Eye-View: A retinal image capture system

This paper presents a low cost but high resolution retinal image acquisition system of the human eye. The images acquired by a CMOS image sensor are communicated through the Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface to a personal computer for viewing and further processing. The image acquisition time was estimated to be 2.5 seconds. This system can also be used in telemedicine applications

Sensor network deployment for agronomical data gathering in semi-arid regions

We share our experience in planning, designing and deploying a wireless sensor network of one square kilometre area. Environmental data such as soil moisture, temperature, barometric pressure, and relative humidity are collected in this area situated in the semi-arid region of Karnataka, India. It is a hope that information derived from this data will benefit the marginal farmer towards improving his farming practices. Soon after establishing the need for such a project, we begin by showing the big picture of such a data gathering network, the software architecture we have used, the range measurements needed for determining the sensor density, and the packaging issues that seem to play a crucial role in field deployments. Our field deployment experiences include designing with intermittent grid power, enhancing software tools to aid quicker and effective deployment, and flash memory corruption. The first results on data gathering look encouraging

Post-collisional talc-alkaline lamprophyres from the Kadiri greenstone belt: Evidence for the Neoarchean convergence-related evolution of the Eastern Dharwar Craton and its schist belts

Lamprophyres from the greenstone belts play a crucial role in deciphering tectonic and geodynamic processes operating during the Archean. This study presents a comprehensive mineralogical and geochemical study of three lamprophyre dykes with talc-alkaline to shoshonitic affinities from the Neoarchean Kadiri schist belt, eastern Dharwar craton, southern India. These rocks display porphyritic-panidiomorphic texture, typical of the lamprophyres with amphibole (magnesio-hornblende) as phenocrysts, biotite as microphenocrysts and feldspar, epidote, titanite and apatite confined to the groundmass. Alteration of biotite to chlorite is observed along with mild deformation in the amphibole phenocrysts. Based on mineralogy and major oxide geochemistry, these rocks are classified as the talc-alkaline lamprophyres. Higher Ba/Nb and low Nb/La points to their derivation from an enriched lithospheric mantle source and higher Th/Yb ratio along with negative TNT (Ti-Nb-Ta) and Zr-Hf anomalies on the primitive mantle (PM) normalized multi-element diagram indicates dehydrated fluids from the foundering slab could be the possible metasomatic agent. Fractionated HREE ratios (Gd-N/Yb-N >1.9) and higher Sm-N/Yb-N suggests that the source region lies in the garnet stability field. Higher than PM Rb/Sr along with positive correlation between K/La and Rb/La reveals presence of metasomatic phlogopite in the source region. Strong negative initial epsilon Nd along with radiogenic (87) Sr/(86) Sr ratios further support an enriched mantle reservoir involved in their genesis. Non-modal batch melting (1-5%) of a mixed source (phlogopite-garnet peridotite) assuming 5% mixing of subducted sediment with ambient mantle wedge (depleted mantle) satisfies the multi-element concentration pattern shown by the Kadiri lamprophyres. The source enrichment can be linked to the accretion-related growth of Dharwar craton and its schist belts during Neoarchean. Our study shows that a majority of lamprophyres associated with the Archean greenstone belts display a shoshonitic character; this highlights the role of subduction-related processes in the growth and evolution of the greenstone belts (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Petrogenesis of a Mesoproterozoic shoshonitic lamprophyre dyke from the Wajrakarur kimberlite field, eastern Dharwar craton, southern India: Geochemical and Sr-Nd isotopic evidence for a modified sub-continental lithospheric mantle source

Mineralogy and geochemistry of the Udirpikonda lamprophyre, located within the Mesoproterozoic diamondiferous Wajrakarur kimberlite field (WKF), towards the western margin of the Paleo-Mesoproterozoic Cuddapah basin are presented. The lamprophyre is characterised by a panidiomorphic-porphyritic texture imparted by clinopyroxene, olivine and biotite set in a groundmass of feldspar and spinel. Olivine occurs as the microphenocrysts with a composition range of Fo(87-78). Clinopyroxenes display reverse as well as oscillatory optical zoning and are diopsidic in nature with a variation in the composition from core (Wo(47) En(28) Fs(20)Ac(5)) to rim (Wo(46)En(41)Fs(11)Ac(3)). Biotite (Mg# < 0.6) is the only mica present and spinels are titano-magnetites showing ulvospinel- magnetite solid solution. Plagioclase is the dominant feldspar with a variable compositional range of An(41-8)Ab(82-56)Or(33-3). Based on the mineralogy, the lamprophyre can be classified to be of calc-alkaline variety but its geochemistry display mixed signals of both alkaline and calc-alkaline lamprophyres. K2O/Na2O ranges from 1.49 to 2.79, making it distinctly potassic and highlights its shoshonitic character. Moderate Mg# (60-65), Ni (110-200 ppm) and Cr (110-260 ppm) contents in the bulk-rock indicate substantial fractional crystallization of olivine and clinopyroxene. Fractionated chondrite normalized REE patterns (average (La/Yb)(N) = 37.56) indicates involvement of an enriched mantle source from within the garnet stability field whereas slightly negative Ta-Nb-Ti and Hf anomalies displayed on the primitive mantle normalized multi-element spider gram highlight involvement of a subducted component in the mantle source. Given the spatial disposition of the studied lamprophyre, the age of the emplacement is considered to be coeval with WKF kimberlites (similar to 1.1 Ga) and the initial Nd-143/Nd-144 (0.5100650.510192) and Sr-87/Sr-86 (0.705333-0.706223) are strikingly similar to those observed for the Smoky Butte lamproites, Montana, USA. Fluid-related subduction enrichment of the mantle source is apparent from the enriched ratios of La/Nb, Ba/Nb and (Hf/Sm)(N), (Ta/La)(N) < 1. Petrogenetic modelling reveals melt generation from 1 to 2% partial melting of an enriched mantle source that subsequently underwent fractional crystallization. Our study provides geochemical and isotopic evidence for a sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) modified by subduction and asthenospheric upwelling in the Eastern Dharwar Craton. The partial melting of a resulting heterogeneous Eastern Dharwar Craton SCLM to generate Udiripikonda lamprophyre and Wajrakarur kimberlites has been attributed to the Mesoproterozoic regional lithospheric extension event. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Petrology, bulk-rock geochemistry, indicator mineral composition and zircon U–Pb geochronology of the end-cretaceous diamondiferous mainpur orangeites, Bastar Craton, Central India

The end-Cretaceous diamondiferous Mainpur orangeite field comprises six pipes (Behradih, Kodomali, Payalikhand, Jangara, Kosambura and Bajaghati) located at the NE margin of the Bastar craton, central India. The preservation of both diatreme (Behradih) and hypabyssal facies (Kodomali) in this domain implies differential erosion. The Behradih samples are pelletal and tuffisitic in their textural habit, whereas those of the Kodomali pipe have inequigranular texture and comprise aggregates of two generations of relatively fresh olivines. The Kosambura pipe displays high degrees of alteration and contamination with silicified macrocrysts and carbonated groundmass. Olivine, spinel and clinopyroxene in the Behradih and the Kodomali pipes share overlapping compositions, whereas the groundmass phlogopite and perovskite show conspicuous compositional differences. The bulk-rock geochemistry of both the Behradih and Kodomali pipes has a more fractionated nature compared to southern African orangeites. Incompatible trace elements and their ratios readily distinguish them from the Mesoproterozoic Wajrakarur (WKF) and the Narayanpet kimberlites (NKF) from the eastern Dharwar craton, southern India, and bring out their similarity in petrogenesis to southern African orangeites. The pyrope population in the Mainpur orangeites is dominated by the calcic-lherzolitic variety, with sub-calcic harzburgitic and eclogitic garnets in far lesser proportion. Garnet REE distribution patterns from the Behradih and Payalikhand pipes display “smooth” as well as “sinusoidal” chondrite-normalised patterns. They provide evidence for the presence of a compositionally layered end-Cretaceous sub-Bastar craton mantle, similar to that reported from many other cratons worldwide. The high logfO₂ of the Mainpur orangeite magma (&#916;NNO (nickel-nickel oxide) of +0.48 to +4.46 indicates that the redox state of the lithospheric mantle cannot be of first-order control for diamond potential and highlights the dominant role of other factors such as rapid magma transport. The highly diamondiferous nature, the abundance of calcic-lherzolitic garnets and highly oxidising conditions prevailing at the time of eruption make the Mainpur orangeites clearly “anomalous” compared to several other kimberlite pipes worldwide. U–Pb dating of zircon xenocrysts from the Behradih pipe yielded distinct Palaeoproterozoic ages with a predominant age around 2,450 Ma. The lack of Archean-aged zircons, in spite of the fact that the Bastar craton is the oldest continental nuclei in the Indian shield with an Eoarchaean crust of 3.5–3.6 Ga, could either be a reflection of the sampling process or of the modification of the sub-Bastar lithosphere by the invading Deccan plume-derived melts during the Late Cretaceous

Carbonate xenoliths hosted by the Mesoproterozoic Siddanpalli Kimberlite Cluster (Eastern Dharwar craton): Implications for the geodynamic evolution of southern India and its diamond and uranium metallogenesis

A number of limestone and metasomatised carbonate xenoliths occur in the 1,090 Ma Siddanpalli kimberlite cluster, Raichur kimberlite Field, Eastern Dharwar craton, southern India. These xenoliths are inferred to have been derived from the carbonate horizons of the Kurnool (Palnad) and Bhima Proterozoic basins and provide evidence for a connection between these basins in the geological past. A revised Mesoproterozoic age is proposed for the Bhima and Kurnool (Palnad) basins based on this kimberlite association and is in agreement with similar proposals made recently for the Chattisgarh and Upper Vindhyan sediments in Central India. The observed Bhima–Kurnool interbasinal uplift may have been caused by: (1) extension- or plume-related mafic alkaline magmatism that included the emplacement of the southern Indian kimberlites at *1.1 Ga, (2) mantle plume-related doming of the peninsular India during the Cretaceous, or (3) Quaternary differential uplift in this region. It is not possible, with the currently available geological information to constrain the exact timing of this uplift. The deep erosion of primary diamond sources in the Raichur kimberlite Field in the upper reaches of the Krishna River caused by this uplift could be the elusive source of the alluvial diamonds of the Krishna valley. Mesoproterozoic sedimentary basins can host world class unconformity-type uranium deposits. In light of its inferred Mesoproterozoic age, a more detailed stratigraphic and metallogenic analysis of the Kurnool basin is suggested for uranium exploration