Forest city,Malaysia, and Chinese expansionism

Over the past decade, an acceleration of Chinese state and private investment in urban infrastructure and real estate has transformed many skylines around the world. In 2014, a private Chinese company in collaboration with Malaysia’s Sultan of Johor state started construction on Forest City, a private gated luxury mega-development for 700,000 people on four reclaimed islands in the narrow strait that separates Malaysia and Singapore. While the official material for Forest City claims it is for all nationalities, it is being marketed predominantly in China and to ethnic Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. This paper investigates the broader implications for Singapore, Malaysia, and the region and makes two key arguments. First, I suggest Forest City is more than a Chinese-financed real estate development, rather it constitutes a Chinese neocolonial outpost to which Malaysia has largely conceded sovereignty and advances China’s expansionist agenda. Second, Forest City challenges current geopolitical dynamics and threatens to undermine Malaysia’s relationships with neighbouring countries.     

Underground pumped storage hydroelectricity using abandoned works (deep mines or open pits) and the impact on groundwater flow

Underground pumped storage hydroelectricity (UPSH) plants using open-pit or deep mines can be used in flat regions to store the excess of electricity produced during low-demand energy periods. It is essential to consider the interaction between UPSH plants and the surrounding geological media. There has been little work on the assessment of associated groundwater flow impacts. The impacts on groundwater flow are determined numerically using a simplified numerical model which is assumed to be representative of open-pit and deep mines. The main impact consists of oscillation of the piezometric head, and its magnitude depends on the characteristics of the aquifer/geological medium, the mine and the pumping and injection intervals. If an average piezometric head is considered, it drops at early times after the start of the UPSH plant activity and then recovers progressively. The most favorable hydrogeological conditions to minimize impacts are evaluated by comparing several scenarios. The impact magnitude will be lower in geological media with low hydraulic diffusivity; however, the parameter that plays the more important role is the volume of water stored in the mine. Its variation modifies considerably the groundwater flow impacts. Finally, the problem is studied analytically and some solutions are proposed to approximate the impacts, allowing a quick screening of favorable locations for future UPSH plants.     

Variability of Winter-Spring Bloom <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phaeocystis pouchetii</Emphasis> Abundance in Massachusetts Bay

Abundance of the prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis pouchetii was quantified via light microscopy at 2-week to monthly intervals in Massachusetts Bay (southern Gulf of Maine, NW Atlantic) during 1992–2012. Variability in the abundance and seasonal cycle of Phaeocystis are described and synoptic hydrographic, nutrient, and meteorological data were analyzed to identify factors that may influence Phaeocystis abundance. The maximum Phaeocystis abundance was 14?×?10⁶ cells L^?1 (10 Apr 2008). It was frequently (5 of 8 years) absent prior to year 2000, but not thereafter. Seasonally, it first appeared in February to early March, reached peak abundance in mid-April, and persisted until May or early June for a duration of 0–112 days (mean 34 days). A long-term alternation between Phaeocystis and centric diatom abundance was apparent, suggesting winter-spring selection of either Phaeocystis or centric diatoms. Phytoplankton community analysis suggested that blooms affected the rest of the phytoplankton community. Phaeocystis blooms were manifest as a substantial increase in particulate nutrients above normal levels. Phaeocystis blooms were preceded in February by a slightly elevated concentration of NO₃ (9.3 vs. 6.5 μM when absent) and PO₄ (0.99 vs. 0.79 μM when absent). Blooms were also preceded by elevated ratios of NO₃/PO₄, NO₃/Si, and PO₄/Si, and warmer, saltier waters reflecting reduced river discharge. The correlation with salinity and river discharge suggests that Phaeocystis bloom variability is partially determined by annually varying circulation processes that determine the degree of low nutrient, low salinity coastal water intrusion into Massachusetts Bay.     

Laboratory investigations of viscous effects in replenished magma chambers

Some laboratory experiments are described which investigate the dynamical effects of replenishment of a magma chamber containing high viscosity magma by hotter, denser and much more fluid magma. In the experiments a layer of hot KNO₃ solution is emplaced beneath cold glycerine, which has a viscosity 3000 times greater. Less dense fluid is released immediately and continuously from the interface as a result of crystallization in the lower layer and rises as plumes through the overlying glycerine. Further crystallization occurs in the plumes, and the crystals fall out; but there is little mixing between the two fluids and a layer of depleted KNO₃ solution forms at the top. The experiments demonstrate that interfacial processes begin to dominate where there are large viscosity differences between adjacent fluid layers as would be the case in a rhyolitic magma chamber replenished by basaltic magma.     

UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAMMETRY IN THE NORTH SEA

Underwater photogrammetry is being used in the particularly hostile environment of the North Sea where it has been put into commercially viable operation. The authors discuss underwater photogrammetry related to other means of inspection of oil platforms. They also deal with operational experience of 35 mm and 70 mm cameras, camera calibration, the provision of control and photogrammetric observations and data analysis. The demand for underwater photogrammetry continues to grow.     

Distribution and tectonic implications of Cretaceous-Quaternary sedimentary facies in Solomon Islands

Sedimentary rocks of the Solomon Islands-Bougainville Arc are described in terms of nine widespread facies. Four facies associations are recognised by grouping facies which developed in broadly similar sedimentary environments.A marine pelagic association of Early Cretaceous to Miocene rocks comprises three facies. Facies Al: Early Cretaceous siliceous mudstone, found only on Malaita, is interpreted as deep marine siliceous ooze. Facies A2: Early Cretaceous to Eocene limestone with chert, overlies the siliceous mudstone facies, and is widespread in the central and eastern Solomons. It represents lithified calcareous ooze. Facies A3: Oligocene to Miocene calcisiltite with thin tuffaceous beds, overlies Facies A2 in most areas, and also occurs in the western Solomons. This represents similar, but less lithified calcareous ooze, and the deposits of periodic andesitic volcanism.An open marine detrital association of Oligocene to Recent age occurs throughout the Solomons. This comprises two facies. Facies B1 is variably calcareous siltstone, of hemipelagic origin; and Facies B2 consists of volcanogenic clastic deposits, laid down from submarine mass flows.A third association, of shallow marine carbonates, ranges in age from Late Oligocene to Recent. Facies C1 is biohermal limestone, and Facies C2 is biostromal calcarenite.The fourth association comprises areally restricted Pliocene to Recent paralic detrital deposits. Facies D1 includes nearshore clastic sediments, and Facies D2 comprises alluvial sands and gravels.Pre-Oligocene pelagic sediments were deposited contemporaneously with, and subsequent to, the extrusion of oceanic tholeiite. Island arc volcanism commenced along the length of the Solomons during the Oligocene, and greatly influenced sedimentation. Thick volcaniclastic sequences were deposited from submarine mass flows, and shallow marine carbonates accumulated locally. Fine grained graded tuffaceous beds within the marine pelagic association are interpreted as products of this volcanism, suggesting that the Santa Isabel-Malaita-Ulawa area, where these beds are prevalent, was relatively close to the main Solomons chain at this time. A subduction zone may have dipped towards the northeast beneath this volcanic chain. Pliocene to Pleistocene calcalkaline volcanism and tectonism resulted in the emergence of all large islands and led to deposition of clastic and carbonate facies in paralic, shallow and deep marine environments.     

The factors influencing cation site-preferences in spinels a new mendelyevian approach

Pseudopotential orbital radii r _s , r _p are used to construct an index, r _σ=r _s +r _p , which characterizes the average potential experienced by atomic valence electrons. A plot of r _A ^σ verses r _B ^σ for 172 chalogenide spinels (AB₂X₄, X=O, S, Se, Te) leads to two well defined areas, which separate normal and inverse spinels, with only four errors (a predictive success rate of 98%). The gross sorting is achieved without recourse either to the number of d-electrons or an orbital radius r _d , from which it is inferred that it is the energies and extents of the cation s and p-orbitals which primarily determine coordination number in these systems. This approach to the problem of cation distribution in spinels is contrasted with the less generally applicable, traditional, crystal field ideas. The relevance of both r _σ and crystal field stabilization energies to the thermodynamics of spinel reactions is also discussed.     

The annual cycle of zooplankton in a Long Island estuary

Zooplankton and chlorophyll-a samples and associated hydrographic data were collected at approximately weekly intervals in the Peconic Bay estuary for most of the period between May 1978 and June 1979. Surface zooplankton samples were obtained by simultaneously-towed 73 μm- and 202 μm-mesh nets, and subsurface samples were collected with 505 μm-mesh nets. Zooplankton numbers and displacement volumes fluctuated widely throughout the year, with highest values in early spring and summer. Juvenile or adult copepods accounted for means of 90.0% and 85.0% of the animals recorded for the 202 μm- and 73 μm-net samples, respectively. The combination of Acartia tonsa and A. hudsonica adults+copepodids accounted for a mean of 81.4% of the zooplankton recorded for the 202 μm-net samples, and the combination of copepod nauplii, Acartia spp. adults+copepodids, Oithona colcarva and Parvocalanus crassirostris accounted for a mean of 82.7% of the animals recorded for the 73 μm-net samples. Copepod nauplii were the most abundant zooplankters collected in the 73 μm-net samples, and they were generally collected in higher numbers than the total number of animals in the 202 μm-net samples. During the colder months, late copepodids and adults of larger copepod species comprised greater proportions of the total zooplankton than during the warmer months when nauplii and copepodids of smaller copepod species were predominant. The ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi and the medusa Cyanea capillata also had periods of abundance during warmer months. Differences between numbers of larger zooplankters collected over different depth intervals or in successive replicate tows over the same depth intervals, reveal the likely effects of both vertical and horizontal patchiness. Comparisons of zooplankton numbers from the present investigation, which were obtained with relatively fine-mesh nets, with values from previous studies in adjacent waters which used coarser-mesh nets, suggest that many previous investigations have seriously underestimated the numbers of smaller zooplankters, particularly copepod nauplii.     

A laboratory and theoretical study of the growth of “black smoker” chimneys

Observational evidence suggests that black smoker chimneys are formed by the precipitation of anhydrite from seawater producing a solid framework which is replaced successively by iron, zinc and copper sulfides. We have demonstrated the feasibility of this process using a laboratory model in which KNO₃ is first crystallized from a warm, nearly saturated solution round an inflowing plume of cold K₂CO₃. The chimney grows in length at a nearly constant rate and, at the same time, it thickens as heat conduction causes further crystallization. The dynamic replacement process has been modelled separately, with CuSO₄ passed through a previously formed chimney of KNO₃ and flowing out through the porous walls when the flow rate, and hence the pressure difference, is increased. The formation of chimneys at a line or slit source has also been investigated in the laboratory. It has been shown that, in this case, the slit is quickly blocked off by crystallization over most of its length and that the growth is concentrated at just a few points to form a small number of nearly axisymmetric chimneys.A theory has been developed which predicts both the diameter of the outlet vent and the sign of the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of an axisymmetric chimney of constant internal diameter for a specified flow rate and density difference. It suggests that changes in flow rate or in the internal diameter of the chimney can cause fluid to flow in or out through the porous wall, leading to changes in the position of mineral stability fields within the evolving chimney. The theory has been extended to describe the pressure distribution in tapering interior conduits and it leads to the conclusion that the direction of flow through a porous chimney can reverse along its length.     

The petrogenesis of an I-type volcanic-plutonic suite: The St. Marys Porphyrite,Tasmania

The Devonian I-type St. Marys Porphyrite (388±1Ma) comprises two petrographically similar units, an 800 m thick pyroclastic sheet (compositionally dacite and rhyolite) and a subvolcanic feeder dyke. The pyroclastics are crystal-rich and contain (in order of decreasing abundance) plagioclase, quartz, biotite, augite, hypersthene and sanidine phenocrysts in an aphanitic groundmass.The early phenocryst assemblage clinopyroxene+orthopyroxene+plagioclase was followed by crystallisation of less magnesian pyroxene, more sodic plagioclase and biotite, quartz and K-feldspar. The phenocrysts crystallised at high temperature, between 1,000°-850° C, and at a pressure of 2.5±1 kb from a water undersaturated (<2.5 wt.%) magma in a chamber underlying the intrusive centre.At least two eruptive phases are present in the pyroclastic pile, each commencing with rhyolite. Bulk chemical variation probably reflects a zonation in the magma chamber prior to eruption. The low pressure phenocryst crystallisation conditions and the pyroxene Fe-enrichment trend with falling temperature support a fractional crystallisation model. The chemical variation can be explained by 20% fractional crystallisation involving plagioclase, quartz, biotite and pyroxene in proportions similar to modal phenocryst abundances.Volcanics like the St. Marys Porphyrite preserve evidence of their early magmatic history by quenching of mineral phases. Textural relationships and physico-chemical parameters deduced from the St. Marys Porphyrite are applicable to the interpretation of I-type granitoids in eastern Australia and elsewhere and constrain petrogenetic models for their genesis. Pyroxene cores of hornblende grains, pyroxene inclusions in plagioclase and corroded cores of plagioclase crystals may be formed through magmatic crystallisation and need not represent restite.