Glacial geography and native North American languages

This study tests the hypothesis that the number and distribution of some native American languages may be related to ice-margin changes of the Wisconsin glaciation. The analysis indicated that the number of languages per unit area is much greater in unglaciated areas of the last glacial maximum than in glaciated areas. The pattern of languge overlap between land areas sequentially exposed during deglaciation appears to indicate the direction of movement of populations from the periphery toward the core of the area once covered by the Wisconsin Ice Sheet. The data strongly indicate that North America was inhabited prior to the Wisconsin glacial maximum, because glacial maximum conditions apparently influenced linguistic distributions. Evidence suggests that ancestral Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene speakers occupied the northwestern edge of the continental ice mass, and that ancestral Algonquian speakers were south of the ice mass during the Wisconsin glacial maximum (approximately 18,000 yr ago). These three linguistic groups were the principal ones to spreas into areas exposed by the recession of the Wisconsin ice.     

Linguistic segregation in urban South Africa, 1996

South Africa is a multi-lingual country with 11 official languages and a recent history where language was frequently used as a political instrument, notably in the urban areas. Although the cities were initially colonial foundations, as a consequence of rural-urban migration, the speakers of the various national languages have come into close contact with one another. However, as a result of the inheritance of apartheid town planning and its emphasis on racial zoning, residential segregation levels between some linguistic groups have been extremely high. An analysis of the 1996 census results reveals that the uniformly high segregation levels between the speakers of indigenous African languages and the speakers of Afrikaans and English are the direct outcome of apartheid era town planning. Nevertheless, segregation between the speakers of different African languages may also on occasion be relatively high where homeland political policies were pursued, although this was the exception rather than the rule. Similarly segregation between English and Afrikaans speakers was locally high where home language coincided with former racial classification. Few immediate significant changes are anticipated in the present patterns of linguistic segregation, as the inherited apartheid city structure is proving to be remarkably resistant to transformation.     

Beyond nationalism: Three visions of the European Union and their implications for the linguistic regime of its institutions

The linguistic diversity in the European Union is generally viewed as an essential component of the European identity, but the linguistic regime of the EU institutions (with eleven official and working languages) is not undisputed. In addition, the upcoming enlargements will complicate greatly the continuation of the present practices as new Member States bring new official languages. As a result, the debate about possible reforms is likely to be boosted by the necessity to prepare EU institutions for further enlargment. The present regime of institutional multilingualism is criticised from different angles, resulting in three options for the future. In this paper the linguistic regime of EU institutions is discussed in relation to general ideas about the nature of this supranational political system. Supranationalism is treated here as a program to supersede nationalism. Three variants are distinguished: pacified nationalism, neo-nationalism and post-nationalism. The paper examines how these different visions of Europe shed different lights on the issue of multilingualism (in terms of communication, identity and power) and its institutionalisation in the linguistic regime of the core instituions of the European Union. Although the three models are compatible with several arrangements, they support or oppose them for different reasons. Besides, they differ regarding the significance of the linguistic regime of the EU institutions for the whole polity and their ability to steer linguistic practices.     

Determinants and correlates of language shift among the tribals of Central India

Language shift from traditional language to non-traditional has become an important aspect of the study in various disciplines including social and regional sciences besides linguistics. The geographers have studied the patterns of spatial distribution and the processes through which the shift occurs and also analysed the factors which are responsible for the shift. Socio-economic and political implications of the shift have been adequately emphasized in geographical studies. The present study is an attempt in this direction by selecting some of the important tribal groups of Central India. The paper attempts to establish the relationship between language shift and socio-economic conditions among the Bhils, the Korkus, the Mundas and the Santals of Central India. The stepwise regression model has been applied to understand the causality of the shift while the degree of linguistic exposure has been calculated to determine the magnitude of language shift among them for a comparative analysis. Both primary and secondary data have been analysed for this study. Though language shift among the tribal population has exposed them to the outside world and helped them to achieve higher levels of socio-economic development, its consequences seem to be more serious as it has led to the division of the tribal society and formation of separate groups of people who have been alienated from the traditional people. Thus, the process of linguistic shift is held responsible for the loss of tribal identity and their traditional culture. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Searching for core area growth

Until recently the world economy was focused on four core areas: in western Europe, North America, the Soviet Union, and Japan. Beyond them was the periphery. The economic growth of the periphery depended on core-periphery trade. Since the existing core areas were too few to absorb the periphery's potential production, much of the periphery was producing below capacity. Currently more core areas are coming into existence in Brazil, South Korea, and India. They promote economic development by enlarging the market for peripheral products, drawing resources from the remaining periphery, and providing competition to existing core areas. Latent potentials for core area growth exist in the Near East and southern Africa, but their realization presumes political settlements. The west European core area has expanded onto the Iberian Peninsula and may expand soon beyond the erstwhile Iron Curtain.     

The Palaeoclimate Variations in the Central Plains Since the Interstade of the Last Glacial Stage

Through the study of a high-resolution loess record in the Central Plains, the short-term palaeoclimatic variations since the interstade of the last glacial stage have been discussed in this paper. The palaeoclimate in the East Asian monsoon areas shows different variation patterns in summer and winter. A correlation of the palaeomonsoon records of loess with the δ18O records of the ice core and deep sea is made, and some of the causes for their differences are also discussed.     

Vertical movements of the eastern coast of peninsular India in the pleistocene and recent times

There are clear indications from literary and historical data and from geomorphological data that the eastern coastal areas of peninsular India have been uplifted and parts of the bottom of the Bay of Bengal have subsided. The junctions of these areas of uplift and subsidences are near the coast in the shelf and the continental slope. The intensity and location of these movements seem to change frequently. Many of the rivers of eastern peninsular India follow faulted margins in tectonically highly disturbed zones which have undergone vertical movements since the depositions of rocks of the Cuddapah and Kurnool systems to the recent past. These areas are also associated with deep faults and steep gradients of gravity. It has been also observed that the Mettur, Sattanur and Nagarjunasagar dams in these areas are associated with sporadic seismic activity. In view of the fact that a large number of new civil-engineering works are being undertaken in the river valleys of the areas, which are intended to stand for a long time, it is suggested by the author that detailed geological and geophysical studies of the basement be undertaken in these areas. Also some temporary seismological observatories should be set up in these areas to study their seismicity thoroughly.     

Language change in South Africa: A geographical perspective

In the changing multi-ethnic South African society of the nineties, language planning has become a top priority on the national agenda of reform. Comprehension of the territorial dimensions of language is crucial if we are to penetrate its true cultural, economic and political effect. South Africa's language policy, as defined in the interim constitution, focuses mainly on the fact that in future the country will accommodate eleven official languages with equal status. Obviously, the nine provinces do not each have eleven official languages. A provincial legislative may, by a two-thirds majority vote, declare any of the national languages a provincial official language for the whole province or a part thereof. In the light of this it is of vital importance that the country's regional language patterns be analysed on a geographical basis. A visual and statistical representation of the geolinguistic realities in South Africa could support the planning and transformation process currently taking place at all levels of government in this multilingual country. The aim of this paper is to address the following geolinguistic issues on a national scale:

• The spatial identification of the official language distribution on a macro level;
• The time-space pattern of language change between 1980 and 1991;
• The demographic and socio-economic profile of language speakers;
• The consequences of the findings for ethno-linguistic restructuring in a post-apartheid South Africa.

The analysis of the 37 million people's first home languages in South Africa has been accomplished by utilizing an ARC/INFO Geographical Information System linked with the 374 statistical districts. Although the country is ethnically and culturally very diverse, three language groups, namely isiZulu, isiXhosa and Afrikaans, dominate the linguistic scene. Their respective distribution patterns are fairly segregated within specific regions, while their relative change patterns are substantially influenced by urbanization trends and political restructuring.     

Labour imperialism in India: The case of SEWA

The Self-Employed Women’s Association is almost universally praised for its work in organizing women in India’s informal sector but has never been examined from a critical perspective. In this study, we critically assess the SEWA movement both in terms of its big picture strategy and the grass roots of its movement. We find that the strategies and tactics employed by SEWA expose the Indian working class to significant imperialist intervention through donations by highly politicized groups, which have given these groups significant leverage over the organization. We will argue that SEWA as an organization is a product of hegemonic forms of imperialism, both in terms of the trade union and hegemonic imperialism. SEWA’s rise to significance can be seen in the spread of SEWA to various parts of India, but also importantly, to different countries in the global South and on the international stage in the UN apparatus and in the international trade union movement. The case of SEWA as a model of trade unionism is therefore an extremely important one to consider in terms of its impact in India but also on global labour politics.     

BIOGEOGRAPHIC RELATIONS OF THE JURASSIC PECTINOIDA AND OSTREOIDA (BIVALVIA) BETWEEN TANGGULA AND OTHER AREAS

BIOGEOGRAPHIC RELATIONS OF THE JURASSIC PECTINOIDA AND OSTREOIDA (BIVALVIA) BETWEEN TANGGULA AND OTHER AREAS     

滇西南新生代走滑断裂运动学、年代学、及对青藏高原东南部块体运动的意义

依据走滑断裂的运动学和年代学,确认滇西腾冲地区新生代大型走滑断裂带变形作用的三个阶段:1)始新世初(54-56Ma),在槟榔江两岸出露的与新特提斯俯冲和两大陆碰撞相关的左旋走滑-逆冲断裂,由此推断腾冲地块西缘南北向展布格局是两大陆碰撞后发生顺时针旋转达90°的结果.2)渐新世-中新世,腾冲地块东缘的高黎贡右旋走滑断裂和西缘的那邦右旋走滑断裂存在两个走滑活动的峰期:24-19Ma和11-14Ma,早期与Tapponnier模式中挤出块体东边界红河-哀牢山左旋走滑断裂活动的时限相一致,指示高黎贡和那邦右旋走滑断裂在此时期是挤出的印支地块的西边界;晚期与安达曼海的扩张、缅甸境内实皆断裂的右旋活动相一致,可能是此期地块再次发生挤出的结果.3)中新世末,约5-8Ma间两大陆的进一步会聚,引起了腾冲地区岩石圈结构的重要变化,腾冲地块发生了向南的挤出和顺时针的旋转,促成了一系列与此前右旋走滑相关的盆地的折返和南北向凹陷盆地的形成,制约了腾冲火山岩的喷发和整个地区的快速抬升.腾冲地块及其周缘新生代断裂带多阶段运动的转换对揭示青藏高原东南部块体运动型式具有重要的研究意义.     

Zonal winds and temperature structure at the upper levels during poor and good monsoon

Global analyses of zonal wind field and thermal field structure at standard pressure levels of 200,150 and 100 mb have been carried out in India during July 1979—a poor monsoon year and July 1975—a good monsoon year. More than 250 stations in the belt 60°N and 60°S were selected. Contrasting features of the zonal wind field structure and thermal field are brought out, and it is shown that monsoon activity is reflected in the upper level and is controlled by planetary scale.     

What do geologists do when the coronavirus bites? Ideas for educators

The spread of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic has had a major effect on the way that geologists carry out their work—and particularly those engaged in educating the next generation of geologists. There are a number of resources available, and some, focussed on fostering interest in budding geologists, are presented here.     

A Portfolio Approach to Evaluating Natural Hazard Mitigation Policies: An Application to Lateral-Spread Ground Failure in Coastal California

In the past, efforts to prevent catastrophic losses from natural hazards have largely been undertaken by individual property owners based on site—specific evaluations of risks to particular buildings. Public efforts to assess community vulnerability and encourage mitigation have focused on either aggregating site—specific estimates or adopting standards based upon broad assumptions about regional risks. This paper develops an alternative, intermediate—scale approach to regional risk assessment and the evaluation of community mitigation policies. Properties are grouped into types with similar land uses and levels of hazard, and hypothetical community mitigation strategies for protecting these properties are modeled like investment portfolios. The portfolios consist of investments in mitigation against the risk to a community posed by a specific natural hazard. and are defined by a community's mitigation budget and the proportion of the budget invested in locations of each type.

The usefulness of this approach is demonstrated through an integrated assessment of earthquake—induced lateral—spread ground failure risk in the Watsonville, California area. Data from the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 are used to model lateral—spread ground failure susceptibility. Earth science and economic data are combined and analyzed in a Geographic Information System (CIS). The portfolio model is then used to evaluate the benefits of mitigating the risk in different locations. Two mitigation policies, one that prioritizes mitigation by land use type and the other by hazard zone, are compared with a status quo policy of doing no further mitigation beyond that which already exists. The portfolio representing the hazard zone rule yields a higher expected return than the land use portfolio does; however, the hazard zone portfolio experiences a higher standard deviation. Therefore, neither portfolio is clearly preferred. The two mitigation policies both reduce expected losses and increase overall expected community wealth compared to the status quo policy.     

西藏地区重磁场特征及藏东构造格局新认识

根据新编制的1∶100万西藏地区重磁图发现,在西藏东部雁石坪—昌都地区存在一组北西向构造,它与西藏中西部发育的近东西向构造呈相交而不是相接关系,这与地质上通常认为的西藏地区主体呈北西—东西—北西西向的平卧"S"型构造格局观点相异,从而对西藏地区东部的地质构造格局有了新的认识。文中清晰地展示了这组北西向构造及近东西向构造的重磁场面貌,并推测认为这组北西向构造可能是从祁连山—东昆仑山北西向构造中沿东昆仑断裂分裂出来的,而先前认为的北西向构造与近东西向构造相接的观点反映的应是侏罗纪之后受印度地块向北推挤,上覆浅层构造特征,这个新发现对认识西藏地区地质构造格局具有重要意义。     

Stromatolites and Precambrian stratigraphy in India

Most of the Proterozoic carbonate formations of Peninsular India, and the so-called ‘unfossiliferous’ carbonates of the Sub- and Lesser Himalaya, contain abundant columnar and branching stromatolites. Systematic study of some of these stromatolites supports their use in biostratigraphy and reveals their Riphean—Proterozoic affinity. A synthesis of stromatolite studies in India has been attempted. A biostratigraphic correlation of the stromatolitic formations of Sub- and Lesser Himalaya extending from Jammu in the west to Buxa in the eastern Himalaya has been established. A probable correlation of those of Peninsular India has been indicated, based on available information. A bibliography on Indian stromatolites is appended.     

Geodynamics of NW India: Subduction, lithospheric flexure, ridges and seismicity

Spectral analysis of digital data of the Bouguer anomaly map of NW India suggests maximum depth of causative sources as 134 km that represents the regional field and coincides with the upwarped lithosphere — asthenosphere boundary as inferred from seismic tomography. This upwarping of the Indian plate in this section is related to the lithospheric flexure due to its down thrusting along the Himalayan front. The other causative layers are located at depths of 33, 17, and 6 km indicating depth to the sources along the Moho, lower crust and the basement under Ganga foredeep, the former two also appear to be upwarped as crustal bulge with respect to their depths in adjoining sections. The gravity and the geoid anomaly maps of the NW India provide two specific trends, NW-SE and NE-SW oriented highs due to the lithospheric flexure along the NW Himalayan fold belt in the north and the Western fold belt (Kirthar -Sulaiman ranges, Pakistan) and the Aravalli Delhi Fold Belt (ADFB) in the west, respectively. The lithospheric flexures also manifest them self as crustal bulge and shallow basement ridges such as Delhi — Lahore — Sagodha ridge and Jaisalmer — Ganganagar ridge. There are other NE-SW oriented gravity and geoid highs that may be related to thermal events such as plumes that affected this region. The ADFB and its margin faults extend through Ganga basin and intersect the NW Himalayan front in the Nahan salient and the Dehradun reentrant that are more seismogenic. Similarly, the extension of NE-SW oriented gravity highs associated with Jaisalmer — Ganganagar flexure and ridge towards the Himalayan front meets the gravity highs of the Kangra reentrant that is also seismogenic and experienced a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 1905. Even parts of the lithospheric flexure and related basement ridge of Delhi — Lahore — Sargodha show more seismic activity in its western part and around Delhi as compared to other parts. The geoid highs over the Jaisalmer — Ganganagar ridge passes through Kachchh rift and connects it to plate boundaries towards the SW (Murray ridge) and NW (Kirthar range) that makes the Kachchh as a part of a diffused plate boundary, which, is one of the most seismogenic regions with large scale mafic intrusive that is supported from 3-D seismic tomography. The modeling of regional gravity field along a profile, Ganganagar — Chandigarh extended beyond the Main Central Thrust (MCT) constrained from the various seismic studies across different parts of the Himalaya suggests crustal thickening from 35-36 km under plains up to ～56 km under the MCT for a density of 3.1 g/cm³ and 3.25 g/cm³ of the lower most crust and the upper mantle, respectively. An upwarping of ～3 km in the Moho, crust and basement south of the Himalayan frontal thrusts is noticed due to the lithospheric flexure. High density for the lower most crust indicates partial eclogitization that releases copious fluid that may cause reduction of density in the upper mantle due to sepentinization (3.25 g/cm³). It has also been reported from some other sections of Himalaya. Modeling of the residual gravity and magnetic fields along the same profile suggest gravity highs and lows of NW India to be caused by basement ridges and depressions, respectively. Basement also shows high susceptibility indicating their association with mafic rocks. High density and high magnetization rocks in the basement north of Chandigarh may represent part of the ADFB extending to the Himalayan front primarily in the Nahan salient. The Nahan salient shows a basement uplift of ～ 2 km that appears to have diverted courses of major rivers on either sides of it. The shallow crustal model has also delineated major Himalayan thrusts that merge subsurface into the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), which, is a decollment plane.     

A mid to late Holocene record of palaeoclimatic changes from Nal Sarovar: a palaeodesert margin lake in western India

With a view to obtain palaeoclimatic data from a climatically sensitive region we have studied core samples from Nal Sarovar, a large shallow lake lying within the palaeodesert margin of Thar in western India. A combination of C/N ratios and δ¹³C on a radiocarbon-dated core section have been used as climatic proxies. A high-resolution record extending back to ca. 6.6 ka BP has been reconstructed. The data indicate that, in the past, climate has varied from drier to wetter than present on time-scales of few hundreds to few thousands of years. There are, however, significant differences on the timing of these wet and dry periods, when compared with the available data from lakes farther north, in Rajasthan. Further, it looks unlikely that during the 6.6 ka the catchment areas of Nal Sarovar experienced such a significant increase in rainfall as has been suggested for the Rajasthan lakes. Interestingly, drier periods in Nal Sarovar data appear to correlate well with periods of glacier expansion in Eurasia indicating that the palaeoclimatic variations recorded in Nal Sarovar are a regional feature. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From centre to periphery: Changing spatial structures in Rural South India, 985–1985

The paper is an attempt on polarized development. over the last millennium, focussing on a small agrarian region in the Tamil country of South India. From the perspective of Friedmann's General Theory, the paper traces the development of this region through five successive stages of integration, each of which encompassed the study area into a wider and more complex spatial system. Elementary innovations are identified that, at each of these stages, generated specific types of authority-dependency relationships which, in turn, integrated the respective innovative cores and their dependent peripheries into single spatial systems. The paper shows how the institutional and spatial structures of rural South India have been successively transformed in this process, to serve the needs of the various core regions. It also demonstrates how, since colonial times, new types of authority-dependency relationships have emerged that, by organizing the dependency of the peripheries through systems of market and supply, have resulted in development of the core regions, on the one hand, and underdevelopment of the peripheries, on the other.