Mass distribution on Earth is continuously changing due to various physical processes beneath the Earth's surface or on the surface. Some of the primary sources for these mass displacements are tidal forces, atmospheric and oceanic loading, and seasonal changes in continental water distribution. The development of relative cryogenic gravimeters, the Superconducting Gravimeters (SGs), has made it possible to characterize and monitor such mass variations at orders of magnitudes as small as a few nm/s2 (1 nm/s2–10–10 g where g is the mean gravity at the Earth's surface). Our study focuses on the hydrodynamics of the 900 m thick unsaturated zone of the low-noise underground research laboratory (Laboratoire Souterrain à Bas Bruit, LSBB) located in Rustrel (France) using a unique configuration of two SGs vertically arranged 520 m depth apart. The installation of an SG (iGrav31) at the site surface several years after installing the first (iOSG24) inside a tunnel has provided several new insights into the understanding of the hydrological processes occurring in the LSBB. By comparing differential and residual gravity time-series together with global hydrological loading models, we find that most water-storage changes occur in the unsaturated zone between both SGs. The misfit between the observed gravity time-series and the gravity effect corresponding to local hydrological contribution calculated from global hydrological models can be explained by large lateral fluxes and rapid runoff occurring in the LSBB site. Finally, we implement a rectangular prism method to compute forward gravity responses to water storage changes for a homogeneous water-layer following the site topography using a 5-m digital elevation model. In particular, we analyse the sensitivity of the differential record from both SGs to the extent and depth of the water storage changes by computing the corresponding 2D admittances. This gravity difference is sensitive to an extension up to about 2500 m laterally before tending towards an asymptotic value corresponding to the Bouguer plate approximation. We show that the zone of water-storage changes that best fits observed differential gravity signal is located at depths larger than 500 m (below iOSG24). This fitting is improving when the integration radius increases with depth. This is the first time that hydrological processes are investigated when the baseline configuration of two SGs is vertical.

The experiment will be carried out at the Horticulture Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Naini Agricultural Institute, SHUATS, Allahabad. The experiment will be conducted in Randomized block design having 15 (genotypes) in three replications. The genotype Rajnandgaon Local- 1 was maximum for plant height 90 days followed by genotypes Sarit Saimaya and S-77. The genotype Rajnandgaon Local- 2 was minimum for plant height at 90 days. The genotype IC-40021 was maximum for number of branches 90 days followed by genotypes Rajandgaon local-2 and RGC-986. The genotype IC-10345 was minimum number of branches at 90 days. the genotype Sukomal was recorded highest for pod length, pod/cluster and pod yield/ha (q). IC-40021 was recorded highest for branches at 90 days, seed/pod, 100 seed weight (g). Sarit saimaya was recorded highest for 10 fresh pod weight, pod width and pod yield/plant (g).

Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) refers to the process of nucleation and growth of tensile fractures in a reservoir formation by means of flow-induced pressurization. The processes in the fracture process zone (FPZ) of a fluid-driven fracture involve a non-linear coupling between fracturing-fluid flow, rock deformation and diffusion of pore fluid. Identifying all the key physical processes is critical for reliably modeling and simulating fluid-driven fractures. The role of cavitation and subsequent alteration in pore fluid saturation is often ignored in hydraulic fracturing simulations, i.e., the pore fluid is modeled to be able to sustain arbitrarily large negative pressures without undergoing cavitation. Using multi-physics Finite Element Analyses (FEA), we show that ignoring cavitation may lead to spurious outcomes in FEA simulations of fluid-driven fractures in ultra-low permeability formations. The FEA simulations, in the absence of cavitation, predict an unrealistically large suction (negative pressure) ahead of the crack tip, which grows without bound upon refinement of the FEA mesh. Owing to such a large suction at the crack tip, the breakdown pressure obtained from the FEA simulations is anomalously large and lacks objectivity (i.e., progressively increases upon a continued refinement of the FEA mesh). Mechanistic insights gained from FEA simulations suggest that the negative pressure ahead of the crack tip is likely to cause cavitation of the pore fluid, resulting in creation of a partially-saturated region around the crack tip. This means that irrespective of the initial saturation of the rock, inclusion of cavitation and subsequent alteration in pore fluid saturation in FEA simulations is necessary for objectively modeling the fluid-driven fractures in ultra-low permeability formations. The revised FEA simulations of hydraulic fracturing show that the inclusion of cavitation and subsequent alteration in pore fluid saturation in FEA simulations eliminates the unrealistically large suction at the crack tip, regularizes the breakdown pressure, and removes the noted lack of objectivity. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.