Enacting geographies

We conclude the editorial by glancing ahead to the individual papers. This overview seeks only to highlight motifs, themes, arcs and trajectories (since the papers will obviously exceed anything we might say about them).John Wylie's paper, An essay on ascending Glastonbury Tor, draws upon the work of Merleau Ponty and Heidegger to illustrate how the act of visualizing itself is always a making of seer and seen. The paper thus seeks to speak of a subjectivity produced and performed via practices of ascension and elevation, and, in doing so, to move towards a new understanding of visible landscape in terms of sensuous practices. Cataloguing his own ascent of Glastonbury Tor, Wylie seeks to enact the Tor for the reader, engendering its visibility, its cultural histories, and thus its sensuous reality through his narrative.Motifs of landscape and practice recur in Mitch Rose's paper, Landscape and Labyrinths, which seeks to sketch out a conceptual and methodological approach to cultural landscape beyond the structuralism of cultural geography, which, Rose argues, skewers landscape through stabilisations of meaning. An ontology of overdetermination and surplus, as elaborated by Althusser and Bataille, is offered by Rose as a possible means of becoming attentive to the excessiveness of landscape.Derek McCormack's A paper with an interest in rhythm moves from the false problematic of representing movement to become an exposition of movement within the folds of writing. In a virtuosic exploration of rhythm McCormack produces an animated space that moves, folds and achieves consistency via both non-subjectifying and subjectifying forces. Theoretical considerations are not side-stepped by this performance; rather, the particular rhythms of Deleuze, Guattari and Lefebvre are engaged and enfolded by the paper.Paul Harrison's paper The Caesura: Remarks on Wittgenstein's interruption of theory, or, why practices elude explanation, presents a precise and exacting philosophical exposition of the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Harrison uses the work of Wittgenstein to offer a diagnosis of idealism within much contemporary social analysis. Linking up with the special issue's concerns, Harrison suggests that it is the performative which occupies the space vacated by Idealism; a replacement of the Cartesian Ideals of certainty for 'infinitive', and distinctly geographic, understandings––taking -place, making -sense––which speak of the time of the present, not of all Time.     

Stepwise accumulation and ascent of magmas

One of the currently popular theories on magma ascent is that it mainly occurs by propagating hydrofractures (dykes) and that magma viscosity is the primary rate‐controlling factor. This theory is based on mathematical models for single hydrofractures under idealised conditions. We simulated magma ascent with air ascending through gelatine and observed that the air ascended in batches, following paths made by their predecessors. Multiple batches accumulate at obstacles along the path. Although magma viscosity may control ascent rate during movement, obstacles ultimately control the size and average ascent velocity of ascending batches. We propose that step‐wise movement of magma batches is the mechanism of primary accumulation and ascent from the partially molten source rock of a magma to its first emplacement site and therefore the main ascent mechanism for granitic magmas. ‘Classical’ dyking is the mechanism for secondary ascent from a magma chamber.     

Formation and upwelling of mantle diapirs through the cratonic lithosphere: Numerical thermomechanical modeling

This paper reports the results of the numerical modeling of gravitationally instable processes in the lithospheric mantle of ancient cratons. The gravitational instability is considered as a result of melting at the lithosphere base owing to its local heating by anomalous mantle. Modeling was based on a finite element method in 2D formulation and took into account the geological structure and thermomechanical parameters of the lithosphere of the Siberian platform. Numerical results revealed the main tendencies in the mantle diapirisim of the mafic and ultramafic magma ascending through the “cold” high-viscosity lithosphere. It was shown that the shape of diapiric magmatic bodies is controlled by realistic visco-elastic-plastic rheology of lithosphere. The ascent of diapir in lithosphere was modeled for diverse regimes differing in duration, temperature field, and upwelling depth. It was concluded that the ascent of melt through lithosphere to the crust-mantle boundary is mainly controlled by rheology, and conditions of oscillatory diapirism with recurrent magma replenishments were modeled. Modeling results may shed light on some features related to the trap magmatism of the Siberian igneous province. The duration and rate of magma upwelling as well as the parameters of periodical magma upwelling were estimated and attempt was made to explain the high-velocity seismic anomalies that were recorded in the subcrustal regions of the Siberian platform.     

A new hydrogeochemical and geotectonical interpretation of the Lake Nyos disaster in Cameroon

Conclusion The gas eruption in Lake Nyos allows solely a deep inorganic origin of the CO₂, and CO₂ ascent along intersecting ruptures to be considered. Enormous gas volumes can be liberated from ascension paths with voids in the deep sections of the Earth's crust rather than from the water-dissolved phase (a lake) on the Earth's surface. In this case, rupture activity rather than volcanic activity should be involved. Similarly to volcanic activity, other events are also associated with open ruptures in the Earth's crust. No interrelations exist between the single phenomena. One of them consists in the ascent of CO₂ with no relation to magma. Earthquakes, too, are associated with ruptures. Even a very slight tremor of the Earth's crust can contribute to the liberation of deepseated compressed CO₂. However, disturbing the equilibrium of the water-column pressure and the compressed gas can result in an eruption even with no external impetus, e. g. an earthquake.     

Ascent of migmatites of a high-temperature metamorphic complex due to buoyancy beneath a volcanic arc: a mid-Cretaceous example from the eastern margin of Eurasia

ABSTRACT

Mixtures of melt and residue in a high-T metamorphic complex have a lower density and viscosity than the surrounding host crust, and the mixtures should ascend due to buoyancy. The mixtures are recognized as migmatites in the high-T metamorphic complex. To confirm ascent of migmatites, we conducted numerical simulations of ascent of a model migmatite (buoyant viscous fluid). The numerical simulations show that the model migmatite could rise to shallow levels of a model crust so long as it is continuously produced at the bottom of the model crust. Otherwise it ceases to rise at depth due to loss of buoyancy by cooling. The numerical simulations also show that the model migmatite experiences vertical thinning during the ascent. The ascent mechanism proposed in this paper requires the continuous production of partially melted rocks at the base of the crust, which is provided by a continuous input of energy into the crust from the mantle. Given that high-T metamorphic complexes are associated with igneous activity beneath a volcanic arc, the igneous activity reflects the energy input into the lower crust from the mantle. A high-grade part (migmatites) of a high-T metamorphic complex in the Omuta district of northern Kyushu, southwest Japan, experienced thinning during ascent. Large amount of igneous rocks, such as plutonic and volcanic rocks, are also distributed in northern Kyushu. Zircon U–Pb ages of igneous rocks from northern Kyushu reveal that igneous activity continued from 115 to 93 Ma, and that peak igneous activity at 110–100 Ma was synchronous with the ascent of migmatites of the high-T metamorphic complex in northern Kyushu. Therefore, the numerical simulations may provide an appropriate model of the ascent of migmatites of the high-T metamorphic complex beneath a volcanic arc, at the eastern margin of Eurasia in the mid-Cretaceous.     

The diamond-bearing Kokchetav UHP massif in Northern Kazakhstan: exhumation structure

In the Kokchetav ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) massif in northern Kazakhstan, diamond-bearing UHP rocks occur exclusively in a western, rhomb-shaped domain, that differs from an eastern transpressional domain with coesite-bearing remnants indicating highest UHP conditions. Different mechanisms may have contributed to the early ascent of the UHP Kokchetav massif. The geometry and structure of the diamond-bearing domain are interpreted as a sheath-like fold, coeval with early stage melting. In contrast, the coesite-bearing domain has a sheet-like geometry. At mid-crustal level this early difference in the ascending UHP wedge is reflected in a western rhomb-horst and an eastern transpression structure, respectively. The latter extends to the east (Borovoye) where the uppermost sequences of the UHP massif were defined by others. Sheath folding is postulated as a suitable mechanism contributing to the early buoyancy-driven ascent of the subducted rocks, and explains the selective spatial distribution of diamond-and coesite-bearing sequences preserved in the wedge.     

Translocal assemblages: Space, power and social movements

In this paper, I deploy an analytic of ‘translocal assemblage’ as a means for conceptualising space and power in social movements. I offer a relational topology that is open to how actors within movements construct different spatial imaginaries and practices in their work. In using the prefix ‘translocal’, I am signifying three orientations. First, translocal assemblages are composites of place-based social movements which exchange ideas, knowledge, practices, materials and resources across sites. Second, assemblage is an attempt to emphasise that translocal social movements are more than just the connections between sites. Sites in translocal assemblages have more depth than the notion of ‘node’ or ‘point’ suggests – as connoted by network – in terms of their histories, the labour required to produce them, and their inevitable capacity to exceed the connections between other groups or places in the movement. Third, they are not simply a spatial category, output, or resultant formation, but signify doing, performance and events. I examine the potential of assemblage to offer an alternative account to that of the ‘network’, the predominant and often de facto concept used in discussions of the spatiality of social movements. I draw on examples from one particular translocal assemblage based in and beyond Mumbai which campaigns on housing within informal settlements: Slum/Shack Dwellers International.     

Monumental space and the uncanny

This paper takes up the attempt to theorize the relation between the subjectivity of the political actor and the ideological aura of the monumental site. It does this with reference to the spatial history of Strijdom Square in Pretoria, South Africa, a cultural precinct and monumental space which was the site of a series of brutal racist killings committed by the Square’s unrelated namesake, militant right-winger Barend Strydom. This troubling intersection of subjectivity, space and ideology represents something of an explanatory limit for spatio-discursive approaches, certainly in as much as they are ill-equipped to conceptualize the powerfully affective, bodily and fantasmatic qualities of monumental spaces. In contrast to such approaches I offer a psychoanalytically informed account which grapples with the individualized and imaginative identities of space, with space as itself a form of subjectivity. I do this so as understand the ideological aura of monuments as importantly linked to the ‘intersubjectivity’ of subject and personified space. I then turn to Freud’s notion of the uncanny as a theory able to explain a series of disturbing affects of monuments, such as those of ‘embodied absence’ and ‘disembodied presence’. These and similar affects of ‘ontological dissonance’ (such as unexplained instances of doubling or repetition) may function in an ideological manner, both so as to impose a ‘supernaturalism of power’, and to effect an uncanny form of interpellation.     

大别造山带核部典型燕山期花岗岩岩浆演化的p—T轨迹

本文根据相图和多种地质温压计确定了大别造山带核部典型花岗岩岩浆的源区,岩浆房和固结成岩阶段的温度和压力,并建立了区内岩浆演化的ｐ－Ｔ轨迹。该轨迹表明：（１）石鼓尖侵入岩浆上升能力最强,上升的最小距离为２５ｋｍ;（２）天堂寨侵入岩岩浆上升能力也较强,上升的最小距离为５ｋｍ,（３）九资河侵入岩的上升能力最弱,上升距离小于３ｋｍ。（４）石鼓尖和天堂寨岩体为异地侵入体,九资河岩体是一个原地－半原地花岗岩体     

A clinopyroxene–basalt geothermobarometry perspective of Columbia Plateau (NW-USA) Miocene magmatism

The origin of NW-USA Columbia River Basalt Group Miocene magmatism and its relation to tectonism has been widely debated and is still open to study. We investigated the pre-eruptive evolution of the magmas, to constrain pressures and temperatures of the ascending magmas, and plumbing conditions. We determined major element concentrations of 17–6 Ma tholeiites, and applied clinopyroxene – liquid geothermobarometry to calculate pre-eruptive pressures and temperatures. These ranged from 0 to 0.66 GPa and 1120 to 1222 °C, respectively, defining two age-related parallel trends in a P–T diagram. This indicates a consistent crustal evolution of the magmas, and records at least two distinct initial temperatures. Using clinopyroxene interdiffusion coefficients we estimated magma ascent speeds ≥ 0.6 km yr⁻¹. Possible geological explanations for the calculated parameters are: lower-crust magma chamber processes; magmatism and tectonism feed-back consistent with an extensional environment.     

透岩浆流体成矿作用——理论分析与野外证据

文中介绍并发展了科尔任斯基等有关透岩浆流体成矿作用的基本概念,结合当今地质学领域的一些基本事实,以及混沌边界成矿理论和小岩体成大矿的原因分析,力图完整地阐述透岩浆流体成矿理论,并从地球动力学的视角来讨论成矿作用的基本问题。大多数矿区的岩石遭受过强烈蚀变,暗示成矿作用伴随着大规模流体活动。然而,地质观察和实验研究表明岩浆中流体的含量有限、小岩体常常与大型矿床有关、围岩中的流体由于高温岩浆的热压力而不能进入岩浆体中,表明成矿流体主要来自深部的独立流体系统。前人的实验还表明,流体中成矿元素的溶解度随压力快速增加。因此,成矿作用的前提条件是:(1)存在大量的深部流体和流体中高的金属浓度;(2)岩浆系统和成矿流体系统是两个独立的地质系统,它们具有类似的起源;(3)巨量金属堆积有赖于深部含矿流体的快速上升,岩浆体是含矿流体上升的有利通道,流体是岩浆快速上升侵位的驱动力之一。因此,岩浆系统和成矿流体系统往往具有同时活动的特点,这两个地质系统常常叠合在一起,形成我们现在观察到的火成岩及与其密切相关的成矿现象。根据这个理论,成矿作用的规模和位置取决于:(1)岩浆系统与流体系统的体积比,(2)含矿流体的上升速度,(3)金属堆积的边界条件,(4)岩浆系统与流体系统分离的程度。因此,快速上升侵位的岩浆有利于形成斑岩型矿床,较慢速侵位的岩浆可以形成夕卡岩型甚至远程低温热液型矿床,多数情况下是这三类矿床的复杂组合。冈底斯带曲水岩体中含铜暗色微粒包体的野外观察有助于理解成矿物质的来源、迁移和集聚成矿,是透岩浆流体成矿作用的一个缩影。将暗色微粒包体展现的成矿现象与藏东玉龙等斑岩铜矿相比,发现二者具有很好的类比性。可见,透岩浆流体成矿作用理论是一种非常重要的成矿理论,可以解释许多内生成矿作用之谜。     

Orogeny, migmatites and leucogranites: A review

The type ofP-T-t path and availability of fluid (H₂O-rich metamorphic volatile phase or melt) are important variables in metamorphism. Collisional orogens are characterized by clockwiseP-T evolution, which means that in the core, where temperatures exceed the wet solidus for common crustal rocks, melt may be present throughout a significant portion of the evolution. Field observations of eroded orogens show that lower crust is migmatitic, and geophysical observations have been interpreted to suggest the presence of melt in active orogens. A consequence of these results is that orogenic collapse in mature orogens may be controlled by a partially-molten layer that decouples weak crust from subducting lithosphere, and such a weak layer may enable exhumation of deeply buried crust. Migmatites provide a record of melt segregation in partially molten crustal materials and syn-anatectic deformation under natural conditions. Grain boundary flow and intra-and inter-grain fracture flow are the principal grain scale melt flow mechanisms. Field observations of migmatites in ancient orogens show that leucosomes occur oriented in the metamorphic fabrics or are located in dilational sites. These observations are interpreted to suggest that melt segregation and extraction are syntectonic processes, and that melt migration pathways commonly relate to rock fabrics and structures. Thus, leucosomes in depleted migmatites record the remnant permeability network, but evolution of permeability networks and amplification of anomalies are poorly understood. Deformation of partially molten rocks is accommodated by melt-enhanced granular flow, and volumetric strain is accommodated by melt loss. Melt segregation and extraction may be cyclic or continuous, depending on the level of applied differential stress and rate of melt pressure buildup. During clockwiseP-T evolution, H₂O is transferred from protolith to melt as rocks cross dehydration melting reactions, and H₂O may be evolved above the solidus at lowP by crossing supra-solidus decompression-dehydration reactions if micas are still present in the depleted protolith. H₂O dissolved in melt is transported through the crust to be exsolved on crystallization. This recycled H₂O may promote wet melting at supra-solidus conditions and retrogression at subsolidus conditions. The common growth of ‘late’ muscovite over sillimanite in migmatite may be the result of this process, and influx of exogenous H₂O may not be necessary. However, in general, metasomatism in the evolution of the crust remains a contentious issue. Processes in the lower-most crust may be inferred from studies of xenolith suites brought to the surface in lavas. Based on geochemical data, we can use statistical methods and modeling to evaluate whether migmatites are sources or feeder zones for granites, or simply segregated melt that was stagnant in residue, and to compare xenoliths of inferred lower crust with exposed deep crust. Upper-crustal granites are a necessary complement to melt-depleted granulites common in the lower crust, but the role of mafic magma in crustal melting remains uncertain. Plutons occur at various depths above and below the brittle-to-viscous transition in the crust and have a variety of 3-D shapes that may vary systematically with depth. The switch from ascent to emplacement may be caused by amplification of instabilities within (permeability, magma flow rate) or surrounding (strength or state of stress) the ascent column, or by the ascending magma intersecting some discontinuity in the crust that enables horizontal magma emplacement followed by thickening during pluton inflation. Feedback relations between rates of pluton filling, magma ascent and melt extraction maintain compatibility among these processes.     

Nature–society and development: social, cultural and ecological change in Nepal

This paper presents a theoretical framework for analyzing human–environment issues that examines shifting, dialectical relationships between social and power relations, cultural beliefs and practices, and ecological processes to allow an interdisciplinary, complex assessment of social and environmental change in Nepal. The purpose of this analysis is to capture the complexity and non-static nature of environmental and social change in the context of uneven development. Drawing from political ecology and feminist geography, this framework brings together scholarship on aspects of human–environment issues that are often pursued in isolation, yet all three processes, social–political relations, cultural practices and ecological conditions, have been acknowledged as important in shaping the trajectory of social and ecological change. I argue that a consideration of the articulations between them is necessary to understand first, how specific land management regimes arise and are dominant over time in specific places. And second, I examine the extent to which these regimes distribute resources equitably within communities, promote economic development and sustain ecological resilience. In this analysis, ecological processes are conceptualised as co-productive of social and cultural processes to explore their role in land management regimes without resorting to environmental determinist or similarly reductive paradigms. I present this framework through the example of natural resource management, specifically community forestry in Nepal, as it offers a rich case study of the relationships between the political economy of land use and the ecological effects of natural resource extraction.     

Carbon dioxide in igneous petrogenesis: II. Fluid dynamics of mantle metasomatism

Petrographic, fluid inclusion, geochemical and isotopic evidence from xenoliths in alkali basalts suggests that low-viscosity fluids rich in O-H-C, dissolved silicates and especially the incompatible elements may ascend, decompress and precipitate crystalline phases and/or induce partial fusion in the upper mantle. Such mantle metasomatic fluids (MMF) may be important in generating isotopic heterogeneity and in transporting and focusing mantle heat. In order to model the movement of MMF, the ordinary differential equations governing the variation ofP, T, ascent velocity and fluid density of a compressible, viscous, single-phase (H₂O or CO₂) non-reacting fluid ascending through a vertical crack of constant width have been solved. A large number of numerical simulations were carried out in which the significant factors affecting flow behavior (thermodynamic and transport fluid properties, roughness and width of cracks, geothermal gradient, initial conditions, etc.) were systematically varied. The calculations show that: (1) MMF tends to move at uniform rates following a short period of rapid initial acceleration, (2) MMF ascends nearly isothermally, (3) MMF acts as an efficient heat transfer agent; numerical experiments show that transport of heat into regions undergoing metasomatism can lead to partial fusion. The heat transported by movement of MMF averaged over the age of the Earth is sufficient to generate about 0.1 km³ of basaltic magma per year, which is approximately equal to the production rate of alkaline magma. If an intense period of mantle degassing occured early in the history of the Earth, the transport of heat and mass (K, U, Rb, LREE) by migrating fluids might have been important.     

Summary of project TOR: delineation of a stepwise, sharp, deep lithosphere transition across Germany–Denmark–Sweden

Project Tor (Teleseismic Tomography across the Tornquist Zone in Germany–Denmark–Sweden) is now producing results. We are able to detect very significant deep lithosphere differences, and we can now discuss the sharpness laterally. In 1996–1997, our 120 seismographs constituted the largest seismic antenna ever in Europe. The Tor area was chosen along a well-studied crustal profile of an earlier project, and the inversion efforts are concentrated on the deep lithosphere and asthenosphere differences to depths around 300 km. The Tor investigation can be called two-and-a-half-dimensional, as it has a 900-km profile length with 100 km width plus a few seismographs off the profile. The Tor data have been subjected to P-wave travel time tomography, surface wave and receiver function analysis as well as anisotropy and scattering measurements. Through ray tracing in a compiled crustal model and subtraction of the modelled travel time anomalies, the influence of the lower lithosphere/asthenosphere on the seismic rays from distant earthquakes is being established. Travel time tomography results confirm very large lateral lithosphere differences of 4–6% in P-wave velocity. For several events of the large data base, it is demonstrated that the observed P-wave travel time anomalies of 1–2 s can be divided almost equally between known crustal effects and lower lithosphere/asthenosphere differences, which then must account for about 1 s of the travel time differences. The transition is interpreted to be sharp and steep in two places. It goes all the way through the lithosphere at the northern rim of the Tornquist Zone near the border between Sweden and Denmark, and here the lithosphere difference is large. A smaller lithosphere difference is found near the southern edge of the Ringkøbing-Fyn High just north of the border between Denmark and Germany. Also, this transition is sharp and steep, and goes all through the lithosphere. These two sharp transitions divide the Tor region into three different lithosphere structures distinguishable in P-wave travel time tomography, surface wave dispersion, P- and S-wave anisotropy, and partly in P-wave scattering.     

Entangled exchange: Reconceptualising the characterisation and practice of bodily commodification

Richard Titmuss’ classical 1970 study of blood donation has provided a powerful conceptual model for characterising transactions involving human bodily materials. This now paradigmatic model suggests that such transactions are typically organised in accordance with one or other of two dichotomous, and mutually exclusive, modes of exchange: gifting or commodification. In this paper I utilise findings from my own and others’ empirical research to illustrate the range of complex, multiply constituted, and contested modes of commodification that now typically attend the exchange of human body parts and tissues of which Titmuss’ model can take no effective account. Drawing on work by Radin, Callon, and Miller I illustrate the complex justificatory work that those involved must perform to fit their lived experiences of tissue exchange into this now outmoded paradigm. I then consider how the protagonists themselves ontologise their practices and with what effects. In the second part of the paper I consider how neo-liberal ideologies and instruments are being employed to suborn a variety of highly differentiated and geographically distinct practices of bodily commodification to the ‘logic of the market’. I explore here what the operative effects of defining the global circulation of body parts and tissues as a new ‘economy’ might be. I then consider how, if at all, a market logic could ‘Value’ all those ‘calculations of interest’ and ‘values’ that underpin exchanges of human body parts and tissues in specific national, communal or institutional settings. I conclude by reflecting on the desirability or possibility of performing normative assessments of the ethicacy of highly geographically and culturally differentiated practices of bodily commodification.     

Carbon dioxide in petrogenesis III: role of volatiles in the ascent of alkaline magma with special reference to xenolith-bearing mafic lavas

Kinetic and fluid dynamic constraints on deep-seated magma migration rates suggest ascent velocities in the range 10 to 30 m/s, 10^–1 to 10 m/s and 10^–2 to 5 m/s for kimberlitic, garnet peridotite-bearing and spinel peridotite-bearing alkalic magmas. These rates virtually demand translithospheric magma transport by a fracture as opposed to diapiric mechanism. The hypothesis that volatile exsolution accelerates magma through the deep lithosphere is tested by solution of the appropriate set of conservation, mass balance and volatile component solubility equations governing the steady ascent (decompression) of compressible, two-phase magma (melt+H₂O+CO₂) in which irreversible phenomena (friction, heat transfer) are accounted for. The results of the numerical experiments were designed to test the importance of melt bulk composition (kimberlite, nephelinite, alkali basalt), initial conditions (mass flux (M), heat transfer coefficient (B), lumped friction factor (C _f )), conduit width (D), initial magma volatile content and geothermal gradients. The fractional increase in ascent rate (u/u _i ) is rarely greater than approximately 2 during translithospheric migration. The propellant hypothesis is rejected as a first-order mechanism driving magma acceleration during ascent. The most influential parameters governing ascent dynamics are M, C _f , D, B and the geotherm. Because of the relatively incompressible nature of the magmatic volatile phase at P>100 MPa, the initial magma volatile content plays a secondary (although demonstrable) role. The main role of volatiles is in controlling the initial magma flux (M) and the magma pressure during ascent. In adiabatic (B=0) simulations, magma ascends nearly isothermally. Generally, however, the assumption of adiabaticity is a poor one especially for flow through narrow (0.5 to 2 m) conduits in old (cold) lithosphere at rates 10^–1 m/s. The proposed fluid dynamic model is consistent with and complementary to the magma-driven crack propagation models. The generation of mantle metasomatic fluid is a corollary of the non-adiabatic ascent of volatile-bearing magma through the lithosphere. Magma heat death is an important process for the creation of mantle heterogeneity.     

Cultural policy in Singapore: negotiating economic and socio-cultural agendas

In this paper, I examine the role of cultural policy in a newly industrialised economy, which is at the same time a state with a short history and only nascent beginnings in nation-building and efforts to construct a distinctive cultural identity. Using Singapore as the site of analyses, develop an understanding of the intersection between the economic and socio-cultural agendas behind cultural development policies. I illustrate the hegemony of the economic, supported by the ideology and language of pragmatism and globalisation. At the same time, I explore the reception of and attempts to negotiate (and at times, contest) state policies by “cultural practitioners” – artists, dancers, playwrights, actors, directors and so forth, illustrating the disjuncture between state policies and practitioners' ideals. This may be cast as a conflict between social and cultural development priorities as envisaged by the practitioners as opposed to economic development priorities as embodied in the state’s cultural economic policies.     

Spectral Observations of the Eruption of a Filament

Results of studies of motions in a filament during its slow ascent and eruption based on spectral observations obtained at the Sayan Solar Observatory are presented. SDO/HMI data on the longitudinal magnetic field and SDO/AIA images in the EUV are also considered. Short-period (∼5 min) vertical oscillations of the filament as a whole were detected during its ascent. An acceleration of the rise of the filament was accompanied by the rupture of an orthogonal loop above the filament, which was observed in 193 A EUV images obtained with SDO/AIA over a long time preceding the event. Two hours before the partial eruption of the filament, SDO/HMI data indicate an increase in the magnetic flux by 2 × 10¹⁹ Mx at the footpoints of the loop. The emission from the loop rupture piont propagated toward the east and west along a neutral line, and brightenings were observed at the boundaries of the filament channel. Emission loops were visible in all SDO/AIA channels, testifying to strong heating of the filament plasma. During the rapid phase of the eruption, the filament moved with an acceleration ∼21 m/s². Hα images show the filament splitting into fragments parallel to its axis during the eruption. The results of these studies of the eruption of the filament are in agreement with other results in the literature, and are supplemented by new observational facts. Vertical oscillations (∼5 min) of the filament as a whole are observed before the ascent phase. During the ascent phase, an interaction of the filament with a higher-lying coronal loop is observed.

     

Late quaternary paleogeography of Middle Europe and the Northcentral United States: A framework for comparative studies of prehistoric man-land relationships

The work summarized in this paper is an important component of a larger study concerned with the responses of prehistoric hunting-gathering cultures to long term environmental change. the general approach involves comparing cultural systems and their transformations in Middle Europe and the northcentral United States during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene transition from glacial to interglacial conditions. This paper is specifically aimed at identifying ecological factors that may help account for similarities and differences in the cultural successions on opposite sides of the Atlantic. We conclude that, despite broadly similar environmental histories in both regions, important differences are evident in, for example, trajectories of climatic amelioration. These, together with differences in human demography, can be seen to have contributed toward shaping divergent cultural adaptations in Europe and North America.