ANTHROPOGENIC MODIFICATION OF A HILLY SOUTHERN TAIGA LANDSCAPE IN THE SPHERE OF INFLUENCE OF A COPPER SMELTER

The environmental impact of copper-smelter emissions in a southern taiga landscape is analyzed in terms of three concentric zones: (1) an inner zone of total environmental disruption; (2) a zone of heavy modification; (3) a zone of slight modification. The changes in vegetation cover resulting from the emissions are described for each zone. [The study area is not identified beyond being in Chelyabinsk Oblast of the southern Urals, but the context makes clear that the paper deals with the copper smelter of Karabash, a town with a population of 20,000, 50 miles northwest of Chelyabinsk–Editor, S.G.] A related article on smelter pollution in the taiga appeared in Soviet Geography, April 1977.     

THE ROLE AND MAIN FUNCTIONS OF THE OUTER ZONE IN THE TERRITORIAL STRUCTURE OF THE MOSCOW REGION

The proposed basic functions and structure of the “Outer Zone” of the Moscow Region are outlined as part of a long-term physical planning model. The zone, which includes the Transition Zone, Linear Anti-Cores I and II, and Peripheral Zone I of the original model (Soviet Geography, February 1987), is to serve primarily as a check to territorial growth of the Core (a function once assigned to the more centrally located, but now largely developed Buffer Zone) and a potential base for new economic development in the future. A ranking of sites for limited, more immediate development is included (translated by H. L. Haslett, Birmingham, UK).     

CHEMICAL ASSAYS OF TEMPER AND CLAY: MODELLING POTTERY PRODUCTION AND EXCHANGE IN THE UPLANDS NORTH OF THE PHOENIX BASIN,ARIZONA, USA*

A lack of mineralogical variation characterizes the prehistoric pottery in the uplands of central Arizona. Virtually all of the ceramics in that region were tempered with phyllite, which has previously precluded provenance analyses and the investigation of pottery production and distribution in the upland zone. As shown with assays with an electron microprobe, however, both the clay fraction and the temper fragments are chemically diverse and geographically distinct, allowing many of the phyllite‐tempered wares to be sourced, thereby leading to models about the organization of ceramic production and exchange in the upland zone north of the Phoenix Basin.     

BASIC PRINCIPLES FOR A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF DEVELOPMENT AND LOCATION OF PRODUCTIVE FORCES IN THE NONCHERNOZEM ZONE OF THE RSFSR

A development strategy is proposed for the Nonchernozem zone of the European RSFSR, which is now the object of a major program of rural modernization (see S.G., March, April 1975). The principal factors affecting future strategy are geographical situation and physical setting, resource potential, level of economic development and settlement, availability of skilled labor and technical progress. The proposed strategy calls for focusing northern development on resource exploitation, fostering manufacturing development in the central oblasts outside the major industrial nodes, where industrial expansion should be restricted, and limiting industrial construction in the southern grain-growing oblasts to avoid diverting valuable agricultural land to nonfarm uses. The Nonchernozem zone will continue to be the nation's research and development center and aim at economic growth through intensive methods in view of a labor shortage.     

THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE CHINESE BRONZE AGE

The Chinese Bronze Age culture from the 19^th to the 1^st century BC can be divided into four zones: the Central Plain in the middle and the lower Yellow River region; the Northern zone along the Great Wall; the Southern zone, south to the middle and the lower Yangzi River; the Southwestern zone covering the upper Yangzi River. In each zone, bronzes are not only different in types and styles but also function differently responding to the processes of the early state formation and social development. More precisely, in the first zone, there are mainly ritual bronzes, serving as symbols of the social and political hierarchy. In the second zone, there are mainly utilitarian items such as weapons, tools, bronzes of everyday use, ornaments, as well as horse‐chariot fittings. Bronze musical instruments characterise the third zone. And bronzes of the fourth zone are realistic or symbolic in style, depicting scenes of social life. Though having different cultural origins and characteristics, the four zones communicate with and influence each other continuously, creating a dynamic cultural landscape of the Chinese Bronze Age.     

BASIC TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FOREST INDUSTRY ALONG THE BAYKAL-AMUR MAINLINE

The zone served by the Baykal-Amur Mainline is expected ultimately to contribute roughly one-tenth of the Soviet Union's timber products, which would represent one-fourth to one-third of the freight traffic of the railroad in some segments. Total removals of roundwood are now roughly 15 million m³ in the zone to be served by the BAM, including 11 million in the inner zone (total Soviet roundwood removals now run 380–390 million m³ a year). In the foreseeable future, removals in the BAM zone are expected to reach 30 to 35 million m³, including 20 million in the inner zone. Projections for 10 logging districts suggest that most of the logging activities will be concentrated at the two extremities of the BAM—the Upper Lena district (34% of projected removals) and the Komsomol'sk district (39%). Timber processing complexes will also be concentrated in these two areas.     

Cretaceous foraminiferal biostratigraphy of Queensland

The distribution of foraminiferids within Aptian-Albian marine deposits of the Laura, Carpentaria, Eromanga, and Surat Basins in Queensland is described. The foraminiferal distribution patterns are largely a reflection of environmental differences which existed within the basins. Among the benthonic foraminiferids, two major faunal associations are recognized: the Ammobaculites association reflecting hyposaline, cool, shallow water conditions; and the Marssonella association indicating normal marine, open continental shelf environments. As the faunal content of these associations is markedly different, separate time-stratigraphic zonations are proposed: the Ammobaculites association is divided into the Textularia cushmani zone (early Aptian), T. cushmani-Bigenerina pitmani zone (late Aptian), B. pitmani zone (late Aptian), B. pitmani-Riyadhella crespinae zone (early Albian), and R. crespinae zone (early-late Albian); the Marssonella association contains the Anomalinoides intermedia zone (early-middle Albian in Queensland), and the A. cenomanica zone (late Albian in Queensland). Planktonic foraminiferids, which occur with both benthonic associations, are used to correlate the benthonic zonal schemes, and are themselves zoned separately: Hedbergella planispira zone (early-middle Albian), H. infracretacea zone (middle-early late Albian), and the H. delrioensis zone (late Albian). International stage correlations are based on certain foraminiferids and associated ammonites.

The distribution of foraminiferids in Queensland during the late Early Cretaceous suggests that 1, climate exerted a uniform influence over the region; 2, cool, hyposaline, shallow water conditions prevailed over much of Queensland; 3, open marine shelf conditions (of normal salinity) existed during the Albian in the Laura and northeastern Carpentaria Basins; and 4, during the Albian, at least, there was a northern seaway to the open ocean.     

THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGIN OF BITUMEN EXCAVATED FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE NORTHERNMOST ISLAND IN JAPAN BY MEANS OF STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF FI–MS DATA*

The origin of bitumen excavated from archaeological sites in Hokkaido, the northernmost island in Japan, was sought by means of field‐ionization mass spectrometry (FI–MS) and gas chromatography – mass spectrometry (GC–MS) of the hydrocarbon components. The field‐ionization mass spectra were decomposed by Z‐numbers into several components, where the Z‐number refers to z in the formula C _n H _2n+z . This is equivalent to the deficit number of H atoms, when compared to the corresponding saturated hydrocarbon, which is related to the number of saturated hydrocarbon rings in alkanes. By use of the spectral intensities of the seven alkane components in each sample, multiple discriminant analysis was employed for the data of raw bitumen samples and excavated samples from archaeological sites. Based on this method and the gas chromatogram type, the following bitumen trade in the prehistoric age of Japan was elucidated: bitumen from Niigata, one of the main sources on the main island of Japan, spread to the north in 2000 bc , probably via the coastal zone, and reached a small island near the north end of Hokkaido. Bitumen from Sakhalin reached the central lowland in Hokkaido, but it went no further. Bitumen from Akita, another main source on the main island, spread over northern Honshu much earlier and reached the Oshima peninsula, the southwestern part of Hokkaido. The Akita bitumen scattered into the central lowland after the Niigata and Sakhalin bitumen. This area is believed to be the place where people from the south and the north met in those periods.     

NATUFIAN INTERACTIONS ALONG THE JORDAN VALLEY

Abstract

Building on recent observations made by Belfer-Cohen and Goring-Morris, this study proposes that a zone of intensive interaction existed between communities in the Jordan Valley during much of the Early Natufian period (c. 12,500–11,000 cal bc). Recently published data demonstrate distinctive and even unique links between open-air Jordan Valley sites. Whereas some models have utilised specific types of material culture (e.g. bone artefacts or art items) to identify cultural provinces in the Natufian, this enquiry uses multiple categories of evidence (site types, shared artefact types, artefacts with close stylistic similarities, embodied behavioural practices, and raw material movements) to propose a Natufian sub-region in the Jordan Valley. The likely existence of a post-Lisan “Damya Lake” is suggested as a rationale for extensive north–south contexts south along the Rift Valley, especially for the transport of heavy materials such as basaltic rock. In the future, scientific techniques such as the isotopic analysis of human skeletal remains, elemental characterisation of raw material source, and reliable dating of excavated sites will prove to be decisive in evaluating the model.     

Mathematical modeling of phase separation of seawater near an igneous dike

We provide a simplified treatment of phase separation of seawater near an igneous dike to obtain rough estimates of the thickness and duration of the two‐phase zone, the volume fractions of vapor and brine formed, and their distribution in the subsurface. Under the assumption that heat transfer occurs mainly by thermal conduction we show that, for a 2‐m wide dike, the maximum width of the two phase zone is approximately 20 cm and that a zone of halite is initially deposited near the dike wall. The two‐phase zone is mainly filled with vapor. For a value of thermal diffusivity of a = 10^?6 m² sec^?1, the two‐phase zone begins to disappear at the base of the system after 13 days, and disappears completely by 16 days. For a lower value of thermal diffusivity, the width of the two‐phase region does not change appreciably but its duration increases as a^?1. The width of the two‐phase zone determined by this simplified model agrees reasonably well with transient numerical solutions for the analogous two‐phase flow in a pure water system; however the duration of two‐phase flow is matched better using a smaller value of a. We compare the seafloor values of vapor salinity and temperature given by the model with vapor salinity data from the ‘A’ vent at 9–10°N on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) and argue that either non‐equilibrium thermodynamic behavior or near‐surface mixing of brine with vapor in the two‐phase region may explain the discrepancies between model predictions and data.     

FINITE FAULT MODELLING OF NEAR-FIELD ROCK MOTIONS IN THE NEW MADRID SEISMIC ZONE

Due to lack of strong motion records, point-source and finite-fault models have been used to simulate far-field motions at Memphis and St. Louis Cities from earthquake events in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. However, near-field rock motions and their associated uncertainties have never been studied within this zone. The objectives of this study are to develop a simple procedure to account for the uncertainty effect of earthquake source parameters, to analyze the sensitivity of near-field rock motions to input source parameters, and finally, to generate rock motions at two sites located within 11 km from the southwestern segment (strike-fault) and a third site bove the Reelfoot Rift (reverse fault) using a well-validated finite-fault simulation program; FINSIM. An equal-weight logic tree was developed to ensure that the assumed uncertainties are within physical, geological, and seismological constraints. For each site, 100 acceleration time histories with various combinations of parameter uncertainties were respectively simulated for an earthquake of M _w 7.0, 7.5, and 8.0 from each of the two faults. Their average spectral accelerations were in good agreement with those derived from the attenuation relation-ships representative to the Central and Eastern United States. Numerical simulations indicated that spectral accelerations are sensitive to the slip velocity, depth to top of fault, fault strike, slip distribution, and hypocentre location along the strike.     

MICROZONATION OF THE EXPECTED SEISMIC SITE EFFECTS ACROSS PORT VILA,VANUATU

The city of Port Vila, Vanuatu, is located in one of the most active seismic regions on earth. Earthquakes are felt frequently and, due to very rapid plate convergence rates, return period of large earthquakes (M>6) in the New Hebrides Benioff zone can be less than 10 years. Even though Port Vila does not lie on an identified seismic fault zone, strong motions by nearby earthquakes have to be expected due to the city's geographical location close to the plate boundary of New Hebrides convergence zone. An accurate estimation of the seismic ground motion across the city is of prime importance for urban developments and mitigation of earthquake risk. Following many examples of monitored strong earthquakes in the current century, it is evident that the local site effects may have a dominant contribution to the intensity of damage and destruction. In this study we focussed on the first stage of associating site effects and seismic hazard by preparing a microzonation map for Port Vila. The seismic microzonation of the city has been carried out to provide a detailed map of the zones that exhibit site effects in terms of resonance frequencies and approximated amplification of the ground shaking. Having in mind that these data will be used in improving building design to sustain strong ground motions, our analysis is limited to the frequency band of 1–10 Hz, corresponding to the expected resonance of different types of buildings in Port Vila. The Nakamura technique has been used to estimate site amplification effects from single station noise recordings. Interestingly, excluding one site located on an old dump zone, the amplification factors at about the 100 sites surveyed in Port Vila remain below 3 with an average well below 2 in the 1 to 10 Hz frequency band. These results suggest that there is no significant Vs velocity change in consequently layered material and that the uppermost sedimentary layers in the surveyed down town area are relatively thin. These observations are in agreement with the mapping of limestone terraces throughout Port Vila area. However, both the surface geology and results from seismic zonation indicate a thicker (up to several tens of meters) sedimentary cover around the Bauerfield airport and in the Mele terrace zone. Low resonance frequencies (around and below 1 Hz) and amplification factor of the order of 5 were observed over this large area, immediately outside Port Vila. Any building development in this area should take these results into account.     

THE COLOURED TESSERAE DECORATING THE VAULTS OF THE FARAGOLA BALNEUM (ASCOLI SATRIANO,FOGGIA, SOUTHERN ITALY)

Twenty‐six tesserae (red, orange, yellow, light amber, green, blue and white) from the balneum of the villa at Faragola (Ascoli Satriano, Foggia) have been examined by colorimetry, ICP–MS, ICP–OES and SEM–EDS. Different types of calcareous sands have been used as the source of silica (network former), also providing the stabilizing agent. A natron‐type soda source served as the network modifier; however, the use of a sodium‐rich plant ash and the recycling process have been hypothesized for the production of two tesserae (FT 1 red and FT 3 orange). The colouring and opacifying agents were Cu oxide (cuprite, orange), metallic copper (red), Pb antimonates (yellow), Ca antimonates (white), a mixture of copper (Cu²⁺) and Pb antimonates (green), a mixture of cobalt (Co²⁺) or copper (Cu²⁺) and Ca antimonates (blue). The light amber tesserae should owe their colour to iron (Fe³⁺) alone or associated with sulphide (S^2?) and Ca antimonates. It is likely that the Faragola tesserae were locally produced in a secondary glass workshop.     

Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) microplankton from the Carpentaria Basin,northern Queensland

The Neocomian upper Helby Beds, basal Rolling Downs Group and Gilbert River Formation of the Carpentaria Basin contain a dinoflagellate sequence divisible into three zonal intervals; the zones represent the oldest continuous marine Cretaceous record for eastern Australia. Zone DK1 (dated latest Jurassic to Berriasian) commences with the first appearance of four species, zone DK2 (dated Valanginian) with that of four or five species, and zone DK3 (dated Hauterivian to Barremian) with that of three species.

Biostratigraphic aspects are discussed of species selected as possible zone marker fossils in so far as they (a) are relatively poorly known, or represent new species, and (b) have no previously published Neocomian record. New combinations are proposed of one acritarch species and six dinoflagellate species. One new acritarch genus and species, Pseudofromea collaris, and four new dinoflagellate species — Canningia crassicingulata, Cleistosphaeridium australe, Cyclonephelium asymmetricum, and Muderongia testudinaria — are proposed and described.     

Palynology of the Jurassic-Cretaceous transition in the Rajmahal Formation,West Bengal,India

Borehole PGD-1A penetrated Cretaceous Rajmahal Formation and underlying Triassic Panchet Formation between 288–423.51 m. Palynoassemblages recovered within the Mesozoic sequence are assigned to three palynozones closely comparable to Australian assemblages. The oldest palynozone is the Verrucosisporites-Lundbladispora zone, which occurs between 373.5–376 m in the uppermost Panchet Formation. The first occurrence of Callialasporites turbatus occurs at 373.5 m and signals the presence of Jurassic deposits. The overlying Infratrappean greyshales (371.5–354 m) of the Rajmahal Formation is represented by the Murospora florida palynozone of Late Jurassic age. The youngest palynozone identified is the Cicatricosisporites australiensis zone which occurs within the Inter-trappeans (346.35–295.0 m) of the Rajmahal Formation. Based on ages assigned to the M. florida and C. australiensis zones in Australia, the Rajmahal Formation is dated as Oxfordian-Berriasian. The first appearance datums (FADs) of Cicatricosisporites australiensis, Crybelosporites stylolsus, Aequitriradites spinulosus and Lycopodiacidites dettmannae suggest that the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary probably lies just within the interval 346.35–328.81 m in Inter-trappean bed II.     

Evidence of an Eleventh-Century AD Cola Nitida Trade into the Middle Niger Region

Kola nut (Cola cf. nitida) and Safou fruit (Dacryodes edulis) remains have been discovered in eleventh- to fourteenth-century archaeological contexts at Togu Missiri near Ségou in Mali. These remains are evidence of early trade in perishable foodstuffs from the West African forest zone into the Middle Niger region. On the basis of these finds, this paper argues that long-distance trade links were well established by the end of the first millennium AD. It thereby supports the hypothesis that dates the inception of trade between the West African forest zone and the savanna regions to the first millennium AD. The circumstances of the find are discussed, as are the implications for our understanding of the wider exchange network based on the Niger River system in the late first and early second millennium CE.

     

Early Carboniferous Siphonodella (Conodonta) faunas from eastern Australia

Early to Middle Tournaisian conodont faunas with Siphonodella from ten sections in eastern Australia, between Gloucester in New South Wales and Rockhampton in Queensland, may be referred to the following ‘standard’ zones; 1 sulcata, 2 upper duplicata, 3 sandbergi, 4 lower crenulata and 5 isosticha-upper crenulata, in ascending order. In eastern Australia the first occurrences of Gnathodus cuneiformis, G. delicatus, G. typicus and Protognathodus cordiformis, near the base of the lower crenulata zone, are significantly earlier than in Europe and North America. Consequently the base of the isosticha-upper crenulata zone in eastern Australia is defined by the first appearance of G. punctatus rather than that of G. delicatus. On the present evidence it is difficult to reconcile some brachiopod and conodont occurrences in the Early-Middle Tournaisian of eastern Australia.

Seventeen discrete conodont species are discussed, four of which are described informally: Dinodus sp. nov. A, Dinodus sp. nov. B, Pinacognathus sp. nov. A, and a species of Siphonodella transitional between S. cooperi and S. crenulata.     

RETHINKING RACE HISTORY: THE ROLE OF THE ALBINO IN THE FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT LIFE SCIENCES1

The scholarly quest to recover the construction of racial difference in the Enlightenment‐era life sciences generally overlooks a singular fact: the vast majority of eighteenth‐century thinkers who were engaged in theorizing the human were often far more preoccupied with preserving a belief in an essential human sameness than they were in creating categories of essential difference. This article charts the problem of a potential human sameness as it related to questions of category, biological processes, and the human and non‐human through an examination of a neglected and key construct in the eighteenth‐century life sciences, the albino. The albino was absorbed into a scientific narrative in 1744 when Maupertuis used the concept to put forward a theory of shared origins or monogenesis. Positing that the nègre blanc—quite literally a “white Negro”—was a racial throwback, a reversion to a primitive whiteness, Maupertuis inspired a new generation of thinkers, most notably the great French naturalist Buffon, to assert categorically that blacks had degenerated from a prototype white variety. The significance of the concept nègre blanc, which has not been studied sufficiently, cannot be overestimated. In addition to the fact that the new role of the nègre blanc clearly said as much about whiteness as it did about blackness, the albino generated a new diagnostic chronology of the human species.     

THE ENGLISH ARISTOCRACY

An Open Elite? England 1540–1880. By Lawrence Stone and Jeanne C. Fawtier Stone. Aristocratic Century: The Peerage of Eighteenth-Century England. By John Cannon. The English Aristocracy: A Comparative Synthesis. By M.L. Bush.     

Identifying King Stephen’s artillery

References to artillery in sources for English history from 1066 to 1189 are typically vague. Eschewing the technical Latin terms ballista, mangonel or onager, medieval writers in the period tended towards generic words like machina. This habit prohibits the positive identification of specific weapon types present at Anglo-Norman/Angevin sieges and thus full interpretations of the engagements themselves. This essay suggests an alternative, contextual methodology. After first assessing the physicality of a siege zone (landscape, topography and fortification architecture), it applies knowledge about artillery type and operation (range to target, trajectory, shot type and size) in order to see what weapons could and could not have been deployed in the zone. When such contextual information is available, the method can help identify weapon type in the absence of specific terminology. The examples presented here are King Stephen’s sieges of Lincoln in 1141 and Faringdon in 1145.