The Isle of Portland,Dorset, England

The Isle of Portland is one of the jewels in the crown of the ‘Jurassic Coast’ of Dorset, southern England. Thomas Hardy aptly described this limestone peninsula as the ‘Gibraltar of Wessex’, and used its stone quarries as the backdrop for one of his novels (The Well‐Beloved). Quarries then, as now, work the world‐famous Portland Stone—a Jurassic oolitic limestone—from which St Paul's Cathedral and many other well‐known buildings are constructed. Rocks exposed in the numerous disused quarries scattered across the isle, together with exposures in spectacular sea‐cliffs, paint a vivid picture of life and environments, ～150 million years ago. In addition to Jurassic patch‐reefs, coastal sabhkas, fossil forests and dinosaur footprints found in the bedrock, more recent geological phenomena include two Quaternary raised beaches, solution caves filled with vertebrates, and massive coastal landslips. The aim of this article is to provide a field guide for those wishing to explore the geology of this little‐known region for themselves.     

Yosemite—the Incomparable Valley

Cut deep into the heart of California's Sierra Nevada, the Yosemite Valley has been dubbed the Incomparable Valley, because it is so seriously spectacular. And it is. It has also been called the finest example of a deep glaciated trough. But it's not. Yosemite is more than that, and the glaciation is only part of its splendid geological story.     

Piltdown Man's ‘Treasure Map’

The ‘Maresfield Map’ is a map that purports to show features pertinent to the old iron industry in the Sussex Weald of southern England in 1724. It first appeared in a journal published by the Sussex Archaeological Society in early 1913, at roughly the same time as the formal publication by the Geological Society of London of papers introducing the discovery of the ‘remains’ of what became known as ‘Piltdown Man’ to the world. Piltdown Man was eventually revealed as fraudulent in 1953, followed by the Maresfield Map in 1974. Experiments in replication now show that the Maresfield Map is a sort of ‘treasure map’ (in a negative sense), which points fairly accurately to the supposed find‐spot of Piltdown Man, along with a coded accusation against Charles Dawson. The map's compiler is thought to have been L.F. Salzmann, the editor of the journal in which the map appeared. As such, the map represents the only such denunciation to have been published in the open literature in Dawson's lifetime, albeit a cryptic one. Mr Salzmann's possible motives are explored.     

The Portland Hills Fault: uncovering a hidden fault in Portland, Oregon using high-resolution geophysical methods

The Portland metropolitan area historically is the most seismically active region in Oregon. At least three potentially active faults are located in the immediate vicinity of downtown Portland, with the Portland Hills Fault (PHF) extending directly beneath downtown Portland. The faults are poorly understood, and the surface geologic record does not provide the information required to assess the seismic hazards associated with them. The limited geologic information stems from a surface topography that has not maintained a cumulative geologic record of faulting, in part, due to rapid erosion and deposition from late Pleistocene catastrophic flood events and a possible strike-slip component of the faults. We integrated multiple high-resolution geophysical techniques, including seismic reflection, ground penetrating radar (GPR), and magnetic methods, with regional geological and geophysical surveys to determine that the Portland Hills Fault is presently active with a zone of deformation that extends at least 400 m. The style of deformation is consistent with at least two major earthquakes in the last 12–15 ka, as confirmed by a sidehill excavation trench. High-resolution geophysical methods provide detailed images of the upper 100 m across the active fault zone. The geophysical images are critical to characterizing the structural style within the zone of deformation, and when integrated with a paleoseismic trench, can accurately record the seismic history of a region with little surface geologic exposure.     

Physical and mechanical properties of the repaired sandstone ashlars in the facing masonry of the Charles Bridge in Prague (Czech Republic) and an analytical study for the causes of its rapid decay

The facing masonry of the Gothic Charles Bridge in Prague (Czech Republic) has been largely altered during nineteenth and twentieth century repairs, due to extensive replacements of weathered sandstone ashlar blocks. Natural stone varieties used during these replacements show different responses to a variety of weathering processes which lead to their rapid decay. The decay of the newer stone has been accelerated by use of Portland cement paste as the binding and fill material, instead of the original hydraulic lime-based and cocciopesto-type mortars. The hardened Portland cement paste makes an almost impermeable barrier, with permeability three to four orders of magnitude lower, compared to the original mortars and natural stone. The low permeability of this new alien material results in the accumulation of water-soluble salts (specifically nitrates, but also sulphates and chlorides) in the facing masonry ashlars, with their crystallisation coming in the form of both sub- and efflorescence, as well as the development of various decay forms (blistering, granular disintegration and/or scaling and flaking). The source of the water-soluble salts can be traced back to previous restoration attempts. These included chemical cleaning (black crust removal) by nitric acid, ammonium hydroxide (‘ammonium water’), or ammonium hydrogen carbonate, all which can be linked to high nitrate content in the efflorescence.     

The performance of Nigeria's fishery sector: an empirical analysis, 1976–85

London is an international tourist destination and one of the world's most well known tourist capitals. Over 23 million overseas and domestic visitors contributed £ 4700 million to the city's economy in 1987. In this paper, the implications of a continued growth in international and domestic tourism are considered in the light of recent predictions which envisage that London's overseas and domestic visitors will rise from 23 million in 1987 to 27 million in 1990. One of the most pressing issues which tourist agencies such as the London Tourist Board face, is directing some tourists to new areas and attractions away from the existing concentration in the West End of London. In this paper, the existing and proposed development of tourism in the East End of London (London Docklands) will beexamined as a new area with the potential to attract visitors from the West End. London Docklands has attracted international attention due to the prestigious and controversial regeneration of the area where commercial and residential development has been stimulated by a government funded Urban Development Corporation. Tourist and leisure developments seem set to bring a lasting economic benefit to the area though they have attracted very little attention to date.     

Did William Smith (1769–1839), the father of biostratigraphy,discover a Jurassic pterosaur tooth?

A partial, isolated tooth from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) Stonesfield ‘slate’ of the Taynton Limestone Formation of Oxfordshire is identified as likely coming from a ctenochasmatid pterosaur. Referral to Ctenochasmatidae is based on its very slender, slightly curved crown with near circular cross-section and subparallel margins, slightly inflated root and its stratigraphic age. The tooth is part of the William Smith fossil collection held at the Natural History Museum, London. The collection was assembled as part of William Smith's attempt to identify and map strata around England and Wales in the last decade of the 18th century and the first 15 years of the 19th century. Smith's extensive fossil collection of more than 2500 specimens was purchased by the British Museum in 1816 (Wigley et al., 2018), and thus the specimen is the first pterosaur to be accessioned to the national collection.     

Investigating the chemical stabilization of hazardous waste material (fly ash) encapsulated in Portland cement

Portland cement has been suggested as an effective stabilization (physico-chemical) method for hazardous waste. This research explored the immobilization of metals in various mixtures of Portland cement and fly ash waste sampled from coal power plant in the province of Lodz, central Poland. The stabilization of fly ash in Portland cement was investigated under a wide range of pH conditions (3–12). Leachability tests were used to determine the efficiency of the encapsulation by studying the dissolution of alkaline metals (sodium, potassium) and alkaline earth metals (calcium, magnesium). The lowest value of leached metals was obtained for ratio of ash to cement of 1:10 in a case of sodium and calcium, while ratio 1.5 gave the lowest leached effects for potassium and magnesium. The high effectiveness of solidification/stabilization process was gained in high pH values (9–11).     

中国彩色钻石概要特点

彩色钻石是一种极端珍稀的矿产与宝石财富.本文较全面论述了中国已经发现的主要彩钻产地及矿体的简要地质特征,从原生矿和砂矿角度,分别论述了山东、辽宁、湖南、贵州等地的彩钻矿体地质特点,并总结了中国彩钻的主要特点:含量极低,晶体完整度不一,多含有包裹体,晶体蚀象发育,透明度高,以山东彩钻为代表的中国彩钻的颗粒度相对较大,可做高端宝石应用.本文还指出,中国彩钻的价值从根本上还没有得到发掘,市场价值从根本上尚未得到体现.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987115000638

This study presents new thickness maps of post-Cretaceous sedimentary strata beneath central London.1100 borehole records were analysed.London Clay is thickest in the west;thicker deposits extend as a narrow finger along the axis of the London Basin.More minor variations are probably governed by periglacial erosion and faulting.A shallow anticline in the Chalk in north-central London has resulted in a pronounced thinning of succeeding strata.These results are compared to the position of London Underground railway tunnels.Although tunnels have been bored through the upper levels of London Clay where thick,some tunnels and stations are positioned within the underlying,more lithologically variable.Lower London Tertiary deposits.Although less complex than other geological models of the London Basin,this technique is more objective and uses a higher density of borehole data.The high resolution of the resulting maps emphasises the power of modelling an expansive dataset in a rigorous but simple fashion.     

Performance evaluation of ultrafine cement as a grout for reservoir impermeability improvement

Acta Geotechnica - Although Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) has been widely used as one of the significant grouting materials, there are many drawbacks to its application in the field. In this...     

Gated communities,heterotopia and a “rights” of privilege: a `heterotopology' of the South African security-park

This paper attempts a two-tiered analysis of what has come to be referred to as the `security-park', i.e., that South African variation of the `gated community' which combines Blakely and Snyder's [Fortress America: Gated communities in the United States, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, 1999] typically separable `lifestyle', `prestige' and `security zone' gated community types. The first part of this analysis reviews the existing literature on gated communities and relates it back to the South African situation. The second part, both theoretical and empirical, draws on Foucault's [Utopias and heterotopias, in: N. Leach (Ed.), Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, Routledge, London, 1997] notion of the heterotopia, and on a variety of textual representations of Dainfern. The heterotopia, as an `analytics of difference' becomes a particularly important means of critique here, drawing attention to security-parks as: (1) possessing a precise and well-defined function within society (a function which typically coalesces around points of social crisis), (2) operating distinctive systems of admission and exclusion, (3) containing certain `juxtaposed incompatibilities' (of which a paradoxical `heterochroneity' is one of the most pronounced elements), (4) embodying – via the espousal of a certain `utopics' – an `alternate mode of social ordering' (in Hetherington's [The Badlands of Modernity: Heterotopia and Social Ordering, Routledge, New York, 1997] term). Each of these analytical strands constitutes a discursive relay through which one might deduce wider networks of social power or in the case of Dainfern or security-parks more generally, historical structures of the race- and class-structuring of privilege and poverty. Representations and practices of the security-park are in this way indicative of a far larger political rationality – a self-justificatory set of entitlements, warrants and exclusionary prerogatives which we have labelled a “rights” of privilege.     

Hazard transformation and hazard management issues in the London megacity

Megacities are likely to present the greatest future challenges for hazard management. In them increasingly complex societies are continually modifying responses to dynamic sets of external risks. Although most have proven resilient to past disasters, new types of threat are emerging. London — which is both the world's oldest megacity and one of its most resilient — has long experience of the transformation of hazards in time and space. Although not as hazard-prone as some megacities, this one is increasingly exposed to a wide range of interactive hazards. Here trends of flooding, air pollution and terrorism are discussed together with policy responses. London demonstrates that robust action can be successful in reducing high-intensity hazards but it also shows that contemporary management is characterised by top-down technological fixes whose long-term effectiveness is questionable. In general, anticipatory responses have been limited and present-day London has not capitalised on its rich legacy of successful experience in coping with hazard.     

Millennium-long recession of limestone facades in London

Historical data on the temperature and precipitation data for London has been combined with output from the Hadley Model to estimate the climate of London for the period 1100–2100 CE. This has been converted to other parameters such as freeze–thaw frequency and snowfall relevant to the weathering of stone facades. The pollutant concentrations have been estimated for the same period, with the historical values taken from single box modelling and future values from changes likely given current policy within the metropolis. These values are used in the Lipfert model to show that the recession from karst weathering dominates across the period, while the contributions of sulphur deposition seem notable only across a shorter period 1700–2000 CE. Observations of the late seventeenth century suggest London architects witnessed a notable increase in the recession rate and attributed “fretting quality” to “smoaks of the sea-coal”. The recession rates measured in the late twentieth century lend some support to the estimates from the Lipfert model. The recession looks to increase only slightly, and frost shattering will decrease while salt weathering is likely to increase.     

西南天山造山带超高压变质作用研究新进展

低温超高压变质岩具有极低的地热梯度,其变质演化对于认识板块间相互作用的动力学过程以及弧地壳的生长机制具有重要意义。西南天山造山带发育了世界上少有的经历过深俯冲作用且具有洋壳属性的典型低温超高压变质地质体。近几年来对该造山带中的超高压变质岩开展了大量深入细致的岩石学研究工作,取得了一系列新进展。变基性岩和变沉积岩系岩石中柯石英的普遍发现,直接证明西南天山变质蛇绿混杂岩曾经俯冲到上地幔深度,且具有极低的地热梯度,与热力学模拟结果一致。柯石英的稀少以及大量不同类型柯石英假像的存在,说明在折返过程中发生了强烈的退变质叠加,只有刚性较大且没有经历碎裂-愈合作用的矿物(如石榴石)才有可能保存柯石英。综合岩相学证据和相平衡计算结果,确定西南天山造山带北部的高压地质体(即哈布腾苏-科布尔特单元)整体经历过超高压变质作用,南部的高压地质体峰期压力未达到柯石英稳定域。超高压和高压变质地体的空间分布特点指示了古天山洋由南向北的俯冲极性。这些基础岩石学研究工作的开展对于揭示冷俯冲带的深部物理化学过程以及建立中亚南天山造山带演化的精细模型具有重要意义。     

Urban renewal, immigration, and contested claims to public space: The case of Piazza Garibaldi in Naples

This article examines the relationship between immigration and urban renewal in Naples during the 1990s through the conflicting representations and uses of Piazza Garibaldi, a large piazza located in front of the city's central railway station. As well as the hub of the city's public transport network, since the mid-1980s this piazza has been the multifunctional space for a number of immigrant groups. Re-envisioned as the `gateway' to the city's regenerated centro storico (historic centre) during the 1990s, the piazza became a focus of public debates on security, tourism and, in particular, immigration. I examine how these issues intersected with political discourses about a renewed sense of citizenship in redefining the piazza as a strategic but problematic public space. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and analysis of local newspaper reports, the article looks at the ways in which the piazza has been appropriated by different immigrant groups for social and economic purposes, and how, at the same time, they have been excluded from discourses about a `new' Naples.     

Discussion on Geodynamics of Three-body Motion

To determine the Earth's dynamics and their equations, which are crucial for Earth science research, this paper analyzes the interaction forces in the motion of a three-body system(namely, fixed, active, and passive points), based on the orbital motion. The mathematical derivation has been conducted strictly according to trigonometric functions with time and space as variables. In spatial transformation, related data items are simplified and replaced reasonably and necessarily according to the physical phenomenon to conduct derivations of planar to spatial transformation, through which the motion point has universal significance. Moreover, the polynomial equation for the dynamics has been obtained. Results indicate that the polynomial expression for the dynamics comprises the tidal force, the powerful mid-latitude Force(PML Force), and gravitation. Gravitation analysis shows that it is proportional to the dynamics quality, the size of the angular velocity of their deviation from the progenitor–paternal orbital plane's center position, and the square of the progenitor orbital plane's distance. However, it is inversely proportional to the distance of the paternal orbital plane and not related to another body's quality. Some past errors are addressed and some constructive conclusions are offered in the discussion of gravitation.     

Geology of Marseilles to Italy high‐speed TGV railway line compared to HS2 in Britain

In a radical departure, SNCF, the French state railway company, launched a public consultation in 2016 about the route for the first of a series of piecemeal extensions to the proposed French high‐speed railway (ligne à grande vitesse) LGV network in Provence‐Alpes‐Côte d'Azur. A cheaper proposal to build an inland line, bypassing Marseilles and Toulon, met strong opposition as it would have traversed landscapes made famous by Cézanne's nineteenth century paintings. This alternative offered options for tunnelling under Marseilles, including an underground TGV station due for completion in 2033. Eventually heading eastwards, a line about 35 km long with a lengthy tunnel into the port city of Toulon will be built by around 2040 from Aubagne. Unlike Britain and problems building HS2 bypassing the West Coast railway mainline into London, France has well‐established relatively generous compensation procedures for anybody losing property due to new infrastructure schemes. Also, this SNCF budget is split into many portions, while HS2 has been hampered by poor geological knowledge of likely ground conditions along parts of the route resulting in massive cost overruns. Even after the Oakervee review into how to bring these cost overruns under control gave the green light for construction of HS2 to continue in February 2020, these underlying factors were hardly considered in this technical and economic report.     

发展李四光学术思想,开创新时代的地质事业

李四光是中国科技界的一面旗帜,他对地质科学理论有着卓越贡献,其学术理论具有超前意义,影响深远。文章从李四光对国家和人民的一片赤子之心;李四光走自主创新之路,积极探索解决中国问题的精神;李四光的重视实践,重视辩证的思想方法论;李四光理论联系实际解决实际问题,在应用中发展地质力学学科;以及大力培养学科带头人等五个方面纪念李四光。提出学习和发扬李四光的科学思想和爱国精神,以创造性地解决中国和世界面临的新的重大问题。      

Earthlearningidea—two million and counting: bringing Earth science ideas to teachers across the world

As one door closes, another one opens—sometimes. This is certainly true in the history of the development of the Earth science education website, http://www.earthlearningidea.com . In the expectation that funding would be available to help teachers in a range of developing countries during the UN's International Year of Planet Earth in 2008, a series of overseas workshops in Earth science was proposed. Undeterred by the probable absence of funding, Chris King, of Keele University, co‐opted Elizabeth Devon and Peter Kennett to initiate a web‐based series of Earth science activities, which could be freely accessed by anyone in the world. This was, and is, run on a purely voluntary basis. Up until 2014, the website was generously hosted, free of charge, by the Applied and Environmental Geophysics Research Group at Keele University, but the site now runs on a FreeBSD server situated in the London Telehouse and managed by Martin Devon. The minimal monthly costs of this are covered by a grant from the Geologists' Association's Curry Fund.