Drought and famine in Ethiopia and Sudan: An ongoing tragedy

Published with permission from Drought Network News, Vol. 2(3), 1990.     

Sedimentary Basins in the Western White Nile, Sudan, as Indicated by a Gravity Survey

An academic geophysical research as a regional gravity survey was made during 1994 in the Western White Nile to infer the shallow crustal structures in the area. The result of the survey was compiled as a Bouguer anomaly map with a contour interval of 2 ×10-5m/s2. It is found that the negative residual anomalies are related to the Upper Cretaceous sediments (Nubian Sandstone Formation) filling all depressions in the Basement complex surface while the positive residual anomalies are attributed to the relatively shallow or outcropping Basement rocks and the steep gravity gradients are resulting from the sharp contacts between the sedimentary infill and the Basement rocks. To define the geological structures in the area, 9 profiles were studied. For each of the profiles, measured and computed Bouguer gravity anomalies, crustal density model, subsurface geology evaluation were performed. A G-model computer program was applied in the gravity modeling, which is based on the line-integral method of gravity computation. A geological/structural map was proposed showing inferred sedimentary basins, faulting troughs and uplifted Basement block and tectonic trends. The basins are believed to be fault-controlled which developed by extensional tectonics (pull-apart mechanism). As for the mechanism and cause of faulting, the area is considered as a part of the Central Sudan rift system which had been subjected to several tectonic events since Early Cambrian to Tertiary times which resulted in the formation of several fracture systems associated with block subsidence, rifting and basin formation.     

Uneven development in Swaziland: Tibiyo,sugar production and rural development strategy

The main focus of this paper is on the unevenness of development between agro-industry and peasant production in Swaziland. The discussion opens with a brief account of Swaziland's dependence on South Africa and outlines the major sectors of the country's economy. This is followed by an analysis of the involvement of the royal aristocracy in the economy through Tibiyo Takangwane. The increasing dependence on sugar in the export sector epitomizes uneven development in Swaziland and is discussed in the third part of the paper. Rural development on land areas occupied by the Swazi peasantry contrasts with the growth of Tibiyo and the export sector and is analysed in the final part of the paper. In the context of deepening crisis tendencies, the conclusion poses the question as to whether alternatives exist for the planners of development strategy.     

Discrete ultrahigh-pressure domains in the Western Gneiss Region, Norway: implications for formation and exhumation

New eclogite localities and new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages within the Western Gneiss Region of Norway define three discrete ultrahigh‐pressure (UHP) domains that are separated by distinctly lower pressure, eclogite facies rocks. The sizes of the UHP domains range from c. 2500 to 100 km²; if the UHP culminations are part of a continuous sheet at depth, the Western Gneiss Region UHP terrane has minimum dimensions of c. 165 × 50 × 5 km. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar mica and K‐feldspar ages show that this outcrop pattern is the result of gentle regional‐scale folding younger than 380 Ma, and possibly 335 Ma. The UHP and intervening high‐pressure (HP) domains are composed of eclogite‐bearing orthogneiss basement overlain by eclogite‐bearing allochthons. The allochthons are dominated by garnet amphibolite and pelitic schist with minor quartzite, carbonate, calc‐silicate, peridotite, and eclogite. Sm/Nd core and rim ages of 992 and 894 Ma from a 15‐cm garnet indicate local preservation of Precambrian metamorphism within the allochthons. Metapelites within the allochthons indicate near‐isothermal decompression following (U)HP metamorphism: they record upper amphibolite facies recrystallization at 12–17 kbar and c. 750 °C during exhumation from mantle depths, followed by a low‐pressure sillimanite + cordierite overprint at c. 5 kbar and c. 750 °C. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar hornblende ages of 402 Ma document that this decompression from eclogite‐facies conditions at 410–405 Ma to mid‐crustal depths occurred in a few million years. The short timescale and consistently high temperatures imply adiabatic exhumation of a UHP body with minimum dimensions of 20–30 km. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar muscovite ages of 397–380 Ma show that this extreme heat advection was followed by rapid cooling (c. 30 °C Myr^?1), perhaps because of continued tectonic unroofing.     

Eclogites and eclogites in the Western Gneiss Region, Norwegian Caledonides

The Western Gneiss Region (WGR) marks the outcrop of a composite terrane consisting of variably re-worked Proterozoic basement and parautochthonous or autochthonous cover units. The WGR exhibits a gross structural, petrographic and thermobarometric zonation from southeast to northwest, reflecting an increasing intensity of Scandian (late Palaeozoic) metamorphic and structural imprint. Scandian-aged eclogites have been widely (though for kinetic reasons not invariably) stabilised in metabasic rocks but have suffered varying degrees of retrogression during exhumation. In the region between the Jostedal mountains and Nordfjord, eclogites commonly have distinctively prograde-zoned garnets with amphibolite or epidote–amphibolite facies solid inclusion suites and lack any evidence for stability of coesite (high pressure [HP] eclogites). In the south of this area, in Sunnfjord, eclogites locally contain glaucophane as an inclusion or matrix phase. North of Nordfjord, eclogites mostly lack prograde zoning and evidence for coesite, either as relics or replacive polycrystalline quartz, is present in both eclogites (ultrahigh pressure [UHP] eclogites) and, rarely, gneisses. Coesite or polycrystalline quartz after coesite has now been found in eight new localities, including one close to a microdiamond-bearing gneiss. These new discoveries suggest that, by a conservative estimate, the UHP terrane in the WGR covers a coastal strip of about 5000 km² between outer Nordfjord and Moldefjord. A “mixed HP/UHP zone” containing both HP and UHP eclogites is confirmed by our observations, and is extended a further 40 km east along Nordfjord. Thermobarometry on phengite-bearing eclogites has been used to quantify the regional distribution of pressure (P) and temperature (T) across the WGR. Overall, a scenario emerges where P and T progressively increase from 500°C and 16 kbar in Sunnfjord to >800°C and 32 kbar in outer Moldefjord, respectively, in line with the distribution of eclogite petrographic features. Results are usually consistent with the silica polymorph present or inferred. The P–T conditions define a linear array in the P–T plane with a slope of roughly 5°C/km, with averages for petrographic groups lying along the trend according to their geographic distribution from SE to NW, hence defining a clear field gradient. This P–T gradient might be used to support the frequently postulated model for northwesterly subduction of the WGC as a coherent body. However, the WGC is clearly a composite edifice built from several tectonic units. Furthermore, the mixed HP/UHP zone seems to mark a step in the regional P gradient, indicating a possible tectonic break and tectonic juxtaposition of the HP and UHP units. Lack of other clear evidence for a tectonic break in the mixed zone dictates caution in this interpretation, and we cannot discount the possibility that the mixed zone is, at least, partly a result of kinetic factors operating near the HP–UHP transition. Overall, if the WGC has been subducted during the Scandian orogeny, it has retained its general down-slab pattern of P and T in spite of any disruption during exhumation. Garnetiferous peridotites derived from subcontinental lithospheric mantle may be restricted to the UHP terrane and appear to decorate basement-cover contacts in many cases. P–T conditions calculated from previously published data for both relict (Proterozoic lithospheric mantle?) porphyroclast assemblages and Scandian (subduction-related?) neoblastic assemblages do not define such a clear field gradient, but probably record a combination of their pre-orogenic P–T record with Scandian re-working during and after subduction entrainment. A crude linear array in the P–T plane defined by peridotite samples may be, in part, an artifact of errors in the geobarometric methods. A spatial association of mantle-derived peridotites with the UHP terrane and with basement-cover contacts is consistent with a hypothesis for entrainment of at least some of them as “foreign” fragments into a crustal UHP terrane during subduction of the Baltic continental margin to depths of >100 km, and encourages a more mobilistic view of the assembly of the WGC from its component lithotectonic elements.     

Planning regional development: Promoting small settlements in a trans-frontier situation

Under communism local authorities tended to be largely passive bystanders in a regional development process which emerged through the central planning process through the spatial allocations of investment by government ministries. Attention was given to physical planning, but comparatively little material entered the public domain on location policy and spatial priorities generally, apart from the objective of greater equality between regions and a commitment to backward areas generally. Now that much investment is down to private enterprise and government has become more decentralised and accountable, there is a need for concepts and strategies to coordinate public sector investment and provide guidelines for the evaluation of private development proposals. At the same time, there is an open competition for investment which requires communities to promote themselves in terms of their identity and development potential. This paper offers an overview by taking two countries - Hungary and Romania - where progress can be compared and where the focus can be placed on a common frontier which is diverting attention from conventional regional planning to cross-border cooperation. In both contexts however, attention is given to the ways in which planning can divert investment away from the main centres to the peripheral areas, including action to strengthen the role of small towns and also to improve cohesion among functionally-related groups of settlements and communes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The application of remote sensing and structural analysis in groundwater exploration in basement terrains, Darfur region, Western Sudan

Darfur region is one of the most vulnerable areas in Sudan that suffer from shortage in water supply. The objective of the current study is to utilize remote sensing techniques combined with the structural analysis to recognize the most potential fracture zones for groundwater occurrences in the hard rock terrains of Darfur region. The old ductile deformation features in Darfur region delineated from Landsat imageries are used for the structural analysis to determine and classify the fractures in the hard rock terrains of the region. Based on the structural analysis conducted in this study, Darfur region was divided into two domains—the western domain of the pre-Pan-African age that is affected by the two deformational phases (D1 and D2), and the eastern domain represented by the basement related to the Pan-African orogeny. The most potential fractures in the western domain are in the NW–SE and NE–SW trends that classified as extensional and release open fractures for the deformations D1 and D2. In the eastern domain, the main potential fractures for groundwater occurrence are in E–W and N–S directions that are classified as extensional and release open fractures of the deformation D3. From the results of the structural analysis, the main potential fracture systems in Darfur region trend are NW–SE, NE–SW, and E–W directions. The intersections of these fracture systems are the most promising targets for drilling, with consideration of the topography, the rates of recharge, and the underlying geology. The geophysical data and boreholes information in Zalingei and north of El Geneina areas in West Darfur confirm the results obtained from remote sensing data and structural analysis, in which the NW–SE, NE–SW, and E–W fractures trends are the most potential fractures in Darfur region.     

云南三江造山带近东西向构造特征及其研究意义

对地球物理位场进行处理分析的结果表明 ,在云南三江造山带近南—北向为主的构造框架背景中 ,存在有多处与之相互正交或斜交的近东—西向构造 ,这些近东西方向展布的构造呈现出隐伏或深部构造特点。在布格重力异常影像中表现为大波长、幅值低的深部构造带特征 ;地质上表现为一系列近东—西向出现的断裂、岩体和矿床的成带分布 ;遥感解译结果则表现出在三江造山带内有多条平行展布的浅埋深东西向隐伏构造带。本文结合地质、地球物理地震波速信息等资料 ,对该区近东西向构造特征及分布规律进行探讨后提出三江地区存在的近东西—向展布的近东西向构造可能是青藏高原主碰撞造山后 ,各块体物质向东南挤出的深部物质流变构造的反映 ,也可能是在三江造山带挤压碰撞及走滑拉张环境下的伸展构造或老构造的再活化。它的形成机制可能类似于青藏高原南部南—北向伸展构造 (裂谷 )。近东—西向构造的深入研究和成因再认识对于深入分析云南三江地区复杂的地质构造 ,区域地壳演化历史 ,特别对是重新认识区域成矿规律、指导找矿具有重要意义     

四川螺髻山旅游资源及其开发战略研究

四川古冰川遗迹发育螺髻山是川西南的重要风景名胜区。以螺髻山为中心，周边旅游资源综合性强、类型多、品位高、功能齐全。本文从旅游资源、区位、社会环境等方面，系统分析开发螺髻山的优势条件和制约因素，论述其开发价值和可行性，提出了开发发展战略构思。     

滇西梁河地区钾长花岗岩锆石LA-ICP-MS U-Pb定年及其地质意义

在详细区域地质调查的基础上,对滇西梁河地区具有代表性的两件钾长花岗岩样品中的锆石进行了阴极发光图像、微区原位LA-ICP-MS微量元素分析和U-Pb定年。结果表明,梁河地区钾长花岗岩锆石显示振荡环带的内部结构,指示其岩浆成因;两件样品的锆石具有较高的Th、U含量,稀土元素总量较高,轻稀土亏损、重稀土富集,明显的的Ce正异常和Eu负异常的稀土配分模式,说明其壳源岩浆锆石特征;两件样品的锆石206Pb/238U加权平均年龄分别是(60.7±0.6)Ma和(115.8±1.0)Ma,属古新世和早白垩世花岗岩。结合区域地质特征,腾冲地块在中生代晚期-新生代早期发生多期岩浆作用,揭示滇西三江地区特提斯演化的岩浆响应,为青藏高原东缘地区地质演化的动力过程提供约束。     

Reaching the limits: a geographic approach for understanding food insecurity and household hunger mitigation strategies in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, USA

Research on hunger and food security in the Global South and the Global North has often emphasized different factors and scales of analyses. Unlike newer monitoring systems in the Global South, which evolved substantially following critiques by Amartya Sen, US food security research has rarely combined the two dimensions of food availability and food access. Furthermore, this research has paid scant attention to household coping strategies. This study responds to this lacuna in US hunger research by developing a spatial model for predicting risk to food insecurity based on proxy measures for access (three demographic variables) and availability (grocery store density). The study then employs qualitative methodologies (surveys and semi-structured interviews) to understand household coping strategies in two ethnically distinct areas in Minneapolis-Saint Paul at risk to food insecurity. One neighborhood is dominated by Southeast Asian and East African immigrants and the other by African-Americans. This approach should allow for better targeting of food aid and programs that help alleviate food insecurity.     

First approximation sea-level dependent mathematical model for volume eroded and submarine profile development in a semienclosed sea: Kiel Bay,Western Baltic

Given a marine basin of near homogeneous lithology, a known sea level curve, and known submarine abrasion rates, a model is developed to estimate the volume of material eroded by marine action. Assumptions of the model are that erosion is effected solely by submarine abrasion, which is assumed known and uniform through time, and that the volume eroded is small relative to the total volume of the basin. The basis of the model is that the volume eroded V, between time limits t₁ andt ₂,is essentially a function of the perimeter length l of the basin, which in turn is time-dependent on the sea level curve, so that $$V = k\int_{t1}^{t2} {l(t)dt} $$ where k is an abrasion rate constant. The model was tested on Kiel Bay, Western Baltic, a shallow semienclosed, essentially nontidal sea, for which considerable data is available. Critical for numerical integration of the model is the k value, representing the volume eroded from the shore normal profile per unit length of shoreline per year. A number of possible k values were utilized, the most likely realizing a total volume eroded over the past 9000 y, since the sea first entered Kiel Bay, of 2.60×10⁹ m ³. From this model, long-term average vertical submarine abrasion rates for Kiel Bay can be deduced as being between 0.001 and 0.0004 m/y. An extension to the model analyzes the effect of sea level transgression rate on whether cliffs develop and predicts the theoretical form of the submarine profile based on varying abrasion rates summarized as $$y_B (x) = \left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {h({x \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {x {V_c }}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {V_c }}) - a_T (x) for x > 0;} \\ {x\tan \theta - a_T (x) for x > 0.} \\ \end{array} } \right.$$ Here the origin x=0, y_B=0 is chosen horizontally at the position where cliff formation first occurs, and vertically at the sea level at that time. The coordinate x measures distance inshore from the origin, y_B(x) is the vertical position of the sea floor, a_T(x) is the total depth abraded, tanθ is the original land surface slope, V_c the rate of cliff retreat, and h(t) the sea-level at time t. The synthetic profiles are compared to actual erosional profiles from representative sectors of Kiel Bay. The model predicts cliff development began at about 5800 yB.P., resulting in submarine abrasion profile lengths of about 1740 m and cliff heights of about 17.4 m for original land surface slopes of 0.01. This agrees to within about 10% of mean values obtained from bathymetric and topographic maps.     

On Stratigraphy and Flora of Cretaceous Deposits in the Chulym-Yenisei Region,Western Siberia

The stratigraphic positions and substantiation of ages of the Serta, Chulym, Antibes, and Sym paleofloras are considered. It is shown that these paleofloras most likely did not replace each other during the evolution, but rather existed simultaneously on the geological time scale. The Kiya, Simonovo, and Sym formations do not have distinct stratigraphic boundaries, expressed mapping features, or reliable paleontological evidence for age substantiation. They should be considered as a united stratigraphic unit.     

Resource development and environmental stress: Environmental impact assessment and beyond in Australia and Canada

Australia and Canada are comparable in many respects, and their responses to environmental stresses arising from the development of resources are instructive. Australia's legislative adoption of environmental impact assessment (EIA) is both recent and incomplete. The more comprehensive Canadian experience with the technique suggests that EIA has many shortcomings as an environmental management tool. Moves to go beyond EIA in Australia, towards integrated, regional environmental planning and management, are compared with similar but more advanced developments in Canada. Canada also has a significantly greater commitment to public participation in environmental decision making than Australia. Public pressures are important determinants of the extent of commitment to environmental protection in the two countries.     

Low elevation of the northern Lhasa terrane in the Eocene: Implications for relief development in south Tibet

The uplift history of Tibet is crucial for understanding the geodynamic and palaeoclimatologic evolution of Asia; however, the pattern of plateau uplift through space and time remains unresolved. We use stable isotope data from palaeosol carbonates to reconstruct the Eocene (~46 Ma) elevation of the Tangra Yum Co region (northern Lhasa terrane). The difference between the oxygen isotopic compositions of the studied palaeosols and Eocene surface water near the source of the Indian monsoon indicates a palaeoelevation of 2590 (+730/?910) m for Tangra Yum Co (present altitude: ~4600 m). A similar palaeoaltitude is obtained by comparing our data with modern soils and taking past environmental changes into account. Combining our results with published palaeoelevation estimates for Tibet suggests significant relief (~2 km) during the Eocene, when a low‐lying basin in the northern Lhasa terrane was bounded by the Qiangtang and Gangdese mountain belts to the north and south respectively.     

Resistance and response: Ethnocide and genocide in the Nuba Mountains,Sudan

The Nuba claim that they are the indigenous inhabitants of the Nuba Mountains of the Sudan. Indigenous peoples here refers to pre-existence, non-dominance, cultural difference and self-identification as indigenous. As such the Nuba are politically and economically marginalized and suffered persecution and dominance under external and internal colonialism. Human rights abuses, including genocide and ethnocide (or cultural genocide) have persisted and the Nuba are increasingly under pressure to give up their traditional way of life, and lose access to their lands and other natural resources for immigrant Baggara and Jellaba ethnic groups are supported by the state. This paper traces the origins of Nuba abuse and oppression, and delineates their uneasy and turbulent relationship with the Sudanese state.     

Diffusion versus recrystallization processes in Rb-Sr geochronology: Isotopic relics in eclogite facies rocks, Western Gneiss Region, Norway

Rb-Sr and U-Pb isotopic data for granulite facies rocks, forming textural relics with respect to eclogite facies metamorphism in the Western Gneiss Region (WGR) of Norway, highlight the importance of textures and mineral reaction kinetics for the interpretation of geochronological data. Studied rocks from Bårdsholmen, southern WGR, were subjected to granulite facies metamorphism at 955 ± 3 Ma (U-Pb, zircon). Later on, they experienced a subduction-related, kinetically stranded eclogitization (T > 650 °C at ∼20 kbar) at 404 ± 2 Ma (Rb-Sr multimineral internal isochron data), followed by exhumation through amphibolite facies conditions. Full conversion of granulite to eclogite was restricted to zones of fluid infiltration and deformation. Despite the fact that metamorphic temperatures vastly exceeded the commonly assumed ‘closure temperature’ for Rb-Sr in submillimeter-sized biotite for several Ma during eclogite facies overprint, Sr-isotopic signatures of relic biotite have not been fully reset. Large biotite crystals nearly record their Sveconorwegian (Grenvillian) crystallization age. Sr signatures of other granulite facies phases (feldspar, pyroxenes, amphibole) remained unchanged, with the exception of apatite. The results imply that isotopic signatures much closer correspond to the P, T conditions of formation recorded by a dated phase and its paragenesis, than to a temperature history. In texturally well-equilibrated high-grade rocks which experienced no mineral reactions and remained devoid of free fluids during exhumation, like granulites or eclogites, isotopic resetting during cooling is either kinetically locked, or restricted to sluggish intermineral diffusion which demonstrably does not lead to full isotopic homogenization. In texturally unequilibrated rocks, textural relics are likely to represent isotopic relics. It is shown that for both high-grade rocks and for rocks with textural disequilibria, geologically meaningful isotopic ages based on isochron methods can only be derived from sub-assemblages in isotopic equilibrium, which have to be defined by analysis of all rock-forming minerals. Conventional two-point ‘mica ages’ for such rocks are a priori geochronologically uninterpretable, and valid multimineral isochron ages a priori do not record cooling but instead date recrystallization-inducing processes like fluid-rock interaction.     

西准噶尔谢米斯台地区双峰式火山岩的发现及其地质意义

西准噶尔谢米斯台地区是研究准噶尔洋盆构造演化的关键地区,新发现的双峰式火山岩为开展研究提供了直接的载体,对其物质组成特征、岩石地球化学特征和锆石U Pb年代学等进行研究,判别成因机制和大地构造环境,对恢复造山带大地构造格局有着重要的意义。本次研究获得如下认识：该套双峰式火山岩为碱性玄武岩-钙碱性流纹岩组合,流纹岩LA ICP MS锆石U Pb年龄(4318±23) Ma;玄武岩来源于俯冲流体交代的地幔部分熔融,流纹岩来源于地壳物质的部分熔融;双峰式火山岩形成于早志留世弧后盆地初始演化阶段;结合前人的研究成果,认为西准噶尔谢米斯台地区在早古生代存在完整的沟-弧-盆体系。