Creep behaviour of intact and remoulded fibrous peat

This paper presents the creep behaviour of intact and remoulded specimens of fibrous peat obtained from a field site near Anzac, Alberta, Canada. The creep behaviour was investigated by means of long-term drained and undrained triaxial tests. The development of volumetric, axial, and undrained axial strain and strain rate during drained and undrained creep tests under variable stress conditions is presented. The stress _– strain _– strain rate (p′–ε _v–\(\dot{\varepsilon }_{\text{v}}\)) relationship is found to be unique for different stress and loading durations. The p′–ε _v–\(\dot{\varepsilon }_{\text{v}}\) relationship is analysed and represented by creep isotaches. The applicability of different creep models developed for normally consolidated clay is discussed and applied to define the development of creep strain in fibrous peat under varying isotropic and deviator stresses. The secondary consolidation coefficient for evaluating the volumetric strain rate of peat is found to be applicable with some limits. The drained creep behaviour of remoulded peat specimens differs from the behaviour shown by Shelby tube specimens, whereas the undrained creep behaviour in remoulded and Shelby tube specimens is similar.     

Holocene tectono-geomorphic evolution of Haryana plains,Western Ganga plain,India

Haryana plain is the drainage divide between the Ganga plain in the east and the Indus plain in the west. Being a part of the Himalayan foreland, its geomorphology, sedimentation processes, and tectonism are broadly controlled by the Himalayan tectonics. Soil and geomorphological mapping in Haryana plain bring out geomorphic features such as paleochannels, various active drainage patterns, and landforms such as old fluvial plains, floodplains, piedmonts, pediments, terminal fans, and eolian plains. Based on the degree of soil development, and Optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages, the soil-geomorphic units were grouped into six members (QIMS-I to VI) (Quaternary Indus Morphostratigraphic Sequence) of a morphostratigraphic sequence: QIMS-VI 9.86–5.38 Ka, QIMS-V 5.38–4.45 Ka, QIMS-IV 4.45–3.60 Ka, QIMS-III 3.60–2.91 Ka, QIMS-II <?2.91–1.52 Ka, and QIMS-I <?1.52 Ka. OSL chronology of different geomorphic features suggests six episodes of tectono-geomorphic evolution in the region since 10 Ka. Neotectonic features such as nine faults, two lineaments, and five fault-bounded tectonic blocks have been identified. Independent tilting and sagging of the blocks in response to neotectonics have resulted in modification of landforms, depositional processes, and hydro-geomorphology of the region. Major rivers like the Yamuna, the Ghaggar, and the Sutlej show different episodes of shifting of their courses. Lineament controlled few extinct channels have been recorded between 20 and 25 m depth below the surface in the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) profiles. These buried channels are aligned along the paleo-course of the Lost Saraswati River interpreted from the existing literature and hence are considered as the course of the lost river. Seven terminal fans have been formed on the downthrown blocks of the associated faults. The Markanda Terminal Fan, the first of such features described, is indeed a splay terminal fan and was formed by a splay distributary system of the Markanda River. Association of three terminal fans of different ages with the Karnal fault indicates the segment-wise development of the fault from west to east. Also, comparison with other such studies in the Ganga plain to further east suggests that the terminal fans formed by streams with distributary drainage pattern occur only in semiarid regions as in the present area and thus are indicators of semiarid climate/paleoclimate. Though the whole region is tectonically active, the region between the Rohtak fault and Hisar fault is most active at present signified by the concentration of earthquake epicenters.     

Morphological and molecular evidence supports the first occurrence of two fishes,Siganus sutor(Valenciennes, 1835)and Seriolina nigrofasciata(Rüppell, 1829)(Actinopterygii:Perciformes), from marine waters of Odisha coast,Bay of Bengal,India

Marine ecosystems provide a wide variety of diverse habitats that frequently promote migration and ecological adaptation. The extent to which the geographic distribution of marine organism has reshaped by human activities remains underappreciated. The limitations intrinsic to morphology-based identification systems have engendered an urgent need for reliable genetic methods that enable the unequivocal recognition of fish species,particularly those that are prone to overexploitation and/or market substitution. In the present study, however, an attempt has been taken to identify two locally adapted fish species, Siganus sutor(Valenciennes, 1835) and Seriolina nigrofasciata(Rüppell, 1829) of order Perciformes, which happens to be the first record in Odisha coast,Bay of Bengal. The diagnostic characteristics of Siganus sutor are: dorsal fin XIII-10, anal fin VII-9, pectoral fin 15,pelvic fin II-3, while that of Seriolina nigrofasciata dorsal fin VI-I-35, anal fin I-17, pectoral fin 16, pelvic fin 5. All COI barcodes generated in this study were matched with reference sequences of expected species, according to morphological identification. Bayesian and likelihood phylogenetic trees were drawn based on DNA barcodes and all the specimens clustered in agreement with their taxonomic classification at the species level. The phylogeographic studies based on haplotype network and migration rates suggest that both the species were not panmitic and the high-frequency population distribution indicates successful migration. The result of this study provides an important validation of the use of DNA barcode sequences for monitoring species diversity and changes within a complex marine ecosystem.     

Dwellers’ perception toward the Urban services of Panskura Municipality,India: an application of importance-performance models

The provision of urban service and citizens’ satisfaction is an important key issue in urban planning. Importance-performance analysis (IPA) is an effective and widely applicable technique to explore consumer’s satisfaction. IPA helps to prioritize the management strategies for urban services using the IPA. Purpose of the present study is to assess the performance of urban services and citizen’s satisfaction level of Panskura municipality using IPA models and improvement index. A total of 629 valid household responses are collected with the help of the door-to-door primary survey technique. The study reveals that all the selected seven urban services have significant importance-performance gap except water supply. Residents of the Panskura municipality are very much satisfied with the water supply service because of the very minimum improvement score. The combined result of IPA matrices and improvement index suggests residents are dissatisfied to a great extent with the performance of four urban services, i.e. health, economy, transportation and sanitation. These urban services require a problem-solving urgent action for restoration of the performance status. The improvement and prioritization of urban service are also required to fulfil the demand of target groups.

     

Estimation of tsunami hazard from volcanic activity — Suggested methodology with Augustine volcano,Alaska as an example

A general approach for the estimation of tsunami height and hazard in the vicinity of active volcanoes has been developed. An empirical relationship has been developed to estimate the height of the tsunami generated for an eruption of a given size. This relationship can be used to estimate the tsunami hazard based on the frequency of eruptive activity of a particular volcano. This technique is then applied to the estimation of tsunami hazard from the eruption of the Augustine volcano in Alaska. Modification of this approach to account for a less than satisfactory data base and differing volcanic characteristics is also discussed with the case of the Augustine volcano as an example. This approach can be used elsewhere with only slight modifications and, for the first time, provides a technique to estimate tsunami hazard from volcanic activity, similar to a well-established approach for the estimation of tsunami hazard from earthquake activity.     

Volcanic activity and large earthquakes

Several investigators have noted an increase in volcanic activity prior to several large interplate earthquakes in the circum-Pacific area. From these data, I have examined the temporal relationship between the beginning of this increased volcanic activity and the occurrence of large earthquakes. I find that the time (year) of the beginning of enhanced volcanic activity depends on the magnitude of the subsequent large earthquake, for earthquakes with magnitude > 7.5. The volcanoes which exhibit this enhanced activity are situated on the landward side of the rupture zone of the large earthquake, and this study therefore suggests a casual physical relationship between the two phenomena. I also find that this increase in volcanic activity occurs a few years before an increase in the occurrence of smaller earthquakes, noted by several invesigators, in the rupture zones of large earthquakes.     

Effect of surface stress on magneto-elastic surface waves in finitely conducting media

This paper deals with the investigation of the effect of surface stress and conductivity on the propagation of surface wave in isotropic, homogeneous, elastic media under the action of a primary magnetic field. Formulation of the general surface wave propagation problem has been made, and the corresponding frequency equation has been derived. Frequency equations for Rayleigh wave, surface shear wave and Stoneley wave have been deduced from that of general surface wave as special cases. The effects of surface stress and magnetic field on the wave velocities and attenuation factors of Rayleigh wave and surface shear wave are shown by numerical calculations and graphs. Some important wave velocity equations, as obtained by other authors, have been deduced as special cases from the wave velocity equation for Stoneley wave. It is found that the combined effect of surface stress and magnetic field modulates the wave velocity ratios and attenuation factors of Rayleigh wave and surface shear wave to a considerable extent.     

Approaches for modeling longitudinal dispersion in pore-networks

The purpose of this study is to quantify the dispersivity in the longitudinal direction by upscaling pore scale mixing over a network domain and to verify the dispersivity with that obtained through the more rigorous upscaling technique, the Brownian particle tracking model (BPTM). We model a porous medium with a network of pore-units that are comprised of pore bodies and bonds of finite volume. Such a pore-unit is assumed to be a mixing cell with the steady state flow condition for a single fluid. Dispersivity can be obtained by solving the mixing cell model (MCM) for the concentration in each pore-unit and by averaging the concentrations for a large number of pore units (as a function of time and space). A minimal size of network that ascertains an asymptotic value of dispersivity was determined and verified with large size pore networks. This numerically computed dispersivity is compared with the results from the BPTM for the same porous medium and flow conditions. We show that the dispersivity obtained from the MCM is equally reliable for the heterogeneous pore-networks and can be estimated as a function of pore size heterogeneity. For homogeneous networks with the MCM, the iteration time step plays an important role. On the other hand, for networks with the BPTM, the assumption of intra-bond velocity profile affects the results.     

Monitoring surface elevation changes in Jharia coalfield,India using synthetic aperture radar interferometry

This paper investigates surface elevation changes that occurred during 1996–2004 in the Jharia coalfield through the digital elevation model (DEM) generated using synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) using ERS-1/2 (European Remote Sensing Satellite) tandem and RADARSAT-1 data. The comparison of elevation values derived from the InSAR DEM and topographic height data shows a bias of 23.08 m with root-mean-square error of ±2.31 m (5.8 %). The accuracy of the DEM was investigated by comparing the elevation profiles with the digitized elevation contour data at four different locations. The profile comparison shows a mean bias of 22.68 m. Local topography shows changes in elevation up to ±40.00 m due to mining activities on the 8-year time period. The results of InSAR-derived heights and topographic heights were comparable and well-matched except at a few locations where topographic data were unavailable. DEM generated using InSAR due to its high spatial details is ideal for the detection and estimation of surface elevation changes in mining areas.