“Sub-Triticites Beds” of the Donskaya Luka and lower boundary of the Kasimovian Stage

Micro- and macrofauna remains were studied from transitional deposits of Moscovian and Kasimovian Stages in the Donskaya Luka (Volgograd Region). The preliminary analysis of microfauna showed that “sub-Triticites Beds” of the Donskaya Luka contain fusulinid and conodont assemblages enabling correlation of the Middle and Upper Carboniferous deposits in the study region with the type sections of Moscow area and Donbass. Conodonts from the “sub-Triticites Beds” stratotype were studied for the first time. As is established, upper part of the Sukhov Fm. and the base of the Seleznev Fm. belong to the Protriticites pseudomontiparus-Obsoletes obsoletus Zone. Based on fusulinids, higher parts of the Seleznev Fm. belong to the Montiparus Zone of the Khamovnikian Substage, whereas conodonts suggest their correlation with lower part of the Khamovnikian Substage, i.e., with the Ratmirovo Fm. or a basal part of the Neverovo Fm. Middle part of the Seleznev Fm. is correlated to middle cycle of the Neverovo Fm. of the Khamovnikian Substage in Moscow area. The Middle-Upper Carboniferous boundary deposits of the Donskaya Luka are represented by deposits of extremely shallow-water settings and contain only sporadic microfauna. These sections cannot be considered as possible candidates for the GSSP of the Kasimovian Stage base.     

Environmental upheavals of the Ediacaran period and the Cambrian “explosion” of animal life

The second half of the Ediacaran period began with a large impact e the Acraman impact in South Australia, which was accompanied by a negative d13Ccarb anomaly and an extinction-radiation event involvi...     

Curating the “Third Place”? Coworking and the mediation of creativity

Coworking spaces (CWS) and the associated practice of coworking, have emerged in numerous forms and various urban contexts to critically challenge traditional concepts of the workplace and location of creative work, while simultaneously confronting the way in which creative workers interact with and relate to each other as well as with space and to place. Heralded as a solution to increasingly atomised work patterns, CWS are imagined and presented as spaces of serendipitous encounter, spontaneous exchange and collaboration. Nonetheless, little is known about how coworking positively supports workers and how coworking relates to wider urban transformation processes has been largely un-researched. This paper contributes to a critical discussion through empirical analysis of a project aimed at establishing new creative CWS in city-centre locations across SE England. The study adopts a novel approach using Q-methodology. Motivations for coworking and benefits (or dis-benefits) of co-location are assessed, as is the extent to which coworking facilitates interactional effects and wider neighbourhood interactions. In particular, the role of the CWS manager as “mediator” is explored. Coworker benefits relate primarily to peer-interaction and support rather than formal collaboration. While CWS managers play a key connecting role, also ensuring coworker complementarity and compatibility, the coworker profile (motivations, needs, experiences) ultimately influences outcomes. The study cautions against the use of CWS as “quick fix” urban renewal tools, with little indication that the benefits of coworking reach beyond immediate members or that linkages are easily established between coworkers and local (resident or business) communities.     

The “Problem of the quaternary” and the taxonomic rank of the late cenozoic in the international stratigraphic scale

An international scientific conflict has arisen around the International Stratigraphic Scale, the main document that regulates the rules of reading of geological records and, hence, concerns all Earth sciences. The matter of debate is the geological time scale of 2004, developed by the International Commission on Stratigraphy, where the Quaternary system was abandoned. This ICS decision triggered a protest among Quaternary geologists, members of INQUA, and became the subject of much controversy. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the Quaternary problem and proposes a reasonable scientific solution that may be appropriate for both parties.     

Birth and death of the Late Cretaceous “La Luna Sea”, and origin of the Tres Esquinas phosphorites

Deposition of organic carbon-rich intervals of the La Luna and Navay formations of northwestern Venezuela was governed by the development of key paleobathymetric barriers (Santa Marta and Santander massifs, Paraguana Block, and ancestral Mérida Andes). These enhanced the development of anoxia in the “La Luna Sea” by causing poor circulation and limited ventilation. Anoxia was also promoted by high evaporation and low precipitation rates (high salinity bottom water), and high levels of marine algal productivity (high organic matter flux). Nutrient supply was augmented by infrequent fluvial sources.Bottom water oxygen levels increased from the Late Santonian through the end of the Cretaceous. Ventilation of anoxic bottom waters may have been enhanced by more frequent or intense seasonal upwelling (caused by higher wind stress) and catastrophic overturn, as well as the removal of a key paleobathymetric barrier. Common byproducts of overturn events were massive phytoplankton blooms, which produced red tides. Fish and marine reptile bone beds within the Tres Esquinas Member (La Luna Formation) are attributed to massive mortality during these events, and are correlative with similar Campanian units in eastern Colombia. During the Maastrichtian, increasing ventilation, combined with siliciclastic dilution, ultimately produced sediments with lower total organic carbon (TOC) content.     

Prevenance,preservation, and transport of the detrital “coffee grounds” of the Mississippi Delta

Detrital organic fragments or “coffee grounds”, common in the swash zone, and in the lee of barrier islands off the Mississippi Delta consists of up to 40% high-volatile bituminous coal particles of medium to coarse sand size (0.25–1 mm). These coal fragments produce both a well preserved Cretaceous-Paleocene flora and a less well preserved Pottsville (Early Pennsylvanian) flora. This Pottsville flora has close affinities with one described by Kosanke (1950) from the Early Pennsylvanian Illinois Basin coals. If the provenance assignment is correct, these coal particles were transported by the Mississippi River a minimum of 1000 miles from the Interior Coal Province to their present locality in the south Pass area of the Mississippi Delta. However, spillage contamination during a century of barge transport within the Mississippi drainage cannot be ruled out as a possible source for the “coffee grounds” coal.High-volatile coals crop out in the Black Warrior Basin in Alabama to the northeast of the delta. If this is a source of the coal, then an entirely different drainage-transport system would be involved. It would invoke drainage from the Appalachian Province southward, with subsequent longshore current transport, westward — along the Gulf Coast shoreline.Heavy-mineral differences exist between these two sedimentary provinces, with the Appalachian-derived heavy minerals dominated by kyanite, staurolite, and tourmaline; and the Mississippi River Canadian Shield source dominated by amphiboles and pyroxenes. The heavy-mineral assemblage recovered from the “coffee grounds” material is more like those of the Mississippi River Province, and dominated by green hornblende.Vitrinite particles of the coals show no evidence of oxidation rims although they have been in oxygenated waters for an extended period of time during transport. The spore preservation is adequate for specific identification, and is further evidence of minimal oxidation.Coal rank analysis and palynoflora identifications provide a dual approach in reconstructing provenance, transport history, and origin of these detrital organic deposits.     

Plant migration and plant communities at the time of the “green Sahara”

Around 8500 cal years BP, at the time of the maximum of the African Humid Period, lakes and wetlands expanded in the present-day Sahara while large paleodrainages were formed or re-actived, in response to an orbitally-induced increase in monsoon rainfall. It has been suggested that the direct consequence of this increase in rainfall was the northward displacement of the Sahara/Sahel boundary, thought to have reached 23°N in central and eastern Africa. Here, we show a more complex situation characterized by an increase in biodiversity as the desert accommodated more humid-adapted species from tropical forests and wooded grasslands: tropical plant species now found some 400 to 500 km to the south probably entered the desert as gallery-forest formations along rivers and lakes where they benefited from permanent fresh water. At the same time, Saharan trees and shrubs persisted, giving rise to a vegetation that has no analogue today. In this article, we present distribution maps of selected plant species to show both the amplitude of the vegetation change compared to the present and the composition of the past plant communities. We also estimate the migration rate of tropical plant taxa to their northernmost position in the Sahara. This study is based on the use of several data sets: a data set of the modern plant distribution in northern Africa and a data set of modern and fossil pollen sites (from the African Pollen Database, http://fpd.mediasfrance.org/ and http://medias.obs-mip.fr/apd/).     

The Nature of the “Voice of the Sea”

Strong vibrations of the Earth’s crust in the frequency range of 7–9 Hz, referred to as the “voice of the sea,” have been recorded in the course of processing synchronous experimental data obtained during recording of variations in the deformation of the Earth’s crust using a shore laser strainmeter, atmosphere pressure variations using a laser nanobarograph, and hydrosphere pressure variations using a laser meter for hydrospheric pressure and wind velocity variations. The nature of these vibrations and their transformation to adjacent geospheres have been discussed.     

Introduction to concepts and proposed standardization of the term “Quaternary”

During the early 1800‘s, the current Cenozoic Era (Phillips,1840) underwent competing schemes of subdivision based on field relationships or on biological evolution.     

Redox problems in the “metallogenic specialization” of magmatic rocks and the genesis of hydrothermal ore mineralization

Considering the history and current state of the problem of the so-called metallogenic specialization of magmatic rocks, the paper places emphasis onto various aspects of the genesis of ore mineralization depending on the redox state of magmas (as a logical continuation of S. Ishihara’s works), fluids, and host rocks. These problems were inadequately poorly explored and discussed by researchers dealing with ore deposits. Various possible variants of ore-forming redox processes for different types of mineral deposits, with ore mineralization affiliated to granites (Ta, Sn, W, Mo, and Be) and mafic magmas (Au, Ag, U, Cu, Zn, Pb, As, Sb, and Hg) and, accordingly, to crustal and mantle origin, are discussed. On the basis of analyzed geological data, including those published over the past three decades, it is shown that the redox state of ore-producing magmas commonly significantly impacted not only the ore potential of magmatic complexes but also the genetic type of the ore mineralization. The redox state of the fluids predetermined the transport and precipitation speciation of metals. Influence mechanisms of hydrocarbons from sedimentary country rocks and gaseous products of their pyrolysis on ore deposition of various metals are considered. Understanding these mechanisms can be helpful for predicting the possible precipitation sites of ore mineralization of noble, radioactive, and chalcophile metals.     

On the mechanism of the generation of seismic “nails”

The spatial and temporal peculiarities of seismic “nails” are analyzed. Some nails are related to strong earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions, while some do not show any coincidence with any fault zone or other tectonic structures. In some cases, poorly expressed trends in the depths of earthquake occurrence sequences occur. Based on the calculation of the Hurst exponent, a stable tendency in the order sequence for the depths of hypocenters that form a nail has been revealed. This tendency is consistent with self-organization models, which demonstrate positive feedback during interactions between fluid flows and tectonic deformations and have been used to explain the earthquake generation mechanism. The peculiarities of changes in earthquake numbers on the day when a nail is formed agree well with the acoustical emission dynamics during earthquake triggering through water injections, based on the long-term experimental data. The most probable mechanism that generates the seismic nails that are not related to strong earthquakes is seismic activation under the effects of fluids.     

Fragmentation of the “bag-breakup” type as a mechanism of the generation of sea spray at strong and hurricane winds

Experiments on generation mechanisms of sea water spray under hurricane wind were performed using shadow illumination high-speed video recording from several camera positions. Classification of fragmentation mechanism leading to generation of spray was conducted. Statistics of the events causing generation of spray was studied. A phenomenological model was developed based on the methods of statistical physics to describe the “bag-breakup” generation mechanism. The function of spray generation was conducted on this basis, which describes well the experimental data obtained under hurricane winds in the natural and laboratory conditions.     

Comparison of the compositions of olivines and clinopyroxenes from mantle and “crustal” peridotites of collisional high-pressure/ultrahigh-pressure zones

Doklady Earth Sciences -     

Transformative left-wing parties’ and grassroots organizations: Unpacking the politics of “top-down” and “bottom-up” development

Academic analyses of the potential for agents to transform development processes have been dominated by social movement theorists who focus on the prospects for creating an alternative to development that challenges the status quo. This has downplayed the role of political parties in the transformation process. This article takes the South African Communist Party (SACP) as a unit of analysis by drawing from a case study in Alexandra township, Johannesburg, where the local SACP has assisted with mobilizing a community-based organization in an informal settlement called S’swetla where the ruling African National Congress (ANC) purportedly imposed development onto residents. The local SACP viewed its intervention as pro-poor and bottom-up. It appeared initially to offer a transformative alternative to the official approach taken by the Alexandra Development Forum (ADF), an invited participatory space adopted by the Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP) – a flagship project of the ANC. This paper uses this example to problematize the simplistic dichotomy between top-down and bottom-up development in the context of a political party that claims to be committed to pro-poor and people-driven development. In doing so, it argues that theorists must pay closer empirical attention to the politics of both invited and invented participatory spaces in order to understand the implications that this has for transforming development.     

Geochronology of the Larderello geothermal field: new data and the “closure temperature” issue

The Larderello geothermal field is generally accepted to have been produced by a granite intrusion at 4–9 km depth. Hydrothermal parageneses and fluid inclusions always formed at temperatures greater than or equal to the current ones, which implies that the field has always undergone a roughly monotonic cooling history (fluctuations < 40 K) since intrusion of the granite at 4 Ma. The heat required to maintain the thermal anomaly over such a long period is supplied by a seismically anomalous body of 32000 km³ rooted in the mantle. Borehole minerals from Larderello are thus a unique well-calibrated natural example of thermally induced Ar and Sr loss under geological conditions and time spans. The observations (biotites retain Ar above 450°C) agree well with other, albeit less precise, geological determinations, but contrast with laboratory determinations of diffusivity from the literature. We therefore performed a hydrothermal experiment on two Larderello biotites and derived a diffusivity D _Lab(370°C)=5.3·10^-18 cm²s^-1, in agreement with published estimates of diffusivity in annite. From D _Lab and the rejuvenation of the K/Ar ages we calculate maximum survival times at the present in-hole temperatures. They trend smoothly over almost two orders of magnitude from 352 ka to 5.3 ka, anticorrelating with depth: laboratory diffusivities are inconsistent not only with geological facts, but also among themselves. From the geologically constrained lifetime of the thermal anomaly we derive a diffusivity D _G(370°C)=3.81·10²¹ cm²s^-1, 3±1 orders of magnitude lower than D _Lab. The cause of these discrepancies must be sought among various laboratory artefacts: overstepping of a critical temperature T ^*; enhanced diffusivities in wet experiments; presence of fast pathway (dislocation and pipe) diffusion, and of dissolution/reprecipitation reactions, which we imaged by scanning electron microscopy. These phenomena are minor in geological settings: in the absence of mineral transformation reactions, complete or near-complete resetting is achieved only by volume diffusion. Therefore, laboratory determinations will necessarily result in apparent diffusivities that are too high compared to those actually effecting the resetting of natural geochronometers.This word is dedicated to the memory of Aldo Valori (1958–1991)     

“Blind passes” and the production of green security through violence on the Guatemalan border

Guatemalan protected areas have been sites for genocidal massacres, drug trafficking landing strips, and remilitarized “states of emergency,” but these activities are rarely considered in relation to conservation practices. This paper employs a political ecology approach to analyze interpellations of transboundary spaces as security threats, arguing that threat narratives produce insecurity in conservation spaces. Instead of assuming the primacy of neoliberalism in producing protected areas as sites of violence in the service of capitalism, the analysis traces the changing meanings of security in relation to Guatemala’s borderlands, from Cold War National Security Doctrine to discourses of citizen security in the twenty-first century Drug War. It is in the unmanned “blind passes” (pasos ciegos) of the Guatemalan–Mexican border, rendered as insecure spaces through the state’s putative absence, that policing paradoxically seeks to ensure “citizen security” through violence.     

Finding the Location of Generation Zones of “Voice of the Sea” Microseisms

Doklady Earth Sciences - The generation zones of “voice of the sea” microseisms of three typhoons were determined from the field data using a two-coordinate laser strainmeter. From...