The “geo” of United States national strategy

The paper discusses the geo dimensions of the new world order, with particular emphasis on the increasing role of geoeconomics, and its impact on US national strategy. While the paper uses the US experience to illustrate the growing importance of geoeconomic considerations, the issues raised have direct bearing on many other nations throughout the world.US post Cold War strategy is determined by its three geo challenges. The most important is the geoeconomic challenge caused by the tri-polar division of the world along trading bloc lines, instant global communication and other technologies overcoming the constraints of physical geography, transnational corporations (TNCS) that are becoming supranational in character, and the emergence of a well educated global labor force. The geopolitical challenge is characterized by America's declining relative economic power and its traditional military allies having become economic competitors, while religious, ethnic, and regional tensions threaten its global interests. The third challenge is the military geography issue of effectively projecting power over distance, within the constraints of greatly reduced budgets and loss of overseas bases.     

Applicability of the theory of hollow inclusions for overcoring stress measurements in rock

Summary Whenever solid or hollow inclusions are used as instrumented probes in overcoring techniques, residual stresses remain in the overcored rock sample and in the probes. When using such devices for computing the in-situ stress field components from measured strains or displacements, it is common practice to assume that the overcoring diameter is infinite and that there is a perfect bonding between the rock and the probes. The validity of these assumptions depends on the magnitude of the residual stresses at the rock-probe contact as compared to the tensile and shear strengths of the rock-probe bond material. It also depends on the distribution of residual stresses in the overcored sample.In comparison to previous work, new expressions are proposed in this paper for the residual stresses associated with solid or hollow inclusion type stress probes in anisotropic ground. These expressions are presented in dimensionless form and are used to show that the distribution and magnitude of residual stresses depend on the isotropic-anisotropic rock character, the degree and type of rock anisotropy, the orientation of the rock anisotropy with respect to the hole in which the probes are located and the relative deformability of the rock with respect to the deformability of the material comprising the probes. The conditions that are required for neglecting the overcored sample diameter are also discussed. This is shown for rocks that can be described as isotropic, transversely isotropic and orthotropic materials.     

The geography of tourism in France: definition,scope and themes

Conclusions The substantial body of literature produced in the last two decades bears witness to the marked development of the geography of tourism in France over this period. This research has been strongly influenced by traditional geographic thought and is notable for the logic which underlies it. At the same time much remains to be done, with various avenues for future research being suggested in this paper. French geographers might also look increasingly outwards and to the work of others. By considering new and different methodologies, theories and fields of interest, the conceptual base of the subject might be enlarged and a more systematic approach developed. This need is keenly felt and this opening up is starting to occur, particularly through the exchange of ideas with foreign geographers at meetings of the national or international (IGU) commissions on the geography of tourism.     

A new method for sampling and analyzing volcanic sublimates — application to Merapi volcano, Java

A new method for the sampling of sublimates from high-temperature volcanic gases has been used at Merapi volcano, Java, in 1978. The sublimates were collected on the inner walls of silica tubes introduced into fumarolic vents. Volcanic gases were allowed to move freely through the tubes and as they cooled, a fraction of the volatile components condensed on the inner walls of the tubes along the temperature gradient. The sublimates were then analyzed by a combination of light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron microprobe and X-ray diffraction.Six successive zones of different compositions and mineralogical associations have been identified along the covered range of temperatures (900° to around 400°C). From the high to the low temperatures, these zones are composed of: (1) cristobalite, magnetite, hercynite; (2) molybdenite; (3) acmite; (4) halite, sylvite; (5) sphalerite, pyrite; and (6) galena. Equilibrium calculations show that these crystalline phases are stable for pS₂, pC₁, and pO₂, values typical of magma-buffered gases that have not been contaminated by atmospheric oxygen.The deposits observed in the tubes may be useful in aiding the understanding of the mechanisms acting during the cooling of the gaseous phase on its way to the surface and before its emission into the atmosphere.     

Ilmenite composition in the Tellnes Fe–Ti deposit,SW Norway: fractional crystallization,postcumulus evolution and ilmenite–zircon relation

Major and trace element XRF and in situ LA-ICP-MS analyses of ilmenite in the Tellnes ilmenite deposit, Rogaland Anorthosite Province, SW Norway, constrains a two stage fractional crystallization model of a ferrodioritic Fe-Ti-P rich melt. Stage 1 is characterized by ilmenite-plagioclase cumulates, partly stored in the lower part of the ore body (Lower Central Zone, LCZ), and stage 2 by ilmenite-plagioclase-orthopyroxene-olivine cumulates (Upper Central Zone, UCZ). The concentration of V and Cr in ilmenite, corrected for the trapped liquid effect, (1) defines the cotectic proportion of ilmenite to be 17.5 wt% during stage 1, and (2) implies an increase of D _V^Ilm during stage 2, most likely related to a shift in fO₂. The proportion of 17.5 wt% is lower than the modal proportion of ilmenite (ca. 50 wt%) in the ore body, implying accumulation of ilmenite and flotation of plagioclase. The fraction of residual liquid left after crystallization of Tellnes cumulates is estimated at 0.6 and the flotation of plagioclase at 26 wt% of the initial melt mass. The increasing content of intercumulus magnetite with stratigraphic height, from 0 to ca. 3 wt%, results from differentiation of the trapped liquid towards magnetite saturation. The MgO content of ilmenite (1.4–4.4 wt%) is much lower than the expected cumulus composition. It shows extensive postcumulus re-equilibration with trapped liquid and ferromagnesian silicates, correlated with distance to the host anorthosite. The Zr content of ilmenite, provided by in situ analyses, is low (<114 ppm) and uncorrelated with stratigraphy or Cr content. The data demonstrate that zircon coronas observed around ilmenite formed by subsolidus exsolution of ZrO₂ from ilmenite. The U-Pb zircon age of 920 ± 3 Ma probably records this exsolution process. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

An analytical solution to multi-component NAPL dissolution equations

This note presents a novel method for determining the changing composition of a multi-component NAPL body dissolving into moving groundwater, and the consequent changes in the aqueous phase solute concentrations in the surrounding pore water. A canonical system of coupled non-linear governing equations is derived which is suitable for representation of both pooled and residual configurations, and this is solved. Whereas previous authors have handled such problems numerically, it is shown that these governing equations succumb to analytical solution. By a suitable substitution, the equations become decoupled, and the problem collapses to a single first-order equation. The final result is expressed implicitly, with time as a function of the number of moles of the least soluble component, m₁. The number of moles of each other component is expressed explicitly in terms of m₁. It is shown that the time-m₁ relationship has a well behaved inverse. An example is given in which the analytic solution is verified against traditional finite difference analysis, and its computational efficiency is shown.     

Field‐based and spectral indicators for soil erosion mapping in semi‐arid mediterranean environments (Coastal Cordillera of central Chile)

The Coastal Cordillera of central Chile is naturally sensitive to soil erosion due to moderate to steep slopes, intense winter rains when the vegetation cover is scarce, and deeply weathered granitic rocks. In 1965, 60 per cent of its surface was moderately to very severely eroded. Today this process is still largely active, but no data are currently available to evaluate the real extent, distribution and severity of soil degradation on a regional scale. This information is vital to support efficient soil conservation plans. A multi‐scale approach was implemented to produce regional land degradation maps based on remote sensing technologies. Fieldwork has shown that the surface colour or ‘redness’ and the density of coarse fragments are pertinent erosion indicators to describe a typical sequence of soil degradation in the context of mediterranean soil developed on granitic materials and micaschists. Field radiometric experiments concluded that both factors influence the reflectance of natural surfaces and can be modelled using radiometric indices accessible from most satellites operating in the optical domain, i.e. redness index and brightness index. Finally the radiometric indices were successfully applied to SPOT images to produce land degradation maps. Only broad classes of erosion status were discriminated and the detection of the degradation processes was only possible when most of the fertile layer had already been removed. This technology provides decision‐making information required to develop regional soil conservation plans and to prioritize actions between catchment areas, especially in vast inter‐tropical regions where spatialized data are not always readily available. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The product spectra of gravity and barometric pressure in Europe

A total of 111 000 hourly values of gravity and barometric pressure from stations in Europe is analysed. The data consist of two sets of records from Brussels, an early set of 36 000 h length and a more recent set of 21 000 h length, a set of records from Bad Homburg of 24 000 h length, and a set of records from Strasbourg of 30 000 h length. All of the gravity measurements were made with similar superconducting instruments and the pressure data were recorded simultaneously at each superconducting gravimeter site. The four sets of records have different time bases, and to bring out common features and suppress individual station systematic errors, the product spectrum is introduced. Spectral density estimates are first computed for a common spectral window for each record, and the product spectrum is formed by multiplying individual spectral estimates across records. The cumulative distribution function is found for the product spectrum and confidence intervals are calculated from it by iteration. The product spectrum in gravity reveals a triplet of resonances in the subtidal band which are shown by an automated computer search to be uniquely associated with the translational modes of the solid inner core. The product spectrum in barometric pressure clearly reveals the first 10 solar heating tides in the atmosphere, but otherwise does not show common features with the gravity product spectrum. In particular, the triplet of resonances in the subtidal band of the gravity product spectrum do not show up in the product spectrum of barometric pressure, climinating the atmosphere as their source.