The link between social capital and disaster recovery: evidence from coastal communities in Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - The purpose of this research is to explore the role social capital played in disaster coping and the recovery process among the southwest coastal villages of Bangladesh....     

Groundwater overuse and farm-level technical inefficiency: evidence from Sri Lanka

Extraction of groundwater for onion and other cash crop production has been increasing rapidly during the last two decades in the dry zone areas of Sri Lanka. As a result of overuse, the quantity of available groundwater is gradually declining, while water quality is deteriorating. The deteriorating water quality has a negative impact on agricultural production, especially for crops (such as onions) that are sensitive to increases in salinity levels. This issue is examined with respect to onion production in Sri Lanka. A stochastic frontier production function (SFPF) is used, in which technical efficiency and the determinants of inefficiencies are estimated simultaneously. The results show that farmers are overusing groundwater in their onion cultivation, which has resulted in decreasing yields. Factors contributing to inefficiency in production are also identified. The results have important policy implications.     

Post-disaster cross-nation mutual aid in natural hazards: case analysis from sociology of disaster and disaster politics perspectives

Owing to natural climate change, disaster has become a frequent challenge for every nation. To restore social order quickly after disasters strike, cross-nation mutual aid, as an international reciprocal gesture of goodwill, should be able to cross borders and achieve its mission. Unfortunately, practice does not follow theory. Dilemmas that make it difficult for cross-nation mutual aid to accomplish its goals may transform into severe challenges. This study aims to identify possible solutions to difficulties mainly through thematic analysis of eight major disaster events, informed by perspectives from emergency management, sociology of disaster, and disaster politics. Moreover, this study explores these issues via the “one core, three operations” framework constructed by assistance provider, assistance receiver, and victims to provide possible strategies regarding mechanisms, politics, forms, and times, respectively.     

The essential contribution of indigenous knowledge to understanding natural hazards and disaster risk: historical evidence from the Rwenzori (Uganda)

Natural Hazards - The integration of indigenous knowledge into understanding disasters from natural hazards is hitherto hampered by the limited conceptualization of the process that shapes...     

Formal education and disaster response of children: evidence from coastal villages in Indonesia

Natural Hazards - Although children are exposed to a high mortality risk during disasters, what determines their disaster response, especially during earthquakes, remains largely unexplored. The...     

An investigation of disaster education in elementary and secondary schools: evidence from China

The role of school-based disaster education in mitigating natural disaster has received extensive emphasis across the world. After the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the elementary and secondary schools in China have attached more importance to disaster education. However, it is unclear about the outcome up to now. Therefore, we conduct a relatively extensive survey in Beijing, Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan recently, based on the perspectives of both students and teachers, so as to explore their attitude, gains, and expectations. The findings indicate that, first, it is the consensus that school-based disaster education should be enhanced to raise the awareness and capability of students to address disasters. Second, school-based disaster education has received overall positive outcome in recent years, although there are also 18% students expressing that their schools have not opened disaster curricula or they are unclear about that. Third, almost all the teachers argue that schools should develop disaster-related curricula, incorporate disaster education curricula into the compulsory curricula, and design special textbooks for disaster education. Finally, most teachers insist that the school-based disaster education has limited effect on students to improve their disaster prevention awareness and capability; in particular, the disaster education tends to impart knowledge for the most part but lack attractiveness and local features.     

Assessing factors affecting drought,earthquake, and flood risk perception: empirical evidence from Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - Understanding household disaster risk perception is crucial to formulate and apply disaster risk reduction strategies. Using survey data from 300 households from three highly...     

Popular and official appraisals of natural resources: some evidence from Australia

European occupation of the Australian continent from 1788 onwards has provided evidence of both officially designed land settlement schemes and independent privately organized activities. Both settlement processes required the resources of the continent to be appraised in some detail. Over the years those appraisals, of the arid and semi-arid lands in particular, can be seen to have varied not only within but also between government and the private sector. The variations have reflected not only the changing technological context but also the changing philosophical context of resource management. The resultant changing roles of the various colonial, state and Commonwealth governments have been parallelled by changing popular concepts of what constitute resources, how they should be managed and by whom. The conflicts which resulted and which still occur pose wider questions of resource management for not only these arid and semi-arid lands.     

大陆天然气水合物的资源开发与环境研究刍议

天然气水合物分为大陆型和海洋型两大类.大陆型天然气水合物矿床常赋存于永久冻土带,如西伯利亚,加拿大北部,阿拉斯加.近年来,中国在青海木里的冻土带也发现了天然气水合物,它们赋存在l000m深的砂岩和泥岩层中.大陆天然气水合物的资源量是相当巨大的,估计约为(1～7.4)×1014m3甲烷.现在科学家已经研究出从冻土带水合物...     

Hydrogen isotope fractionation factors between hydrous minerals and ore fluids at low temperatures: evidence from the Granny Smith gold deposit,Western Australia

There are no reported experimental data on hydrogen isotope fractionation between muscovite and water at low temperatures (< 400 °C). A fractionation curve derived from extrapolation of the high temperature calibration of Suzuoki and Epstein (1976) yields 20 to 40%. higher D values than the empirical graphical calibration of Bowers and Taylor (1985) at temperatures of about 300 °C. Data from natural hydrothermal systems formed at approximately 300 °C, where D analyses are available both from fluid inclusions and alteration muscovite/sericite, support the Bowers and Taylor (1985) calibration, thus indicating smaller fractionation factors at these temperatures than suggested by extrapolations from high-temperature experimental results.     

Territorial disparities, natural resource distribution, and land degradation: a case study in southern Europe

The aim of this paper is to analyse the territorial disparities in some socio-economic and environmental factors involved in land degradation (LD) processes in a dry Mediterranean region. A simplified framework in which ecological and economic factors may increase inequality in natural resource distribution along the elevation gradient and accelerate LD is illustrated. To test at a local scale if territorial disparities observed in such factors have increased in the last period, we studied changes in LD sensitivity over thirty years in Latium, central Italy, a region prone to soil degradation phenomena. An estimate of LD sensitivity at the municipality level was obtained through a synthetic index (ISD) composed by three partial indicators analysing respectively climate and soil conditions (CLI), land use characteristics (LAN), and human pressure (POP). ISD and the three partial indicators were computed separately for 1970 and 2000. The divergence in LD sensitivity among coastal and inland areas significantly increased over the study period. In the former zones, median ISD increased with a reduction in score variability among municipalities; the reverse pattern was observed in the latter zones. Differences in ISD score among the elevation gradient are especially due to human factors affecting land use changes and agriculture intensification. New findings to be achieved in the context of human impacts on the environment as an original contribution to the study of LD at a local scale were finally delineated.     

Post-entrapment modification of fluid inclusions due to overpressure: evidence from natural samples

Abstract Effects of post-entrapment fluid-inclusion modification are examined with reference to retrogression-related quartz veins from the Caledonian, Øse Thrust, northern Norway. The inclusions occur in secondary trails, and contain high-density hypersaline aqueous fluids. On morphological characteristics, they are subdivided into, Type A: elongate, ellipsoidal and/or irregular inclusions, and Type B: more equant, regular, and/or negative crystal form. With reference to previous research on post-entrapment modification of inclusions in quartz it is proposed that Type A inclusions experienced little or no post-entrapment modification, whereas Type B inclusions show features characteristic of post-entrapment permanent inelastic stretching and/or leakage. This produces increased homogenization temperatures ( T _h), associated with increased inclusion volume and lowering of density, whilst maintaining constant salinity. The similarity of data for degree of fill and salinity between Type A and Type B inclusions indicates that Type B inclusions have primarily modified by stretch rather than leakage. However, the spread towards slightly larger volume of vapour in Type B inclusions suggests that some leakage has also occurred. Because stretched and/or partially leaked inclusions have increased T _h, isochore projections significantly underestimate trapping pressure ( P _t) relative to unmodified inclusions. Therefore, recognition of post-entrapment inclusion modification due to overpressure is crucial to avoid misinterpretation of data, but has considerable potential for constraining the detail of P-T trajectories of individual rocks. On this basis, rocks from the Øse Thrust zone, north Norway, are shown to have experienced rapid uplift on a 'clockwise' P-T-t path during the final stages of Caledonian (Scandian) orogenesis.     

Origins,closed system formation and preservation of calcites in glaciated crystalline bedrock: evidence from the Palmottu natural analogue site,Finland

A study of the geochemistry of fracture filling calcite from the Palmottu research site, a U–Th deposit located about 100 km NW of Helsinki, Finland, was part of a comprehensive natural analogue research project considering the migration of U in the crystalline bedrock environment. Fracture filling minerals act as records of the paleohydrological and chemical conditions and therefore provide insight into magmatic processes, ore deposits and long-term stability of the crystalline bedrock environment in relation to deep disposal of radioactive waste. An earlier investigation of calcite and associated U minerals identified a recent origin for these fracture infillings. Uranium series disequilibrium data indicated that relatively recent, glacial water had penetrated to a depth of 62 m. A fluid inclusion study, combined with the isotope geochemistry of several generations of fracture calcite, was undertaken to further study this aspect and to better understand the thermal and fluid history in the crystalline rock environment in general. The study revealed that at least 3 fluids were recorded by fracture calcites: 1) A crystalline calcite precipitated at 139–238 °C from a low salinity, Na–Cl fluid of magmatic or metamorphic origin, 2) A massive calcite (with high salinity fluid inclusions) precipitated at 136–141 °C from a high salinity, Ca–Na–Cl fluid of magmatic or metamorphic origin and 3) A massive calcite (with low salinity fluid inclusions) precipitated at 43–286 °C from a low salinity, Na–Cl fluid of magmatic or metamorphic origin that underwent equilibrium fractionation during cooling in a rock dominated system. The preservation of high temperature infillings and the cooling trend, indicating isotopic re-equilibration of water due to a very low water/rock ratio, demonstrate that the downward percolation of geologically recent waters is limited, despite the reworking of highly soluble U compounds in the upper tens of metres of the bedrock that was shown by U series disequilibrium studies. The veins in which these calcites occur have not experienced a later phase of fluid activity that dissolved or altered the calcites. Therefore, it is likely that they have not been reactivated as transmissive fractures since that initial hydrothermal episode, even during the Quaternary history in which the formation was subjected to ice sheet loading and unloading.     

The relation between electric and redox potential: evidence from laboratory and field measurements

In field and laboratory experiments the relationship of redox, electric, and total potential was studied. This was carried out by using different arrangements of Pt and Ag/AgCl electrodes. The total potential is obtained by placing a Pt and an Ag/AgCl electrode at considerable distance apart on the rock. The studies indicate that the total potential yields the sum of redox and electric potential. Deviations larger than a couple of mV are caused by extensive fluid–rock interactions. In the laboratory it is seen that the magnitude of the electric potential is generally not larger than the artificially produced difference of the redox potential. The former is most likely attributed to a diffusion or membrane potential. At field scale the electric potential is designated as self potential. Redox potential measurements in the field may supply information from remnants of pore fluid of the rock and thereby may be suitable to support the exploration of concealed metal deposits. Detectable are in particular the fast H⁺ ions which are released by electrochemical reactions and transported by electromigration, both of which are attributed to the presence of the so called geobattery.     

Vanadium and niobium behavior in rutile as a function of oxygen fugacity: evidence from natural samples

Vanadium occurs in multiple valence states in nature, whereas Nb is exclusively pentavalent. Both are compatible in rutile, but the relationship of V–Nb partitioning and dependence on oxygen fugacity (expressed as fO₂) has not yet been systematically investigated. We acquired trace-element concentrations on rutile grains (n = 86) in nine eclogitic samples from the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) and combined them with published results in order to assess the direct and indirect effects of oxygen fugacity on the partitioning of V and Nb into rutile. A well-defined negative correlation between Nb (7–1,200 ppm) and V concentrations (50–3,200 ppm) was found, documenting a competitive relationship in the rutile crystal that does not appear to be controlled by bulk rock or mineral compositions. Based on the published relationship of ^RtD_V and V valence with ?QFM, we suggest that the priority order of V incorporation into rutile is V⁴⁺ > V³⁺ > V⁵⁺. The inferred Nb–V competitive relationship in rutile from the Dabie-Sulu orogenic belt could be explained by decreasing fO₂ due to dehydration reactions involving loss of oxidizing fluids during continental subduction: The increased proportion of V³⁺ (expressed as V³⁺/∑V) and attendant decrease in ^RtD_V is suggested to lead to an increase in rutile lattice sites available for Nb⁵⁺. A similar effect may be observed under more oxidizing conditions. When V⁵⁺/∑V increases, ^RtD_V shows a dramatic decline and Nb concentration increases considerably. This is possibly documented by rutile in highly metasomatized and oxidized MARID-type (MARID: mica–amphibole–rutile–ilmenite–diopside) mantle xenoliths from the Kaapvaal craton, which also show a negative V–Nb covariation. In addition, their Nb/Ta covaries with V concentrations: For V concentrations <1,250 ppm, Nb/Ta ranges between 35 and 45, whereas for V > 1,250 ppm, Nb/Ta is considerably lower (5–15). This relationship is mainly controlled by a change in Nb concentrations, suggesting that the indirect dependence of ^RtD_Nb on fO₂, which is not mirrored in ^RtD_Ta, can exert considerable influence on rutile Nb–Ta fractionation.     

Neoliberalism and natural resource management: Agri-environmental standards and the governing of farming practices

Private standards and certification schemes are widely acknowledged as playing an increasingly important role in agri-environmental governance. While much of the existing research concludes that these mechanisms consolidate the global extension of neoliberalism – enhancing the power of corporate actors to the detriment of smaller producers – we argue that this overlooks the complex ways in which standards are used by governments and farmers in the governing of farming practices. Focusing specifically on a process standard – Environmental Management Systems (EMS) – promoted by the Australian government as a way of verifying the ‘clean and green’ status of agricultural exports, we examine how one regional group of producers has sought to use EMS standards in practice. Our analysis of a case study in the state of Victoria appears to confirm that EMS was a successful instrument for the extension of neoliberal governance, reinforcing the production of neoliberal subjectivities and practices amongst farmer participants and enabling the government to compensate for gaps in environmental provision. However, it would be a mistake to interpret the development of this EMS scheme as an example of naïve farmers manipulated by the state. In practice, farmers used the opportunities provided by government funding to undertake actions which expressed their own agri-environmental values and practices. Establishment of an EMS and associated eco-label enabled producers to demonstrate and extend their capacity to act as good environmental stewards. Our research highlights how the local application of environmental standards negotiates and shapes, rather than simply contributes to, neoliberal rule.     

Spinel-facies mantle xenoliths from Cerro Redondo, Argentine Patagonia: Petrographic, geochemical, and isotopic evidence of interaction between xenoliths and host basalt

Cerro Redondo is an ancient cinder cone now almost completely eroded, sited over a sill that corresponds to a sub-volcanic magma chamber, in Santa Cruz province, Patagonia, Argentina. It is composed of Pliocene-Pleistocene alkaline basalt containing spinel-facies lherzolite and harzburgite mantle xenoliths. Core compositions of pyroxenes indicate temperatures of 823 °C to 1043 °C and pressures of 12.4 kb to 21.4 kb. Based on P–T estimates, petrographic, geochemical, and isotopic characteristics, we propose that Cerro Redondo xenoliths come from a thick homogeneous mantle column (36 km to 63 km depth), and present different degrees of basalt infiltration. A simple mixing model based on Sr isotopes was used to quantify the host basalt infiltration, and contamination values of 0.0%, 0.2%, 3%, and 12% were obtained for samples X-F, X-D, X-C, and X-B, respectively. For unknown reasons, samples X-G and X-E suffered selective isotopic and trace element modification, respectively, associated with 1% of basalt infiltration. Sample X-F best represents the sub-continental lithospheric mantle column, conserving primary equilibrium textures with sharp grain boundaries, and having TiO₂, CaO, Na₂O, K₂O, and P₂O₅ contents lower than average spinel lherzolite, flat chondrite-normalized REE pattern, and ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios of 0.70519 and 0.51297, respectively. This sample records a decoupling of the Sr–Nd system where Sr ratios increase at constant Nd ratios, possibly caused by chromatographic processes. Its ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios are 17.987, 15.556, and 37.959, respectively. As the interaction with the host basalt increases, xenoliths show a gradual increase of disequilibrium textures such as reaction rims and exsolution lamellae in orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene, and increase of TiO₂, CaO, Al₂O₃, Na₂O, K₂O, P₂O₅, LREE, and incompatible element concentrations. The Sr–Nd system shows an unusual positive trend from the unmodified sample X-F toward the host basalt isotope composition with ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd ratios of 0.70447 and 0.51279, respectively, while ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, and ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb ratios tend to increase toward those of the host basalt (18.424, 15.648, and 38.728, respectively) as the xenolith–basalt interaction increases. The basalt–xenolith reaction probably started during the transport of the xenoliths to the surface, and continued during the residence of xenoliths in the sub-volcanic magma chamber of Cerro Redondo.