Late Quaternary vegetation changes around Lake Rutundu,Mount Kenya,East Africa: evidence from grass cuticles,pollen and stable carbon isotopes

Woody, subalpine shrubs and grasses currently surround Lake Rutundu, Mount Kenya. Multiple proxies, including carbon isotopes, pollen and grass cuticles, from a 755‐cm‐long core were used to reconstruct the vegetation over the past 38 300 calendar years. Stable carbon‐isotope ratios of total organic carbon and terrestrial biomarkers from the lake sediments imply that the proportion of terrestrial plants using the C₄ photosynthetic pathway was greater during the Late Pleistocene than in the Holocene. Pollen data show that grasses were a major constituent of the vegetation throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. The proportion of grass pollen relative to the pollen from other plants was greatest at the last glacial maximum (LGM). Grass cuticles confirm evidence that C₄ grass taxa were present at the LGM and that the majority followed the cold‐tolerant NADP‐MEC₄ subpathway. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ongonite from Ongon Khairkhan,Mongolia

Summary Albite-topaz kerotophyres, termed ongonites, were discovered byV. I. Kovalenko and coworkers at Ongon Khairkhan in Mongolia in 1970. The type area was revisited, described, resampled, the new data is compared with the earlier data and that from similar rocks elsewhere (Beauvoir and Cinovec granites; Macusani glass).Ongonites are fluorine-rich peraluminous sodic two feldspar granitoids with orthoclase and albite phenocrysts, high modal and normative albite content and the presence of topaz as common accessory mineral. They contain variable amounts of lithium micas or muscovite. Chemically, ongonite is similar to highly fractionated S-type or ilmenite series granitoids. In the type area, F-rich water-poor ongonite melts have intruded to a high crustal level.Ongonite displays a long history of subsolidus reactions and hydrothermal alteration. The hydrothermal alteration may be linked to a spatially associated quartz-wolframite stockwork not genetically related to ongonite. Ongonite has a low W content and an elevated Sn content despite a lack of association with Sn deposits.

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Ongonite von Ongon Khairkhan, Mongolei

Zusammenfassung Albit-Topas-Keratophyre, auch als Ongonite bezeichnet, wurden 1970 von V. E. Kowalenko und Mitarbeitern bei Ongon Khairkhan in der Mongolei entdeckt. Die TypLokalität wurde beschrieben und beprobt und die neuen Daten werden mit den früher erhaltenen, und denen von ähnlichen Gesteinen in anderen Bereichen (die Granite von Beauvoir und Cinovec, das Glas von Macusani) verglichen.Ongonite sind Fluor- und Aluminiumreiche (Peraluminous), zwei-Feldspat-Natriumgranitoide mit idiomorphen Orthoklasen und Albit, hohem modalem und normativem Albitgehalt, und Topas als verbreitetem Nebenmineral. Sie führen wechselnde Gehalte von Lithiumglimmern oder Muskovit. Chemisch sind Ongonite stark fraktionierten S-Typ Granitoiden vergleichbar oder auch Granitoiden der Ilmenit-Serie. Im Gebiet der Typlokalität sind fluorreiche wasserarme Ongonit-Schmelzen in ein hohes Krustenniveau intrudiert worden.Ongonite zeigen eine lange Geschichte von Subsolidusreaktionen und hydrothermaler Umwandlung. Die hydrothermale Umwandlung kann mit einem räumlich assoziiertem Quarz-Wolframit Stockwerk in Beziehung gesetzt werden, das genetisch nicht mit den Ongoniten zusammenhängt. Ongonit hat einen niedrigen Wolframgehalt und einen erhöhten Zinngehalt, obwohl keine Assoziation mit Zinnlagerstätten zu beobachten ist.

     

The responses of different ethnic groups in the Sudan to rural-urban migration

The ethnic identities of the various population groups in the Sudan are a product of their specific natural and social environments. The migration of these groups to the towns, especially to Greater Khartoum, involves a drastic change of cultural norms and values. However, the capability of change and the subsequent results are strongly conditioned by the specific background of each ethnic group and by the conditions in its area of origin. This is being proved by a comparative study on three ethnic groups in the Sudan: the Nuba, the Zaghawa and the Hadandawa.