THE DEFINITION OF A HOWARDITE

Delaney et al. (1983) propose to redefine howardites as basaltic achondrites containing more than 10% of magnesian orthopyroxenite (diogenite) component. Since the 10% requirement is arbitrary and of no genetic significance this redefinition should be rejected and the earlier definition of Score et al. (1982) “Howardites are polymict pyroxene-plagioclase achondrites containing magnesian orthopyroxene” — in any amount — should be retained.     

SUBURBANIZATION IN THE CLEVELAND SMSA, 1950–1970

Suburban growth is a complex process attributable partly to decentralization and partly to deconcentration. Data on source of migrants and population density are used to operationalize these concepts in an empirical study of the Cleveland, Ohio SMSA for the period 1950 to 1970. Statistical analysis of census tract data for the suburban ring reveals a piling up of densities at the inner edge and suggests a complex pattern with respect to sources of the migrants contributing to suburban growth.     

TRENDS IN LATIN AMERICANIST GEOGRAPHY IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA

The question of what lies ahead is of particular concern for Latin Americanists. The last decade has witnessed a serious erosion of both the popularity of their specialty, and an equally troublesome reduction in employment opportunities. This paper uses Association of American Geographers (AAG) data bases to document the age-gender structure of contemporary Latin Americanist geographers, and projects likely compositional changes through the end of the century.     

Long-term growth of the oil industry in the United States

A number of growth models have been developed and used in an attempt to project the historical pattern of oil activities to some estimate of their upper limit. Techniques are outlined for the estimation of parameters of the logistic and Gompertz curves. Factor analysis indicated a close relationship between production and demand, whereas annual discoveries and discoveries classified by year of discovery tended to comprise unique factors which were indifferent to changes in time. The growth models projected relatively high values for ultimate demand and production in comparison to the figures for ultimate reserves. Inasmuch as these trends seemed to be occurring independently, some reconciliation of the results was necessary. Using the highest projections of estimates for reserves suggests that over 420 billion barrels of oil in place will eventually be discovered in the United States, with perhaps 200 billion barrels of this eventually to be proved in the form of reserves. Projections for production were higher, corresponding to a trend indicating high levels in demand for crude oil. The only credible long-term estimate of demand was given by a bounded exponential growth model, in which ultimate cumulative demand for crude oil would reach about 416 billion barrels. These figures imply that over 150 billion barrels of oil would be imported into the United States from 1970 to 2070. Provided the time pattern for one of the variables has been determined, then estimates of the other variables probably would be facilitated because of the high interrelationship between variables. Models are suggested in which accurate pivotal forecasting in the short term might be possible—assuming the particular future trend in some of the independent variables has been predetermined.Research Council of Alberta Contribution No. 596.     

Measurements of Flows Over Isolated Valleys

Wind-tunnel measurements of the flow over an isolated valley both normal and at an angle (45°) to a simulated neutrally stable atmospheric boundary layer are presented. Attention is concentrated on the nature of the flow within the valley itself. The work formed part of a wider study that included detailed field measurements around an African desert valley and some limited comparisons with that work are included. A scale of about 1:1000 was used for the laboratory work, in which an appropriate combination of hot wire and particle image velocimetry was employed. For a valley normal to the upwind flow, it is shown that the upstream influence of the valley extends to a distance of at least one half of the axial valley width upstream of the leading edge, whereas differences in mean flow and turbulence could be identified well beyond two valley widths from the downwind edge. Non-normal wind angles lead to significant along-valley flows within the valley and, even at two valley heights above the valley ridge level, there remains a significant spanwise flow component. Downwind turbulence levels are somewhat lower in this case, but are still considerably higher than in the undisturbed boundary layer. At both flow angles, there are significant recirculation regions within the valleys, starting from mean separation just beyond the leading edge, but the strong spanwise flow in the 45° case reduces the axial extent of the separated zone. The flow is shown to be in some ways analogous to flow over an isolated hill. Our results usefully enhance the field data and could be used to improve modelling of saltation processes in the field.