<Emphasis Type="Bold">Rhodophycean algae from the Lower Cretaceous of the Cauvery Basin,South India</Emphasis> by P.K. Misra,S. Kishore,S.K. Singh and A.K. Jauhri. Jour. Geol. Soc. India,v.73, 2009, pp.325–334

Discussion

Rhodophycean algae from the Lower Cretaceous of the Cauvery Basin, South India by P.K. Misra, S. Kishore, S.K. Singh and A.K. Jauhri. Jour. Geol. Soc. India, v.73, 2009, pp.325–334     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Petrography and Mineral Chemistry of Neovolcanics Occurring between Pacific and Nazca Plate Boundaries</Emphasis> by S.K. Pandey,J.P. Shrivastava and G.S. Roonwal. Jour. Geol. Soc. India,v.74, 2009, pp.559–572.

Discussion

Petrography and Mineral Chemistry of Neovolcanics Occurring between Pacific and Nazca Plate Boundaries by S.K. Pandey, J.P. Shrivastava and G.S. Roonwal. Jour. Geol. Soc. India, v.74, 2009, pp.559–572.     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Koratallaiyar-Cooum Basins,Chennai</Emphasis> by Hema Achyutnan and Nagalakshmi Thirunavakarasu. Jour. Geol. Soc. India,v.73, 2009, pp.683–696

Discussion

Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Koratallaiyar-Cooum Basins, Chennai by Hema Achyutnan and Nagalakshmi Thirunavakarasu. Jour. Geol. Soc. India, v.73, 2009, pp.683–696     

Competitiveness versus ‘clean and green’? The regulation and governance of GMOs in Australia and the UK

It is increasingly argued that we are entering into a “biotech century”, in which biotechnology promises major advances in agricultural productivity. The development of biotechnology is not a straightforward affair, however, and the advent of GMOs has led to public protest and consumer resistance. This paper draws upon a comparative Australian-UK project concerned with the role of regulation and governance in mediating the debates and managing the associated risks. Regulatory responses and the mediation of conflicts by the Australian and UK governments have been shaped by the institutional and policy environments in these two countries. The implications of these public debates and regulatory responses for the capture of competitive opportunities are considered. The fact that the two countries have broadly similar systems of governance and regulation reveals how alike the circumstances are in many respects. But at the same time there are important differences in both the style and the content of the policy debates. In both the UK and Australia, the respective central governments remain committed to a ‘biotechnology future’. Against this background, there is little doubt that the choices about biotechnology will play a defining role in shaping the future of rural places.     

Conspicuous redemption? Reflections on the promises and perils of the ‘Celebritization’ of climate change

With rising public awareness of climate change, celebrities have become an increasingly important community of non nation-state ‘actors’ influencing discourse and action, thereby comprising an emergent climate science-policy-celebrity complex. Some feel that these amplified and prominent voices contribute to greater public understanding of climate change science, as well as potentially catalyze climate policy cooperation. However, critics posit that increased involvement from the entertainment industry has not served to influence substantive long-term advancements in these arenas; rather, it has instead reduced the politics of climate change to the domain of fashion and fad, devoid of political and public saliency. Through tracking media coverage in Australia, Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom, we map out the terrain of a ‘Politicized Celebrity System’ in attempts to cut through dualistic characterizations of celebrity involvement in politics. We develop a classification system of the various types of climate change celebrity activities, and situate movements in contemporary consumer- and spectacle-driven carbon-based society. Through these analyses, we place dynamic and contested interactions in a spatially and temporally-sensitive ‘Cultural Circuits of Climate Change Celebrities’ model. In so doing, first we explore how these newly ‘authorized’ speakers and ‘experts’ might open up spaces in the public sphere and the science/policy nexus through ‘celebritization’ effects. Second, we examine how the celebrity as the ‘heroic individual’ seeking ‘conspicuous redemption’ may focus climate change actions through individualist frames. Overall, this paper explores potential promises, pitfalls and contradictions of this increasingly entrenched set of ‘agents’ in the cultural politics of climate change. Thus, as a form of climate change action, we consider whether it is more effective to ‘plant’ celebrities instead of trees.     

The structure of the Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic basement of the Central Andes between 22° and 32°S. Lat.

Three major diastrophic cycles, defined by their structural style and their spatial distribution are recognized in the Andean Basement of this region. The oldest structures are related to the Panamerican Orogeny (500 to 700 m. a.) which produced in the Central Craton multiply deformed complexes of schists, gneisses and granites, that are covered discordantly by unmetamorphosed Cambrian and Ordovician beds. West of the Central Craton Ordovician sedimentary beds are folded with a simple structural style and intruded by granites. Both the sedimentry beds and the granites are covered discordantly by undeformed Devonian sequences. The folding of the Ordovician is attributed to the ocloyic phase of the Caledonian movements. West of the ocloyic belt is another foldbelt consisting of strongly folded Devonian beds attributed to the chanic phase (hercynian). The chanic belt is intruded by carboniferous and permian granites and covered discordantly by Carboniferous and Permian sequences.The features observed in the eastern slope of the Andes suggest that the Paleozoic foldbelts are intracratonic. Whether there are accreted terrains in the Pacific Coastal Cordillera is matter of controversy.

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Zusammenfassung Im Andenbasement dieser Region lassen sich drei diastrophische Hauptzyklen, die durch ihren strukturellen Baustil und ihre geographische Verbreitung definiert sind, unterscheiden. Die ältesten Strukturen sind verknüpft mit den Bewegungen der Panamerikanischen Orogenese (500–700 m. a.), welche im Zentralkraton einen polydeformierten Komplex von Schiefern, Gneissen und Graniten erzeugte. Diesem lagern diskordant kambrische und ordovizische Sequenzen ohne Metamorphose und präandiner Deformation auf. Nach Westen zu gibt es einen Gürtel stark deformierter ordovizischer Sedimente, die einen einfacheren Baustil als das präkambrische Basement aufweisen, und diskordant von undeformierten devonischen Abfolgen bedeckt sind. Die Faltung des Ordoviziums wird der Ocloyischen Phase der Kaledonischen Bewegung zugerechnet.Weiter westwärts tritt ein jüngerer Faltengürtel aus devonischen Sedimenten auf, die während der Chanischen Phase der Herzynischen Bewegung intensiv deformiert wurden, und von karbonischen und permischen Sequenzen diskordant überlagert sind.Der Ocloyische Gürtel ist von postordovizischen Graniten die von devonischen Schichten überlagert sind, und der Chanische Gürtel von karbonischen und permischen Graniten intrudiert. Im präkambrischen Basement des Zentralkratons treten einerseits präkambrische Granite auf, denen diskordant kambrische Schichten auflagern. Andererseits findet man Granite mit paläozoischen Isotopenaltern, letztere aber in Gebieten, wo wegen des Fehlens von Deckschichten eine stratigraphische Kontrolle unmöglich ist.Die gemachten Beobachtungen scheinen darauf hinzudeuten, daß die paläozoischen Faltengürtel intrakratonisch sind. Ob es allochtone »terrains« in der pazifischen Küstenkordillere gibt, ist Gegenstand der Kontroverse.

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Resumen En el basamento de los Andes de esta región se distinguen tres ciclos diastróficos mayores definidos por sus estilos estructurales y su distributión espacial. Las estructuras mas antiguas responden a movimientos que culminaron con la Orogénesis Panamericana (500–700 m. a.) que produjo en el Cratógeno Central un complejo de esquistos, gneises y granitos polideformados, al que se le superponen discordantemente secuencias cámbricas y ordovicicas sin metamorfismo ni déformatión preandina. Hacia el oeste hay un cinturón de sedimentos ordovícicos intensamente deformados con un estilo de plegamiento mas simple que el del basamento precámbrico y cubierto discordantemente por secuencias marinas devónicas sin deformatión. Los movimientos responsables de este plegamiento se atribuyen a la fase oclóyica de los movimientos caledónicos. Más hacia el oeste se manifiesta una franja de deformatión mas jóven atribuída a la Fase chánica de los movimientos hercínicos, en ella se encuentran sedimentitas devónicas intensamente plegadas cubiertas discordantemente por secuencias carbónicas y pérmicas.El cinturón oclóyico esta acompanãdo por granitos postordovícicos cubiertos por Devónico. Asimismo, el cinturón chánico (hercínico) esta intruido por granitos probablemente carbónicos. Con respecta a los granitos intruidos en el zócalo antiguo, hay algunos indudablemente precámbricos por estar cubiertos discordantemente por secuencias cámbricas sin metamorfismo, además hay granitos de edad dudosa que han dado valores isotópicos paleozoicos pero en lugares donde el control estratigráfico no es posible por ausencia de la cobertura paleozoica. De acuerdo a los hechos observados en la ladera oriental de los Andes surge la idea de que los cinturones de plegamiento paleozoicos son intracratónicos, aun es materia de controversia si en la Cordillera de la Costa junto al Pacifico hay terrenos alóctonos acrecionados.

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<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ficus palaeoracemosa</Emphasis> sp. nov. – A new fossil leaf from the Kasauli Formation of Himachal Pradesh and its palaeoclimatic significance

A new fossil leaf impression is described from the Early Miocene sediments of Kasauli–Kalka road section, Himachal Pradesh. The characteristic leaf venation pattern suggests that it has a close affinity with Ficus L., particularly with F. racemosa L. (= F. glomerata Roxb.). Its presence indicates a warm and humid climate in the region during the deposition of sediments, in contrast to the present day cooler and less humid climate.     

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Petrology and Geochemistry of Late Archaean Granitoids in the Northern Part of Eastern Dharwar Craton,Southern India: Implications for Transitional Geodynamic Setting</Emphasis> by B.C. Prabhakar,M. Jayananda,Mohamed Shareef and T. Kano. Jour. Geol. Soc. India,v.74, 2009, pp.299–317.

Discussion

Petrology and Geochemistry of Late Archaean Granitoids in the Northern Part of Eastern Dharwar Craton, Southern India: Implications for Transitional Geodynamic Setting by B.C. Prabhakar, M. Jayananda, Mohamed Shareef and T. Kano. Jour. Geol. Soc. India, v.74, 2009, pp.299–317.