Development of Trigger Levels to Assess Catchment Disturbance on Stream Suspended Sediment Loads in the Magela Creek Catchment,Northern Territory,Australia

Trigger levels for fine suspended sediment (FSS) load in streams are required to identify rainfall-runoff events that have significantly elevated FSS loads, compared with expected background loads, as a result of catchment disturbance. Stream FSS load data collected in the mine-impacted Magela Creek catchment in the wet-dry tropics were used to derive water quality management trigger levels for two approaches – a Before-After-Control-Impact Paired difference design (BACIP) and a regression relationship between observed FSS load and corresponding event discharge characteristics. The results indicate that both the BACIP and regression relationship approaches behave similarly, with similar FSS load events elevated above trigger levels. Notwithstanding this, it is recommended that in order to reliably assess the location and magnitude of a catchment disturbance on FSS load, a combination of BACIP and regression relationship approaches must be adopted. In this study, an event with a FSS load above trigger levels associated with both BACIP and the regression relationship fitted for the downstream site is considered to be significantly elevated as a result of a disturbance within the mine-impacted region. While this technique cannot conclusively determine whether the cause of the disturbance is mine-related or natural (such as fire or bank erosion), it is an efficient statistical method of identifying events that warrant further investigation and management action, if required.     

Predicting the Fate of Artefacts in Energetic, Shallow Marine Environments: an Approach to Site Management

A poor understanding of the physical environment often hinders management of marine artefacts. A study was conducted of an early-18th-century shipwreck to test whether the wreckage could have settled through ∼3.5 m of substrate. Results indicate that the wreck could have settled via episodic scour processes driven by storms and tidal inlet migration. A numerical model, modified to include characteristics of the underlying geology, predicts continued scour under moderate waves. Scour processes appear to have been interrupted by an erosion-resistant underlying layer, so that the wreck now remains exposed, subject to degradation. A generalized approach to predict burial or exposure of other shallow-water artefacts is developed.
© 2006 The Authors     

The 2012 acid mine drainage (AMD) crisis in Carolina's municipal water supply

ABSTRACT

There are growing concerns in South Africa about the threat that acid mine drainage (AMD) poses to local natural water resources in many of the country's mining areas. Since the beginning of the 21^st century, the toxic water has been responsible for pollution in parts of the country. Government and operators in the country's water sector have actively been working in recent years at addressing the problem. This article deals with a contemporary history of an AMD crisis in the coalmining town of Carolina, in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa, and explains how the matter was eventually resolved. The discourse focuses on how people of Carolina responded to the contamination of the municipality's water supply system and eventually chose to follow the path of active protest. The water crisis even made a detour to the high court, with a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) actively supporting the cause of local residents. Although by September 2012 the town's water supply was restored, the community remained distrustful of the local authority's ability to secure a consistent supply of good quality water. The authorities took some measures to restore trust. People had been traumatised and sound relations had to be restored in the aftermath of the crisis. The Carolina crisis of 2012 is contemplated from the perspective of the current threat that AMD poses to South Africa's finite water resources and the danger of mining in sensitive areas.     

Coire a’ Cheud‐chnoic,the ‘hummocky moraine’ of Glen Torridon

EUROPE

France; A Geographical Survey. By P. Pinchemel, translated by C. Trollope and A. J. Hunt. 454 pp. Illustrations, Tables, Bibliography. Bell, London, 1969. 100s.

Italy. By George Kish. 8 × 5 1/4. 125 pp. 12 figures and index. Van Nostrand, New York, 1969. $1.lb95.

AFRICA

A Historical Geography of Ghana. By Kwamima B. Dickson. 15#lb5 × 23.lb5 cms. xiv + 379 pp., 58 maps and diagrams, 7 tables, appendices, bibliography, index. Cambridge U.P., London, 1969. 150s.

The Soil Resources of Tropical Africa. Edited by R. P. Moss. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Cambridge University Press, 1968. £2.

ASIA

Afghanistan. By Ludolph Fischer. Geomedical Monograph Series No. 2, 12 × 8 1/2. Text (German and English), 16 plates and 10 maps. Springer‐Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg and New York, 1968. DM48, $12.lb00.

GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY

Readings in the Earth Sciences, Vols. 1 and 2. 11 1/4 × 8 1/2 Published W. H. Freeman, San Francisco, 1969. 94s. each.

Fife and Angus Geology. By A. R. MacGregor. 266 pp. Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1968. 21s.

METEOROLOGY

Essentials of Meteorology. By D. H. McIntosh and A. S. Thorn. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. xv + 239 pp., numerous illustrations, answers to problems. Taylor and Francis, London. 20s.

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY

Industrial Britain: The North West. By David M. Smith. 10 × 6 1/4, 271 pp., 36 figures, 31 plates, bibliography and statistical appendix. David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969. 95s.

Industrial Demand for Water: A study of South East England. By Judith Anne Rees. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2 L.S.E. Research Monographs 3, xiv + 194 pp., Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969, London. 65s.

CARTOGRAPHY AND MAPS

The Antonine Wall. Ordnance Survey 2 1/2 Inch Map. 1969. 11s.

Maps and Air Photographs. By G. C. Dickinson. 10 × 17 1/2. xiv + 286 pp. Edward Arnold, London, 1969. 45s.

Atlas Four. 10 1/2 × 8 1/2. 115pages, + index 60 pages. Collins/Longmans, 1969. 15s.

EDUCATIONAL

Learning Through the Environment. By Muriel F. S. Hopkins. 7 3/4 × 5 1/8. 151 pages, 26 figures. Longmans, London. 1969. 15s.

Investigating Geography. By J. Philip Dodd. 9 3/4 × 7 1/4. 214 pp., 192 figures. Heinemann, London, 1969. 15s.

The London Regional Geographies. Book 3: Asia. By Leonard Hadlow and Reginald Abbott. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. 294 pp., 145 figs. U. of London Press, 1969. 18s.

A Geography of Manufacturing. By H. R. Jarrett. 8 3/4 × 5 3/4. xvii + 349 pp. 67 illustrations. Macdonald &; Evans, 1969, London. 35s.

The Mediterranean Lands. By J. Brannigan and H. R. Jarrett. The New Certificate Geography Series: Advanced Level. 9 × 5l. xiv + 620, 150 illustrations. Macdonald and Evans Ltd., 1969. 38s.     

In Situ Preservation and Monitoring of the James Matthews Shipwreck Site

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the archaeological community has been moving away from the more traditional methods of excavation and recovery of underwater cultural heritage towards a less intrusive management approach, essentially involving the preservation of sites in situ. This trend has been politically galvanized in Article 2, point 5 of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (), which states that ‘The preservation in-situ of underwater cultural heritage shall be considered as the ?rst option before allowing or engaging in any activities directed at this heritage’. Over the years, a number of different remediation strategies have been utilized in order to protect underwater cultural heritage sites in situ, and most of the techniques or combinations thereof involve reburial of sites. Reburial may be an appropriate means of stabilizing and decreasing the deterioration rate of a site, however, there needs to be a holistic approach to the study of the environment, before and after reburial, to gain a full understanding of the changes that are occurring on the site and determine the effectiveness of the technique.

In early 2000, the James Matthews, a copper-sheathed, wooden-hulled vessel wrecked in 1841 south of Fremantle, Western Australia, was identi?ed as being under considerable threat from increased site exposure due to a combination of natural near-shore sedimentary processes and industrial activity in the immediate area. An extensive on-site conservation survey was carried out to establish the state of preservation of the wreck and provide information regarding the physico-chemical and biological nature of the environment prior to the implementation of any mitigation strategy. In 2003 it was con?rmed that further exposure of the site was occurring and devising a management plan was of paramount importance.

Since this time a number of different reburial techniques have been trialled on the site and these include sand bags of differing material composition, polymeric shade cloth, arti?cial sea grass mats made from polyvinyl chloride bunting, and the use of interlocking medium density polyethylene ‘crash barrier’ units in a cofferdam arrangement to con?ne deposited sand. The geological, physico-chemical, and microbiological changes in the burial environments have been monitored over this time. Furthermore, the broader scale, near-shore sedimentary processes affecting the site are being assessed in order to establish the reasons behind the continuing sediment loss. In situ preservation of the iron ?ttings by cathodic protection has also been included in these ?eld trials. In this paper the results from these experiments will be summarized. This information will be used to ?nalize the design of the full-scale in situ preservation strategy for the site and assist in establishing a post-reburial monitoring programme that will measure the success of the adopted remediation technique.     

Between Control and Empowerment: Governmental Strategies towards the Development of the Non-profit Sector in China

Continuous economic reform and social development have induced and forced the Chinese government to adjust its strategies towards non-profit development. Enhanced state capacities, emergent legitimacy of non-profit organisations, genuine demand for non-profit partners, public management modernisation and other factors have not only enriched the “control” mandate by introducing persuasive means, but have also driven the government to become a major empowering force for non-profit development. Advanced local governments in China take the lead in adopting mixed strategies of control and empowerment to forge a path of non-profit development in favour of non-profit organisations that are politically inactive and professionally capable. This paper shows the resilience of the regime by presenting examples of evolving governmental strategies of control and empowerment at the local and national levels. It argues that the Chinese government’s non-profit strategies are increasingly multidimensional and complicated, featuring changes in purpose, constraints, available means and government–non-profit relations.     

Changing views in Canadian geomorphology: are we seeing the landscape for the processes?

Geomorphology in Canada, as elsewhere, has evolved into an essentially bipartite discipline focusing either on ‘process’ or broader ‘historical’ (Quaternary) landscape interpretation. A growing emphasis on process‐oriented research that relies increasingly on instrumentation and computational technologies has occurred. Critics of such research note limited applicability for landscape evolution, fashionability of methods and limited societal relevance. Indeed, some say we are not seeing the landscape for the processes. This article discusses the changing nature of geomorphology since the Quantitative Revolution of the 1950s including new advances, recent trends and challenges. Publication trends and recent advances suggest that the discipline is very healthy (following a slump in the early 1990s) and continues to evolve, which may reflect increasing research infrastructure and/or funding opportunities and new publications spotlighting Canadian research. Unfortunately, fundamental (less applied) research is threatened by funding program shifts, changing institutional pressures and a decline in research capacity from retirement attrition, and student recruitment challenges. Three research priorities are recommended: (1) continued fundamental research, (2) more integrated modelling to link micro scale processes to macro scale landform behaviour and (3) improvements in profiling our discipline amongst students and related professionals.     

Ultrastructure and DNA sequence analysis of single Concentricystis cells from Alta Val Tiberina Holocene sediment

We successfully combined ultrastructure and chloroplast DNA analysis for single specimens of Concentricystis isolated from Holocene sediment by a palynology method based on filtration, progressive sieving and percoll-gradient sedimentation to concentrate fossil cells. We compared our method with the traditional harsh chemical treatment commonly used to isolate fossil pollen and spores. With our method, the cytoplasm of Concentricystis was sufficiently preserved to distinguish several cell structures by light and electron microscopy. DNA analysis of Concentricystis involved PCR amplification using specific primers for a spacer region of the chloroplast genome. Significant homologies were found with the Angiosperm chloroplast genome by BLAST DNA search for PCR product sequences.     

肯尼迪与美国洲际导弹发展研究

火箭和导弹技术的突破使核武器的发展进入了一个新的时期。20世纪50年代末,苏联首先掌握了陆基洲际导弹,对美国的国家安全提出了新的挑战,从而引发了美国国内对“导弹差距”和基本国家安全政策的一系列辩论。肯尼迪执政时期,美国洲际导弹生存能力和进攻能力的改进,对其国家安全和外交政策产生了重要的影响。