Re-thinking rural-amenity ecologies for environmental management in the Anthropocene

The migration of lifestyle-orientated landholders (amenity migrants) to rural landscapes is resulting in the production of new rural ecologies. To date, the future implications of these ecologies for environmental management have been framed largely in ‘traditional’ conservation biology terms, focusing on how we can conserve or restore natural environments to a past ecological benchmark. However, the Anthropocene provides an opportunity to critically examine how we can progress environmental management in a way that locates ecologies as emergent products of human–environment interaction through time. We extend from Tim Ingold’s work on wayfaring to position people and plants in environmental management as cohabitants who are traversing a world that is continually in the making. We conducted qualitative research in the hinterlands of Melbourne, Australia, involving narrative interviews with landholders and walking their property with them, using a form of participant observation called the ‘walkabout’ method. We found that the conservation aspirations of amenity migrants were mediated by the landscape histories that were embodied in the plants they engaged with on their property. These embodied landscape histories served to structure the trajectory of ecological emergence in which landholders were a part. We develop the concept of ‘landscape legacy’ to explain how past actions and future aspirations come together in management practice to produce novel and often unanticipated ecologies. Landscape legacy grounds the Anthropocene in everyday environments, capturing the need to progress environmental management as a wild experiment in rural-amenity landscapes, focusing on ecological form, function, relationship and process.     

An approximate projection of availability of the fresh groundwater resources in the South West district of NCT Delhi, India: a case study

The future availability and sustainability of fresh groundwater resources in the South West district of the national capital territory (NCT) Delhi, India, have been projected. Due to a rapid decline in groundwater level and quality, the district has been required by the Government of India to regulate development of groundwater resources. Shallow groundwater is mostly saline and water resources in the area are limited. The methodology applied here involves microzonation of the district in terms of thickness of fresh groundwater and then quantification of present and future availability of freshwater in different freshwater zones, including tentative timescales. The calculation method has been aided by data on historic trends in water level at representative groundwater monitoring stations, located either in fresh groundwater zones or near to them. It is estimated that the presently available 481 million m³ of resources will be reduced to 374 million m³ by year 2007 and to 303 million m³ by the year 2012, and by the year 2022 the district will have only 176 million m³ of available fresh groundwater resources.     

Postcolonial environmental justice: Government and governance in India

In this paper, we investigate the context within which struggles for environmental justice are taking place in India. We explore the ways in which postcolonial patterns of government and governance in India affect the ends, the means and the representation of these struggles, focusing on three particular areas: state reform, the judiciary and public interest litigation, and environmental social movements. We argue that India differs from west in the ambitious yet incomplete and contradictory nature of government-sponsored intervention in the environment, and in the particular nature of its public sphere, both of which have been important in shaping struggles for environmental justice. Our wider intention is not merely to catalogue these differences, but to use the Indian material to raise questions about the emphases and implicit assumptions of western environmental justice literature, and reflect on how these may be need reconsideration when working in postcolonial contexts.     

(Re-)Conceptualizing water inequality in Delhi, India through a feminist political ecology framework

This article demonstrates how a feminist political ecology (FPE) framework can be utilized to expand scholarly conceptualizations of water inequality in Delhi, India. I argue that FPE is well positioned to complement and deepen urban political ecology work through attending to everyday practices and micropolitics within communities. Specifically, I examine the embodied consequences of sanitation and ‘water compensation’ practices and how patterns of criminality are tied to the experience of water inequality. An FPE framework helps illuminate water inequalities forged on the body and within particular urban spaces, such as households, communities, streets, open spaces and places of work. Applying FPE approaches to the study of urban water is particularly useful in analyzing inequalities associated with processes of social differentiation and their consequences for everyday life and rights in the city. An examination of the ways in which water practices are productive of particular urban subjectivities and spaces complicates approaches that find differences in distribution and access to be the primary lens for viewing how water is tied to power and inequality.     

Nutrient chemistry and salinity mapping of the Delhi aquifer,India: source identification perspective

Present study is an effort to distinguish between the contributions of natural weathering and anthropogenic inputs towards high salinity and nutrient concentrations in the groundwater of National Capital Territory (NCT) Delhi, India. Apart from the source identification, the aquifer of entire territory has been characterized and mapped on the basis of salinity in space and water suitability with its depth. Major element chemistry, conventional graphical plots and specific ionic ratio of Na⁺/Cl⁻, SO₄ ²⁻/Cl⁻, Mg²⁺/Ca²⁺ and Ca²⁺/(HCO₃ ⁻ + SO₄ ²⁻) are conjointly used to distinguish different salinization sources. Results suggest that leaching from the various unlined landfill sites and drains is the prime cause of NO₃ ⁻ contamination while study area is highly affected with inland salinity which is geogenic in origin. The seasonal water level fluctuation and rising water level increases nutrients concentration in groundwater. Mixing with old saline sub-surface groundwater and dissolution of surface salts in the salt affected soil areas were identified as the principle processes controlling groundwater salinity through comparison of ionic ratio. Only minor increase of salinity is the result of evaporation effect and pollution inflows. The entire territory has characterized into four groups as fresh, freshening, near freshening and saline with respect to salinity in groundwater. The salinity mapping suggests that in general, for drinking needs, groundwater in the fresh, freshening and near freshening zone is suitable up to a depth of 45, 20 and 12 m, respectively, while the saline zones are unsuitable for any domestic use. In the consideration of increasing demand of drinking water in the area; present study is vital and recommends further isotopic investigations and highlights the need of immediate management action for landfill sites and unlined drains.     

Imprints of environmental pollution on laterite/clay and groundwater of Eloor-Kalamassery Industrial Belt,Kerala State,India

The role of laterites and clay in the adsorption of trace elements and consequent remediation of contaminated water from toxic elements has been studied. Laterite, clay and associated water samples from industrially and biologically polluted rivers and wells from Eloor-Kalamassery are analysed for Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Bi, As, and Hg contents. The cation exchange capacity of the clay-organic matter components from the in situ and transported laterites and clay in differing environments of pollution are responsible for the reduction and depletion of toxic elements concentrated in the polluted water medium. Adsorption of toxic elements by laterite has further been corroborated by a simulation experiment conducted in the laboratory. An artificial laterite bed was prepared and water containing known amounts of Cr, Zn, Ni and Mn were allowed to flow overnight through the bed at uniform rate. Analysis of artificial laterite bed shows enrichment of Cr, Zn, Ni, Mn, indicating the absorbent properties of laterite.     

Geochemical assessment of groundwater quality in vicinity of Bhalswa landfill,Delhi, India,using graphical and multivariate statistical methods

A geochemical assessment of groundwater quality and possible contamination in the vicinity of the Bhalswa landfill site was carried out by using a hydrochemical approach with graphical and multivariate statistical methods with the objective of identifying the occurrence of various geochemical processes and understanding the impact of landfill leachates on groundwater quality. Results indicate that nitrate, fluoride and heavy-metal pollution are in an alarming state with respect to the use of groundwater for drinking purposes. Various graphical plots and statistical analyses have been applied to the chemical data based on the ionic constituents, water types, and hydrochemical facies to infer the impact of the landfill on groundwater quality. The statistical analysis and spatial and temporal variations indicate the leaching of contaminants from the landfill to the groundwater aquifer system. The concentrations of heavy metals in the landfill leachates are as follows: Fe (22 mg/l), Mn (~20 mg/l), Cu (~10 mg/l), Pb (~2 mg/l), Ni (0.25 mg/l), Zn (~10 mg/l), Cd (~0.2 mg/l), Cl⁻ (~4,000 mg/l), SO₄²⁻ (~3,320 mg/l), PO₄³⁻ (~4 mg/l), NO₃⁻ (30 mg/l) and fluoride (~50 mg/l); all were much higher than the standards. The study reveals that the landfill is in a depleted phase and is affecting groundwater quality in its vicinity and the surrounding area due to leaching of contaminants.     

Morphotectonic analysis of the Hazara arc region of the Himalayas, north Pakistan and northwest India

In the Hazara arc region of northern Pakistan, some of the active basements structures buried below a thick, detached sedimentary layer are inferred from the distribution of lineaments and the drainage patterns, as viewed in Landsat satellite imagery and from river profiles.A prominent set of NW-trending lineaments seen on satellite imagery, coincides approximately with the southwest or updip side of the Indus—Kohistan seismic zone (IKSZ) —the most active basement structure of the region, even though this structure is buried beneath and decoupled from a 12 km thick sedimentary layer. The IKSZ has been interpreted as an extension of the Himalayan Basement Thrust, and is also associated with a prominent topographic “step”.Knickpoints on major rivers in the region lie on or north of the IKSZ. All Indus River tributaries, examined north of the IKSZ, show prominent knickpoints, while two tributaries draining south of the IKSZ have no knickpoints. These results suggest ongoing uplift above and north of the IKSZ, and are consistent with the tectonic model obtained from the seismic data.Another prominent lineament set is detected along the north—south section of the Indus River. This set is probably related to the Indus River horst—anticline and associated reentrant.One of the two highest lineament concentrations occurs at the intersection between the NW-trending IKSZ lineament and the N-trending Indus River lineament. The other is along the west bank of the Indus Valley, 25 km north of Tarbela Dam.A topographic ridge (Swabi—Nowshera ridge) appears to be forming along the west side of the Indus River, in the Peshawar Basin. The rising ridge is ponding the Kabul River upstream of Nowshera, where the drainage is braided.     

“三江”地区北段区域地球化学元素组合异常提取及其找矿意义

由于地球化学元素携带了某种矿化信息,因此元素地球化学异常往往是指示矿床存在的一种直接标志。随着勘查地球化学的深入发展,有关矿致地球化学异常圈定方法已成为人们关注的焦点。利用“三江”北段1∶20万地球化学数据, 运用R型因子分析,查明该区不同矿化类型的指示元素组合,以因子得分为综合指标,采用泛克里格剩余值圈定地球化学异常。结果得到2种元素组合：Ag-Zn-Pb-Sb-Bi组合(与热液型铅锌银矿床有关)和Mo-Cu组合(与斑岩型钼矿床有关)。圈定的组合异常与已知的矿床点在空间上具有很好的对应关系,说明利用R型因子分析与泛克里格法相结合圈定元素组合异常的方法能够较好地确认地球化学元素组合异常,并提示异常与矿化类型之间密切相关的规律性,为“三江”北段地区找矿提供信息。     

“三江”地区北段区域地球化学元素组合异常提取及其找矿意义

由于地球化学元素携带了某种矿化信息,因此元素地球化学异常往往是指示矿床存在的一种直接标志。随着勘查地球化学的深入发展,有关矿致地球化学异常圈定方法已成为人们关注的焦点。利用"三江"北段1∶20万地球化学数据,运用R型因子分析,查明该区不同矿化类型的指示元素组合,以因子得分为综合指标,采用泛克里格剩余值圈定地球化学异常。结果得到2种元素组合:Ag-Zn-Pb-Sb-Bi组合(与热液型铅锌银矿床有关)和Mo-Cu组合(与斑岩型钼矿床有关)。圈定的组合异常与已知的矿床点在空间上具有很好的对应关系,说明利用R型因子分析与泛克里格法相结合圈定元素组合异常的方法能够较好地确认地球化学元素组合异常,并提示异常与矿化类型之间密切相关的规律性,为"三江"北段地区找矿提供信息。     

Hindu nationalism, neo-traditionalism and environmental discourses in India

One of the defining changes India has experienced over the last decade has been the social and political consolidation of the Hindu Right. Critics point to its chauvinist ideologies, the discrimination and violence against religious minorities, and the neglect of the poor. This paper examines the parallels between the discourses of the Hindu Right and those of neo-traditionalist environmentalists. Similarities include gendered and social conservatism; superficial hermeneutic analyses of ancient texts; partial and ‘romantic’ histories; and the essentialisation of science and of East and West. The paper concludes by suggesting that environmental scholars and activists cannot afford to be innocent of the implications of their ideas and assumptions given the social and political contexts of Hindu nationalism in contemporary India.     

三江北段纳日贡玛黑云母花岗斑岩LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年及其地质意义

西南三江北段是青海省重要的斑岩型铜钼矿成矿带,纳日贡玛铜钼矿是近年来在三江北段发现的与侵入岩有关的斑岩型铜钼矿。利用锆石U-Pb方法测得纳日贡玛黑云花岗斑岩的形成年龄为41.53Ma±0.24Ma,属于喜马拉雅早期。纳日贡玛斑岩型铜钼矿的成矿时代主要在40.86~40.80Ma之间。在多期热液叠加、多期成矿作用中,纳日贡玛斑岩型铜钼矿的热液应是纳日贡玛黑云花岗斑岩（41.53Ma±0.24Ma）和纳日贡玛斜长花岗斑岩（41.00Ma±0.18Ma）共同提供的。由于该区有较多的中酸性岩体存在,因而确定这些侵入体的形成年龄,对于在该区寻找同时代的斑岩型铜钼矿有重要的理论意义和现实意义。     

三江北段纳日贡玛黑云母花岗斑岩LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年及其地质意义

西南三江北段是青海省重要的斑岩型铜钼矿成矿带,纳日贡玛铜钼矿是近年来在三江北段发现的与侵入岩有关的斑岩型铜钼矿。利用锆石U-Pb方法测得纳日贡玛黑云花岗斑岩的形成年龄为41.53Ma ±0.24Ma,属于喜马拉雅早期。纳日贡玛斑岩型铜钼矿的成矿时代主要在40.86~40.80Ma之间。在多期热液叠加、多期成矿作用中,纳日贡玛斑岩型铜钼矿的热液应是纳日贡玛黑云花岗斑岩（41.53Ma ±0.24Ma）和纳日贡玛斜长花岗斑岩（41.00Ma ±0.18Ma）共同提供的。由于该区有较多的中酸性岩体存在,因而确定这些侵入体的形成年龄,对于在该区寻找同时代的斑岩型铜钼矿有重要的理论意义和现实意义。     

三江北段纳日贡玛黑云母花岗斑岩LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb定年及其地质意义

西南三江北段是青海省重要的斑岩型铜钼矿成矿带,纳日贡玛铜钼矿是近年来在三江北段发现的与侵入岩有关的斑岩型铜钼矿。利用锆石U-Pb方法测得纳日贡玛黑云花岗斑岩的形成年龄为41.53Ma ±0.24Ma,属于喜马拉雅早期。纳日贡玛斑岩型铜钼矿的成矿时代主要在40.86~40.80Ma之间。在多期热液叠加、多期成矿作用中,纳日贡玛斑岩型铜钼矿的热液应是纳日贡玛黑云花岗斑岩（41.53Ma ±0.24Ma）和纳日贡玛斜长花岗斑岩（41.00Ma ±0.18Ma）共同提供的。由于该区有较多的中酸性岩体存在,因而确定这些侵入体的形成年龄,对于在该区寻找同时代的斑岩型铜钼矿有重要的理论意义和现实意义。     

Contesting expertise: The politics of environmental knowledge in northern Indian groundwater practices

The world is facing a severe water crisis. According to the UN, by 2025 50% of the world’s population will face water scarcity. In India, where 70% of irrigation and 80% of domestic needs are met with groundwater, demand for this resource is expected to exceed supply by 2020. This has led to recent calls for groundwater governance reforms within India, and specifically within the state of Rajasthan, where no regulation exists today. The success of these reforms hinges on the interaction of the state and its agents with local users and managers of groundwater resources. Underpinning these encounters, though, are tensions between local and state forms of groundwater knowledges. The question analyzed here is in what ways do conflicting environmental knowledges adversely affect the management of overexploited groundwater resources in water-scarce India? To address this question, I examine the coevolution of pre-colonial, colonial, and post-independence groundwater and irrigation knowledges and technologies in Rajasthan, India to expose the ways that they are produced, contested, legitimated, and hybridized. The paper argues the following three claims. First, the relationship between the state and local producers of groundwater knowledge practices is non-linear and porous. For instance, the way that state subjects experience the state is uneven because within and in-between historical moments the state may attempt to assimilate, reorganize, plagiarize, or disparage local knowledge. Second, these attempts produce or exacerbate existing historically rooted tensions between farmers and state groundwater engineers. But in response, farmers often seek out non-state avenues of expertise, such as tubewell drilling firms. This results in the further hybridization of knowledge practices and also in the present-day marginalization of the state. Third, the relationship between farmers and the state is further strained because of a current lack of state visibility in the study area and also because the state continues to “see like a state”. These shifting meanings and power relations around groundwater and irrigation knowledges produce tensions that will undoubtedly negatively impact future groundwater governance strategies.     

Heavy metal pollution in freshly deposited sediments of the Yamuna River (the Ganges River tributary): a case study from Delhi and Agra urban centres, India

 The Yamuna River sediments, collected from Delhi and Agra urban centres, were analysed for concentration and distribution of nine heavy metals by means of atomic adsorption spectrometry. Total metal contents varied in the following ranges (in mg/kg): Cr (157–817), Mn (515–1015), Fe (28,700–45,300), Co(11.7–28.4), Ni (40–538), Cu (40–1204), Zn (107–1974), Pb (22–856) and Cd (0.50–114.8). The degree of metal enrichment was compared with the average shale concentration and shows exceptionally high values for Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in both urban centres. In the total heavy metal concentration, anthropogenic input contains 70% Cr, 74% Cu, 59% Zn, 46% Pb, 90% Cd in Delhi and 61% Cr, 23% Ni, 71% Cu, 72% Zn, 63% Pb, 94% Cd in Agra. A significant correlation was observed between increasing Cr, Ni, Zn, and Cu concentrations with increasing total sediment carbon and total sediment sulfur content. Based on the Müller's geoaccumulation index, the quality of the river sediments can be regarded as being moderately polluted to very highly polluted with Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in the Delhi and Agra urban centres. The present sediment analysis, therefore, plays an important role in environmental measures for the Yamuna River and the planning of these city centres. Received: 21 June 1999 · Accepted: 1 October 1999     

甘肃北山地区北部上石炭统火山岩LA-ICP-MS锆石U-Pb年龄及其构造意义

北山地区处于华北板块、塔里木板块和哈萨克斯坦板块的交会带,其晚古生代洋陆转化备受关注,但久有争议。该区晚古生代地层学研究不足,制约了对构造演化的深入讨论。通过LA-ICP-MS 锆石U-Pb测年获得北山北部黑鹰山地区原定为下石炭统白山组火山岩的年龄分别为308.6Ma±1.0Ma和299.1Ma±2.4Ma,时代为晚石炭世。研究区内白山组时代的修订可以为该区构造演化提供一定的依据。     

河北坝上地区中晚全新世粒度端元分析及其环境意义

河北坝上地区地处东亚夏季风边缘,对气候变化响应敏感,是研究古气候环境演变的理想地区之一。本研究采用粒度端元模型分析方法对坝上地区2 m厚的典型风成砂-古土壤剖面沉积物粒度数据进行分离,同时结合粒度、磁化率和色度指标,探讨剖面沉积物各粒度端元所指示的环境意义以及坝上地区中全新世以来的环境演化过程。结果表明：1）白云湖剖面粒度组分分为3个端元,EM1代表区域暖湿气候背景下的风化成壤作用,间接指示区域的湿度状况;EM2代表区域风沙活动强度;EM3可能反映区域河流对基岩风化产物的搬运作用。2）研究区中晚全新世气候变化大致可以分为5个阶段：7.1 ka B.P.以前,风沙活动和河流搬运作用较强,气候表现为冷干特征;7.1~3.8 ka B.P.风沙活动减弱,气候温暖湿润,区域成壤作用加强;3.8~2.6 ka B.P.期间,气候波动频繁,处于暖湿-冷干过渡阶段;2.6~1.5 ka B.P.风沙活动增强;1.5 ka B.P.以来,气候由冷干向相对暖湿转变,成壤作用稍有加强。

     

甘肃北山地区北部上石炭统火山岩LA—ICP—MS锆石U—Pb年龄及其构造意义

北山地区处于华北板块、塔里木板块和哈萨克斯坦板块的交会带,其晚古生代洋陆转化备受关注,但久有争议。该区晚古生代地层学研究不足,制约了对构造演化的深入讨论。通过LA—ICP—MS锆石U—Pb测年获得北山北部黑鹰山地区原定为下石炭统白山组火山岩的年龄分别为308．6Ma±1．0Ma和299．1Ma±2．4Ma,时代为晚石炭世。研究区内白山组时代的修订可以为该区构造演化提供一定的依据。