西藏纳如松多铅锌矿床成矿岩体形成机制:岩浆锆石证据

纳如松多铅锌矿床位于拉萨地块中部隆格尔-工布江达断隆带中段,以发育隐爆角砾岩型和矽卡岩型铅锌矿化为特征.西矿段与矽卡岩型铅锌矿化相关的岩体为粗斑和细斑两种石英正长斑岩,对其锆石进行的U-Pb 定年、稀土元素、Lu-Hf同位素和锆石群型特征分析表明,粗斑石英正长斑岩侵位于(62.54±0.77) Ma,细斑石英正长斑岩侵位于(62.47±0.91)Ma;锆石稀土元素具有相似的左倾配分模式和Ce正异常、Eu负异常,在U/Yb-Y图解上均落于陆壳锆石范围;粗斑石英正长斑岩的176Hf/177Hf介于0.282577～0.282803,εHf(t)变化于-5.58～+2.21,反映岩浆来源于地壳物质的部分熔融,并有地幔物质的加入;锆石群型特征显示粗斑和细斑石英正长斑岩为地壳地幔混合岩浆成因的花岗岩.上述结果说明纳如松多铅锌矿床的岩浆侵入与成矿作用发生于印度-亚洲大陆碰撞造山的主碰撞期.由于印度陆壳随回转的新特提斯洋壳板片一起向拉萨地块之下陡俯冲,并产生异常热源,诱发了地幔物质上涌和上覆地壳部分熔融,形成的地幔地壳混合成因岩浆经结晶分异演化后上升侵位,形成矿区内粗斑和细斑两种石英正长斑岩及相关的铅锌矿化.     

内蒙古双尖子山银多金属矿床锡矿化的发现及其意义

大兴安岭南段是中国重要的有色金属成矿带,区内发育众多锡银铅锌等多金属矿床.双尖子山银铅锌多金属矿床是近年来发现的一个以银为主的超大型矿床,前人研究普遍认为该矿床是典型中低温岩浆-热液型矿床,缺乏高温成矿阶段.然而,文章在该矿床的井下和深部钻孔发现了大量铜锡矿化,表明双尖子山银多金属矿床的深部和外围具有巨大的锡铜资源找矿潜力.     

内蒙古双尖子山银多金属矿床锡矿化的发现及其意义

大兴安岭南段是中国重要的有色金属成矿带,区内发育众多锡银铅锌等多金属矿床.双尖子山银铅锌多金属矿床是近年来发现的一个以银为主的超大型矿床,前人研究普遍认为该矿床是典型中低温岩浆-热液型矿床,缺乏高温成矿阶段.然而,文章在该矿床的井下和深部钻孔发现了大量铜锡矿化,表明双尖子山银多金属矿床的深部和外围具有巨大的锡铜资源找矿潜力.     

内蒙古双尖子山银多金属矿床锡矿化的发现及其意义

大兴安岭南段是中国重要的有色金属成矿带,区内发育众多锡银铅锌等多金属矿床.双尖子山银铅锌多金属矿床是近年来发现的一个以银为主的超大型矿床,前人研究普遍认为该矿床是典型中低温岩浆-热液型矿床,缺乏高温成矿阶段.然而,文章在该矿床的井下和深部钻孔发现了大量铜锡矿化,表明双尖子山银多金属矿床的深部和外围具有巨大的锡铜资源找矿潜力.     

内蒙古双尖子山银多金属矿床锡矿化的发现及其意义

大兴安岭南段是中国重要的有色金属成矿带,区内发育众多锡银铅锌等多金属矿床.双尖子山银铅锌多金属矿床是近年来发现的一个以银为主的超大型矿床,前人研究普遍认为该矿床是典型中低温岩浆-热液型矿床,缺乏高温成矿阶段.然而,文章在该矿床的井下和深部钻孔发现了大量铜锡矿化,表明双尖子山银多金属矿床的深部和外围具有巨大的锡铜资源找矿潜力.     

大兴安岭甲乌拉铅锌银矿床石英二长斑岩锆石U-Pb年代学及地质意义

甲乌拉铅锌银矿床是大兴安岭西坡得尔布干铜（钼）-银铅锌成矿带内大型铅锌银矿床之一,长期以来被认为是一个与火山-次火山热液作用有关的浅成低温热液矿床.在野外调研的基础上,对含矿岩体石英二长斑岩开展年代学研究,结果表明：与成矿关系密切的石英二长斑岩的LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年龄为152.2±1.5 Ma （MSWD=4.7,n=31）.结合前人成岩、成矿年代学研究,认为甲乌拉矿床为晚侏罗世-早白垩世早期成矿,与区域上同类矿床产于同一时代,形成于蒙古-鄂霍次克洋闭合碰撞造山后的伸展构造背景.     

西藏龙根铅锌矿床二长花岗斑岩锆石U-Pb年代学和微量元素地球化学特征

西藏龙根铅锌矿床位于中拉萨地体西部,是继查个勒铅锌多金属矿床之后,念青唐古拉铅锌银铜铁成矿带西段又一重要找矿突破。对龙根二长花岗斑岩进行了LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年代学和微量元素地球化学研究,获得锆石~(206)Pb/~(208)U加权平均年龄为(62.9±0.8)Ma(MSWD=2.4,n=17),与念青唐古拉铅锌银铜铁成矿带东段亚贵拉铅锌钼矿床、中段纳如松多铅锌矿床和勒青拉铜钼铅锌矿床、以及西段的查个勒铅锌多金属矿床成岩年代相一致,均为印-亚板块同碰撞初期的产物。锆石Ti温度计估算出二长花岗斑岩中绝大部分锆石的结晶温度小于或等于680℃,推测岩浆来源于水近饱和条件下古老地壳的部分熔融。锆石微量元素特征表明龙根二长花岗斑岩形成于陆缘弧环境,具陆缘弧岩浆的特征。     

冷水坑斑岩型银铅锌矿床含矿岩体锆石SHRIMP U-Pb年代学研究

冷水坑斑岩型银铅锌矿床是中国目前唯一的典型斑岩型银铅锌矿床,对于该矿床的成矿斑岩的形成时代至今仍没有精确的年龄数据。本文通过对冷水坑斑岩型银铅锌矿床成矿斑岩(花岗斑岩)样品中的锆石11个测试点的SHRIMP锆石U-Pb年代学研究,得出206Pb/238U加权平均年龄为(162.0±2)Ma(MSWD=1.4),因此,认为冷水坑花岗斑岩的形成年代为(162.0±2)Ma。冷水坑含矿斑岩成岩年龄与成矿年龄高度一致,成岩年龄与成矿作用开始时间差异不明显。此外,由冷水坑矿床成岩和成矿年龄数据推断出矿化持续时间约27Ma。     

西藏冈底斯南缘雄村铜金矿床成矿斑岩厘定及其锆石U-Pb和黑云母Ar-Ar年龄分析

雄村特大型斑岩铜金矿床主要以细脉浸染状产于强烈蚀变岩石中,赋矿岩石原岩成因类型存在争议。本文对多个赋矿蚀变岩石作了系统光薄片显微鉴定,在多个蚀变较弱的矿化样品中发现赋矿岩石具斑状结构,其基质主要为钾长石,斑晶主要为斜长石、钾长石及少量石英,显示石英正长斑岩及二长斑岩(少量)矿物组成特征。结合前人工作,可以认为雄村铜金矿床赋矿岩石为正长斑岩、火山岩及少量二长斑岩。正长斑岩发育斑岩铜金矿床成矿早期常见的钾硅化蚀变及磁铁矿化蚀变,锆石具高的Ce4+/Ce3+比值(334~3084,平均值为1169),显示高氧逸度岩浆特征,和世界斑岩铜金矿床成矿岩体一致;这表明石英正长斑岩为雄村铜金矿床成矿岩体。石英正长斑岩锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb年龄为173.7±2.1Ma(MSWD=0.23),石英正长斑岩钾化阶段形成的黑云母40Ar/39Ar坪年龄为48.3±0.9Ma(MSWD=1.58),远小于锆石U-Pb年龄却与矿区东北部始新世花岗岩基的年龄一致,显示Ar-Ar年龄受后期地质事件影响而发生重置。通过上述研究,可以认为雄村铜金矿床为与石英正长斑岩有关的斑岩型矿床,形成时代约173Ma,和新特提斯洋洋壳向北俯冲诱发的岩浆事件有关,矿区内云母受后期地质事件影响重置,不能记录其形成时代。     

内蒙古双尖子山银多金属矿床侏罗纪成矿的年代学证据及其找矿意义

双尖子山银多金属矿床是近年来在大兴安岭南段发现的一超大型规模矿床,其银资源量为2.6×10~4t,锌3.3Mt,铅1.1Mt,但矿床的成矿时代目前还未得到精确的厘定,这制约了对矿床成因、区域成矿规律及找矿方向的认识。本文在详细的矿床地质特征调查基础上,识别出了与双尖子山银多金属矿床成矿有关的斑状花岗岩。该岩体内部发育浸染状方铅矿和矿化的隐爆角砾岩,岩体外接触带硅化、绿泥石化及银铅锌矿化强烈,这指示双尖子山矿床的银铅锌矿化和蚀变作用与斑状花岗岩的侵入作用密切相关。鉴于此,作者对斑状花岗岩的锆石进行了LA-MC-ICP-MS U-Pb定年,获得该岩体16颗锆石的~(206)Pb/~(238)U加权平均年龄为159.3±2.3Ma,该年龄可近似代表双尖子山矿床的成矿年龄。上述结果表明,双尖子山银多金属矿床为与晚侏罗世斑状花岗岩有关的热液脉型矿床。尽管精确的成矿年龄数据已揭示大兴安岭南段存在侏罗纪成矿事件,但大多数的观点认为早白垩世(~135Ma)是大兴安岭南段内生金属矿床成矿作用的峰期,因此忽视了侏罗纪成矿事件的重要性。鉴于双尖子山矿床银、铅和锌的资源量均已达超大型矿床规模,作者认为,大兴安岭南段侏罗纪成矿作用的强度可能并不亚于早白垩世,应在今后的找矿勘察中得到足够的重视。     

Roles of xenomelts,xenoliths, xenocrysts,xenovolatiles, residues,and skarns in the genesis,transport, and localization of magmatic Fe-Ni-Cu-PGE sulfides and chromite

Most sulfide-rich magmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE) deposits form in dynamic magmatic systems by partial melting S-bearing wall rocks with variable degrees of assimilation of miscible silicate and volatile components, and generation of barren to weakly-mineralized immiscible Fe sulfide xenomelts into which Ni-Cu-Co-PGE partition from the magma. Some exceptionally-thick magmatic Cr deposits may form by partial melting oxide-bearing wall rocks with variable degrees of assimilation of the miscible silicate and volatile components, and generation of barren Fe ± Ti oxide xenocrysts into which Cr-Mg-V ± Ti partition from the magma. The products of these processes are variably preserved as skarns, residues, xenoliths, xenocrysts, xenomelts, and xenovolatiles, which play important to critical roles in ore genesis, transport, localization, and/or modification. Incorporation of barren xenoliths/autoliths may induce small amounts of sulfide/chromite to segregate, but incorporation of sulfide xenomelts or oxide xenocrysts with dynamic upgrading of metal tenors (PGE > Cu > Ni > Co and Cr > V > Ti, respectively) is required to make significant ore deposits. Silicate xenomelts are only rarely preserved, but will be variably depleted in chalcophile and ferrous metals. Less dense felsic xenoliths may aid upward sulfide transport by increasing the effective viscosity and decreasing the bulk density of the magma. Denser mafic or metamorphosed xenoliths may also increase the effective viscosity of the magma, but may aid downward sulfide transport by increasing the bulk density of the magma. Sulfide wets olivine, so olivine xenocrysts may act as filter beds to collect advected finely dispersed sulfide droplets, but other silicates and xenoliths may not be wetted by sulfides. Xenovolatiles may retard settling of – or in some cases float – dense sulfide droplets. Reactions of sulfide melts with felsic country rocks may generate Fe-rich skarns that may allow sulfide melts to fractionate to more extreme Cu-Ni-rich compositions. Xenoliths, xenocrysts, xenomelts, and xenovolatiles are more likely to be preserved in cooler basaltic magmas than in hotter komatiitic magmas, and are more likely to be preserved in less dynamic (less turbulent) systems/domain/phases than in more dynamic (more turbulent) systems/domains/phases. Massive to semi-massive Ni-Cu-PGE and Cr mineralization and xenoliths are often localized within footwall embayments, dilations/jogs in dikes, throats of magma conduits, and the horizontal segments of dike-chonolith and dike-sill complexes, which represent fluid dynamic traps for both ascending and descending sulfides/oxides. If skarns, residues, xenoliths, xenocrysts, xenomelts, and/or xenovolatiles are present, they provide important constraints on ore genesis and they are valuable exploration indicators, but they must be included in elemental and isotopic mass balance calculations.     

Mountains,nations, parks,and conservation

Between 1985 and 1991, two new mountain protected areas (MTNPA) covering more than 35,000 km² and based on participatory management models — the Makalu-Barun National Park and Conservation Area, Nepal, and Qomolangma Nature Preserve, Tibet Autonomous Region — were successfully established through the collaborative efforts of Woodlands Mountain Institute and conservationists in China and Nepal. Characteristics common to both projects include the importance of establishing (1) effective rationales, (2) local support constituencies, (3) a senior advisory group, (4) a task force, (5) linkages between conservation and development, and (6) fund raising mechanisms. The lessons derived from the experiences of Woodlands Mountain Institute are of significant value to others in preserving MTNPA. Increased collaboration and communication between all interested in conservation, however, will remain a critical component for expanding mountain protected area coverage to throughout the world.     

Parents,permission, and possibility: Young women,college, and imagined futures in Gujarat,India

This article advances critical geographies of youth through examining the spatiality implicit in the imagined futures of young women in rural India. Geographers and other scholars of youth have begun to pay more attention to the interplay between young people’s past, present, and imagined futures. Within this emerging body of scholarship the role of the family and peer group in influencing young people’s orientations toward the future remain underexamined. Drawing on eleven months of ethnographic fieldwork, my research focuses on a first generation of college-going young women from socioeconomically marginalized backgrounds in India’s westernmost state of Gujarat. I draw on the “possible selves” theoretical construct in order to deploy a flexible conceptual framework that links imagined post-educational trajectories with motivation to act in the present. In tracing the physical movement of these young women as they navigate and complete college, my analysis highlights the ways in which particular kinds of spaces and spatial arrangements facilitate and limit intra- and inter-generational contact, and the extent to which this affects young women’s conceptions of the future. I conclude by considering the wider implications of my research for ongoing debates surrounding youth transitions, relational geographies of age, and education in the Global South.     

Coprecipitation of Ti,Mo, Sn and Sb with fluorides and application to determination of B,Ti, Zr,Nb, Mo,Sn, Sb,Hf and Ta by ICP-MS

We examined the coprecipitation behavior of Ti, Mo, Sn and Sb in Ca–Al–Mg fluorides under two different fluoride forming conditions: at < 70 °C in an ultrasonic bath (denoted as the ultrasonic method) and at 245 °C using a Teflon bomb (denoted as the bomb method). In the ultrasonic method, small amounts of Ti, Mo and Sn coprecipitation were observed with 100% Ca and 100% Mg fluorides. No coprecipitation of Ti, Mo, Sn and Sb in Ca–Al–Mg fluorides occurred when the sample was decomposed by the bomb method except for 100% Ca fluoride. Based on our coprecipitation observations, we have developed a simultaneous determination method for B, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, Sn, Sb, Hf and Ta by Q-pole type ICP-MS (ICP-QMS) and sector field type ICP-MS (ICP-SFMS). 9–50 mg of samples with Zr–Mo–Sn–Sb–Hf spikes were decomposed by HF using the bomb method and the ultrasonic method with B spike. The sample was then evaporated and re-dissolved into 0.5 mol l^− 1 HF, followed by the removal of fluorides by centrifuging. B, Zr, Mo, Sn, Sb and Hf were measured by ID method. Nb and Ta were measured by the ID-internal standardization method, based on Nb/Mo and Ta/Mo ratios using ICP-QMS, for which pseudo-FI was developed and applied. When 100% recovery yields of Zr and Hf are expected, Nb/Zr and Ta/Hf ratios may also be used. Ti was determined by the ID-internal standardization method, based on the Ti/Nb ratio from ICP-SFMS. Only 0.053 ml sample solution was required for measurement of all 9 elements. Dilution factors of ≤ 340 were aspirated without matrix effects. To demonstrate the applicability of our method, 4 carbonaceous chondrites (Ivuna, Orgueil, Cold Bokkeveld and Allende) as well as GSJ and USGS silicate reference materials of basalts, andesites and peridotites were analyzed. Our analytical results are consistent with previous studies, and the mean reproducibility of each element is 1.0–4.6% for basalts and andesites, and 6.7–11% for peridotites except for TiO₂.     

Comparative study of As,Cd, Cu,Cr, Mg,Mn, Ni,Pb and Zn concentrations between sediment and water from estuary and port

The contents of As, Cd, Cu, Cr, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn have been determined in sediment and water samples from Valle de las Garzas estuary and Port Manzanillo (Colima, Mexico) using ICP-AES. The concentrations of these elements were used for a comparative study to determine the distribution of heavy metals and to evaluate which elements reflect natural or anthropogenic backgrounds. For this purpose, seven sampling points were selected: Four of them correspond to the lagoon, and three were situated in the port. Statistical analysis of the mineral content was assessed. Initially, data comparison was assessed by statistical tests for each variable. Principal component analysis was then applied considering the influence of all variables at the same time by obtaining the distribution of samples according to their scores in the principal component space. In this way, four studies were carried out: (1) study of sediments collected during the dry season; (2) study of sediments collected during the rainy season; (3) comparative study between sediments from rainy and dry season; and (4) study of water composition collected during rainy season. From the results of the performed analyses, it can be concluded that metals distribution pattern reflected natural and anthropogenic backgrounds (e.g., sediments from the lagoon, situated at the beginning of the rain channel, presented high contents of Zn and Cu, perhaps related to anthropogenic activities or the influence of igneous sediments).     

Models,validation, and applied geochemistry: Issues in science,communication, and philosophy

Models have become so fashionable that many scientists and engineers cannot imagine working without them. The predominant use of computer codes to execute model calculations has blurred the distinction between code and model. The recent controversy regarding model validation has brought into question what we mean by a ‘model’ and by ‘validation.’ It has become apparent that the usual meaning of validation may be common in engineering practice and seems useful in legal practice but it is contrary to scientific practice and brings into question our understanding of science and how it can best be applied to such problems as hazardous waste characterization, remediation, and aqueous geochemistry in general. This review summarizes arguments against using the phrase model validation and examines efforts to validate models for high-level radioactive waste management and for permitting and monitoring open-pit mines. Part of the controversy comes from a misunderstanding of ‘prediction’ and the need to distinguish logical from temporal prediction. Another problem stems from the difference in the engineering approach contrasted with the scientific approach. The reductionist influence on the way we approach environmental investigations also limits our ability to model the interconnected nature of reality. Guidelines are proposed to improve our perceptions and proper utilization of models. Use of the word ‘validation’ is strongly discouraged when discussing model reliability.     

Partition coefficients of Hf,Zr, and REE between zircon,apatite, and liquid

Concentration ratios of Hf, Zr, and REE between zircon, apatite, and liquid were determined for three igneous compositions: two andesites and a diorite. The concentration ratios of these elements between zircon and corresponding liquid can approximate the partition coefficient. Although the concentration ratios between apatite and andesite groundmass can be considered as partition coefficients, those for the apatite in the diorite may deviate from the partition coefficients. The HREE partition coefficients between zircon and liquid are very large (100 for Er to 500 for Lu), and the Hf partition coefficient is even larger. The REE partition coefficients between apatite and liquid are convex upward, and large (D=10–100), whereas the Hf and Zr partition coefficients are less than 1. The large differences between partition coefficients of Lu and Hf for zircon-liquid and for apatite-liquid are confirmed. These partition coefficients are useful for petrogenetic models involving zircon and apatite.     

Entropy,materials, and posterity

Materials and energy are the interdependent feedstocks of economic systems, and thermodynamics is their moderator. It costs energy to transform the dispersed minerals of Earth's crust into ordered materials and structures. And it costs materials to collect and focus the energy to perform work — be it from solar, fossil fuel, nuclear, or other sources. The greater the dispersal of minerals sought, the more energy is required to collect them into ordered states.But available energy can be used once only. And the ordered materials of industrial economies become disordered with time. They may be partially reordered and recycled, but only at further costs in energy. Available energy everywhere degrades to bound states and order to disorder — for though entropy may be juggled it always increases. Yet industry is utterly dependent on low entropy states of matter and energy, while decreasing grades of ore require ever higher inputs of energy to convert them to metals, with ever increasing growth both of entropy and environmental hazard.Except as we may prize a thing for its intrinsic qualities — beauty, leisure, love, or gold — low-entropy is the only thing of real value. It is worth whatever the market will bear, and it becomes more valuable as entropy increases. It would be foolish of suppliers to sell it more cheaply or in larger amounts than their own enjoyment of life requires, whatever form it may take. For this reason, and because of physical constraints on the availability of all low-entropy states, the recent energy crises is only the first of a sequence of crises to be expected in energy and materials as long as current trends continue.The apportioning of low-entropy states in a modern industrial society is achieved more or less according to the theory of competitive markets. But the rational powers of this theory suffer as the world grows increasingly polarized into rich, over-industrialized nations with diminishing resource bases and poor, supplier nations with little industry. The theory also discounts posterity, the more so as population density and percapita rates of consumption continue to grow. A new social, economic, and ecologic norm that leads to population control, conservation, and an apportionment of low-entropy states across the generations is needed to assure to posterity the options that properly belong to it as an important but voiceless constituency of the collectivity we call mankind.

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Zusammenfassung Rohstoffe und Energie sind die Grundlagen unseres ökonomischen Systems, das von den Gesetzen der Thermodynamik bestimmt wird. Es kostet Energie, um die auf der Erde verteilten Rohstoffe diesem System zuzuführen. Andererseits braucht man Rohstoffe, um die Energie nutzbar zu machen.Die verfügbare Energie kann nur einmal genutzt werden und das Material verbraucht sich. Verbrauchtes Material kann teilweise zur weiteren Nutzung zurückgeführt werden, das kostet wiederum Energie. Die verfügbare Energie nimmt überall ab, und einmal geschaffene Ordnung gerät wieder in Unordnung — das heißt, die Entropie des Systems nimmt ständig zu. Die Industrie ist jedoch abhängig von einem niedrigen Entropiezustand sowohl der Materie als auch der Energie.Je ärmer die Erze sind, um so höher wird die Energie sein, um sie in Metalle umzuwandeln, wobei die Entropie und die Belastung der Umwelt ständig zunimmt.Außer den Dingen, die wir wegen höherer ideeller Werte schätzen, ist eine niedrige Entropie der einzige realistische Wertmaßstab, und der wirkliche Wertzuwachs ist nur an einer höheren Entropie zu messen. Es ist unverantwortlich, Dinge, die eine höhere Entropie bedingen, billiger zu verkaufen oder in größerer Menge zu erzeugen, als unbedingt notwendig ist. Da wir dies heute in unserem Handeln nicht berücksichtigen, ist die derzeitige Energiekrise nur der Anfang einer Folge von Krisen, die Energie und Rohstoffe betreffen, solange wir nicht umdenken.Die Verteilung von niedriger Entropie in einer modernen Industriegesellschaft wird mehr oder weniger nach dem Prinzip der konkurrierenden Märkte erreicht. Das selbstregulierende System gerät jedoch mit zunehmender Polarisierung in reiche Industrienationen mit abnehmenden Ressourcen und armen Nationen mit geringer Industrialisierung in Unordnung. Dieses Prinzip berücksichtigt auch nicht die Nachwelt, vor allem wenn die Bevölkerungsdichte stetig zunimmt und die Konsumbedürfnisse anwachsen. Es sind neue soziale, ökonomische und ökologische Normen notwendig, die zur Populationskontrolle, zur Erhaltung der Umwelt und zu einem Zustand niedriger Entropie für zukünftige Generationen führen. Die nach uns kommenden Menschen haben ein Anrecht darauf.

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Résumé Matériaux et énergie sont les sources des systèmes économiques et sont régis par les lois de la thermodynamique. Il faut de l'énergie pour transformer les ressources minérales dispersées dans la croûte terrestre en matériaux et structures ordonnancées. Et il faut des matériaux pour receuillir et concentrer l'énergie, qu'elle soit solaire ou atomique, ou provienne de combustibles fossiles ou d'autres sources. Plus les minéraux recherchés sont dispersés et plus est côuteuse l'énergie pour leur donner une ordonnance.Or l'énergie disponsible ne peut être utilisée qu'une seule fois. Et les matériaux ordonnancés des économies industrielles se dégradent avec le temps. Ils peuvent être remis partiellement en état et recyclés, mais pour cela il faut de nouveau de l'énergie. Partout l'énergie disponible se dégrade et l'ordre devient désordre; -malgré toutes les jongleries possibles l'entropie augmente toujours.L'industrie dépend clairement d'états de basse entropie tant en ce qui concerne les matériaux que l'énergie, tandis que plus pauvres sont les minerais, plus; élevée est l'énergie à mettre en jeu pour en extraire les métaux, avec toujours augmentation à la fois de l'entropie et de la degradation des milieux.A l'exception de ce que nous apprécions pour leur valeur intrinsèque — la beauté, le loisir, l'amour ou l'or — la basse entropie est la seule chose de réelle valeur. Son prix est réglé par le marché, et sa valeur augmente au fur et à mesure que l'entropie s'accroît. Ceux qui en disposent seraient insensés de la vendre à bas prix ou en quantité supérieure à ce qu'exige leur propre niveau de vie. Pour cette raison, et à cause des contraintes physiques liées à la disponibilité en états de basse entropie, la récente crise d'énergie n'est, en ce qui concerne les matières premières et l'énergie, que la première d'une série de crises auxquelles il faut s'attendre aussi longtemps que se poursoit la marche actuelle des étènements.Dans les sociétés industrielles modernes, les approvisionnement en basse entropie s'effectuent plus ou moins conformément à la théorie de la concurrence des marchés. Cependant la rationalité de cette théorie se ressent de l'accentuation croissante de la polarisation, à l'échelle du monde, en nations riches, surindustrialisées, à ressources de base décroissantes, et en nations pauvres, sous-industrialisées, mais fournisseurs de resources-naturelles. De plus cette théorie ne tient pas compte de notre postérité, et ce, en face d'une densité de population et d'un taux de la consommation par tête d'habitant en augmentation continue.Nous avons donc besoin de nouvelles normes sociales, économiques et écologiques qui conduisent au contrôle de la population, à la conservation et à la répartition des états de basse entropie à travers les générations pour assurer à notre postérité les options qui leur riviennent de droit comme une constituante importante, mais encore muette, de la collectivité que nous appelons l'Humanité.

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Dedicated with appreciation to Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, distinguished economist, realist among cornucopians     

Pebbles,Shapes, and Equilibria

The shape of sedimentary particles may carry important information on their history. Current approaches to shape classification (e.g. the Zingg or the Sneed and Folk system) rely on shape indices derived from the measurement of the three principal axes of the approximating tri-axial ellipsoid. While these systems have undoubtedly proved to be useful tools, their application inevitably requires tedious and ambiguous measurements, also classification involves the introduction of arbitrarily chosen constants. Here we propose an alternative classification system based on the (integer) number of static equilibria. The latter are points of the surface where the pebble is at rest on a horizontal, frictionless support. As opposed to the Zingg system, our method relies on counting rather than measuring. We show that equilibria typically exist on two well-separated (micro and macro) scales. Equilibria can be readily counted by simple hand experiments, i.e. the new classification scheme is practically applicable. Based on statistical results from two different locations we demonstrate that pebbles are well mixed with respect to the new classes, i.e. the new classification is reliable and stable in that sense. We also show that the Zingg statistics can be extracted from the new statistics; however, substantial additional information is also available. From the practical point of view, E-classification is substantially faster than the Zingg method.