Nature of chemistry in the national frame curricula for upper secondary education in Finland, Norway and Sweden

The aim of this study was to discover how current chemistry syllabi in the frame curricula for up- per secondary education in three Nordic countries (Finland, Norway, and Sweden) take into account topics related to the nature of chemistry. By qualitative content analysis, the statements related to the nature of chemistry were divided into categories. Conclusions and implications for improving the frame curricula under study were made by comparing results with research into the nature of science. Chemistry syllabi from the Nordic frame curricula analyzed take into account the aims related to the nature of chemistry in a very similar manner. The ideas that should be made more explicit in all of the analyzed curricula are: i) the limits of the chemical models and theories, ii) the relationship between chemistry and other natural sciences, iii) the importance of creativity in chemical research, iv) the concepts of evidence in science texts, v) the social nature of chemical research, and vi) chemistry as a technological practice.

A new Fuzzy-LOGIC based Model for Chlorophyll-a in Pulicat Lagoon, India

Coastal lagoons are complex ecosystems exhibiting a high degree of non-linearity in the distribution and exchange of nutrients dissolved in the water column due to their spatio-temporal characteristics. This factor has a direct influence on the concentrations of chlorophyll-a, an indicator of the primary productivity in the water bodies as lakes and lagoons. Moreover the seasonal variability in the characteristics of large-scale basins further contributes to the uncertainties in the data on the physico-chemical and biological characteristics of the lagoons. Considering the above, modelling the distributions of the nutrients with respect to the chlorophyll-concentrations, hence requires an effective approach which will appropriately account for the non-linearity of the ecosystem as well as the uncertainties in the available data. In the present investigation, fuzzy logic was used to develop a new model of the primary production for Pulicat lagoon, Southeast coast of India. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the concentrations of chlorophyll-a in the lagoon was highly influenced by the dissolved concentrations of nitrate, nitrites and phosphorous to different extents over different seasons and years. A high degree of agreement was obtained between the actual field values and those predicted by the new fuzzy model (d = 0.881 to 0.788) for the years 2005 and 2006, illustrating the efficiency of the model in predicting the values of chlorophyll-a in the lagoon.

Paleoseismological evidence of surface faulting along the northeastern Himalayan front, India: Timing, size, and spatial extent of great earthquakes

The similar to 2500 km long Himalayan arc has experienced three large to great earthquakes of M-w 7.8 to 8.4 during the past century, but none produced surface rupture. Paleoseismic studies have been conducted during the last decade to begin understanding the timing, size, rupture extent, return period, and mechanics of the faulting associated with the occurrence of large surface rupturing earthquakes along the similar to 2500 km long Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) system of India and Nepal. The previous studies have been limited to about nine sites along the western two-thirds of the HFT extending through northwest India and along the southern border of Nepal. We present here the results of paleoseismic investigations at three additional sites further to the northeast along the HFT within the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. The three sites reside between the meizoseismal areas of the 1934 Bihar-Nepal and 1950 Assam earthquakes. The two westernmost of the sites, near the village of Chalsa and near the Nameri Tiger Preserve, show that offsets during the last surface rupture event were at minimum of about 14 m and 12 m, respectively. Limits on the ages of surface rupture at Chalsa (site A) and Nameri (site B), though broad, allow the possibility that the two sites record the same great historical rupture reported in Nepal around A.D. 1100. The correlation between the two sites is supported by the observation that the large displacements as recorded at Chalsa and Nameri would most likely be associated with rupture lengths of hundreds of kilometers or more and are on the same order as reported for a surface rupture earthquake reported in Nepal around A.D. 1100. Assuming the offsets observed at Chalsa and Nameri occurred synchronously with reported offsets in Nepal, the rupture length of the event would approach 700 to 800 km. The easternmost site is located within Harmutty Tea Estate (site C) at the edges of the 1950 Assam earthquake meizoseismal area. Here the most recent event offset is relatively much smaller (<2.5 m), and radiocarbon dating shows it to have occurred after A.D. 1100 (after about A.D. 1270). The location of the site near the edge of the meizoseismal region of the 1950 Assam earthquake and the relatively lesser offset allows speculation that the displacement records the 1950 M-w 8.4 Assam earthquake. Scatter in radiocarbon ages on detrital charcoal has not resulted in a firm bracket on the timing of events observed in the trenches. Nonetheless, the observations collected here, when taken together, suggest that the largest of thrust earthquakes along the Himalayan arc have rupture lengths and displacements of similar scale to the largest that have occurred historically along the world's subduction zones.

Intraplate Response to the Great 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake: A Study from the Andaman Segment

The 1300-km rupture of the 2004 interplate earthquake terminated at around 15 degrees N, in the northernmost segment of the Andaman-Nicobar subduction zone. This part of the plate boundary is noted for its generally lower level seismicity, compared with the southern segments. Based on the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) and National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) data, most of the earthquakes of M-w >= 4.5 prior to 2004 were associated with the Andaman Spreading Ridge (ASR), and a few events were located within the forearc basin. The 2004 event was followed by an upward migration of hypocenters along the subducting plate, and the Andaman segment experienced a surge of aftershock activity. The continuing extensional faulting events, including the most recent earthquake (10 August 2009; M-w 7.5) in the northern end of the 2004 rupture, suggest the reduction of compressional strain associated with the interplate event. The style of faulting of the intraplate events before and after a great plate boundary earthquake reflects the relative influences of the plate-driving forces. Here we discuss the pattern of earthquakes in the Andaman segment before and after the 2004 event to appraise the spatial and temporal relation between large interplate thrust events and intraplate deformation. This study suggests that faulting mechanisms in the outer-ridge and outer-rise regions could be indicative of the maturity of interplate seismic cycles.

Revisiting the earthquake sources in the Himalaya: Perspectives on past seismicity

The similar to 2500 km-long Himalaya plate boundary experienced three great earthquakes during the past century, but none of them generated any surface rupture. The segments between the 1905-1934 and the 1897-1950 sources, known as the central and Assam seismic gaps respectively, have long been considered holding potential for future great earthquakes. This paper addresses two issues concerning earthquakes along the Himalaya plate boundary. One, the absence of surface rupture associated with the great earthquakes, vis-a-vis the purported large slip observed from paleoseismological investigations and two, the current understanding of the status of the seismic gaps in the Central Himalaya and Assam, in view of the paleoseismological and historical data being gathered. We suggest that the ruptures of earthquakes nucleating on the basal detachment are likely to be restricted by the crustal ramps and thus generate no surface ruptures, whereas those originating on the faults within the wedges promote upward propagation of rupture and displacement, as observed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, that showed a peak offset of 7 m. The occasional reactivation of these thrust systems within the duplex zone may also be responsible for the observed temporal and spatial clustering of earthquakes in the Himalaya. Observations presented in this paper suggest that the last major earthquake in the Central Himalaya occurred during AD 1119-1292, rather than in 1505, as suggested in some previous studies and thus the gap in the plate boundary events is real. As for the Northwestern Himalaya, seismically generated sedimentary features identified in the 1950 source region are generally younger than AD 1400 and evidence for older events is sketchy. The 1897 Shillong earthquake is not a decollement event and its predecessor is probably similar to 1000 years old. Compared to the Central Himalaya, the Assam Gap is a corridor of low seismicity between two tectonically independent seismogenic source zones that cannot be considered as a seismic gap in the conventional sense. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Profiling of late Tertiary-early Quaternary surface in the lower reaches of Narmada valley using microtremors

In this paper, we propose the first approximation for thickness of Quaternary sediment and late Quaternary early Tertiary topography for the part of lower reaches of Narmada valley in a systematic way using the shallow seismic method, that records both horizontal and vertical components of the microtremor (ambient noise) caused by natural processes. The measurements of microtremors were carried out at 31 sites spaced at a grid interval of 5 km s using Lennartz seismometer (5 s period) and City shark-II data acquisition system. The signals recorded were analysed for horizontal to the vertical (H/V) spectral ratio using GEOPSY software. For the present study, we concentrate on frequency range between 0.2 Hz and 10 Hz. The thickness of unconsolidated sediments at various sites is calculated based on non-linear regression equations proposed by Ibs-von Seht and Wohlenberg (1999) and Parolai et al. (2002). The estimated thickness is used to plot digital elevation model and cross profiles correlating with geomorphology and geology of the study area. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rapid method of consolidation testing

The determination of consolidation characteristics forms an important aspect in the design of foundations and other earth-retaining structures. The conventional consolidation test as originally proposed by Teaaghi takes considerable time (more than 15 days in highly compressible soils with low coefficient of consolidation) and effort. Any effort to reduce the duration of testing will be desirable from several considerations. In this paper, an attempt has been made to propose a rapid method of consolidation testing. In the proposed method, the next load increment is applied as soon as the necessary time required to identify the percent consolidation is reached and to evaluate the coefficient of consolidation by one of the popular curve-fitting procedures. The rectangular hyperbola method has been used to identify the percent consolidation reached after any load increment, and to determine the coefficient of consolidation, before making the next load increment. The time required to complete the test using the rapid consolidation method could be as low as 4-5 h compared with 1 or 2 weeks in the case of the conventional consolidation test.

Estimation of groundwater recharge of shallow aquifer on humid environment in Yaounde, Cameroon using hybrid water-fluctuation and hydrochemistry methods

A study of environmental chloride and groundwater balance has been carried out in order to estimate their relative value for measuring average groundwater recharge under a humid climatic environment with a relatively shallow water table. The hybrid water fluctuation method allowed the split of the hydrologic year into two seasons of recharge (wet season) and no recharge (dry season) to appraise specific yield during the dry season and, second, to estimate recharge from the water table rise during the wet season. This well elaborated and suitable method has then been used as a standard to assess the effectiveness of the chloride method under forest humid climatic environment. Effective specific yield of 0.08 was obtained for the study area. It reflects an effective basin-wide process and is insensitive to local heterogeneities in the aquifer system. The hybrid water fluctuation method gives an average recharge value of 87.14 mm/year at the basin scale, which represents 5.7% of the annual rainfall. Recharge value estimated based on the chloride method varies between 16.24 and 236.95 mm/year with an average value of 108.45 mm/year. It represents 7% of the mean annual precipitation. The discrepancy observed between recharge value estimated by the hybrid water fluctuation and the chloride mass balance methods appears to be very important, which could imply the ineffectiveness of the chloride mass balance method for this present humid environment.

The June 2010 Nicobar Earthquake: Fault Reactivation on the Subducting Oceanic Plate

The similar to 1300-km-long rupture zone of the 2004 Andaman-Sumatra megathrust earthquake continues to generate a mix of thrust, normal, and strike-slip faulting events. The 12 June 2010 M(w) 7.5 event on the subducting plate is the most recent large earthquake on the Nicobar segment. The left-lateral faulting mechanism of this event is unusual for the outer-rise region, considering the stress transfer processes that follow great underthrusting earthquakes. Another earthquake (M(w) 7.2) with a similar mechanism occurred very close to this event on 24 July 2005. These earthquakes and most of their aftershocks on the subducting plate were generated by left-lateral strike-slip faulting on north-northeast-south-southwest oriented near-vertical faults, in response to north-northwest-south-southeast directed compression. Pre-2004 earthquake faulting mechanisms on the subducting oceanic plate are consistent with this pattern. Post-2004, left-lateral faulting on the subducting oceanic plate clusters between 5 degrees N and 9 degrees N, where the 90 degrees E ridge impinges the trench axis. Our study observes that the subducting plate off the Sumatra and Nicobar segments behaves similarly to a chip of the India-Australia plate, deforming in response to a generally northwest-southeast oriented compression, an aspect that must be factored into the plate deformation models.

Crustal Deformation and Seismic History Associated with the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake: A Perspective from the Andaman–Nicobar Islands

The Indian Ocean earthquake of 26 December 2004 led to significant ground deformation in the Andaman and Nicobar region, accounting for ~800 km of the rupture. Part of this article deals with coseismic changes along these islands, observable from coastal morphology, biological indicators, and Global Positioning System (GPS) data. Our studies indicate that the islands south of 10° N latitude coseismically subsided by 1–1.5 m, both on their eastern and western margins, whereas those to the north showed a mixed response. The western margin of the Middle Andaman emerged by >1 m, and the eastern margin submerged by the same amount. In the North Andaman, both western and eastern margins emerged by >1 m. We also assess the pattern of long-term deformation (uplift/subsidence) and attempt to reconstruct earthquake/tsunami history, with the available data. Geological evidence for past submergence includes dead mangrove vegetation dating to 740 ± 100 yr B.P., near Port Blair and peat layers at 2–4 m and 10–15 m depths observed in core samples from nearby locations. Preliminary paleoseismological/tsunami evidence from the Andaman and Nicobar region and from the east coast of India, suggest at least one predecessor for the 2004 earthquake 900–1000 years ago. The history of earthquakes, although incomplete at this stage, seems to imply that the 2004-type earthquakes are infrequent and follow variable intervals