Book reviews

A WORLD IN CRISIS? Geographical Perspectives (second edition) edited by R. J. Johnston and P. J. Taylor. 15 x 23 cm, x and 371 pages. Basil Blackwell: Oxford 1989 (ISBN 0 631 16271 2) $A34.95 (soft).

INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA: External Aid and Provincial Planning (IASER Monograph No 28) by R. Crittenden and D. A. M. Lea, 17 x 24 cm, xv and 132 pages. Papua New Guinea Institute of Applied Social and Economic Research and Department of Geography and Planning, University of New England: Armidale 1989 (ISBN 9980 75 018 9).

ACCOMMODATING INEQUALITY: Gender and Housing by Sophie Watson. 14 x 21 cm, x and 157 pages. Allen & Unwin: Sydney 1988 (ISBN 0 04 320209 2) $A 14.95 (soft).

A SHORT HISTORY OF GEOMORPHOLOGY by K. J. Tinkler. 14 x 22 cm, xviii and 317 pages, Croom Helm: London 1985 (ISBN 0 7099 2441 0) $A49.95 (hard).

PATHWAYS IN GEOLOGY: Essays in Honour of

Edwin Sherbon Hills edited by R. W. Le Mai‐

tre. 25 x 19 cm, viii and 463 pages. Basil

Blackwell: Melbourne 1989 (ISBN

0731682416) $A110.00 (hard).

CHANGING THE FACE OF THE EARTH: Culture, Environment, History by I. G. Simmons. 17 x 24 cm, xiii and 487 pages. Basil Blackwell: Oxford 1989 (ISBN 0 631 16351 4) $A49.95 (soft).

PLANNED TO DEATH: The Annihilation of a Place Called Howdendyke by J. D. Porteous. 16 x 24 cm, xiii and 254 pages. Manchester University Press: Manchester 1989 (ISBN 0 7190 2831 0) £35.00 (hard).

A SOCIAL ATLAS OF DARWIN: 1986. Census of Population and Housing by J. Taylor and D.

Jaensch. 21 x 29 cm, and 66 pages. Australian Bureau of Statistics and North Australia Research Unit: Darwin 1989 (ISBN 0 642 143322 6).

ATLAS OF DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE IN THE SOUTH EAST REGION OF NEW SOUTH WALES 1861–1991 by Terry G. Birtles and Jane E. Gordon. 21 x 29 cm, v and 141 pages. Canberra College of Advanced Education: Belconnen 1989 (ISBN 0 85889 355 5 $A40.00 (soft).

LABOUR ADJUSTMENT IN METROPOLITAN REGIONS by P. S. Morrison 15 x 21 cm, ix and 254 pages. Victoria University Press: Wellington 1989 (ISBN 0 86473 190 6) SA25.00 (soft).

AUSTRALIAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS: Readings in Regional Experiences, Policies and Prospects (Australian Regional Developments No. 10) edited by B. Higgins and K. Zagorski. 17 x 25 cm. xi and 260 pages. AGPS Press: Canberra 1989 (ISBN 0 644 0935).

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING IN TRANSITION edited by T. J. Mules. 15 x 21 cm, vii and 188 pages. Wakefield Press (for Centre of South Australian Economic Studies): Adelaide 1989 (ISBN 909591 74 1) $A24.95 (soft).

COUNTERURBANIZATION: The Changing Pace’ and Nature of Population Deconcentration edited by A. G. Champion. 16 x 24 cm, xxii and 266 pages. Edward Arnold: London 1989 (ISBN 0 7131 6614 2) £27.00 (hard).

THE HUMANE CITY: Cities as if People Matter by J. R. Short. 15 x 22 cm, 167 pages. Basil Blackwell: Oxford 1989 (ISBN 0 631 15824 3) $A27.95 (soft).

THE TORRES STRAIT: People and History (revised edition) by J. Singe. 13 x 19 cm, xviii and 261 pages. University of Queensland Press: St Lucia 1989 (first published in 1979) (ISBN 0 7022 2232 1) $A19.95 (soft).

HAWKE'S LAW: The Politics of Mining and Aboriginal Land Rights in Australia by R. T. Libby. xxvii and 175 pages. University of Western Australia Press: Nedlands 1989 (ISBN 085564 301 1) $A25.00.

THE THIRD WORLD: States of Mind and Being edited by J. Norwine and A. Gonzales. 15 x 23 cm, xi and 275 pages. Unwin Hyman: Boston 1989 (ISBN 0 04 910121 8) $A39.95 (soft).

IRELAND: A Contemporary Geographical Perspective edited by R. W. G. Carter and A. J. Parker. 14 x 22 cm, xiv and 486 pages. Routledge: London 1989 (ISBN 0 415 00486 3) $A 120.00 (hard).     

Experimental studies of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis>–H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O near-liquidus phase relations of basaltic andesite from North Sister Volcano,High Oregon Cascades: constraints on lower-crustal mineral assemblages

We have mapped the mineralogy onto the H₂O-undersaturated liquidus surface of basaltic andesite from North Sister Volcano to constrain the crystalline assemblage with which, and P–T–H₂O conditions at which, the melt last equilibrated before erupting. Combining our high pressure experimental results with examples of tectonically exposed lower arc crust, geophysical constraints, trace element geochemistry, and melt inclusion volatile contents, we conclude that an anhydrous, augite-rich gabbro at ∼12 kbar and ∼1,175°C is the most probable lithology with which North Sister basaltic andesite with ∼3.5 wt% H₂O last equilibrated before erupting. We speculate that reaction between this gabbro and primitive mantle-derived precursor melts buffered the compositions of magmas erupted from this volcano resulting in their remarkably limited compositional range.     

Reflections on use of participatory research for disaster risk reduction

Participatory research approaches are increasingly popular with academic researchers and development organisations working to facilitate change in collaboration with local communities. This paper contributes to recent debates over the use of participatory approaches by examining the use of participatory research within disaster risk reduction. Drawing on research in Papua New Guinea in which participatory techniques were used with indigenous communities to determine strategies for dealing with environmental hazards, the value of such techniques is critiqued. Finally the significance of participatory research as a research methodology is discussed as is its possible contribution to disaster risk reduction policy.     

Improvements and Corrections to AT123D Code

Although based on exact analytical solutions, semi‐analytical solute transport models can have significant numerical error in applications with high frequency oscillatory source terms and when parameter value combinations cause series solution approximations to converge slowly. Methods for correcting these numerical errors are presented and implemented in the AT123D code, which employs Green's functions to represent point, linear, and rectangular prismatic source zones. In order to increase its computational accuracy, a Romberg numerical integration scheme was added to AT123D with prespecified error criteria, variable time stepping, and partitioning of the integral to handle rapidly changing source terms. More rapidly converging series solution approximations for the Green's functions were also incorporated to improve both accuracy and computational efficiency for finite‐depth aquifers. AT123D also has been modified to eliminate redundant calculations at points where approximate steady‐state conditions have been reached to improve computational efficiency during numerical integration. These modifications help to decrease computer run times that can be excessive for three‐dimensional problems with large numbers of computational points, small time steps, and/or long simulation time periods. Errors in the original AT123D code also were corrected in this modified version, AT123D‐AT, in order to accurately simulate finite‐duration (pulse) source releases.     

Exploring the variability of argon loss in Apollo 17 impact melt rock 77135 using high‐spatial resolution 40Ar/39Ar geochronology

⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar incremental heating experiments on whole‐rock lunar samples commonly provide evidence of varying degrees of radiogenic ⁴⁰Ar (⁴⁰Ar*) loss. However, these experiments provide limited information about whether or not ⁴⁰Ar* is preferentially lost from specific glasses, minerals, or polyphase domains. Ultraviolet laser ablation microprobe (UVLAMP) ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating and electron probe microanalysis of mineral clasts and polyphase melt assemblages in Apollo 17 poikilitic impact melt rock 77135 show evidence of geochemical controls on ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dates. Potassium‐rich glass and K‐feldspar in the mesostasis are the dominant sources for Ar released during low‐temperature steps of published ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar release spectra for this rock, while pyroxene oikocrysts with enclosed plagioclase chadacrysts contribute Ar predominantly to intermediate‐ to high‐temperature steps. Additionally, UVLAMP analysis of a mm‐scale plagioclase clast demonstrates the potential to use stranded ⁴⁰Ar* diffusive loss profiles to constrain the thermal evolution of lunar impact melt deposits and indicates that the melt component of 77135 cooled quickly. While some submillimeter clasts of plagioclase are distinctly older than the melt, other small clasts yield dates younger than the oldest melt components in 77135, plausibly due to subgrain fast diffusion pathways and/or ⁴⁰Ar* loss during brief episodes of reheating at high temperatures. Our data suggest that integrated petrologic and microanalytical geochronologic studies are necessary complements to bulk sample geochronologic studies in order to fully evaluate competing models for the impactor flux during the first billion years of the Moon's evolution.     

Learning from the history of disaster vulnerability and resilience research and practice for climate change

This paper calculated the embodied carbon in China export and its distribution in each industrial sector. The calculation results showed the total carbon emission of export experienced an increase before 2007 and then a decrease till 2010. The ratio of export embodied carbon accounting for the total carbon emission in China also increased from 31 % in 2002 to 52 % in 2007 and then declined to 40 % in 2010. As for distribution, the export embodied carbon emission of the following industries such as machinery and equipment manufacturing, metal products manufacturing industry, chemical industry, textile, clothing and leather products manufacturing industry ranked the highest. According to the calculation and analysis of the main driving factors of embodied carbon growth, we analyzed the structure effect, scale effect and technological effect’s influence on embodied carbon growth, respectively. We also calculated the trade competitiveness index of 17 export industries. Through research, we found that the products with strong international competitiveness belong to high-carbon-emission categories, which was the main reason of high carbon emission in China export. Finally, we proposed related policy suggestions to promote China’s export trade structural readjustment and optimization and China’s low carbon development in export.     

New lunar meteorite Northwest Africa 2996: A window into farside lithologies and petrogenesis

The Northwest Africa (NWA) 2996 meteorite is a lunar regolith breccia with a “mingled” bulk composition and slightly elevated incompatible element content. NWA 2996 is dominated by clasts of coarse‐grained noritic and troctolitic anorthosite containing calcic plagioclase (An#~98) and magnesian mafic minerals (Mg#~75), distinguishing it from Apollo ferroan anorthosites and magnesian‐suite rocks. This meteorite lacks basalt, and owes its mingled composition to a significant proportion of coarse‐grained mafic clasts. One group of mafic clasts has pyroxenes similar to anorthosites, but contains more sodic plagioclase (An#~94) distinguishing it as a separate lithology. Another group contains Mg‐rich, very low‐titanium pyroxenes, and could represent an intrusion parental to regional basalts. Other clasts include granophyric K‐feldspar, disaggregated phosphate‐bearing quartz monzodiorites, and alkali‐suite fragments (An#~65). These evolved lithics are a minor component, but contain minerals rich in incompatible elements. Several anorthosite clasts contain clusters of apatite, suggesting that the anorthosites either assimilated evolved rocks or were metasomatized by a liquid rich in incompatible elements. We used Lunar Prospector gamma‐ray spectrometer remote sensing data to show that NWA 2996 is most similar to regoliths in and around the South Pole Aitken (SPA) basin, peripheral regions of eastern mare, Nectaris, Crisium, and southern areas of Mare Humorum. However, the mineralogy of NWA 2996 is distinctive compared with Apollo and Luna mission samples, and is likely consistent with an origin near the SPA basin: anorthosite clasts could represent local crustal material, mafic clasts could represent intrusions beneath basalt flows, and apatite‐bearing rocks could carry the SPA KREEP signature.     

The dilemma of decontamination: A Gramscian analysis of the Mexican transgenic maize dispute

An intense environmental dispute surrounds the maize-fields of Mexico. Mexican maize traditional varieties (or ‘landraces’) constitute a global genetic resource that may well be critical to future agricultural development and corn breeding. Many environmentalists, farmers, and consumers in Mexico are therefore concerned that their maize landraces may have been ‘contaminated’ by imported transgenic maize, grown in the USA. The criticisms of this transgenic technology are complex and call into question the nature of the boundary between political and ecological (i.e. scientific) disputes. Our paper surveys these criticisms, and this political-scientific boundary, in a three-part analysis. First, we turn to Gramsci’s notes on science from his eleventh prison notebook to rethink the political ecology of transgenic maize, i.e., the way the ecological analysis of transgenic introgression is treated as politics. Second, we present the multiple criticisms of transgenic maize as scalar phenomena. Third, we review the recent scientific literature on transgene introgression to evaluate recent calls for the ‘decontamination’ of Mexican maize. Our reading illustrates two dilemmas facing the group that occupies the hegemonic subject-position in this dispute, ecological scientists. First, the popular desire to ‘decontaminate’ Mexican maize exceeds their capacities (due to complications involved with sampling). Second, although the political debate surrounding ‘contaminated’ Mexican maize exceeds science, the boundary between the dispute’s scientific and parascientific elements cannot be adjudicated scientifically. In other words, the boundary between science and politics is porous. Thus in two respects the dispute is ecological, yet beyond the capacity of this science to resolve. Yet, following Gramsci, these findings should not lead us to see science as mere ideology, or apolitical, or encourage a retreat into metaphysics. Rather it points to the need for a social transformation that sees science as “humanity forging its methods of research … in other words, culture, the conception of the world.” By exploring the dilemmas of decontamination, the dispute over transgene introgression in Mexican maize-fields provides an opportunity to elaborate upon Gramsci’s neglected insights into the politics of science.