Petrological Characteristics and Genesis of the Central Indian Ocean Basin Basalts

The Central Indian Ocean Basin （CIOB） basalts are plagioclase-rich, while olivine and pyroxene are very few. The analyses of 41 samples reveal high FeOT （～10-18 wt%） and TiO 2 （～1.4-2.7 wt%） indicating a ferrobasaltic composition. The basalts have high incompatible elements （Zr 63-228 ppm; Nb ～1-5 ppm; Ba ～15-78 ppm; La ～3-16 ppm）, a similar U/Pb （0.02-0.4） ratio as the normal midoceanic basalt （0.16±0.07） but the Ba/Nb （12.5-53） ratio is much larger than that of the normal midoceanic ridge basalt （～5.7） and Primitive Mantle （9.56）. Interestingly almost all of the basalts have a significant negative Eu anomaly （Eu/Eu＊=0.78-1.00） that may have been a result of the removal of feldspar and pyroxene during crystal fractionation. These compositional variations suggest that the basalts were derived through fractional crystallization together with low partial melting of a shallow seated magma.

Characterizing the influence of tide on the physico-chemical parameters and nutrient variability in the coastal surface water of the northern Bay of Bengal during the winter season

The spatial distribution of physico-chemical parameters（sea surface temperature（SST）, p H, sea surface salinity（SSS）, dissolved oxygen（DO） and Secchi depth） along with filterable nutrients（dissolved inorganic nitrate（DIN）,dissolved inorganic phosphate（DIP） and reactive silicate（DSi）） are measured in the winter months of November,December, January and February for four consecutive years from 2009–2010 to 2012–2013 on the shallow continental shelf（〈20 m bathymetry） of the coastal waters（up to 18 km away from shoreline） of the northern Bay of Bengal（n Bo B） during the highest high tide（HHT） and lowest low tide（LLT） hours for the first time. The variability of the coastal biogeochemical environment is assessed during the HHT and LLT hours and for this purpose, seawater samples are collected from seven different locations of a transect in the coastal region. Physicochemical parameters（except SST） show significant difference in magnitude during the HHT and LLT hours respectively. p H, SSS and DO are found to increase in the HHT hours and vice-versa. The data reveal that during the LLT hours, a relative increase of freshwater input in the n Bo B can have elevated the nutrient concentration compared with that observed during the HHT hours. The ratio of nutrient concentration is found to deviate significantly from the Redfield ratio. The abundance of DIP is much higher compared with that of DIN and DSi.The anthropogenic sources of DIP from the upstream flow（especially the domestic effluent of several metropolises） can be mainly attributed behind such an observation. In order to characterize and establish the trend of such variation in such an important bio-climatic region, long-term and systematic ecosystem monitoring in the coastal water of the n Bo B northern Bay of Bengal should be carried out throughout the year.

Quantifying Environmental Sustainability of Buildings through Its Carbon Foot-Print： An Analytical Approach

It is known that the building sector consumes about 40% of earth＇s resources in their process of commissioning, erection and subsequent operation. As a consequence there is significant amount of CO2 emission to the atmosphere. Assessment of environmental performances of buildings has assumed immense significance in such backdrop and calls for assessing the ＂Carbon Footprint＂ of building systems for estimating their environmental compatibility. The present paper discusses a case specific environmental evaluation exercise by estimating the Carbon Footprint of a conventionally constructed tourist accommodation by tracking its resource consumption pattern during both the execution and operational phases in the hot and humid climatic zone of Indian sea-side. The result of the analysis is compared against the average carrying capacity of Earth to develop a method of measuring and quantifying the building＇s environmental performance with respect to Earth＇s reported threshold of tolerance and check the extent of failure or success, as the case may be. This process also leads to a tool named ＇Sustainability Quotient＇. The method of quantification is simple and can be adopted for environmental assessment of both new and old buildings.