Post-colonial nature conservation in Southern Africa: same emperors, new clothes?

This paper analyses and evaluates the bordering and othering impacts of environmental geopolitical discourse on land conservation in Southern Africa. Through a theoretical in-depth analysis of the use and contents of the term conservation, this paper examines how conservation is determined, instrumentalized and interpreted by the state, international governmental and non-governmental institutions, and specific interest groups including neo-liberal capitalists and local communities especially in the developing world context. In particular, we discuss the impact of current transboundary park-like conservation practices in Southern Africa and how these feed into the continuous attempts to colonise Southern Africa's nature. Native Americans were not mistaken when they accused the Whites of having forked tongues. By separating the relations of political power from the relations of scientific reasoning while continuing to shore up power with reason and reason with power, the moderns have always had two irons in the fire. They have become invincible. (Latour, 1993, p. 38) Since most of us live in a hierarchical society, any discourse on wildlife tends to be about social relationships. Whom can we exclude from our Garden of Eden, and how can we keep `others' from trespassing on valuables that help sustain our life and livelihoods, if not our identities. Marks (1994, p. 120) ...it could be argued that binary divisions are deeply etched into social space and it is a deeper understanding of boundary erection and distancing that is required if we are to provide alternatives to exclusion and conflict (Sibley, 2001, p. 240).     

Dynamics of forest fires and climate in Ilmen nature reserve, 1948–2013

This paper considers the impact of climatic factors on the forest fire rate in Ilmen State Reserve based on 66 years of direct observation data for 1948–2013. This period was marked by a gradual annual increase in the number of recorded fires in the reserve. The higher fire rate is generally related to lengthening of the fire season and more frequent fires in the spring and summer–early autumn periods. We did not obtain sufficient evidence to verify a relation of the higher fire rate to climate changes. The average monthly and seasonal weather conditions can be involved to explain only some causes of the interannual fire rate variability. The observed changes in some climatic characteristics could have contributed to an increase in the fire rate, while others could have reduced it.     

Genetic nature of apatite–magnetite ore in North Gurvunur deposit,western Transbaikal region

The paper gives a mineralogical and geochemical characterization of the North Gurvunur deposit, which was discovered in the Eravna ore district. The ore is composed of apatite–magnetite paragenesis. Apatite is distinguished by elevated LREE concentrations; some of them are contained in emulsion-type impregnation of monazite. Hematitization, carbonate, quartz, and pyrite veinlets formed at the postore stage, and gypsum–anhydrite mineralization is widespread in the supraore sequence. Two groups of endogenic minerals are distinguished by oxygen isotopic composition. One of them comprises magnetite and apatite, which are characterized by a homogeneous composition throughout the section of the ore lode and are close to the mantle source. The oxygen–isotope temperature calculated for the apatite–magnetite couple (620–800°C) provides evidence for magmatic origin of ore. The δ¹⁸O of fluid in equilibrium with hematite is 8.0–8.5‰ and shows a certain enrichment in crustal component; carbonates of postore veinlets reveal participation of meteoric water. The study has made it possible to refer the North Gurvunur deposit to the Kiruna type.     

“Love for sale”: Biodiversity banking and the struggle to commodify nature in Sabah,Malaysia

In Malaysia, second largest palm oil producer worldwide, logging companies, palm oil corporations, and even responsible citizens can now compensate their biodiversity impacts by purchasing Biodiversity Conservation Certificates in an emerging new biodiversity market: the Malua BioBank. Biodiversity markets are part of a wider trend of marketisation and neoliberalisation of biodiversity governance; introduced and promoted as (technical) win–win solutions to counter biodiversity loss and enable sustainable development. The existing neoliberalisation and nature literature has tended to analyse these processes as consequences of an inherent drive of capital to expand accumulation and submit ever more areas of nature to the neoliberal market logic.In contrast, I aim (a) to problematise the agency and the “work” behind marketisation of biodiversity, challenging the story of (corporate-driven) neoliberalisation as the realisation of an inherent market-logic (based on the a false conceptual state–market divide, often prevalent even in activist academic circles working on neoliberalisation of nature) and to see the state not only as regulator, but driving force behind, and part of “the market”; (b) to question the myth of neoliberalisation as state losing control to the market and to show how the state is using the biodiversity market as mode of governing; re-gaining control over its forests and its conservation policy; and (c) to demonstrate empirically the distinction between neoliberal ideology and practice, and to show that marketisation was based on pragmatic decisions, not ideology-driven political action. My analysis is based on 35 qualitative interviews with actors involved in the BioBank.     

The nature,origin and modification of insoluble organic matter in chondrites,the major source of Earth’s C and N

All chondrites accreted ∼3.5 wt.% C in their matrices, the bulk of which was in a macromolecular solvent and acid insoluble organic material (IOM). Similar material to IOM is found in interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) and comets. The IOM accounts for almost all of the C and N in chondrites, and a significant fraction of the H. Chondrites and, to a lesser extent, comets were probably the major sources of volatiles for the Earth and the other terrestrial planets. Hence, IOM was both the major source of Earth’s volatiles and a potential source of complex prebiotic molecules.Large enrichments in D and ¹⁵N, relative to the bulk solar isotopic compositions, suggest that IOM or its precursors formed in very cold, radiation-rich environments. Whether these environments were in the interstellar medium (ISM) or the outer Solar System is unresolved. Nevertheless, the elemental and isotopic compositions and functional group chemistry of IOM provide important clues to the origin(s) of organic matter in protoplanetary disks. IOM is modified relatively easily by thermal and aqueous processes, so that it can also be used to constrain the conditions in the solar nebula prior to chondrite accretion and the conditions in the chondrite parent bodies after accretion.Here we review what is known about the abundances, compositions and physical nature of IOM in the most primitive chondrites. We also discuss how the IOM has been modified by thermal metamorphism and aqueous alteration in the chondrite parent bodies, and how these changes may be used both as petrologic indicators of the intensity of parent body processing and as tools for classification. Finally, we critically assess the various proposed mechanisms for the formation of IOM in the ISM or Solar System.     

Au-Pb compounds in nature: A general overview and new evidence from the Inagli Pt–Au placer deposit,the Aldan Shield,Russia

This study presents a new and first finding of Au-Pb intermetallic compounds in the Inagli Pt–Au placer deposit, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia. This is the first time that all three accepted minerals (hunchunite, anyuiite and novodneprite), as well as unnamed Au-Pb intermetallics, corresponding in composition to Au_1.5Pb and AuPb, are present together in the same locality. We provide chemical compositions of Au-Pb compounds and host gold particles, describe morphology and relationships between different mineral phases. We also present an unexpected finding of unusual inclusion of Pb-Fe-aluminosilicate associated with K-feldspar and anyuiite in the gold grain. The new data together with data from other occurrences of Au-Pb compounds worldwide were reviewed to discuss type localities, mineralogy, conditions and possible mechanisms of formation of Au-Pb intermetallics and to provide an overview of current knowledge about these uniquely rare but naturally occurring minerals.     

The nature of metals—sediment—water interactions in freshwater bodies,with emphasis on the role of organic matter

A review with 227 references of the title subject is presented. It is divided into two main sections, viz., nature and properties of humic matter, and water—metal—sediment interactions.The first section deals with the essential properties of organic matter which occurs naturally in drainage sediments and waters. Discussion of the basic molecular structure of humic and fulvic acids is followed by some details of the chemical nature of functional groups within these structures which are important in metal-ion adsorption and complexing reactions which these materials can undergo. Information is also presented for colloidal and polyelectrolyte properties, complexation properties, and finally a summary discussion of metal-ion—humic-acid, metal-ion—fulvic-acid stability constants for both single ligand and mixed ligand systems completes the section.The second section comprises discussions of some specific aspects of interactions between metals, sediments and waters, including metal and organic speciation studies; sorption interactions between organic matter, clays and humic acids; chemical reaction between humic acids, heavy-metal minerals, clays and other silicate minerals; metal-ion adsorption—desorption studies, oxidation—reduction reactions between metal ions and humic acids; effects of sulphide ion on some of the above interactions and finally a summary of some relevant field geochemical dispersion studies.This second section describes both laboratory and field studies for each aspect.     

The nature of megafaunal extinctions during the MIS 3–2 transition in Japan

The nature of late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions has been the subject of intense debate since the 1960s. Traditionally, scientists cite either climatic changes or human predation as the primary reason for worldwide megafaunal extinctions. In many island cases (e.g., Madagascar, New Zealand), scientists have had a tendency to lean toward humans as being the direct or indirect dominant cause for the relatively quick extirpation of indigenous megafaunas. This study evaluates the record for megafaunal (e.g., Palaeoloxodon, Mammuthus, Sinomegaceros) extinctions in the Japanese islands and draw the tentative conclusion that: (1) humans directly and/or indirectly influenced the extinction of some large herbivores; and (2) the megafaunal extinctions likely began earlier than originally proposed; during the marine isotope stage (“MIS”) 3–2 transition (～30–20 ka) rather than during the MIS 2–1 (～15–10 ka) shift that roughly coincides with the advent of the Jomon period in Japan. However, we temper our findings due to the current paucity of sites in Japan that have associated archaeology and vertebrate paleontological materials that date to the MIS 3–2 transition.     

The origin of fluids and nature of fluid–rock interaction in mid-crustal auriferous mylonites of the Renco mine, southern Zimbabwe

Geothermometric constraints on auriferous shear zones of the Renco mine in the Northern Marginal Zone of the late-Archaean, granulite-facies Limpopo Belt in southern Zimbabwe indicate that deformation and associated mineralization occurred at temperatures of at least 600 °C up to more likely 700 °C. Mid- to upper-amphibolite facies conditions during mineralization correspond to the regional-scale retrogression of granulite facies wall rocks during the late-Archaean thrusting of high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Northern Marginal Zone onto low- to medium-grade granite-greenstone terrains of the Zimbabwe craton. Mineral assemblages indicate that the ore fluid was moderately oxidized with log f_O2 values between 10⁻¹⁷ and 10⁻¹⁸ bars with high H₂S activities of 0.25–0.75. Elements enriched in the shear zones include Au, S, Fe, Cu, Mo, Bi, Te, Ni, Co, and H₂O, Au and Cu being the most enriched. Geochemically, Au correlates with Cu but not with S, which, together with the fact that gold is only rarely intergrown or in direct contact with sulfides, possibly indicates a transport of gold as a chloride complex. The siting of gold along fractures or within implosion breccias suggests that gold was precipitated due to fluid immiscibility induced by catastrophic fluid pressure drops during seismic slip events. Fluid inclusions are predominantly CO₂ (±CH₄ ± N₂)-rich, but petrographic work indicates that fluid inclusions have undergone extensive post-entrapment modifications due to the pervasive recrystallization of mineral textures in the high-temperature shear zones. The mineralized shear zones are enriched in ¹⁸O compared to wall-rock enderbites, which is interpreted to represent an influx of externally derived fluids of probably metamorphic origin. Based on temporal and spatial relationships between mineralization, late-Archaean overthrusting of the Northern Marginal Zone onto the Zimbabwe craton, and coeval amphibolite-facies hydration of granulites, we suggest that the Renco mineralization formed in a mid-crustal environment from metamorphic fluids that were generated from dehydration of subcreted greenstone terrains of the Zimbabwe craton. Received: 27 October 1998 / Accepted: 13 August 1999     

The nature and genesis of marginal Cu–PGE–Au sulphide mineralisation in Paleogene Macrodykes of the Kangerlussuaq region, East Greenland

The Kangerlussuaq region of East Greenland hosts a variety of early Tertiary extrusive and intrusive igneous rocks related to continental break up and the passage of the ancestral Iceland plume. These intrusive bodies include a number of gabbroic macrodykes, two of which—the Miki Fjord Macrodyke, and the newly discovered Togeda Macrodyke—contain Cu–PGE–Au sulphide mineralisation along their margins. Sulphides occur as disseminated interstitial blebs and rounded globules of chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite with some Fe–Ti oxides and platinum-group minerals, comprising largely Pd bismuthides and tellurides. The globules are interpreted to have formed from fractionation of trapped droplets of an immiscible Cu- and Pd-rich sulphide melt and show geopetal indicators. Sulphur isotopes imply a local crustal source of S in these from pyritic sediments of the Kangerlussuaq Basin. Thus, generation of these sulphide occurrences was controlled by local country rock type. Low Ni/Cu and Pt/Pd ratios, also present in the Platinova reefs in the Skaergaard Intrusion, indicate that early fractionation of olivine may have depleted the magma of Ni and suggest the likely presence of a large magma chamber at depth. Xenoliths of Ni-rich olivine cumulates in the Miki Fjord Macrodyke may have been sourced from such a body. The location of thus far unidentified conduit or feeder zones to the macrodykes beneath the present day surface may represent potential targets for more massive sulphide orebodies.     

Age and nature of 560–520 Ma calc-alkaline granitoids of Biarjmand,northeast Iran: insights into Cadomian arc magmatism in northern Gondwana

ABSTRACT

The Biarjmand granitoids and granitic gneisses in northeast Iran are part of the Torud–Biarjmand metamorphic complex, where previous zircon U–Pb geochronology show ages of ca. 554–530 Ma for orthogneissic rocks. Our new U–Pb zircon ages confirm a Cadomian age and show that the granitic gneiss is ~30 million years older (561.3 ± 4.7 Ma) than intruding granitoids (522.3 ± 4.2 Ma; 537.7 ± 4.7 Ma). Cadomian magmatism in Iran was part of an approximately 100-million-year-long episode of subduction-related arc and back-arc magmatism, which dominated the whole northern Gondwana margin, from Iberia to Turkey and Iran. Major REE and trace element data show that these granitoids have calc-alkaline signatures. Their zircon O (δ¹⁸O = 6.2–8.9‰) and Hf (–7.9 to +5.5; one point with εHf ~ –17.4) as well as bulk rock Nd isotopes (εNd(t) = –3 to –6.2) show that these magmas were generated via mixing of juvenile magmas with an older crust and/or melting of middle continental crust. Whole-rock Nd and zircon Hf model ages (1.3–1.6 Ga) suggest that this older continental crust was likely to have been Mesoproterozoic or even older. Our results, including variable zircon εHf(t) values, inheritance of old zircons and lack of evidence for juvenile Cadomian igneous rocks anywhere in Iran, suggest that the geotectonic setting during late Ediacaran and early Cambrian time was a continental magmatic arc rather than back-arc for the evolution of northeast Iran Cadomian igneous rocks.     

U–Pb zircon dating and nature of metavolcanics and metarkoses from the Monte Grighini Unit: new insights on Late Ordovician magmatism in the Variscan belt in Sardinia, Italy

In the external units of the Sardinian Variscides Nappe Zone, volcanic and volcanoclastic successions of Middle Ordovician age follow Lower Paleozoic calc-alkaline magmatism developed at the northern Gondwana margin. We present geochemical and zircon U–Pb isotopic data for the Truzzulla Formation, a low-to-medium-grade metamorphic volcanic–volcanoclastic succession belonging to the Monte Grighini Unit, the deepest unit in the Nappe Zone. Geochemical and radiometric data allow us to define a Late Ordovician (Katian) magmatic (volcanic) event of calc-alkaline affinity. These new data, in conjunction with previously published data, indicate that in the Sardinian Variscides, the age of Lower Paleozoic Andean-type calc-alkaline magmatism spans from Middle to Late Ordovician. Moreover, the age distribution of calc-alkaline volcanics and volcanoclastic rocks in the Nappe Zone is consistent with a diachronous development of Middle–Late Ordovician Andean-type magmatic arc through the portion of the northern Gondwanian margin now represented by the Sardinian Variscides. This reconstruction of the Sardinian Variscides reflects the complex magmatic and tectonic evolution of the northern margin of Gondwana in the Lower Paleozoic.     

Neoliberalizing environmental governance? Land trusts, private conservation and nature on the Oak Ridges Moraine

With recent changes in the ways that state agencies are implementing their environmental policies, the line between public and private is becoming increasingly blurred. This includes shifts from state-led implementation of environmental policies to conservation plans that are implemented and managed by multi-sectoral networks of governments, the private sector and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). This paper examines land trusts as private conservation initiatives that become part of neoliberal governance arrangements and partnerships that challenge our conceptions of environmental preservation and democratic participation. The paper starts with an examination of the concept of neoliberalized environmental governance. Next, it addresses the shifting social constructions of property and land in the context of protecting large scale ecosystems. Through a case study of the extension of new environmental governance arrangements on the Oak Ridges Moraine in Ontario, we examine the relationships that have formed between different levels of the state and environmental non-governmental organizations. Finally, we analyze the expansion of land trusts and private conservation initiatives that are predicated on private land ownership and the commodification of nature, the emerging discourses and practices of private conservation, and how these are implicated in the privatization and neoliberalization of nature.     

The nature of terrestrial infragravitational “noise”

This paper is focused on analysis of comprehensive experimental research data on the infragravitational range of periods (from 20 s to 10–12 min) obtained by synchronous measurements of fluctuations in deformations of the Earth’s crust and atmospheric and hydrospheric pressure variations. It is established that the identified variations in the period range of 1–4 min are rarely observed in records of a laser nanobarograph and laser instrument for measuring hydrospheric pressure variations (laser hydrophone), while they are frequently observed in records of laser strainmeters at a variation period of 3–4 min. Oscillation excitation in the period ranges of 7–13 min, especially in the period ranges of 8–12 min, is largely related to atmospheric processes in the corresponding periods.     

New data on the age and nature of the Khan–Bogd alkaline granites,Mongolia

New age dating (291 Ma) was obtained for one of the largest alkaline granite massifs in the world, the Khan–Bogd Massif (Mongolia). For the first time, apart from zircon, other zirconium silicates, elpidite and armstrongite, have been analyzed. Our determinations showed the highly depleted nature of the mantle sources of granites with ε_Nd = 12. All the studied Zr-silicates demonstrate positive Eu anomalies in the REE patterns, which indicate a low oxidation potential during alkaline granite formation.     

Sodic metasomatism in a dacite weathering profile in Pinxiang, Guangxi, China

The Pinxiang weathering profile is well developed on Early Triassic dacite lavas of the Baisi Formation. At the top of the profile is developed a red clay zone which is characterized mineralogically by kaolinite, iron oxide minerals, quartz, and a small amount of illite, montmorillonite and vermiculite. In going downwards the red clay zone gives way to a saprolite zone in which plagioclase pseudomorphs have been well preserved although replaced by kaolinite. Beneath the saprolite zone is the saprock zone characterized by less weathering for dacite. At the bottom of the weathering profile is the parent material, dacite, which is composed mainly of plagioclase, quartz, K-feldspar and biotite which have been largely altered into chlorite owing to submarine extrusion of dacite lavas. Some layers in the weathering profile show obvious sodium enrichment and potassium depletion relative to others. In the Al2O3-(CaO* Na2O)-K2O triangular diagram, the weathering trends of these layers in the middle stage are remarkably deviated from normal ones. Both mineralogy and micro-morphology of these layers indicate such deviation resulted from sodic metasomatism of orthoclase.