The Paleogene vegetation and petroleum system in the tropics: A biomarker approach

The present study investigates the biomarker signatures of sediments and crude oils to infer the paleovegetation from the two petroleum systems of Assam Basin, eastern India. They are classified as the Paleocene-middle Eocene and the middle Eocene-Oligocene petroleum systems. The sediments are oil and gas prone with an early catagenetic stage of thermal evolution. Here we report tricyclic diterpanes such as rimuane, pimarane, rosane and isopimarane along with tetracyclic diterpanes: ent-beyerane, phyllocladane, kaurane from Paleocene-Eocene coal-bearing sediments and crude oils. These diterpane biomarkers attest dominant contribution from conifers, possibly from Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae. However, diterpanes are not detected in Oligocene sediments and oils. Crude oils from both Paleocene-Eocene and Oligocene reservoirs and organic rich sediments contain angiosperm biomarkers such oleanane and related triterpanes along with bicadinane, a biomarker specific for the Dipterocarpaceae family of angiosperms. The equatorial position of India during early Paleogene along with the presence of angiosperm signatures including Dipterocarpaceae and gymnosperms reflect the emergence of tropical rainforest elements in eastern India. Absence of diterpenoids in Oligocene samples and difference in angiosperm parameters from Paleocene-Eocene samples suggests a change in source vegetation and organofacies.     

Predicting socioeconomic conditions from satellite sensor data in rural developing countries: A case study using female literacy in Assam,India

Social data from census and household surveys provide key information for monitoring the status of populations, but the data utility can be limited by temporal gaps between surveys. Recent studies have pointed to the potential for remotely sensed satellite sensor data to be used as proxies for social data. Such an approach could provide valuable information for the monitoring of populations between enumeration periods. Field observations in Assam, north-east India suggested that socioeconomic conditions could be related to patterns in the type and abundance of local land cover dynamics prompting the development of a more formal approach. This research tested if environmental data derived from remotely sensed satellite sensor data could be used to predict a socioeconomic outcome using a generalised autoregressive error (GAR_err) model. The proportion of female literacy from the 2001 Indian National Census was used as an indicator of socioeconomic conditions. A significant positive correlation was found with woodland and a significant negative correlation with winter cropland (i.e., additional cropping beyond the normal cropping season). The dependence of female literacy on distance to nearest road was very small. The GAR_err model reduced residual spatial autocorrelation and revealed that the logistic regression model over-estimated the significance of the explanatory covariates. The results are promising, while also revealing the complexities of population–environment interactions in rural, developing world contexts. Further research should explore the prediction of socioeconomic conditions using fine spatial resolution satellite sensor data and methods that can account for such complexities.     

Identification of trends in rainfall,rainy days and 24 h maximum rainfall over subtropical Assam in Northeast India

Trends in rainfall, rainy days and 24 h maximum rainfall are investigated using the Mann-Kendall non-parametric test at twenty-four sites of subtropical Assam located in the northeastern region of India. The trends are statistically confirmed by both the parametric and non-parametric methods and the magnitudes of significant trends are obtained through the linear regression test. In Assam, the average monsoon rainfall (rainy days) during the monsoon months of June to September is about 1606 mm (70), which accounts for about 70% (64%) of the annual rainfall (rainy days). On monthly time scales, sixteen and seventeen sites (twenty-one sites each) witnessed decreasing trends in the total rainfall (rainy days), out of which one and three trends (seven trends each) were found to be statistically significant in June and July, respectively. On the other hand, seventeen sites witnessed increasing trends in rainfall in the month of September, but none were statistically significant. In December (February), eighteen (twenty-two) sites witnessed decreasing (increasing) trends in total rainfall, out of which five (three) trends were statistically significant. For the rainy days during the months of November to January, twenty-two or more sites witnessed decreasing trends in Assam, but for nine (November), twelve (January) and eighteen (December) sites, these trends were statistically significant. These observed changes in rainfall, although most time series are not convincing as they show predominantly no significance, along with the well-reported climatic warming in monsoon and post-monsoon seasons may have implications for human health and water resources management over bio-diversity rich Northeast India.     

地震活动相关性定量方法及其在印度板块动力触角对中国西部地区地震影响中的应用

针对地震活动相关性分析的实际需要,提出了一种定量分析不同区域地震活动相关性的方法。以此研究了印度板块东、西触角强震对青藏块体地震活动的影响,结果表明阿萨姆地区的强震活动与青藏块体的强震活动具有很高的相关性,而帕米尔地区的强震影响较小。通过与R值评分及基于板块动力作用分析结果的比较,证实了本方法的有效性。     

Fine structure of seismotectonics in western Shillong massif,north east India

The epicentral tract of the great Assam earthquake of 1897 of magnitude 8·7 was monitored for about 6 months using an array of portable seismographs. The observed seismicity pattern shows several diversely-oriented linear trends, some of which either encompass or parallel known geological faults. A vast majority of the recorded micro-earthquakes had estimated focal depths between 8–14 km. The maximum estimated depth was 45 km. On the basis of a seismic velocity model for the region reported recently and these depth estimates we suggest that the rupture zone of the great 1897 earthquake had a depth of 11–12 km under the western half of the Shillong massif. Four composite fault plane solutions define the nature of dislocation in three of the seismic zones. Three of them show oblique thrusting while one shows pure dip slip reverse faulting. The fault plane solutions fit into a regional pattern of a belt of earthquakes extending in NW-SE direction across the north eastern corner of the Bengal basin. The maximum principle stress axis is approximately NS for all the solutions in conformity with the inferred direction of the Indian-EuroAsian plate convergence in the eastern Himalaya.     

Depositional history,processes and mechanism of early Miocene sediments of Upper Assam Basin

A detailed analysis of depositional history of Miocene sediments and various effects which are governed for creation of accommodation space as well as the processes of sedimentation inherent to the depositional system at that period is described in this work. The early Miocene clastic sediments are deposited in prograding environment where sediment supply exceeds the accommodation space available. The accommodation space created due to basin subsidence and source area upliftment due to local and regional tectonic activity in the basin. In the early Miocene time, the Assam shelf major transgression occurred and several minor transgression followed. There was wide spread deposition of the fluvial Tipam sandstones. In Miocene time due to thrust loading and flexure subsidence, accommodation space was created for deposition of the sediments. The Tipam Sandstone is deposited by cyclic deposition of fining upward sequence in a fluvial to brackish water environment of braided river processes. The mechanism of braided rivers is also discussed in which it laterally expanded, leaving sheet like or wedge — shaped deposits of channel and bar complexes preserving only minor amounts of flood plain material.     

Observing climate impacts on tea yield in Assam,India

Tea is an important cash crop for the economy in northeast India. It also supports the livelihoods of a large proportion of the population. At the same time, tea growth is sensitive to climatic conditions making it vulnerable to climate change and variability. Identifying the tea yield response to climatic variability in operational plantations, and identifying the most important climatic variables that impact tea yield is critical to assessing the vulnerability of the industry and informing adaptation. Here, we developed a garden level panel dataset and estimated statistical models to identify the causal effect of monthly temperature, monthly precipitation, drought intensity, and precipitation variability on tea yield. We found decreasing tea yield returns to warmer monthly average temperatures, and when monthly temperatures were above 26.6 °C warming had a negative effect. We found that drought intensity did not affect tea yield and that precipitation variability, and in particular precipitation intensity, negatively affect tea yield. An increase in average temperatures as expected with global warming will reduce the productivity of tea plantations, all else held equal. Further, interventions to reduce the sensitivity of tea plantations to warming and precipitation variability will have immediate pay-offs as well as providing climate change adaptation benefits.     

Micropolitics in collective learning spaces for adaptive decision making

Recent advances on power, politics, and pathways in climate change adaptation aim to re-frame decision-making processes from development-as-usual to openings for transformational adaptation. This paper offers empirical insights regarding decision-making politics in the context of collective learning through participatory scenario building and flexible flood management and planning in the Eastern Brahmaputra Basin of Assam, India. By foregrounding intergroup and intragroup power dynamics in such collective learning spaces and how they intersect with existing micropolitics of adaptation on the ground, we examine opportunities for and limitations to challenging entrenched authority and subjectivities. Our results suggest that emancipatory agency can indeed emerge but is likely to be fluid and multifaceted. Community actors who are best positioned to resist higher-level domination may well be imbricated in oppression at home. While participatory co-learning as embraced here might open some spaces for transformation, others close down or remain shut.     

Estimation of petrophysical parameters using seismic inversion and neural network modeling in Upper Assam basin,India

Estimation of petrophysical parameters is an important issue of any reservoirs. Porosity, volume of shale and water saturation has been evaluated for reservoirs of Upper Assam basin, located in northeastern India from well log and seismic data. Absolute acoustic impedance (AAI) and relative acoustic impedance (RAI) are generated from model based inversion of 2-D post-stack seismic data. The top of geological formation, sand reservoirs, shale layers and discontinuities at faults are detected in RAI section under the study area. Tipam Sandstone (TS) and Barail Arenaceous Sandstone (BAS) are the main reservoirs, delineated from the logs of available wells and RAI section. Porosity section is obtained using porosity wavelet and porosity reflectivity from post-stack seismic data. Two multilayered feed forward neural network (MLFN) models are created with inputs: AAI, porosity, density and shear impedance and outputs: volume of shale and water saturation with single hidden layer. The estimated average porosity in TS and BAS reservoir varies from 30% to 36% and 18% to 30% respectively. The volume of shale and water saturation ranges from 10% to 30% and 20% to 60% in TS reservoir and 28% to 30% and 23% to 55% in BAS reservoir respectively.     

THE ORAL HISTORY OF GEOGRAPHY∗

Book Reviewed in this article:

Latin America: Case Studies. Richard G. Boehm and Sent Visser

Locality and Rurality: Economy and Society in Rural Regions. Tony Bradley And Philip Lowe

The City and the Grassroots. Manuel Castells

Geopolitics and Conflict in South America. Quarrels among Neighbors. Jack Child

Post-Industrial America: A Geographical Perspective. David Clark

Coastal Research: UK Perspectives. Malcolm W. Clark

A Rural Policy for the EEC? Hugh Clout

Peasant Agriculture in Assam: A Structural Analysis. M. M. Das.

Environmental Change and Tropical Geomorphology. I. Douglas and T. Spencer

Advances in Abandoned Settlement Analysis: Application to Prehistoric Anthrosols in Colombia, South America. Robert C. Eidt

Measuring Culture. Jonathan L. Gross and Steve Rayner

North America: A Human Geography. Paul Guinness and Michael Bradshaw

A Geographical Bibliography for American Libraries. Chauncy D. Harris et al.

Geography and the Urban Environment: Progress in Research and Applications, Vol. VI. D. T. Herbert and R. J. Johnston

Changes in Global Climate: A Study of the Effect of Radiation and Other Factors During the Present Century. K. Ya. Kondrat'ev.

Rural Development and the State: Contradictions and Dilemmas in Developing Countries. David A. M. Lea and D. P. Chaudhri

The Martial Metropolis: U.S. Cities in War and Peace. Roger W. Lotchin

The Climate of the Earth. Paul E. Lydolph.

Weather and Climate. Paul E. Lydolph.

Spatial Divisions of Labor: Social Structures and the Geography of Production. Doreen Massey.

Panorama of the Soviet Union. N. Mikhailov.

Soviet Armenia. K. S. Demirchian.

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Planung und Verwirklichung der Wiener Ringstrassenzone (Planning and Materialization of the Ringstrasse-Zone of Vienna). Kurt Mollik, Hermann Reining, Rudolf Wurzer.

The American West Transformed: The Impact of the Second World War Gerald D. Nash.

An Overview of the Survey of Income and Program Participation. Dawn Nelson, David McMillen, and Daniel Kasprzyk.

Phenomenology, Science and Geography: Spatiality and the Human Sciences. John Pickles.

Biological Diversification in the Tropics. Ghillean T. Prance

Die Wanderviehwirtschaft im gebirgigen Westen der U.S.A. und ihre Auswirkungen im Naturraum. Gisbert Rinschede.

Social and Economic Aspects of Radioactive Waste Disposal: Considerations for Institutional Management

World-Wide Weather. K. Takahashi

Coastal Geomorphology in Australia. B. G. Thom

Settlement System in Rural India: A Case Study of the Lower Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Ram Chandra Tiwari.

Computer Programming for Geographers. David J. Unwin and John A. Dawson.

Late Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union. A. A. Velichko, ed. H. E. Wright, Jr. and C. W. Barnosky

Ethics in Planning. Martin Wachs