Deep seismic reflection study over the Vindhyans of Rajasthan: Implications for geophysical setting of the basin

This paper presents results of high-resolution deep seismic reflection profiling of the Proterozoic Vindhyan basin of the Rajasthan area along the Chandli-Bundi-Kota-Kunjer profile. Seismic images have been used to estimate the thickness of Vindhyan strata as well as to understand the tectonic framework of the basin. The results are constrained by gravity, magnetic and magnetotelluric data. The study reveals gentle SE-dipping reflection bands representing the Vindhyan strata. The seismic sections depict gradual thickening of the Vindhyan succession towards southeast from Bundi. The velocities of the upper and lower Vindhyans are identified as 4.6-4.8 km/s and 5.1-5.3 km/s. The NW limit of the Vindhyan basin is demarcated by the Great Boundary Fault (GBF) that manifests as a 30 km wide NW dipping thrust fault extending to a depth of 30 km.     

Palynological dating of infra- and intertrappean sediments in the Mesozoic succession of Borehole PGD-6, Domra Sub-basin, West Bengal, India

Palynofloras have been examined from infra- and intertrappean sediments of the Panchet and Rajmahal Formations in the Domra Sub-basin of the Damodar Basin, West Bengal, India. Three distinct palynological assemblages are identified and referred to the following palynozones: (i)Lundbladispora–Verrucosisporites(506.60–505.00 m, late Early Triassic, (ii)Murospora florida(501.65–422.20 m. Late Jurassic, Kimmeridgian–Tithonian), and (iii)Cicatricosisporites australiensis(342.00–229.6 m. Early Cretaceous, Tithonian–Berriasian). The first occurrences ofCallialasporites turbatusandC. dampieriare at 501.65 m.Callialasporitesis a dominant element of the succeeding assemblages from the Panchet Formation and indicates a Jurassic age. The FAD ofCicatricosisporites australiensisandC. augustusat 342.00 m, and inconsistent occurrences ofAequitriradites spinulosus,Crybelosporites stylosusin the overlying sediments indicate Jurassic–Cretaceous transition.     

Wave interaction with a submarine pipeline in clayey soil due to random waves

The wave pressure and uplift force due to random waves on a submarine pipeline (resting on bed, partially buried and fully buried) in clayey soil are measured. The influence of various parameters viz., wave period, wave height, water depth, burial depth and consistency index of the soil on wave pressures around and uplift force on the submarine pipeline was investigated. The wave pressures were measured at three locations around the submarine pipeline (each at 120° to the adjacent one). It is found that the wave pressure and uplift force spectrum at high consistency index of the soil is smaller compared to that of low consistency index. Just burying the pipeline (e/D=1.0) in clayey soil reduces the uplift force to less than 60% of the force experienced by a pipeline resting on the seabed (e/D=0.0) for I_c=0.33.     

Exact Bianchi type-II, VIII and IX perfect fluid cosmological models in Saez-Ballester theory of gravitation

Exact Bianchi type-II, VIII and IX cosmological models are obtained in a scalar tensor theory proposed by Saez and Ballester (Phys. Lett. A 113:467, 1986) with perfect fluid as a source. Some physical and geometrical properties of the models are studied. It is observed that the models are free from initial singularities and they are expanding with time.     

Charnockite genesis across the Archaean–Proterozoic terrane boundary in the South Indian Granulite Terrain: Constraints from major–trace element geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotopic systematics

Major, trace element compositions and Sr–Nd isotopic characteristics of charnockitic gneisses from the Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT), South India are presented. The study region encompasses the central segment of the Cauvery Shear Zone system (CSZ) and regions within the Madurai Block (MB) immediately south of it (designated here as the CSZ/MB and MB domains). Differences in the compositions and source characteristics between charnockitic rocks of the CSZ vis-à-vis those of the CSZ/MB and MB regions are highlighted. Foremost, the charnockites and enderbites of the CSZ show highly fractionated REE patterns with positive Eu-anomalies, depleted HREE, Y and near chondritic εNd₀ and initial-⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr at ca. 2.5 Ga, consistent with hydrous partial melting of amphibolitic crust with residual garnet and hornblende for the parental melts. By contrast, modeled at ca. 1.8 Ga and 0.8 Ga, the CSZ/MB and MB charnockitic rocks, which show a wider range of Ti and P, relatively lower degree of HREE depletion, commonly negative Eu-anomalies and undepleted Y, present clear evidence for involvement of Archaean crustal components in sources of their magmatic protoliths. There is also evidence for significant intracrustal melting processes within a thickened crust at elevated temperatures between 800 and 1000 °C. Implications to the controversial Archaean–Neoproterozoic terrane boundary problem of the SGT are discussed.     

Modelling and inversion of single-ended refraction data from the shot gathers of multifold deep seismic reflection profiling—an approach for deriving the shallow velocity structure

A multifold crustal-scale deep seismic near-vertical reflection profile generates a large number of single-ended shot gathers, which provide redundant data sets because of overlapping coverage of the shallow refractors. We present an approach for deriving the shallow velocity structure by modelling and inversion of single-ended seismic refraction first arrival traveltime data. We apply this method to a data set acquired with a 12-km long spread with 100 m spacing of shots and receivers, of the Neoproterozoic Marwar basin in the NW Indian shield. The approach is shown to be quite successful for delineating the shallow refractor depths, steep dips and velocities, even in the absence of regular reverse refraction profiles. The study reveals two-layered sedimentary formations, Malani volcanics and a complicated basement configuration of the Marwar basin, and provides a measure of resolution and uncertainty of the estimated model parameters. A seismic section of the near-trace gather is found to be qualitatively consistent with the derived structural features of the basin. The relative highs and lows, observed in the Bouguer gravity profile, further corroborate the derived velocity model. The present approach can be especially useful in offshore areas and elsewhere, where the single-ended multifold seismic profiles are the only available data sets.     

Experimental superensemble forecasts of tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal

This study entails the implementation of an experimental real time forecast capability for tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal basin of North Indian Ocean. This work is being built on the experience gained from a number of recent studies using the concept of superensemble developed at the Florida State University (FSU). Real time hurricane forecasts are one of the major components of superensemble modeling at FSU. The superensemble approach of training followed by real time forecasts produces the best forecasts for tracks and intensity (up to 5 days) of Atlantic hurricanes and Pacific typhoons. Improvements in track forecasts of about 25–35% compared to current operational forecast models has been noted over the Atlantic Ocean basin. The intensity forecasts for hurricanes are only marginally better than the best models. In this paper, we address tropical cyclone forecasts over the Bay of Bengal for the years 1996–2000. The main result from this study is that the position and intensity errors for tropical cyclone forecasts over the Bay of Bengal from the multimodel superensemble are generally less than those of all of the participating models during 1- to 3-day forecasts. Some of the major tropical cyclones, such as the November 1996 Andhra Pradesh cyclone and October 1999 Orissa super cyclone were well handled by this superensemble approach. A conclusion from this study is that the proposed approach may be a viable way to construct improved forecasts of Bay of Bengal tropical cyclone positions and intensity.     

Northeast monsoon rainfall variability over south peninsular India and its teleconnections

Rainfall over south peninsular India during the northeast (NE) monsoon season (Oct–Dec) shows significant interannual variation. In the present study, we relate the northeast monsoon rainfall (NEMR) over south peninsular India with the major oscillations like El Ni?o Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and Equatorial Indian Ocean Oscillation (EQUINOO) in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. For establishing the teleconnections, sea surface temperature, outgoing long wave radiation, and circulation data have been used. The present study reveals that the positive phase of ENSO, IOD, and EQUINOO favor the NEMR to be normal or above normal over southern peninsular India. The study reveals that the variability of NEMR over south peninsula can be well explained by its relationship with positive phase of ENSO, IOD, and EQUINOO.     

Characterization of magnetite particles in shocked quartz by means of electron- and magnetic force microscopy: Vredefort, South Africa

Submicroscopic opaque particles from highly shocked granite-gneisses close to the core of the Vredefort impact structure have been investigated by means of micro-analytical techniques with high spatial resolution such as electron diffraction, orientation contrast imagery and magnetic force microscopy. The opaque particles have been identified as nano- to micro-sized magnetite that occur in several distinct modes. In one sample magnetite occurs along relict planar deformation features (PDFs) in quartz, generally accepted as typical shock lamellae. The magnetite particles along shock lamellae in quartz grains virtually all show uniform crystallographic orientations. In most instances, the groups of magnetite within different quartz grains are systematically misorientated such that they share a subparallel <101> direction. The magnetite groups of all measured quartz grains thus appear to have a crystallographic preferred orientation in space. In a second sample, orientations of magnetite particles have been measured in microfractures (non-diagnostic of shock) of quartz, albite and in the alteration halos, (e.g. biotite grains breaking down to chlorite). The crystallographic orientations of magnetite particles are diverse, with only a minor portion having a preferred orientation. Scanning electron microscopy shows that magnetite along the relict PDFs is invariably associated with other microcrystalline phases such as quartz, K-feldspar and biotite. Petrographic observations suggest that these microcrystalline phases crystallized from locally formed micro-melts that intruded zones of weakness such as microfractures and PDFs shortly after the shock event. The extremely narrow widths of the PDFs suggest that heat may have dissipated rapidly resulting in melts crystallizing relatively close to where they were generated. Magnetic force microscopy confirms the presence of magnetic particles along PDFs. The smallest particles, <5 μm with high aspect ratios 15:1 usually exhibit intense, uniform magnetic signals characteristic of single-domain magnetite. Consistent offsets between attractive and repulsive magnetic signals of individual single-domain particles suggest consistent directions of magnetization for a large proportion of particles. Received: 16 November 1998 / Accepted: 17 May 1999     

Evaluation of fuzzy-based classifiers for cotton crop identification

In this study, an evaluation of fuzzy-based classifiers for specific crop identification using multi-spectral temporal data spanning over one growing season has been carried out. The temporal data sets have been georeferenced with 0.3 pixel rms error. Temporal information of cotton crop has been incorporated through the following five indices: simple ratio (SR), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), transformed normalized difference vegetation index (TNDVI), soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) and triangular vegetation index (TVI), to study the effect of indices on classified output. For this purpose, a comparative study between two fuzzy-based soft classification approaches, possibilistic c-means (PCM) and noise classifier (NC), was undertaken. In this study, advanced wide field sensor (AWiFS) data for soft classification and linear imaging self scanner sensor (LISS III) data for soft testing purpose from Resourcesat-1 (IRS-P6) satellite were used. It has been observed that NC fuzzy classifier using TNDVI temporal index – dataset 2, which comprises four temporal images performs better than PCM classifier giving highest fuzzy overall accuracy of 96.03%.