The spatiality of multifunctional agriculture: A human geography perspective

Based on reconceptualisations of multifunctional agriculture as a normative spectrum of decision-making (strong to weak multifunctionality) bounded by productivist and non-productivist action and thought [Hollander, G.M., 2004. Agricultural trade liberalization, multifunctionality, and sugar in the south Florida landscape. Geoforum 35, 299-312; Holmes, J., 2006. Impulses towards a multifunctional transition in rural Australia: gaps in the research agenda. Journal of Rural Studies 22, 142-160; Wilson, G.A., 2007. Multifunctional Agriculture: A Transition Theory Perspective. CAB International, Wallingford], this paper argues that there is currently insufficient research into the geography of multifunctionality. Building on current human geography debates about issues of scale, the paper suggests that we should conceive of multifunctionality as a spatially complex nested hierarchy comprising different interlinked ’layers’ of multifunctional decision-making ranging from the farm level to the national and global levels. It suggests that the notion of multifunctional agriculture only makes sense if it is applied at the farm level as the most important spatial scale for the implementation of multifunctional action ‘on the ground’. Multifunctionality can be interpreted as having ’direct’ expression only at the ’lower’ geographical scales (i.e. farm, community and regional levels in particular) while the regional, national and global levels show ’indirect’ expressions of multifunctionality that are mediated by local level actors in order to find tangible expression on the ground. The notion of global-level multifunctionality is the most challenging, as this level lacks political and ideological coherence about the required directions necessary for implementation of strong multifunctionality pathways. The paper concludes by arguing that much work still awaits those investigating the spatiality of multifunctionality, in particular with regard to the question whether global-level strong multifunctionality is possible, or whether strong multifunctionality in one territory is predicated on weak multifunctionality in others.     

The non spaces of critical geography in Mexico

The paper examines the limited presence of critical geography in Mexico and analyses why the lack of theoretical discussion means there is a need for theory from abroad. Different stages in the development of our critical practice, our links with planning programmes, and a lack of relations with other Latin American countries are all salient features.     

The political geography of religion: historical state-church relations in Europe and recent challenges

Historical processes of state formation and nation building are crucial for an understanding of the geography of religions and churches in Europe. Each country has developed its own model of state-church relations, giving rise to a ‘bewildering variety’ as Grace Davie aptly remarks. The aim of this paper is to bring some order to this variety by developing a framework for the comparative study of church-state relations based on Stein Rokkan’s famous conceptual map and recent extensions of it to Central and Eastern Europe by John Madeley. According to that framework Europe has been divided into three mono-confessional (Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox) blocs and two multi-confessional culture belts from Northwest to Southeast, and from Northeast to Southeast. This historical pattern has been challenged by secularisation, which started with the Enlightenment and the French Revolution (Western Europe) and the Russian Revolution (Eastern Europe until the velvet revolutions of 1989/1991) and then became widespread after the ‘cultural revolutions’ of the 1960s. A second challenge has to do with globalisation and its consequences, such as massive immigration and the rise of immigrant religions, and in general deterritorialisation, which means the disembeddedness of religion from its national territory. A third challenge concerns reterritorialisation at other (supranational, regional, transnational, and local) scales, of which the new territorial order of the European Union seems to be the most important. Finally, this paper serves as an introduction to the case studies on church-state relations in this special issue.     

The ethno-class trajectory of new neighborhoods in Israel

The subject of this article falls within the debate on the development of new neighborhoods beyond the hub of the metropolis and how this relates to planning from below. It regards new neighborhoods as being increasingly shaped through deliberate action in the form of public policy at the state and local levels. However, it emphasizes the central role of the government establishment, national institutions and ideologies in walling out and exclusionary practices. Research into four representative new neighborhoods in Israel, which were planned under the new spatial regime of the 1990s, reveals patterns of discrimination and ethno-class stratification that enable the preservation of nationalism and ethnic logic as the main, yet concealed, axis organizing social and spatial life.     

The changing geography of morbidity and mortality in post-communist Poland

In general, the health of Poles improved markedly in the thirty years after the Second World War, but there was some deterioration after 1989 before improvement resumed. Only in the case of cancer is there an upward trend and so Poles are now healthier than they have been at any time in the past. However there are sharp regional variations well exemplified by the incidence of tuberculosis, where there appears to be some correlation with poorer housing and atmospheric pollution. High death rates in Lodz (consistently the highest in the country at the voivodship level between 1989 and 1996), may also be linked with environmental pollution as well as the ageing of the population. Variations between town and country are small, but Poland shows up in a poor light when compared with other European countries. These are important issues for the administration and financing of the welfare services. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The contested and negotiated dominance of Anglophone geography in Greece

In this comment, I discuss the dominance of Anglophone geographical literature in Greece, arguing that it is a recent and still contested phenomenon, to do with broader historical/political circumstances, as well as with the development of geographical studies at university level. In the context of the power-knowledge system, in which Anglophone debates, theory production and spaces of academic communication and exchange dominate, radical academics in Greece are caught in a complex web of contradictions, have to negotiate their/our paths across languages, plural voices, local and international communities.     

K-Ar dating of ring complexes and fault systems in Northern Kordofan,Sudan: evidence for independent magmatic and tectonic activity

From an area of brittle shearing and ring complexes in Northern Kordofan, Sudan 28 K-Ar ages were calculated to determine the geochronology of tectonic and magmatic events. The age results for deformational episodes are 560, 340 and 255 Ma, whereas alkaline magma was intruded at 280, 220 and 165 Ma. The incompatibility of age marks leads to the conclusion that magmatic and tectonic activity in this area have to be regarded as independent events. This holds true even when all dated intrusions from the entire region are compared with post-Pan-African continental tectonic features.     

The question of development and environment in geography in the era of globalisation

This paper focuses on how livelihood and the question of development and environment in a globalising era should be examined. It discusses various views in geography on the question of environment and development, and it explores the concept of sustainable livelihood. It concludes that a geographical conceptualisation of ‘development and environment’ may profit from the discussion on sustainable livelihood, provided that it does not become entangled in an actor-cum-local bias. Moreover, the diffusion of non-equilibrium concepts may broaden the analysis of man-land relations and open the way to an analysis of globalisation effects. Globalisation gives rise to new assortments of geographical entities and, as livelihoods adapt, they will shape constantly shifting regions with specific man-land arrangements. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

造山带研究中有关复理石和磨拉石的几个问题

在造山带研究中,碰撞方式和时限的争议是全球造山带研究中的一个共同现状或面临的难题。利用复理石和磨拉石时代来限定碰撞时限是造山带研究的一项重要内容。本文首先综述了复理石和磨拉石从提出到广泛应用以及不同历史时期被赋予的构造含义;其次,根据其可能发育的构造环境,指出复理石和磨拉石纪录造山带的相关信息及其演变过程。被动陆缘复理石可能纪录了参与碰撞拼贴块体的亲缘性,而且被动陆缘、活动陆缘或者岛弧环境的复理石均形成于碰撞作用之前,因此最年轻的复理石时代可提供碰撞时间的下限;(周缘)前陆盆地的磨拉石形成于碰撞造山作用过程中,因此其最早的磨拉石沉积时代可用于限定碰撞时间的上限。从复理石到磨拉石地层的渐变过程(连续沉积)指示了碰撞构造事件的发生、以及之后的碰撞造山作用是均变过程,会发育不同尺度规模的不整合。因此,造山带中的不整合未必代表有重大构造事件的发生,而连续沉积并不表明没有大的构造事件。     

The (ir)relevance of geography for school choice: Evidence from a Swedish choice experiment

The increased opportunity to choose one’s school of preference has been raised as a key factor in many countries to promote equal opportunities and a higher quality of education. This has been endorsed by policymakers who assume that students make well-informed rational choices and that students stress only academic quality when deciding which school to attend. If this is true, it will benefit schools of high academic quality, rendering improved school quality overall. To date, little research has examined the validity of these assumptions despite the profound effects they have had for changing the school systems in many countries. This article describes an experiment to investigate the relative importance of factors in school choice. The aim is to test the validity of the theoretical assumptions that guided the school choice reforms in Sweden. Specifically, we draw on experimental data from prospective upper secondary school students in Sweden to contrast the principal school quality attributes behind the policy change (knowledge reputation and program feasibility), with the presence of friends and geographical attributes such as distance, location and accessibility, while controlling for individual characteristics. The results have important policy implications as they show that geographical factors are highly relevant for school choice preferences. In contrast to the reforms’ intentions, geography appears to have become more important than ever before. The findings thus reveal significant flaws in the assumptions that motivated the school choice policy reform.     

The petrogenesis of basic and ultrabasic alkaline rocks of western Makhtesh Ramon,Israel: geochemistry,melt and fluid inclusion study

The basic and ultrabasic alkaline rocks of western Makhtesh Ramon, Israel crop out in numerous lava flows and subvolcanic bodies. The rock suite is composed of tephrite, basanite, basanitic nephelinite, analcimite, olivine nephelinite, and melilite-olivine nephelinite and in many outcrops is represented by glass-bearing varieties. Melt and fluid inclusions have been studied in olivine, clinopyroxene, and plagioclase phenocrysts. The EP, SIMS and microthermometry methods were used for inclusion study. The geochemical data obtained on glasses of melt inclusions (major, REE, trace elements, volatiles) are compared with the data on whole-rock and groundmass glass compositions. The compositions of melt inclusions reflect the different stages of rock crystallization: the initial products of crystallization are similar to whole-rock compositions whereas final portions of melts are usually enriched in SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and alkalis, and depleted in mafic components. The data on contemporaneous melt and CO₂ inclusions were used for the evaluation of the P–T conditions of rock generation. The following parameters were obtained: tephrite: P = 6.3–7.7 kbar and T = 1,150–1,250°C; basanite: P = 6.6–9.2 kbar and T = 1,150–1,250°C; olivine and analcime-olivine nephelinite: P = 5.6–8.2 kbar and T = 1,150–1,250°C; melilite-olivine nephelinite: 4.0–5.4 kbar and T mainly between 1,150 and 1,200°C. Magma genesis was restricted to P–T conditions of spinel- and plagioclase-lherzolite fields. These data suggest the shallowest depth of magma genesis occurred in Makhtesh Ramon compared to other occurrences of Early Cretaceous magmatism at the Middle East. Differences in the degree of batch partial melting of the same source rocks best explain the diversity of the igneous suite in western Makhtesh Ramon.     

青甘宁三省区定点洪水调查方法研究

洪水调查资料是科学地认识洪水发生的自然规律,正确地进行洪水计算,分析地区水文特性,进行水利、水电和其他国民经济建设不可缺少的基本资料。原甘肃省水文总站1976年就创造性提出定点洪水调查并于实施,青海省、宁夏回族自治区水文部门也先后实施定点洪水调查工作。通过对三省区定点洪水调查原始资料搜集、整理汇总、合理性分析、成果汇编,建立了一整套科学、实用的洪水调查理论方法和质量控制体系;提出了系统、权威的三省区河段定点调查洪水资料汇编成果。结果表明:定点洪水调查为弥补西部干旱地区水文站网不足,发挥了不可替代的作用。在经济欠发达的西部省(区)收集水文资料,是一个很好的途径,具有投资小、收集资料面广、机动灵活性强等特点,具有广泛的推广价值;定点洪水调查能够获取中小河流河段年最大洪峰流量,并能形成一定的资料系列长度,为涉水工程设计、工程安全复核、防洪管理及工程调度提供基础依据,具有广泛的应用价值。     

论松辽盆地地下水动力场演化与油气运移、聚集

松辽盆地地下水动力场具有明显的不对称性:盆地北部大气水下渗形成向心流；中央坳陷区发育泥岩压榨水形成的离心流和越流泄水；盆地南部以越流-蒸发泄水为特征，只有盆地边缘和隆起区的顶部有大气水下渗。泥岩压榨水形成的离心流是松辽盆地油气运移的主要动力。古水文地质的旋回性和离心流的阶段性，决定了油气的阶段性运移和在一个独立水动力体系内多个油环在内，气环在外，与沉积凹陷同心的阶梯式-环带状油气分布规律.     

当代大陆内部物理学与动力学研究的导向和科学问题

大陆内部壳、幔结构和动力学机制远比大洋"刚性"板块复杂得多,故板块"登陆"必受限定。为此必须重新认识大陆内部物质在力系作用下的重新分异、调整,即必须重新厘定其大陆内部形成的深层过程和动力学机理。文中指出了以壳、幔结构与深层过程为支柱的地球动力学应予以研究和探索的十大基本科学问题。它们的"核心"主题乃是研究、探索深部物质与能量的交换、运动行为与轨迹和动力学响应。     

Formation of lacustrine dolomite in the late Miocene marginal lakes of the East Mediterranean (Northern Israel)

The study focuses on the formation of lacustrine dolomite in late Miocene lakes, located at the East Mediterranean margins (Northern Israel). These lakes deposited the sediments of the Bira (Tortonian) and Gesher (Messinian) formations that comprise sequences of dolostone and limestone. Dolostones are bedded, consist of small‐sized (<7 μm), Ca‐rich (52 to 56 mol %) crystals with relatively low ordering degrees, and present evidence for replacement of CaCO₃ components. Limestones are comprised of a wackestone to mudstone matrix, freshwater macrofossils and intraclasts (mainly in the Bira Formation). Sodium concentrations and isotope compositions differ between limestones and dolostones: Na = ~100 to 150 ppm; ~1000 to 2000 ppm; δ¹⁸O = ?3·8 to ?1·6‰; ?2·0 to +4·3‰; δ¹³C = ?9·0 to ?3·4‰; ?7·8 to 0‰ (VPDB), respectively. These results indicate a climate‐related sedimentation during the Tortonian and early Messinian. Wet conditions and positive freshwater inflow into the carbonate lake led to calcite precipitation due to intense phytoplankton blooms (limestone formation). Dry conditions and enhanced evaporation led to precipitation of evaporitic CaCO₃ in a terminal lake, which caused an increased Mg/Ca ratio in the residual waters and penecontemporaneous dolomitization (dolostone formation). The alternating lithofacies pattern reveals eleven short‐term wet–dry climate‐cycles during the Tortonian and early Messinian. A shift in the environmental conditions under which dolomite formed is indicated by a temporal decrease in δ¹⁸O of dolostones and Na content of dolomite crystals. These variations point to decreasing evaporation degrees and/or an increased mixing with meteoric waters towards the late Messinian. A temporal decrease in δ¹³C of dolostones and limestones and appearance of microbial structures in close association with dolomite suggest that microbial activity had an important role in allowing dolomite formation during the Messinian. Microbial mediation was apparently the main process that enabled local growth of dolomite under wet conditions during the latest Messinian.     

京西煤系高岭土中铁、钛赋存状态研究

本文以分析电子显微术为主要技术手段,对京西煤系高岭土中铁、钛物相的赋存状态进行了深入研究。结果表明,京西高岭土精矿中含有少量锐钛矿和微量针铁矿及铁钛混合物相;结构铁是京西煤系高岭土中铁的主要存在形式,其中也含有微量结构钛。四次配位于硅氧四面体中的Fe3 和存在于铝氧八面体中六配位的Fe3 和Fe2 是结构铁的三种占位形式。研究结果对于深化煤系高岭土的矿物学研究和京西煤系高岭土的开发利用具有重要理论意义和指导意义。     

太原市地下水动态特征及各地下水系统间关系转变的研究

本文根据研究区的水文地质条件,分析了地下水的补给、径流、排泄关系.并根据水位资料详细阐明了太原市松散岩类孔隙水和岩溶水水位动态特征,指出水位动态变化的主要影响因素.同时对地下水位漏斗的形成和演化及人类活动影响下各地下水系统间关系的改变进行了研究.     

华北平原东部水资源可持续利用

华北平原东部水资源短缺，深层地下水严重超采，生态环境恶化。为水资源的可持续利用．要发展井灌井排渠灌沟排，以开发利用当地浅层地下水包括微成水和成水为基础．以引调可利用的地表水补源。以调控地下水埋深在临界动态为棱心，以土壤及潜水的地层空间作为调节大气降水、土壤水、地下水、地表水的地下水库．最大限度圯犯时空分布不均的天然降雨转化为可持续利用的水资源。