Is the current stress state in the Central Amazonia caused by surface water loading?

We present new fault data for the region of the Manaus, Central Amazonia, Brazil. Field measurements concentrate on the Miocene–Holocene sedimentary deposits exposed on the Amazonas River Basin, in order to investigate the development of this region in this time-interval. Two faulting events are distinguished since the Miocene. The oldest one is related to NW–SE extension during Miocene times and associated with paleoseismicity, while the younger is associated with NE–SW extension direction and seems to persist today. These two deformational events may be thereby considered Neotectonic. Moreover, the second extensional pulse with NE–SW orientation can be explained by the surface hydrological loading, which induces the Central Amazonia flexural subsidence and may promote extensional stresses in the upper crust.     

Does patents on environmental technologies matter for the ecological footprint in the USA? Evidence from the novel Fourier ARDL approach

The outcome of patents on environmental (POET) technologies on the EF in the USA has not been comprehensively explored. Therefore, to close this breach in the literature, the present study discovers how patents on ecological technologies affect ecological footprint (EF) in the USA while regulatory for GDP and EC using the Fourier-based approaches. The conclusions of the present study reveal that POET are an important predictor of EF in the USA and cause a reduction in ecological deprivation in the long run; as expected, economic growth negatively affects environmental sustainability. The outcomes suggest that it is possible to resolve conflicts between the economy and the environment by using technological innovation. The USA government must reconsider its policy focus, particularly on coal energy sourcing and industrial energy, while continuing with heavy investments in its ambitious renewable energy technology development plan. Moreover, the government should continue to promote investments in environmental technologies.     

Health and safety in garment workers’ lives: Setting a new research agenda

Amidst new global initiatives to promote garment workers’ health and safety following a spate of deadly factory disasters across the Global South, this critical review calls for an expanded research agenda that looks beyond the workplace to examine the complex politics, spatialities, and temporalities of garment workers’ health and wellbeing. Drawing on ethnographic research on garment workers across South Asia, we argue against a narrow, technocratic, and depoliticised emphasis on physical infrastructures and building safety, and advocate instead a more holistic and politically-engaged research approach to the everyday health and wellbeing of workers. A conceptual focus on health and wellbeing offers a window onto workers’ employment experiences and reveals how routine work pressures, exhaustion and ill health are shaped by the dynamics of global supply chains, even well after workers have disengaged from these global circuits. Understanding how garment work affects workers’ wellbeing and their prospects for a fulfilling life requires research that moves beyond the workplace and covers the entire life course.     

Granitoids of the Pozdnestanovoy Complex of the Dzhugdzhur–Stanovoy Superterrane,Central Asia Fold Belt: Age,Tectonic Setting,and Sources

The geochemistry, geochronology, and isotope geochemical systematics (Nd, Sr, Hf, and Pb) of the granitoids of the Pozdnestanovoy complex of the Dzhugdzhur–Stanovoy superterrane of the Central Asia fold belt were investigated. It was shown that their age is Mesozoic (142–138 Ma) rather than Early Precambrian, as was previously supposed. The main sources of parental melts for these granitoids were the Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic rocks of the lower continental crust of the Dzhugdzhur–Stanovoy superterrane and the rocks of the Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic continental crust of the Amur microplate. They were formed at depths of >40 km and temperatures of 700–800°C, most likely through the melting of mafic feldspar granulites under the conditions of aqueous fluid infiltration without any significant contribution from a juvenile heat source. The granitoids of the Pozdnestanovoy complex were emplaced during the closure of the eastern segment of the Mongolia–Okhotsk Ocean owing to the collision of the Siberian and Sino-Korean continents.     

Hissar–Alai and the Pamirs: Junction and Position in the System of Mobile Belts of Central Asia

The position of the Pamirs and the Hissar–Alai mountainous system in the structure of Central Asia and features of their junction are considered. It is shown that their outer contours and tectonic infrastructure are significantly distinct in the planar pattern: latitudinally linear and arched for the Hissar–Alai and the Pamirs, respectively. These structures logically match those of the Central Asian and Alpine–Himalayan belts, respectively. The Pamir orogen is a relatively autonomous structural element of the crust, which is located discordantly relative to the country lithospheric blocks. Most of the Pamirs (at least, the Northern and Central) probably form a giant allochthon on the ancient basement of the Tarim and Afghan–Tajik blocks. The junction zone of these two “hard” crustal segments is reflected in the transverse Transpamir threshold, which is expressed in the relief, deep structure, and seismicity. The specific geological structure of the junction zone of the Pamirs and Hissar–Alai (systems of the Tarim, Alai, and Afghan–Tajik troughs) is shown. It suggested that this zone is a damper, which significantly neutralizes the dynamic influence of the Pamir and the southernmost elements of the Pamir–Punjab syntax on Hissar–Alai structures.     

Ecological primordialism: the human–environment nexus in Soqotra

This article depicts the initial human–environmental relations that prevailed during the pre-modern period of Soqotra’s history prior to its incorporation into a state-led modernization process and its subsequent enclosure within a United Nations-designed conservation zoning plan and ecotourism economy. The term ecological primordialism is coined to highlight the primacy of the environment as the enabling and constraining context for the constitution of the Soqotran community. It entails a symbiotic relationship between an ecosystem and a human social system, which structured the contingent relations between the raw materials for livelihood making and community formation: people, resources and space. The article elucidates how Soqotrans managed this mostly constraining human–environment nexus through a series of adaptive practices: their taxonomic appropriation and practical domestication of the island’s environmental resources; their transformation of the landscape into a domain of livelihood; their organization of dispersed settlements into a socio-political unit; their demarcation of the island into geographical zones of cultural differentiation; and their establishment of mutual aid institutions that simultaneously regulated resource use while integrating all islanders into relations of social kinship. The article concludes with a cautionary tale about the use of anachronistic human–environment relations as the basis of conservation policy.     

Participants or customers in water governance? Community-public partnerships for peri-urban water supply

We examine the performance of water user associations (WUAs) and the role of actors, power relations, socio-institutional dynamics, and context in supplying water to poor urban and peri-urban neighborhoods of Malawi’s two major cities. Using a preliminary survey, key-informant interviews, focus groups, secondary data, and insights from the community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) literature and common-pool resources (CPR) theory, we argue that while a business-based WUA model can enhance water supply and access, the urban/peri-urban and historical context alters the nature of water and social actors and power relations involved, causing tradeoffs between water-supply and social goals of ownership, participation, and empowerment. The ensuing tradeoffs demonstrate that water supply to the urban/peri-urban landscape through community-based initiatives require flexibility in CBNRM expectations.     

Stress State of the Earth’s Crust in the Western Tien Shan in Central Asia (Uzbekistan): A Mathematical Stress Model

Geotectonics - Seismic and tectonic processes were analyzed, taking into account the dimensions of tectonic structures and geological factors that determine the features of the relationship between...     

Gold in Egypt: Does the future get worse or better?

Within the Eastern Desert of Egypt, there are more than a hundred vein-type gold deposits and occurrences. Gold was mined in the Dynastic and Roman periods of the Egyptian history and most of the attention was focused entirely on the near-surface high grade parts of these veins. Currently, besides the more problematic sulfide-rich quartz veins, which generally occur in the lower levels of the worked out auriferous quartz veins, some targets including wall-rock alteration, listwaenite, dumps and tailings of ancient mines, by-product gold hosted in volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits and gold-bearing Algoma-type BIF, as well as alluvial gold constitute the new targets for gold in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. In most of these targets, gold displays a bimodal distribution; occurring both as free-milling gold and in the form of sub-microscopic or “invisible” gold in refractory sulfides and sulfoarsenides such as pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, gersdorffite and pentlandite minerals.Characterizing gold in an ore is important in extraction metallurgy. Free-milling gold can be efficiently recovered by crushing, grinding and cyanidation without additional processing. In refractory ores, on the other hand, conventional milling can liberate the sulfides from the gangue allowing a low content of concentrate to be produced by a process such as flotation. However, direct leaching of the concentrate results in poor gold extractions as the cyanide lixiviant is unable to contact the gold locked within the refractory host. Oxidative pretreatment is required for such ores and the methods available for oxidation are roasting (calcination), pressure oxidation, and bacterial oxidation; all oxidize the refractory minerals in the ore to render the gold amenable to cyanidation. While such oxidative methods are capable of achieving reasonable recoveries, they increase the capital and operating costs. An alternative, applicable to the liberation of gold from the refractory host, is to continue the grinding process to reduce the particle size of the host mineral thereby exposing a part of the gold surface for contact with the cyanide solution. A benefit of this technique is that the environmental aspects of the oxidation reaction products are avoided, however the ultra fine grinding also adds more operating costs.Metallurgical studies carried out on some gold deposits, dumps and tailings of ancient gold mines in Egypt, proved that these ores are amenable to percolation leaching (concentration of KCN varies between 0.5 and 1 g/L) for the (− 10 mm) grain size, and consequently heap leaching is a successful technique as the results of these laboratory scale column tests show. In most of these studies, a marked improvement in the percent of gold recovery was gained when the crushed ore is agglomerated by the addition of water, lime and/or cement particularly in ores containing significant quantities of clay minerals and clay-forming minerals (e.g. sericite and muscovite), and by addition of kerosene which passivates the adsorption surfaces on the graphite.Placer gold is recovered by gravity methods utilizing the large difference in specific gravity between gold and commonly associated minerals such as quartz and feldspar. The equipments range from a simple pan to more complex devices used in gold recovery plants and dredges.Modern studies in Egypt point to the presence of different targets of gold; diverse in their gold content, mode of occurrence of gold and the metallurgical treatments required for extracting gold. With the advance of modern techniques such as Electron Microprobe Analyses (EMPA), laser Ablation Microprobe Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (LAM-ICP-MS), gold ores in Egypt should be re-characterized precisely to know the specifications of these ores and consequently predict the metallurgical regime required, and with the high world gold price, it has become necessary to take into consideration the presence of refractory gold ores as one of these targets in Egypt. Generally speaking, laboratory experiments conducted on gold processing in Egypt are encouraging to some extent; however the gold extraction rates of the free milling ores with conventional cyanidation and refractory ores with direct and pretreatment techniques can be improved by modifying the conditions of extraction to be consistent with the results obtained from the re-characterization stage. Otherwise any target for gold and whatsoever the mode of occurrence of gold in this target (i.e. free-milling and/or refractory) could be recovered directly by heap leaching technique and we should accept less than ideal gold recovery for any target when weighed against the capital expenditure required for processes such as roasting, and the continuous grinding processes which might improve recoveries by only a small percentage.     

Towards ‘hybrid accountability’ in EU biofuels policy? Community grievances and competing water claims in the Central Kalimantan oil palm sector

The EU biofuels market is stimulating expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Little research has yet examined the impacts on water resources arising from this large-scale land use conversion to cultivation of biofuel feedstock or positioned contextual water resource governance in Indonesian locales in a wider political ecology of European climate politics. Through the concept of ‘hybrid accountability’, we examine primary evidence from an extensive action research process in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesian Borneo, to assess whether the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive and existing certification schemes offer a way to improve the accountability of market actors and promote sustainable water resource management. We conclude that these initiatives have had no bearing on safeguarding local livelihoods and the water resources they depend on, with governance mechanisms largely failing to address people’s grievances. Rather, the EU’s policies on biofuels have supported a de-politicisation of what needs to be seen as ‘distributional water politics’. Furthermore, certification schemes such as the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil offer, at present, only cosmetic tools and are insufficient to address deep structural governance issues. We argue that further hybridisation of market-based certification and governmental regulation should be designed with the purpose of providing new transnational recourse mechanisms and remedies for affected communities.     

Developing markets for water reallocation: Revisiting the experience of Spanish water mercantilización

Economic instruments are being promoted as a desirable alternative to public sector action in the allocation and management of natural resources. A wide body of literature has developed that critically analyzes this phenomenon as part of a wider project of ‘neoliberalization of nature’, trying to uncover the underlying rationale and commonalities of geographically specific phenomena. The case of water is at the vanguard of these processes and is proving to be particularly contentious. In the European Union water policies are increasingly emphasizing the application of economic instruments to improve the allocative equity and economic efficiency in the use of scarce resources. However, there are few analyses of how these instruments are really working on the ground and whether they are meeting their objectives. This paper aims to contribute to this debate by critically analyzing the experience with water markets in Spain, the only country in the European Union where they are operative. It looks at water permit sales during the 2005–2008 drought period using the Tajo–Segura transfer infrastructure. The paper describes how the institutional process of mercantilización of water works in practice in Spain. It shows that the use of markets requires an intense process of institutional development to facilitate and encourage their operation. These institutions tend to favor the interests of clearly identifiable elites, instead of the public interest they supposedly promote.     

Responses to the 2011 floods in Central Thailand: Perpetuating the vulnerability of small and medium enterprises?

Natural Hazards - The 2011 flood was the worst in Thailand in decades. Many of the impacts occurred in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region. The floods negatively affected small and medium enterprises...     

An overview of the city of Gweru,Zimbabwe’s water supply chain capacity: towards a demand-oriented approach in domestic water service delivery

Following complaints about water shortages in some areas of Gweru, the paper assessed the availability of enabling capacities to efficiently and sufficiently deliver water to the residents of Gweru in line with the existing level of demand. The key inspected capacity aspects were infrastructure, human resources, finances and physical availability of raw water at source. Purposively selected informants from Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) and Gweru city council (GCC) provided data on the infrastructural, financial and human resources situation of GCC. Dam levels data for Gweru’s three supply dams were obtained from ZINWA records through the assistance of Sanyati Catchment Hydrologist. The raw water availability was assessed with the aid of Mann–Kendall test using a 10 years period data set from 2003 to 2012 for trend analysis. Findings revealed that the water sources were not experiencing major changes in water levels, to be precise, the changes were insignificant. However, given the increase in population and demand, any slightest negative change in the supply chain would further widen the gap between supply and demand. The study also uncovered that GCC had challenges in terms of the infrastructure, mainly due to financial constraints. Notably, GCC was not experiencing high staff turnover, but it was however, seriously under staffed and failing to effectively monitor water use in the city. Therefore, strong financial injection is required to support staff and resuscitate the reticulation system. Given the perpetual water shortages in Gweru and the status quo in the supply chain, water demand management strategies, wastewater use and consumer education are consequently proposed as measures that would ensure continuous water supply for all needs in the city.     

Tectonic implications of Re-Os dating of molybdenum deposits in the Tianshan–Xingmeng Orogenic Belt,Central Asia

The Tianshan–Xingmeng molybdenum belt is part of a larger E–W-trending metallogenic belt in northern China. Most of these molybdenum deposits occur as porphyry or porphyry-skarn type, but there are also some vein-type deposits. Following systematic Re-Os dating of molybdenite from four deposits and comparisons with two previously dated deposits, we conclude that molybdenum mineralization in the Tianshan–Xingmeng Orogenic Belt resulted from hydrothermal activity linked to the emplacement of granitoid stocks. Three pulses of granitoid magmatism and Mo mineralization have been recognized in this study, corresponding to tectonic events in the Tianshan–Xingmeng Orogenic Belt. We identify five distinct stages of Mo mineralization events in the Tianshan–Xingmeng Orogenic Belt: 320–250 Ma, 250–200 Ma, 190–155 Ma, 155–140 Ma, and 140–120 Ma. Late Palaeozoic (320–250 Ma) Mo mineralization was closely related to closure of the Palaeo-Asian Ocean and collision between the Siberia and Tarim cratons. Triassic (250–200 Ma) Mo mineralization occurred in a post-collisional tectonic setting. The Early–Middle Jurassic (190–155 Ma) Mo mineralization was related to subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific Ocean on the eastern Asian continental margin, whereas in the Erguna block, the Mo mineralization events were associated with the subduction of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean. From 155 to 120 Ma, large-scale continental extension occurred in the Tianshan–Xingmeng Orogenic Belt and surrounding regions. However, the Late Jurassic (150–140 Ma) Mo mineralization events in these areas evolved in a post-orogenic extensional environment of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean subduction system. The Early Cretaceous (140–120 Ma) Mo mineralization occurred under the combined effects of the closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean and subduction of the Palaeo-Pacific Ocean.     

Geochemistry and Zircon U–Pb–Hf Isotopic Systematics of the Sanchahe Quartz Monzonite Intrusion in the North Qinling Tectonic Zone, Central China: Implications for its Petrogenesis and Tectonic Setting

The Sanchahe quartz monzonite intrusion is situated in the middle segment of the North Qinling tectonic belt, Central China mainland, and consists chiefly of sanukitoid–like and granodioritic-monzogranitic rocks. The sanukitoid–like rocks are characterized by quartz monzonites, which display higher Mg#(55.0–59.0), and enrichments in Na2 O+K2 O(7.28–8.94 %), Ni(21-2312 ppm), Cr(56-4167 ppm), Sr(553-923 ppm), Ba(912-1355 ppm) and LREE((La/Yb)N =9.47–15.3), from negative to slightly positive Eu anomalies(δEu=+0.61 to +1.10), but also depletion in Nb, Ta and Ti. The granodioritic-monzogranitic rocks diaplay various Mg#of 6.00-53.0, high Na2 O+K2 O(7.20– 8.30%), Sr(455–1081 ppm) and(La/Yb)N(27.6–47.8), with positive Eu anomalies(δEu=1.03–1.57) and depleted Nb, Ta and Ti. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(LA-ICPMS) zircon U-Pb isotopic dating reveals that the sanukitoid-like rocks were emplaced at two episodes of magmatism at 457±3 Ma and 431±2 Ma, respectively. The monzogranites were emplaced at 445±7Ma. Sanukitoid–like rocks have their εHf(t) values ranging from +0.3 to +15.1 with Hf–depleted mantle model ages of 445 to 1056 Ma, and the monzogranite shows its εHf(t) values ranging from 21.6 to +10.8 with Hf–depleted mantle model ages of 635 to 3183 Ma. Petrological, geochemical and zircon Lu –Hf isotopic features indicate that the magmatic precursor of sanukitoid–like rocks was derived from partial melting of the depleted mantle wedge materials that were metasomatized by fluids and melts related to subduction of oceanic slab, subsequently the sanukitoid magma ascended to crust level. This emplaced mantle magma caused partial melting of crustally metamorphosed sedimentary rocks, and mixing with the crustal magma, and suffered fractional crystallization, which lead to formations of quartz monzonites. However, the magmatic precursor of the granodioritic-monzogranitic rocks were derived from partial melting of subducted oceanic slab basalts. Integrated previous investigation for the adackitic rocks in the south of the intrusion, the Sanchahe intrusion signed that the North Qinling tectonic zone was developed in an early Paleozoic transitionally tectonic background from an island arc to back–arc.     

Rainfall in Central Sudan: An asset or a liability?

Sudan has been at the centre of the debate of drought and famine issues over the last 3 or 4 years. While the ideas of a simplistic casual link between these two phenomena has been partially slain, there still remains the desire in some circles to find a scapegoat for famine. Drought remains one of the readiest to hand. Rather than being seen as a basic characteristic of the rainfall resource which requires management, drought is seen as such an abnormality that it provides too convenient an excuse for the failure of agriculture, inadequacy of water supplies, exhaustion of soils and other environmental phenomena that have afflicted Sudan within the last 3–4 years (and longer). Such an attitude is in danger of converting rainfall in Sudan from an asset to a liability. This paper examines rainfall in Sudan as a resource and hence a potential asset. Drought is recognised as an inherent characteristic of that resource and its management discussed. It is suggested that the performance of indigenous traditional adaptive strategies has contrasted favourably with those of Governmental institutions. Reasons for this are given. Some broad options for future perspectives on the effective management of rainfall are outlined.