Power-laws and applications to earthquake populations

In this paper we study the rooted tree model applying the concepts of probability to obtain results of importance in understanding power-law distributions in pure populations and also in an ensemble of pure populations. The well-known Gutenberg-Richter relation, which is an empirical relation providing the number of earthquakes whose magnitude exceeds a given value, is shown to be an asymptotic form of survivor function of earthquake magnitudes. The implications of this model are briefly discussed in relation to other branches of sciences where power-law distributions are encountered.     

A T-shaped four-electrode configuration for resistivity profiling over thin vertical conducting veins

A new variant of the four-electrode system is proposed for geophysical resistivity investigations, particularly for profiling over conductive bodies. Model tank resistivity profiling experiments with Wenner, Schlumberger and the proposed T-shaped four-electrode arrays were carried out over a thin conducting vein type model to evaluate the efficacy of the new array. The proposed array appears to possess a larger response, a greater depth of investigation and a higher vertical resolution in detecting conducting bodies, as compared to the two-conventional arrays.     

High abnormal rotation rates of sunspots and flare productivity

Solar activity, such as flares and CMEs, affect the interplanetary medium, and Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, to understand the Space Weather, we need to understand the mechanisms of solar activity. Towards this end, we use 1135 events of solar H_α flares and the positional data of sunspots from the archive of Solar Geophysical Data (SGD) for the period January–April, 2000 and compute the abnormal rotation rates that lead to high flare productivity. We report that the occurrence of 5 or more flares in a day in association with a given sunspot group can be defined as high flare productivity and the sunspots that have an abnormal rotation rates of ～4–10 deg day^?1 trigger high flare productivity. Further, in order to compare the flare productivity expressed as the strength of the flux emitted, especially the soft X-ray (SXR) flares in the frequency range of 1–8 Å, we compute the flare index of SXR flares and find that 8 out of 28 active regions used in this study satisfy the requirement for being flare productive. This enables us to conclude that the high rotation rates of sunspots are an important mechanism to understand the flare productivity, especially numerical flare productivity that includes flares of all class.     

A package for digital processing and automatic contouring of aeromagnetic data

Aeromagnetic data processing refers to the processing of magnetic data acquired through airborne surveys. The total magnetic field at various points along the predetermined flight path is recorded using the on board cesium magnetometer. At each of these points, the positional information in terms of latitude, longitude obtained from Inertial Navigation System (INS) and attitude, time and date are also recorded. The track flown by the aircraft while data acquisition is also recorded using video flight path camera. A software package has been developed to process this data and generate outputs in a form amenable to visual interpretation. It is developed on a VAX 11/780 system using VAX FORTRAN and PLOT 10 GKS software. This paper gives an outline of the various functions available in this package and also highlights the problems encountered in choosing the most appropriate techniques/methods to be used in the gridding and contouring of the data.     

Groundwater quality in a coastal area: a case study from Andhra Pradesh, India

Over-exploitation of groundwater results in decline of water levels, leading to intrusion of salt water along the coastal region, which is a natural phenomenon. A groundwater quality survey has been carried out to assess such phenomena along the coast of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Brackish groundwaters are observed in most of the wells. The rest of the wells show a fresh water environment. The factors responsible for the brackish groundwater quality with respect to the influence of seawater are assessed, using the standard ionic ratios, such as Ca²⁺:Mg²⁺, TA:TH and Cl⁻:HCO⁻ ₃. Results suggest that the brackish nature in most of the groundwaters is not due to the seawater influence, but is caused by the hydrogeochemical process. Some influence of seawater on the groundwater quality is observed along the rock fractures. The combined effect of seawater and urban wastewaters is due to the inferior quality of groundwater in a few wells, where they are at topographic lows close to the coast.