form of false colour composites (FCC) of years 1982 and 1987 were used for the delineation of river Ganga course lying between Allahabad and Buxar. The interpretation of satellite data was carried out using visual interpretation technique for the assessment of channel migration. The shift in river banks delineated from satellite data were measured with respect to river banks identified from topographical base map. The maximum shift observed in mid channel is 4. 55 km while maximum left and right banks shifts are 4.6 and 4.8 km, respectively.     

Instabilities in a nonstationary model of self-gravitating disks. II. Warp modes of vertical oscillations

Gravitational instabilities with respect to warp modes of vertical oscillations are examined for nonlinearly nonequilibrium disk models with isotropic and anisotropic velocity diagrams. Nonstationary analogs of the dispersion relations for vertical oscillations in these models are derived in a general form. A detailed study is made of the major large scale oscillatory modes, which correspond primarily to the most common type of warp in the form of an integral sign, as well as to dome-shaped, U-shaped, and precessional warps. Critical diagrams showing the initial virial relation as a function of the rotation parameter for the nonstationary model are constructed for each of these vertical oscillation modes. A comparative analysis is made of the growth rates of the instabilities for these modes in order to determine the dependence of the characteristic times for their appearance on the basic physical parameters of the two models.     

Erosion potential assessment of watersheds through GIS<Emphasis Type="Bold">-</Emphasis>based hypsometric analysis: a case study of Kurram Tangi Dam

Sediment discharge due to soil and rock erosion within the watersheds is the major cause of siltation in water reservoirs. Siltation in reservoirs reduces the capacity for power production, irrigation water supply, and other domestic purposes. Hypsometric analysis has widely been used to identifying the geomorphic development stages (stabilized, equilibrium, and un-stable) to assess the erosion proneness of watersheds. In this study, watershed of Kurram Tangi Dam and its four sub-watersheds (SWs) were considered to determine their sediment discharge capacity through hypsometric analysis. The boundaries of watershed and sub-watersheds were delineated from Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The hypsometric parameters i.e., hypsometric integral (HI) and curves were generated using Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. The HI values of SW-1 (0.41) and SW-2 (0.36) indicated that these two SWs were relatively more prone to erosion and contributed higher sediment discharge in Dam siltation. The results were validated through sampling the main drainage channel (Kurram River) to determine the sediment concentration at 12 sites during summer, winter, and spring seasons. Comparison of HI and sediment concentration of SWs presented high correlation (R²?=?0.87). The results emphasized the effective watershed management, extensive afforestation, and construction of silt-control structures at appropriate locations in sub-watersheds. This will ultimately maintain the water and power generation capacity as well as extending the life span of the Dam.     

Detection of Changes in Glacier Mass Balance Using Satellite and Meteorological Data in Tirungkhad Basin Located in Western Himalaya

Himalayan glaciers and their mass balance are poorly sampled through direct mass balance measurements. Thus, based on Landsat datasets of ETM⁺ (2000), ETM⁺ (2006) and TM (2011), mass balance studies of 32 glaciers was carried out using accumulation area ratio (AAR) method in the Tirungkhad river basin, a tributary of Satluj River, located in western Himalayan region. The overall specific mass balance was negative varying from ?27 cm (2000) to ?41 cm (2011). Out of 32 glaciers, 27 glaciers (81.2 %) showed negative mean mass balance and 5 glaciers (18.7 %) showed positive mean mass balance. Mean of specific mass balance for the year 2000, 2006 and 2011 was found to be ?48 cm, ?55 cm and ?0.61 cm respectively, in case of glaciers with negative mass balance while in case of glaciers with positive mass balance, it was 0.67 cm (2000), 0.56 cm (2006) and 0.47 cm (2011). The investigations suggested a loss of ?0.034 km³ of glacial ice for 2000, 0.036 km³ for 2006 and 0.038 km³ for 2011 respectively. The negative mass balance of the glaciers since 2000 correlates well with the increasing trend of annual mean temperature and decreasing trend of precipitation (snow water equivalent (SWE) and rainfall). Based on Mann Kendall test the temperature and SWE trends were significant at 95 % confidence level, however, the rainfall trend was insignificant.     

Effectiveness of zinc application to minimize cadmium toxicity and accumulation in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal and its presence in soil is of great concern due to the danger of its entry into the food chain. Among many others, proper plant nutrition is an economic and practicable strategy for minimizing the damage to plants from Cd and to decrease Cd accumulation in edible plant parts. The study was carried out to compare the effectiveness of soil and foliar applications of zinc (Zn) to minimize Cd accumulation in wheat grains. The results revealed that the exposure of plants to Cd decreased plant growth and increased Cd concentration in the shoots and grains of wheat, when compared with unexposed plants. Foliar application of 0.3 % zinc sulfate solution effectively decreased Cd concentration in wheat grains. Foliar application of Zn at a suitable concentration can effectively ameliorate the adverse effects of Cd exposure and decrease the grain Cd concentration of wheat grown in Cd-contaminated soil.     

Analysis of liquefaction susceptibility of nearly saturated sands

A new constitutive formulation for simulating the behaviour of nearly saturated sands under seismic loads is presented. The formulation is based on combining the Henry's law for dissolution of gas in water, the ideal or perfect gas law and the law of conservation of mass. The effects of transient air dissolution in water on the compressibility of partially saturated soils are also taken into account. The model was calibrated based on numerical simulations of isotropically consolidated cyclic triaxial tests conducted on partially saturated samples of Toyoura sand. A multi‐yield plasticity soil constitutive model implemented in the finite element code DYNAFLOW was used for these numerical simulations. It is shown that the formulation proposed here is able to reasonably predict the soil cyclic undrained behaviour at various degrees of saturation (95% and higher). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Biostratigraphy of Asmari Formation in Ghare Agha seyed of Farsan region,Chaharmahale Bakhtiari Province,Iran

The Asmari Formation consists of shallow marine sedimentary rocks deposited on ramp setting .Lar-ger benthic foraminifera collected from Asmri Formation are dominated by hyaline and porcelanouse forms , in-cluding Amphistegina, Nummulites, Archaias, Astrotrillina, Miogypsinella, Miogypsinoides, Lepidocyclina, Operculina, Spiroclypeous and Miliolids.The presence of Nummulites cf.vascus in the lower part of the forma-tion allows the age to be determined as Rupelian .The occurrence of Borelis pygmae is an index taxon of the Ru-pelian-Chattian and indicates Early Chattian of SBZ 21-22 in the study section .The first appearance of Mio-gypsinella akadagensis shows Late Chattian ( SBZ 23) and defines the upper boundary of the SBZ 21-22.The new data are the first evidences showing that the shallow marine Asmari Formation is attributed to Oligocene (Rupelian-Chattian) age for this region.     

Glacier changes using satellite data and effect of climate in Tirungkhad basin located in western Himalaya

Glaciers are widely recognized as key indicators of climate change, and melt water obtained from them is an important source of fresh water and for hydropower generation. Regular monitoring of a large number of Himalayan glaciers is important for improving our knowledge of glacier response to climate change. In the present study, Survey of India topographical maps (1966) and Landsat datasets as ETM+ (2000, 2006) and TM (2011) have been used to study glacier fluctuations in Tirungkhad basin. A deglaciation of 26.1% (29.1?km²) in terms of area from 1966 to 2011 was observed. Lower altitude small glaciers (area?<?1?km²) lost more ice (34%), while glaciers with an area <10?km² lost less (20%). The percentage of change in glacier length was 26% (31.9?km) from 1966 to 2011. The south-facing glaciers showed high percentages of loss. From 2000 to 2011, debris cover has increased by 1.34%. The analysis of the trend in meteorological data collected from Kalpa and Purbani stations was carried out by Mann Kendall non-parametric method. During the last two decades, the mean annual temperature (T_max and T_min) has increased significantly, accompanied with a fall in snow water equivalent (SWE) and rainfall. The increasing trend in temperature and decreasing trend in SWE were significant at 95% confidence level. This observation shows that the warming of the climate is probably one of the major reasons for the glacier change in the basin.