Unusual landing of cephalopods along Ratnagiri coast off Maharashtra

Cephalopods are a marine fishery resource of increasing importance along Maharashtra coast and mostly exploited by trawlers. In 2017 cephalopods forms 9.4% of total marine fish landing of Maharashtra. During month of mid-October to mid- November 2017 there was sudden spurt in Indian squid (Uroteuthis (Photololigo) duvaucelii) and Pharaoh cuttlefish (Sepia pharaonis) catch at Harnai and Rajiwada fish landing centre of Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra

Diversity among clients of female sex workers in India: comparing risk profiles and intervention impact by site of solicitation. implications for the vulnerability of less visible female sex workers.

BACKGROUND: It seems generally accepted that targeted interventions in India have been successful in raising condom use between female sex workers (FSWs) and their clients. Data from clients of FSWs have been under-utilised to analyse the risk environments and vulnerability of both partners. METHODS: The 2009 Integrated Biological and Behavioural Assessment survey sampled clients of FSWs at hotspots in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (n=5040). The risk profile of clients in terms of sexual networking and condom use are compared across usual pick-up place. We used propensity score matching (PSM) to estimate the average treatment effect on treated (ATT) of intervention messages on clients' consistent condom use with FSW. RESULTS: Clients of the more hidden sex workers who solicit from home or via phone or agents had more extensive sexual networks, reporting casual female partners as well as anal intercourse with male partners and FSW. Clients of brothel-based sex workers, who were the least educated, reported the fewest number/categories of partners, least anal sex, and lowest condom use (41%). Consistent condom use varied widely by state: 65% in Andhra Pradesh, 36% in Maharashtra and 29% in Tamil Nadu. Exposure to intervention messages on sexually transmitted infections was lowest among men frequenting brothels (58%), and highest among men soliciting less visible sex workers (70%). Exposure had significant impact on consistent condom use, including among clients of home-based sex workers (ATT 21%; p=0.001) and among men soliciting other more hidden FSW (ATT 17%; p=0.001). In Tamil Nadu no impact could be demonstrated. CONCLUSION: Commercial sex happens between two partners and both need to be, and can be, reached by intervention messages. Commercial sex is still largely unprotected and as the sex industry gets more diffuse a greater focus on reaching clients of sex workers seems important given their extensive sexual networks

Petrogenesis of the end-Cretaceous diamondiferous Behradih orangeite pipe: implication for mantle plume–lithosphere interaction in the Bastar craton, Central India

We present mineral chemistry, geochemistry and Sr and Nd isotope data of drillcore samples from the Late Cretaceous (65 Ma), diamondiferous Behradih ultramafic pipe, Bastar craton, Central India, which is emplaced synchronous with the Deccan flood basalt eruption. The rock is affected by pervasive serpentine–talc–carbonate alteration and consists of pelletal lapilli and variously sized olivine and phlogopite macrocrysts, set in a groundmass of abundant clinopyroxene, chrome spinel, apatite, Fe-rich perovskite (<50 μm), zircon, titanite, rutile and calcite. Mineralogical studies identify the Behradih pipe as orangeite (formerly termed as Group II kimberlite) and establish the occurrence of such rocks outside the Kaapvaal craton, southern Africa. As the age of the Behradih orangeite overlaps with that of the main phase of the Deccan flood basalt magmatism, we infer a common tectonomagmatic control vis-a-vis the Deccan-related mantle plume. Trace element ratios and the Nd isotope signatures of the Behradih pipe imply that the Deccan plume has only contributed heat, but not substantial melt, to the Behradih magma with a cause-and-consequence relationship between them. Our study highlights (a) a striking similarity in the genesis of Late Cretaceous orangeites associated with the continental flood basalts in the Kaapvaal and Bastar cratons but related to different mantle plumes and (b) the role of plume–lithosphere interaction in the generation of orangeites

⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar dating of the Kodomali pipe, Bastar craton, India:A Pan-African (491±11 Ma) age of diamondiferous kimberlite emplacement

We report a 40Ar/39Ar whole rock age of 491±11 Ma for the hypabyssal facies, diamondiferous, Kodomali diatreme from the Mainpur kimberlite field (MKF) located 135 km SE of Raipur city, within the Bastar craton, Central India. This age is well supported by the available stratigraphic evidence and also by the recently published Nd isotopic data of the pipe. This study provides the first radiometric evidence for Palaeozoic kimberlite activity of Pan-African age in the Indian shield and recognizes a new and important diamondiferous kimberlite emplacement epoch in this part of the Gondwanaland. Our results also highlight the fact that kimberlite and lamproite emplacement in various Indian cratons occurred over a large time interval and was not essentially contemporaneous during Mesoproterozoic (-11090Ma) as suggested by some earlier workers. If the Pan African age of the Kodomali kimberlite corresponds to a collision with the craton, then the amalgamation of the Indian craton into the Indo-Antarctic supercontinent indeed took place considerably much later than previously assumed.</p