Africa in the rise of rights-based development

This paper explores the rise of rights-based development (RBD) and its endorsement by prominent international institutions (such as the United Nations) and International Development Agencies (IDAs) like the World Bank. It situates RBD in global political context and analyses it in relation to the international politics of development, especially the politics of neo-liberal adjustment policies in Africa. The paper shows how RBD emerged against a backdrop of debate about four international issues associated with neo-liberalism and its discontents, namely globalisation and uneven development; capability and good governance; human rights and human development; and NGOs in the politics of development. Debates about those four issues keep repositioning the state as the central actor in RBD, and holding the state accountable for development (or the lack thereof) under international law. The paper’s basic point is that state-centric RBD is paradoxical and highly political. Greater accountability is being demanded of states––especially in Africa––from the same neo-liberal forces (such as the World Bank) charged with weakening state capacity, undermining democracy, and diminishing state authority. In terms of international power relations and the politics of development, RBD does signal something of a willingness to rethink certain aspects of the dominant neo-liberal agenda. And yet adjusted states are being subjected––in the name of RBD––to novel methods of international surveillance and forms of conditionality. States are ultimately held responsible for human rights violations, even when it is non-state actors (and their neo-liberal policies) that caused those rights to be violated in the first place. RBD is, therefore, a partial answer (at best) to the questions of empowerment and change raised by critics of neo-liberalism.     

Three-dimensional earthquake locations and upper crustal structure of the Sannio-Matese region (southern Italy)

The Sannio-Matese region is one of the most seismically active regions of Italy and has been struck by large historical earthquakes. At present, the area is characterized by low magnitude background seismicity and small seismic sequences following M4 main events. In this paper, we show Vp and Vp/Vs models and 3D locations for a complete set of earthquakes occurring in the period 1991–2001. We observe a significant crustal heterogeneity, with large scale east-verging high Vp fault-related-folds, stacked by the Pliocene compression. The relocated earthquakes cluster along a 70° east-dipping, NW-striking plane located at the border of the high Vp thrust units. Normal fault earthquakes related to the young and active extension occur within these high Vp zones, interpreted as high strength material. We expect large future earthquakes to occur within these high Vp zones actually characterized by low magnitude seismicity at their borders.     

Explaining divided cities in China

Explanations of the existence of socio-spatial divisions in Western Europe and the United States revolve around the importance of economic, demographic, political, and socio-cultural macro developments and often also on the role of globalization. Much of the literature also emphasizes the role of institutions, especially the national and local state as well as individual and household constraints and opportunities. Many authors explain socio-spatial divisions by a mix of these factors and developments. This paper provides an account of the current state of affairs concerning the literature and theory on divided cities in China. Concentrating on a selection of 88 articles published in international journals during the last decade, we examine how authors explain urban socio-spatial divisions in Chinese cities. The paper indicates that a five-category framework of trends, policies, players, position, and preferences are useful in addressing the complexity of explanations attributed to current urban divisions and inequalities in Chinese cities. While the spatial patterns in the Western and Chinese contexts share rather similar characteristics, the interplay of mechanisms is significantly different. The influence of the state, its institutions, and the cultural background has a much stronger explanatory power in China than in the West.     

The pressure quench formation of rapakivi texture

Chemical and textural data for rapakivi granites are combined with experimentally determined phase equilibria to provide constraints on the growth of mantled feldspars by a pressure quench mechanism. In water saturated melts of granitic composition the mantled texture develops in response to a decrease in pressure of as little as 1–0.5 kbar. In water undersaturated melts a similar mechanism is operable over a wider range of pressures and a restricted range of water contents. Water undersaturated granites containing 6–10 wt % water undergoing a change in pressure from 5–2 kbar will develop mantling as will a more calcic granodiorite containing 1–5wt% water undergoing a pressure change from 10-1 kbar. The mantling process is interpreted as a reflection of the reduction of pressure accompanying the emplacement of a magma.     

Human–wildlife conflict and gender in protected area borderlands: A case study of costs, perceptions, and vulnerabilities from Uttarakhand (Uttaranchal), India

Human–wildlife conflict (HWC) is a growing problem for communities located at the borders of protected areas. Such conflicts commonly take place as crop-raiding events and as attack by wild animals, among other forms. This paper uses a feminist political ecology approach to examine these two problems in an agricultural village located at the border of Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand (formerly Uttaranchal), India. Specifically, it investigates the following three questions: What are the “visible” and “hidden” costs of such conflict with wildlife? To what extent are these costs differentially borne by men and women? How do villagers perceive any such differences? Survey and interview data were collected from over 100 individuals in the study site over a period of 9 months in 2003–2004. It was found that for participants in this study, costs of HWC included decreased food security, changes to workload, decreased physical and psychological wellbeing, economic hardship, and at times an increase in illegal or dangerous activities. The research also showed that although women in the study area bore a disproportionate burden of these effects, roughly half of survey respondents perceived that men and women were equally affected. A possible explanation for this gap considers the relationships between gendered uses of space, work, status, and identity. The findings illustrate the importance of addressing both visible and hidden costs of HWC for members of park communities and support a call for increased gender-sensitivity in HWC research.     

Imagining the border and Southern spaces: Cinematic explorations of race and gender

For some time the US-Mexico border has been a symbol – and site – of conflict, collaboration, and transnational mobility. Related to the border, the topic of undocumented immigration, and Mexican migrants in particular, has received considerable attention in US mainstream media. Cinema in particular, provides a context for producing and interrogating discourses of nationalism, nativism, and fear. The cinematic examples I draw on illustrate an ongoing fear (and terror) about borders and border crossing of various forms. In this paper I explore how narratives of borders and nationhood are mapped onto immigrant bodies and border spaces through specific filmic representations. In order to undertake this study I focus on three cinematic examples exploring immigration at the US-Mexico border – Touch of Evil, The Border and Lone Star. I examine how concepts of borders, race, and gender, and tropes of ‘The South’ are reterritorialized around immigrant bodies and specific locales. I argue that an inability to control and ‘fix’ boundaries around possible ‘threats’ to specific US spaces and identities is counteracted by displacing this fear onto more easily marked targets that are viewed as posing challenges to US national (and personal) security, i.e., undocumented immigrants. At the same time, cinematic images illustrate that the threats and spaces for immigrants themselves become increasingly marginalized, blurred, and frequently erased. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Boundaries and transborder relations,or the hole in the prison wall: On the necessity of superfluous limits and boundaries

Boundaries can be seen as barriers or as places of contact. It has been suggested that we are “prisoners of borders”, of all kinds of borders (political, religious, social, cultural, linguistic etc.). While this statement appears to be somewhat exaggerated, it holds some truth. Boundaries are elements in spatial organization, and they influence daily life in many ways (not only for people living right along them). The paper addresses the question if we must call ourselves “prisoners” or if we simply have to live with all kinds of borders. Departing from theoretical observations, the paper discusses the various aspects boundaries assume in the European context before looking at a few concrete Swiss examples. They reveal that even regions at a certain distance of the state border will feel its effects (the case of Zurich airport), but the most important benefit can been drawn by people living in the border area itself (through price differences between the two countries, as exemplified by the Swiss-Italian border). There may be asymmetry on state borders, but this asymmetry can also swing around: the advantages often lie on both sides. The paper concludes by pointing to the persistence of the boundary concept. They are a necessity for the organization of space and society, but they are not absolute. There are always holes in these prison walls, and the examples where boundaries were impermeable are probably rare.     

Ab-initio calculations of the proton location in topaz-OH,Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>SiO<Subscript>4</Subscript>(OH)<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The position of hydrogen in the structure of topaz-OH was determined by means of ab-initio quantum-mechanic calculations. Static lattice energy calculations predict the existence of four non-equivalent positions of protons, which are characterized by O4–H1... O1, O4–H2... O2, O4–H3... O3 and O4–H4... O4 hydrogen bonds. The distribution of the protons between positions of local equilibrium is controlled by the proton–proton avoidance rule and the strength of the hydrogen bonds. The most favourable configuration of hydrogen atoms is achieved for adjacent protons, which form O4–H3... O3 and O4–H4... O4 hydrogen bonds, respectively. The thermal excitation of atoms at a temperature of 55 K is large enough for the hydrogen atoms occasionally to change their positions to form O4–H1... O1 and O4–H2... O2 bonds. At ambient pressures and higher temperatures the protons are in a dynamic exchange between the allowed positions of local minima. As a consequence, for nearly room-temperature conditions, the dynamic change between different structural configurations leads to the violation of all possible symmetry elements and with that to space group #E5/E5#1. The flipping of the protons between different sites is achieved by simple rotation of the OH-dipole and does not produce any significant distortion of the framework of topaz, whose symmetry remains that of the space group Pbnm. Therefore, no reduction of symmetry has been observed in former X-ray studies on topaz-OH. Calculated IR absorption spectra of topaz-OH were found to be in good agreement with measured spectra. According to the calculations, the two favourable configurations of protons might correspond to the measured peak splitting within the OH-stretching range. An experimentally observed low-frequency band at 3520 cm^–1 was assigned to the OH-stretching of the O4–H3... O3 bond, while the band at 3600 cm^–1 was attributed to OH-stretching of the O4–H4... O4 hydrogen bond. The broad peak in FAR-IR frequency range at 100–150 cm^–1 is attributed to the stretching of H3... O3 and H4... O4 contacts. The rate of proton exchange at 670 K among different sites was estimated by ab-inito molecular dynamic simulations. The calculations predict that flipping of adjacent protons between O4–H3... O3 and O4–H4... O4 bonds at 670 K occur at a rate of about 1.96 THz.     

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.     

Effects of defect and pressure on the thermal expansivity of Fe x O

Pressure–volume–temperature measurements have been carried out using synchrotron X-ray diffraction for wüstite at static pressures of 1.9, 2.6, and 5.4 GPa. Our results revealed that the composition change of wüstite and, hence, rearrangements of defect structures are primarily caused by the magnetite (Fe₃O₄) exsolution at temperatures of 523–723 K. Based on the isobaric volume–temperature data collected during cooling, the contribution of compositional variations to the unit-cell volumes of wüstite in the ranges of 300–673 K and 723–1073 K is negligibly small, within the experimental uncertainties. These observations suggest that the measured volume changes in the range of 300–673 K and 723–1,073 K can be attributed to the metal–oxygen bond expansion. Owing to the magnetite exsolution, thermal expansion data are obtained in each experiment at 1.9, 2.6, and 5.4 GPa for wüstite of two different compositions, Fe_0.987O and Fe_0.942O. At all three pressures, Fe_0.942O shows a thermal expansion that is about 30% larger than Fe_0.987O. Such findings represent the first experimental evidence of a substantial effect of nonstoichiometry on thermal expansivity, and based on previous thermodynamic calculations of the defect formation and interaction, this effect is likely associated with the distinct defects arrangements in iron-rich and more iron-deficient wüstite. This study also presents thermal equations of state for wüstite of two different compositions. Such volume-related properties at high temperatures are experimentally difficult to obtain in wüstite but important for thermodynamic studies in the binary Fe–O system.     

A new view on gold speciation in sulfur-bearing hydrothermal fluids from in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy and quantum-chemical modeling

Despite the common belief that Au^I complexes with hydrogen sulfide ligands (H₂S/HS⁻) are the major carriers of gold in natural hydrothermal fluids, their identity, structure and stability are still subjects of debate. Here we present the first in situ measurement, using X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy, of the stability and structure of aqueous Au^I–S complexes at temperatures and pressures (T–P) typical of natural sulfur-rich ore-forming fluids. The solubility of native gold and the local atomic structure around the dissolved metal in S–NaOH–Na₂SO₄–H₂SO₄ aqueous solutions were characterized at temperatures 200–450 °C and pressures 300–600 bar using an X-ray cell that allows simultaneous measurement of the absolute concentration of the absorbing atom (Au) and its local atomic environment in the fluid phase. Structural and solubility data obtained from XAFS spectra, combined with quantum-chemical calculations of species geometries, show that gold bis(hydrogensulfide) Au(HS)₂⁻ is the dominant Au species in neutral-to-basic solutions (5.5  pH  8.5; H₂O–S–NaOH) over a wide range of sulfur concentrations (0.2 < ΣS < 3.6 mol/kg), in agreement with previous solubility studies. Our results provide the first direct determination of this species structure, in which two sulfur atoms are in a linear geometry around Au^I at an average distance of 2.29 ± 0.01 Å. At acidic conditions (1.5  pH  5.0; H₂O–S–Na₂SO₄–H₂SO₄), the Au atomic environment determined by XAFS is similar to that in neutral solutions. These findings, together with measured high Au solubilities, are inconsistent with the predominance of the gold hydrogensulfide Au(HS)⁰ complex suggested by recent solubility studies. Our spectroscopic data and quantum-chemical calculations imply the formation of species composed of linear S–Au–S moieties, like the neutral [H₂S–Au–SH] complex. This species may account for the elevated Au solubilities in acidic fluids and vapors with H₂S concentrations higher than 0.1–0.2 mol/kg. However, because of the complex sulfur speciation in acidic solutions that involves sulfite, thiosulfate and polysulfide species, the formation of Au^I complexes with these ligands (e.g., AuHS(SO₂)⁰, Au(HS₂O₃)₂⁻, Au(HS_n)₂⁻) cannot be ruled out. The existence of such species may significantly enhance Au transport by high T–P acidic ore-forming fluids and vapors, responsible for the formation of a major part of the gold resources on Earth.     

A new concept on tectonic correlation between Korea, China and Japan: Histories from the late Proterozoic to Cretaceous

The Dabie–Sulu collision belt in China extends to the Hongseong–Odesan belt in Korea while the Okcheon metamorphic belt in Korea is considered as an extension of the Nanhua rift within the South China block. The Hongseong–Odesan belt divides Korea's Gyeonggi massif into northern and southern portions. The southern Gyeonggi massif and the Yeongnam massif are correlated with China's Yangtze and Cathaysia blocks, respectively, while the northern Gyeonggi massif is part of the southern margin of the North China block. The southern and northern Gyeonggi massifs rifted from the Rodinia supercontinent during the Neoproterozoic, to form the borders of the South China and North China blocks, respectively. Subduction commenced along the southern and eastern borders of the North China block in the Ordovician and continued until a Triassic collision between the North China and South China blocks. While subduction was occurring on the margin of the North China block, high-P/T metamorphic belts and accretionary complexes developed along the inner zone of southwest Japan from the Ordovician to the Permian. During the subduction, the Hida belt in Japan grew as a continental margin or continental arc. Collision between the North and South China blocks began in Korea during the Permian (290–260 Ma), and propagated westwards until the Late Triassic (230–210 Ma) creating the sinistral TanLu fault in China and the dextral fault in the Hida and Hida marginal belt in Japan. Phanerozoic subduction and collision along the southern and western borders of the North China block led to formation of the Qinling–Dabie–Sulu–Hongseong–Hida–Yanji belt.     

Age constraints on the formation and emplacement of Neoproterozoic ophiolites along the Allaqi–Heiani Suture, South Eastern Desert of Egypt

Ophiolites are key components of the Neoproterozoic Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS). Understanding when they formed and were emplaced is crucial for understanding the evolution of the ANS because their ages tell when seafloor spreading and terrane accretion occurred. The Yanbu–Onib–Sol Hamed–Gerf–Allaqi–Heiani (YOSHGAH) suture and ophiolite belt can be traced  600 km across the Nubian and Arabian shields. We report five new SHRIMP U–Pb zircon ages from igneous rocks along the Allaqi segment of the YOSHGAH suture in southernmost Egypt and use these data in conjunction with other age constraints to evaluate YOSHGAH suture evolution. Ophiolitic layered gabbro gave a concordia age of 730 ± 6 Ma, and a metadacite from overlying arc-type metavolcanic rocks yielded a weighted mean ²⁰⁶Pb/²³⁸U age of 733 ± 7 Ma, indicating ophiolite formation at  730 Ma. Ophiolite emplacement is also constrained by intrusive bodies: a gabbro yielded a concordia age of 697 ± 5 Ma, and a quartz-diorite yielded a concordia age of 709 ± 4 Ma. Cessation of deformation is constrained by syn- to post-tectonic granite with a concordia age of 629 ± 5 Ma. These new data, combined with published zircon ages for ophiolites and stitching plutons from the YOSHGAH suture zone, suggest a 2-stage evolution for the YOSHGAH ophiolite belt ( 810–780 Ma and  730–750 Ma) and indicate that accretion between the Gabgaba–Gebeit–Hijaz terranes to the south and the SE Desert–Midyan terranes to the north occurred as early as 730 Ma and no later than 709 ± 4 Ma.     

Crisis? What crisis? Displacing the spatial imaginary of the fiscal state

This paper argues that there is an immanent and evolving relationship between the prevailing form of taxation and the economic geographies of the state. Despite this, the geographic significance of taxation has been obscured by the language in which its historic transformation tends to be couched. Prevailing fiscal systems tend to be presented as essentially static – institutionally and spatially fixed and routinely inscribed within the fixed boundaries and territories of the ‘sovereign’ fiscal state. Any threat to, or change in the nature or geography of the fiscal state tends to be couched in terms of ‘crisis’ – of negative and discontinuous change. This paper contends that these related and essentially conservative discourses of fiscal geography mask the degree to which fiscal spaces are both multiple and continuously evolving. More importantly, it argues, this fluidity and multiplicity does not threaten the stability and viability of state form, but it is an essential process in its maintenance and reproduction. Running counter to the prevailing discourse of the ‘national economy’, the practice of fiscal geography is an under-analysed but key aspect of the historical evolution and transformation of the imagined geographies of economies.     

The elasticity of the upper mantle orthosilicates olivine and garnet to 3 GPa

The elastic moduli of single crystals of pyrope-rich garnet and San Carlos olivine have been measured over a 3 GPa pressure range at room temperature. The combination of improved ultrasonic techniques and this large pressure range provide for more reliable characterization of the pressure dependence of acoustic wave velocities than has previously been possible. First and second pressure derivatives of the velocities have been determined within 1 percent and 10 percent respectively. The Hashin-Shtrikman bounds for the pressure dependences of the bulk and shear moduli of the garnet used in this study are; K = 173.6 GPa, K = 4.93, K = –0.28 GPa^–1, G= 94.9 GPa, G = 1.56, G = –0.08 GPa^–1 and the Hashin-Shtrikman least-upper bounds and greatestlower bounds for the pressure dependences of the bulk and shear moduli of the San Carlos olivine are K=129.8 GPa, K = 4.66, K= –0.15 GPa^–1, G = 77.8 GPa, G = 1.93, G = –0.11 GPa^–1 and K = 129.2 GPa, K = 4.63, K= –0.15 GPa^–1 G = 77.3 GPa, G=1.96, G = –0.11 GPa^–1 respectively. The determination of the room-pressure elastic moduli of this pyrope-almandine garnet removes the previously observed anomaly in the predictions of systematic treatments of variations of the elastic moduli of garnets with composition. The determination of the second pressure derivatives of the moduli of garnet and olivine illustrates the importance of these terms in extrapolations to higher pressures — with K/P for these crystals being reduced by 17 percent and 9 percent respectively over the 3 GPa pressure range.     

Natural deformation related to serpentinisation of an ultramafic inclusion within a continental shear zone: The key role of fluids

The role of fluids in the deformation of continental serpentinites is investigated from structural, microstructural and petrographic analyses applied to a km-scale porphyroclast mantled in a viscous matrix of amphibolites. The clast is sited within a shear zone of the Palaeozoic Maures massif, France. Syntectonic fluid–rock interactions occurred from km to mm scales, at first on the clast borders (along the main rheological boundaries) then within the clast. They are accommodated macroscopically by slickenfibers faults and microscopically by shear microcracks within crack-seal veins, typifying an intermediate, brittle–ductile behaviour of serpentinites. Three main stages of deformation–serpentinisation processes occurred in relation with the left-lateral movement of the hosted shear zone. They developed under metamorphic conditions evolving from amphibolites to green-schists facies conditions ( 400 MPa/550 °C to  200 MPa/< 300 °C), as inferred from the surrounding sheared amphibolites. Deformation and serpentinisation increase through time although fluid pressure decreases. If the shape of the inclusion and its orientation relative to the shear zone mainly controlled the deformation pattern though time (P then R' shears), fluid pressure is required for starting deformation–serpentinisation processes along inherited anisotropy planes. Whatever the origin of fluids, they play a key role all along the deformation processes by influencing stress states within the shear zone at the onset of deformation and by changing at various scales and through time behaviour of the rock, depending of the intensity of serpentinisation and the rate of deformation.     

Of tidy gardens and clean houses: housing officers as agents of social control

This paper seeks to contribute to the theme of institutional geographies by exploring how the prevailing socio-spatial order is recreated and legitimated in the ways in which public rented housing is managed and delivered by housing associations and local authorities in the UK. The public rented sector has been increasingly catering for the most vulnerable sections of the population who are dependent on state benefits and cannot afford any other form of housing. As a result, housing staffs have found themselves having to take on a welfare role which entails controlling and policing social tenants who are seen to be causing disorder in society. This paper shows how a dominant housing management discourse reproduced by policies and staff at both front-line and management levels is that of an emerging ‘underclass’ promoted by right wing politicians and the media since the 1980s. According to dominant housing management discourse the members of this underclass are disrupting traditional patriarchal and capitalist institutions and values. Tenants’ houses and gardens not conforming to culturally and socially acceptable standards of cleanliness and tidiness symbolises tenants’ lack of conformity to the prevailing institutional order. Drawing on in-depth interviews with housing officers and managers, and observations of interviews between staff and tenants in six housing organisations, this paper analyses the ways in which housing organisations seek to control social tenants through the imposition of certain norms of cleanliness over their houses and gardens.     

Cation distribution in pentlandites (Fe,Ni)9S8: Dependence on pressure and temperature and kinetics of the cation exchange reaction

This paper describes the distribution of Fe and Ni between the octahedral and tetrahedral sites in pentlandite (Fe,Ni)₉S₈. The dependence of the distribution on pressure and temperature and the activation energy of the cation exchange reaction were determined through annealing experiments. Synthetic crystals were annealed at 433–723 K and pressures up to 4 GPa, and natural crystals were annealed at 423, 448 and 473 K in evacuated silica capillary tubes for various durations. The cation distributions in the synthetic crystals were determined with an X-ray powder method employing the anomalous dispersion effect of CuK. and FeK radiations, while those of natural crystals were calculated from the cell dimensions. The values of U, S and V for the Fe/Ni exchange reaction are –6818 J mol^–1, 20.52 J K^–1 mol^–1, and 6.99 × 10^–6 m³ mol^–1, respectively. The dependence of the Fe/Ni distribution on pressure (Pa) and temperature (Kelvin) was determined as lnK = 2.47+8.20 × 10² T ^–1+8.41 x 10^–7 T ^–1 P, where K = (Fe/Ni)_octahedral /(Fe/Ni)_tetrahedral. The activation energy of the cation exchange reaction was 185 kJ mol^–1.     

Crustal memory and basin evolution in the Central European Basin System—new insights from a 3D structural model

The Central European Basin System (CEBS) is composed of a series of subbasins, the largest of which are (1) the Norwegian–Danish Basin (2), the North German Basin extending westward into the southern North Sea and (3) the Polish Basin. A 3D structural model of the CEBS is presented, which integrates the thickness of the crust below the Permian and five layers representing the Permian–Cenozoic sediments. Structural interpretations derived from the 3D model and from backstripping are discussed with respect to published seismic data. The analysis of structural relationships across the CEBS suggests that basin evolution was controlled to a large degree by the presence of major zones of crustal weakness. The NW–SE-striking Tornquist Zone, the Ringkøbing-Fyn High (RFH) and the Elbe Fault System (EFS) provided the borders for the large Permo–Mesozoic basins, which developed along axes parallel to these fault systems. The Tornquist Zone, as the most prominent of these zones, limited the area affected by Permian–Cenozoic subsidence to the north. Movements along the Tornquist Zone, the margins of the Ringkøbing-Fyn High and the Elbe Fault System could have influenced basin initiation. Thermal destabilization of the crust between the major NW–SE-striking fault systems, however, was a second factor controlling the initiation and subsidence in the Permo–Mesozoic basins. In the Triassic, a change of the regional stress field caused the formation of large grabens (Central Graben, Horn Graben, Glückstadt Graben) perpendicular to the Tornquist Zone, the Ringkøbing-Fyn High and the Elbe Fault System. The resulting subsidence pattern can be explained by a superposition of declining thermal subsidence and regional extension. This led to a dissection of the Ringkøbing-Fyn High, resulting in offsets of the older NW–SE elements by the younger N–S elements. In the Late Cretaceous, the NW–SE elements were reactivated during compression, the direction of which was such that it did not favour inversion of N–S elements. A distinct change in subsidence controlling factors led to a shift of the main depocentre to the central North Sea in the Cenozoic. In this last phase, N–S-striking structures in the North Sea and NW–SE-striking structures in The Netherlands are reactivated as subsidence areas which are in line with the direction of present maximum compression. The Moho topography below the CEBS varies over a wide range. Below the N–S-trending Cenozoic depocentre in the North Sea, the crust is only 20 km thick compared to about 30 km below the largest part of the CEBS. The crust is up to 40 km thick below the Ringkøbing-Fyn High and up to 45 km along the Teisseyre–Tornquist Zone. Crustal thickness gradients are present across the Tornquist Zone and across the borders of the Ringkøbing-Fyn High but not across the Elbe Fault System. The N–S-striking structural elements are generally underlain by a thinner crust than the other parts of the CEBS.The main fault systems in the Permian to Cenozoic sediment fill of the CEBS are located above zones in the deeper crust across which a change in geophysical properties as P-wave velocities or gravimetric response is observed. This indicates that these structures served as templates in the crustal memory and that the prerift configuration of the continental crust is a major controlling factor for the subsequent basin evolution.