The problems of the Italo-Croato-Slovene border delimitation in the Northern Adriatic

The Adriatic Sea, and its northern part in particular, is a highly illustrative example of the changing political geography of the sea. In the 1990's the changing political map was influenced by the break-up of Yugoslavia. As a consequence two successor states, Croatia and Slovenia, started delimitation of their common and new international border. In spite of the fact that a joint boundary commission managed to resolve disputes along almost the entire length of the land border, there are several disputed points remaining as well as unresolved issues of maritime delimitation. The authors analysed the existing claims of the two countries and suggested a possible solution. Regardless of existing problems, there are favourable conditions to develop intensive cross-border cooperation.     

Substitutes for water are being found in the Middle East and North Africa

Evident mismatches exist between the demand and supply of water in many countries particularly in the semi-arid and arid worlds. The resulting food gaps which concern both the national governments of these countries as well as the international agencies which extend assistance to them, appear at first sight to pose challenges beyond the economic and political capacity of peoples and institutions to make the necessary adjustments. The institutions with responsibility for the allocation and planning of water use at international, national and local levels do not seem to be robust enough, or informed enough, to provide the necessary leadership to ensure that scarce water is used sustainably.It will be argued that despite the great difficulties which governments and users face in coping with the need to manage water so that it brings a sound return, as well as according to principles of equity, safety, and ecological sustainability, everywhere there are examples of conflict over water being avoided. And while the avoidance of conflict can in many cases be calculated to have been at a cost to the environment, nevertheless, to date conflict of a hot nature has been avoided. Case studies from a region seen to have the worst water resource future outside the industrialised world, the Middle East and North Africa, will be discussed which exemplify the numerous strategies adopted by countries in their various ecological, economic and political circumstances. A fortunate few governments have substituted oil capital for water while others have filled the food gap, which is generally an expression of the water gap, by ceding economic and political autonomy.     

Changes and patterns of origin regions of international tourism

The dramatic political and economic changes in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East during the early 1990s have had a dramatic impact on international tourism. Between 1974 and 1990 there have been significant shifts in international tourist originations. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the changing patterns and to compare the two time periods. A key component of the study is the construction of a Population-Adjusted Travel Index which assesses the capability of a country to generate tourists relative to population characteristics. Findings indicate that Europe is still the leader in trips generated, even though the proportion from this region is declining over time. Asian countries exhibited the most marked improvement due primarily to the tremendous economic expansion taking place on the Pacific Rim. In contrast countries of the Middle East have declined in importance relative to international tourism. This is due to political and economic instability in the region.     

Contested terrains: Cities and hinterlands in post-apartheid boundary delimitations

In South Africa attempts are being made to address the socio-spatial distortions of the apartheid era through a more equitable distribution of resources, and the re-drawing of municipal geographical boundaries. However, boundaries are not neutral geographic lines. Boundary changes are often associated with a redistribution of political power and resources. The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the contemporary territorial and administrative restructuring on urban dynamics in South Africa. More specifically, the focus is on how the process of territorial restructuring impacted on metropolitan areas as well as on secondary cities and their hinterlands. Examining and elucidating the manner in which various social, economic and political forces have manifested themselves in the process of boundary delimitation in a major metropolitan centre as well as adjacent rural areas is a central theme of this paper. There were considerable contestations over the delimitation of new local government boundaries. Affluent metro authorities like that in Durban were opposed to the spatial extension of their boundaries because of the costs of the providing services and infrastructure in the deprived margins. Similarly, there was concern that incorporation of rural areas will result in increased municipal service charges being imposed on these communities. Tensions were heightened between urban and rural regions because traditional leaders believed that their territorial jurisdiction and authority were being undermined. In other parts of the country, the merger of traditionally white and black fragments of secondary cities often resulted in many black locations continuing to be marginalized. There appears to be neither the political will nor the economic capacity to upgrade these zones of marginalized urban communities. While the Municipal Demarcation Board was largely successful in eliminating the political geography of apartheid at a macro- scale, this paper suggests that the greater challenge for government and policy makers is to reduce the socio-spatial and economic inequalities which appears to be still very high and perhaps increasing. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The upper Bathonian ammonite zonation of East Siberia

Modifications to the upper Bathonian zonal scale for northern East Siberia provided by the newly available paleontological record on Middle Jurassic reference sections in the Arctic regions of Yakutia and by the revised earlier collections, are justified. The oldest East Siberian members of Cadoceras are found to be characteristic not of the initial Callovian age as believed by Russian paleontologists, but of the terminal Bathonian age as was previously shown in the biostratigraphic scheme of East Greenland. The succession of zones and index species analogous to that of the latter is revealed in the studied region and the zonal boundaries in Siberia and East Greenland are inferred to be synchronous. Finds of Cadoceras calyx in the upper Bathonian scale permitted, for the first time, the recognition of a corresponding zone. The Bathonian-Callovian boundary is placed between the calyx and anabarense zones. The upper Bathonian zonal scale of northern East Siberia is now in total agreement with the East Greenland zonal scale.     

Science and Technology of Delimitation of Continental Shelf and Its Application in Maritime Silk Road Cooperation*

Delimitation of the continental shelf is an emerging interdisciplinary discipline in the field of international marine science and technology. It uses the scientific and technological means to expand the jurisdiction of coastal states based on the international rules of the 《United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea》. Therefore, it is related to the marine sovereignty rights and interests of a country and also a hot topic of science and technology that all countries have competed to develop. China has launched the research in this field simultaneously with the world's maritime powers, and formed its innovative advantages in such aspects as geological models, detection techniques and delimitation systems in the delimitation of continental shelf, which have become the brand new ties for China's cooperation with foreign countries in marine science and technology, and also the important field in the maritime silk road cooperation in the 21^st century. This paper introduced the basic principles and methods in the delimitation of continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (370 km), progress in the delimitation of the global continental shelf, and China's innovative science and technology as well as its application in maritime Silk Road cooperation, and provided the prospect of the future scientific and technological cooperation with foreign countries and development in this filed. And it was suggested China should develop the scientific and technological cooperation on the delimitation of the continental shelf along the Silk Road, promote the scientific and technological development of the delimitation of the continental shelf in China, and enhance China's influence and voice in international ocean affairs.     

The Upper Adriatic borderland: From conflict to harmony

The paper presents an overview of the Upper Adriatic as a contact area between different cultural, social, economic and political entities, producing potential conflicts in the last century. The first part of the 20th century represented a classic example of geopolitical conflict through two World Wars and their related Peace Conferences that deeply impacted the region. Conflicts arising from the mid-century solution of the Trieste question transformed the Upper Adriatic into a laboratory of contemporary political geographic transformation. Changing geopolitical patterns have also modified the political, social and ethnic construction of the Upper Adriatic. The process of creating new international boundaries in the region ended in 1991 with the independence of Slovenia and Croatia. Through these geopolitical transformations in the Upper Adriatic, new political geographic attitudes evolved. Early on, Ratzel's geopolitical principles of defining borders as power barometers between neighbors dominated. More recently, attitudes have reflected modern integrative ideas with a focus on looking for harmony and the elimination of international conflicts. Greater attention has thus been given to the political geography of `everyday life', inter-ethnic relations, and cross-border contacts. Hence, `new' borderlands of the Upper Adriatic are more receptive to integration because they seek to overcome conflicts caused by the division of traditionally homogeneous spaces as local level political and ideological hindrances disappear. The region divided among Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia is becoming a new and special type of European borderland in the new century.     

Facing the new world order: Middle East geopolitics and Palestinian peace strategies

The purpose of this paper is to examine the future geopolitics of the Middle East against the backdrop of the Gulf War crisis and its aftermath. Special attention was given to the case of Palestinians and their search for peaceful solution to their territorial conflict with Israel. It is suggested that in an era of a new world order most Middle Eastern governments will give priority to their domestic problems, gearing toward power sharing at home and evolving a certain degree of liberalizations as an attempt to be accommodated within a worldwide sphere of social, economic and political reconciliation. Having overcome the post-Gulf political isolation, the Palestinians are now in a better position to make their claim for self-determination recognized. Ultimately, the fulfilment of such claim is desirable for achieving lasting peace and regional stability. This paper also proposes concrete suggestions for future Palestinian territorial behaviour addressed mainly to the Palestinian government to be considered while they are engaging in peaceful negotiations with Israel.     

Shared spaces — separate spaces: the Israel-Palestine peace process

The Israel-Palestine peace process has been implemented in a series of stages, beginning with limited Palestinian autonomy in part of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, followed by the territorial expansion of the self government region to include all major Palestinian population centers. The current peace process is no more than a transition stage on the way to Palestinian statehood. Final round negotiations will have to deal with difficult issues of boundary demarcation. This will necessitate transforming the geographically discontinuos map of the Oslo II agreement into separate and compact political territories. While shared Israeli-Palestinian spaces would indicate a real move towards peace, continued mistrust and suspicion of each partner for the other is dictating the creation of separate spaces — for both peoples and territories. This is yet another example of the continued significance of territorial boundaries as part of the conflict resolution process in areas of ethno-territorial disputes.     

Early Permian to Middle Jurassic rifting and sedimentation in East Africa and Madagascar

Pre-drift sediments of Madagascar (Early Permian-Middle Jurassic) have been studied palynologically. These studies resulted in a more precise dating of individual stratigraphic units and the recognition of minor and major breaks in the succession. Palynostratigraphic and physical evidence of unconformities have been used to subdivide the pre-drift sediments into depositional cycles and to infer rifting events. A comparison with equivalent strata of Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia shows a general correspondence and provides additional information for the construction of a generalized framework for the East African/Madagascan region which demonstrates the relationships between rifting and sedimentation and elucidates the prehistory of the break-up of Gondwana into a western and eastern fragment during the Middle Jurassic. The predrift succession of East Africa/Madagascar can be subdivided into two major sequences, a Karoo sequence (cycles 1–5, Asselian-early Smithian) and a transitional sequence (cycles 6–9, Ladinian-early Bajocian). The two sequences are separeted by a late Scythian to Anisian hiatus which indicates extensive uplift and erosion before a major rifting event initiated the resumption of sedimentation in the Ladinian. This Middle Triassic event marks the transition from the intracratonic rift stage to the pericratonic basin stage and correlates with a significant event in the Pangaean history, the transition from final coalescence to initial dispersal. The onset of the southward drift of Madagascar is believed to have occurred about 60 Ma later near the Aalenian-Bajocian boundary, contemporaneous with or immediately after the deposition of syntectonic sediments of cycle 9.     

Subdivision and Correlation of Middle and Upper Cambria in North China in Light of Sequence Stratigraphy

TheMiddleandUpper~aninNorthCabhasbeenextenSiVelystudiedfor~yearSinbiostratigraphy(LuandDong,1953;Xiangatal.,1981;An,1982;Met,1993a,1993b).Ho~,thelithOStratigraphictntSwereunfortunatelydefinedbytrilobitezonesotherthanlithologitalcriteria,owingtothecomplicatedChangeSandt~itioninlithofades.CbnseqUentiy,thebio--,litho~andchronostrstigraphictntS~confuSed,asPOintedOuttosomeextentbyLuetal.(1994).Nevertheless,thezoningfossilsoftrilobiteSoCCUrredatthehorizonsSeparatedfromeachotherinseveralt…     

上新世中期中国气候的数值模拟分析

使用中国科学院大气物理研究所的全球大气环流模式,曾就上新世中期(距今约3百万年前)气候进行过数值模拟试验,在已有针对全球气候进行分析的工作基础上,集中研究了该地质时期我国气候的变化特征。数值试验结果表明,除了青藏高原地区由于地形海拔高度变化而引起的局地冷却现象以外,上新世中期我国约100°E以东地区地表气温上升4～8℃,升温中心位于江淮流域下游地区; 该经度线以西地区地表气温升幅相对要弱一些,在1～4℃之间。上新世中期年均降水在我国东部地区显著减少,平均减幅在0.5mm/天以上,特别是在长江中游地区; 新疆北部、青海和西藏大部年均降水略有增加,而新疆中部和南部年均降水略有减少。在对流层低层,上新世中期东亚冬季风系统减弱,夏季风系统总体上略有减弱; 在对流层中层,冬季东亚大槽显著减弱,夏季中高纬度地区500hPa位势高度升高。在以上结果中,上新世中期我国气候相对于现在偏暖、东亚冬季风强度减弱得到了代用资料的支持。     

Ordovician Macquarie Arc and turbidite fan relationships,Lachlan Orogen,southeastern Australia: stratigraphic and tectonic problems

Ordovician rocks of the Lachlan Orogen consist of two major associations, mafic to intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks (Macquarie Arc), which aerially comprise several north–south-trending belts, and the quartz-rich turbidite succession. Relationships between these associations are integral to resolving their tectonic settings and opinions range between contacts being major thrusts, combinations of various types of faults, and stratigraphic contacts with structural complications. Stratigraphic contacts between these associations are found with volcaniclastic-dominant units overlying quartz-turbidite units along the eastern boundary of the eastern volcanic belt and along the southern boundary of the central volcanic belt. Mixing between these major associations is limited and reflects waning quartzose turbidite deposition along a gently sloping sea floor not penetrating steeper volcaniclastic aprons that were developing around the growing volcanic centres formed during late Middle Ordovician to early Silurian Macquarie Arc igneous activity. An island arc setting has been most widely supported for the Macquarie Arc, but the identification and polarity of the associated subduction zone remain a contentious issue particularly for the Early Ordovician phase of igneous activity. The Macquarie Arc initiated within a Cambrian backarc formed by sea-floor spreading behind a boninitic island arc and presumably reflects a renewed response to regional convergence as subduction ceased along the Ross–Delamerian convergent boundary at the East Gondwana continental margin. An extensional episode accompanied initiation of the late Middle Ordovician expansion in island arc development. A SSE-dipping subduction zone is considered to have formed the Macquarie Arc and underwent anticlockwise rotation about an Euler pole at the western termination of the island arc. This resulted in widespread deformation west of the Macquarie Arc in the Benambran Orogeny and development of subduction along the eastern margin of the orogenic belt.     

Croatia in the continental traffic network of Europe

Croatia is located on the southeastern edge of Central Europe (Ruppert 1995), between the navigable Danube River and the Adriatic Sea, so that participates not only in continental traffic, but in the maritime and river traffic of Europe as well.Although the transit position of Croatia is very favorable, transportation itself has unfortunately not been developed in accordance with these advantages. This is a result of the social-economic, especially political, development of the region in the course of its history. Unfortunately, politics also influences the selection of transit routes in this part of Europe today. With the break-up of socialist states, particularly the former Yugoslavia, new states have appeared which are seeking their place in the European traffic network. Because of the momentarily uncertain political circumstances, the construction of some transit routes in Croatia have not been foreseen in international developmental plans for continental transit, despite the fact that they would be logically expected given the advantages of their position.     

中国奥陶系和下志留统下部年代地层单位的划分

十多年来全球和我国奥陶系和下志留统下部年代地层研究取得很大进展 ,在前人所积累的大量成果和资料的基础上 ,结合近年来的研究 ,厘定了我国奥陶系和下志留统下部年代地层单位系统 ,建议分别以吉林浑江大阳岔 (或江西武宁或湖北宜昌黄花场 )、湖北宜昌黄花场、浙江常山黄泥塘、新疆柯坪大湾沟和湖北远安苟家垭剖面为界线层型 ,将中国奥陶系自下而上划分为 :新厂阶 (或特马豆克阶 )、道保湾阶、大湾阶、达瑞维尔阶、艾家山阶和钱塘江阶。为了客观反应我国奥陶系的特点 ,同时便于与全球年代地层单位界线对比 ,建议将上述各个阶底界的的界线依次划在 R.taojiangensis( =R.praeparabola) / H .simplex、 O.communis、 B.triangularis/ T.laevis、 U.austrodentatus、 N .gracilis和 N ankinolithus带的底部 ;中下奥陶统和中上奥陶统之间的界线分别定在道保湾阶 /大湾阶和达瑞维尔阶 /艾家山阶之间。建议下志留统最下部两个年代地层单位——龙马溪阶和大中坝阶——以湖北宜昌王家湾剖面为界线层型 ,分别以 A.ascensus和 D .triangulatus的首现为划分标志。对每一个阶的命名、含义、界线层型剖面的岩性特征、界线划分的生物标志、与全球相关年代地层单位层型和点 ( GSSP)的对比 ,以及与过去曾经建议或使用过?     

东秦岭-大别造山带北侧中新生代差异构造变形

受多期非均衡造山作用以及多构造体制的叠加,东秦岭-大别造山带北侧中新生代发生差异构造变形.基于区域构造动力学机制,将中新生代构造变形分为4个期次:印支期(T2-T3)、早燕山期(J1)、中燕山期(J2-K1)和晚燕山-早喜马拉雅期(K2-E).通过野外地质剖面和地震剖面的构造解析,认为印支期-中燕山期主体变形方式为逆冲...     

Bridges and bottlenecks: Andrei Sher’s role in the development of international collaboration in Beringian science

Andrei Sher played a leading role in the development of international cooperation and exchange of ideas in Beringian science. The Cold War created great tensions between the USSR and the NATO countries, as the Bering Strait region became one of the front lines of potential military conflict. However, through the persistent efforts of such people as Andrei Sher in Russia and David Hopkins in the USA, scientists were able to overcome political obstacles to attend international Beringian conferences, visit each other’s militarized zones to do fieldwork, and collaborate on joint projects.     

Brussels, a truncated metropolis

This paper describes and analyses the geographical development and the governmental, budget and administrative structure of Brussels. It defines the place Brussels occupies among the cities of Europe and assesses the value of its Regional Development Plan. Brussels appears to be highly successful in international inter-city competition, but it also appears to be unable to develop a strategy for dealing with the problems of the divided city it has become in the late-20th century. Key factors in explaining this paradox are a discrepancy between the political delimitation of the Brussels Capital Region (a member state of the federal state of Belgium) and the geographical urban region, and the administrative fragmentation of the Brussels Capital Region. These factors are strongly related to the reform of the Belgian state and the forces behind this reform. In the absence of a strategy based on solidarity within the metropolitan community, one has to fear for the development towards a repressive city. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Water-Borne Erosion Estimation Using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) Model Over a Semiarid Watershed: Case Study of Meskiana Catchment,Algerian-Tunisian Border

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Soil erosion is one of the major environmental problems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Favoured by the harmful effects of climate...     

新疆北部前寒武系划分和对比

库鲁克塔格是新疆北部前寒武系分布较广,地层层序相对完整的地区.作者以库鲁克塔格为地层模型区,以同位素第龄为格架,初步确定了本区群级地层单元的界线及归属.在岩石地层、生物地层、化学地层等各种方法相互印证的基础上,建立并完善了前寒武纪的地层层序.