Loose threads: The translocal making of public space policy in Hanoi

This paper analyses the recent developments in public space policy in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. It has three aims. The first is to look at a potentially progressive urban policy in contrast to most work on ‘policies in motion’ that has primarily been concerned with neoliberal policies. The second is to put the process of public space policymaking in Hanoi in historical and cultural perspective. We therefore describe public space in Hanoi as historically constituted by different layers of meaning and physical urban patterns. The paper's third aim is to analyse the translocal connections involved in a policy that is still in the making, and therefore characterized by a series of ‘loose threads’. We show how different types of connections – policy mobility, topological relations and inter‐referencing – relate Hanoi to multiple locales elsewhere. The conclusion reflects on the ‘politics of reception’ showing how analysing a policy in the making develops a critical analysis of policies in motion.     

Sinkhole hazards along the eastern Dead Sea shoreline area, Jordan: a geological and geotechnical consideration

For the last four decades, the level of the Dead Sea has been subjected to continual variation which, among other important factors, has led to the occurrence of much subsidence and many sinkholes in the southern Dead Sea area. Sinkhole activities occurred repetitively and were observed in open farms, across roads, near dwellings and near an existing factory, thus causing a serious threat to the locals and farmers of the area and their properties. This paper presents the main results from detailed geological and geotechnical studies of this area. Aerial photo interpretation and borehole drilling aided these studies. Parallel geophysical investigations (vertical electrical sounding and seismic refraction) and hydrological and hydrogeological studies were made by others in the same area to also investigate this phenomenon. It was found that sinkholes are aligned to and follow old water channels and are concentrated parallel to the recent shoreline of the Dead Sea. The development of subsurface cavities is associated mainly with the variation in the level of the Dead Sea over the four past decades, the presence of regional salt intrusion under the surface of salt beds, the fluctuation of the water table and continuous dissolution and the active tectonism of the area. Moreover, this work showed that the area is still under active sinkhole hazards and other parts of the area will be inevitably affected by sinkholes in the future.No practical engineering solution to this problem is feasible. Received: 1 July 1999 / Accepted: 11 October 1999     

Depositional architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Karoo basin floor to shelf edge succession, Laingsburg depocentre, South Africa

The Laingsburg depocentre of the SW Karoo Basin, South Africa preserves a well-exposed 1200 m thick succession of upper Permian strata that record the early filling of a basin during an icehouse climate. Uniformly fine-grained sandstones were derived from far-field granitic sources, possibly in Patagonia, although the coeval staging and delivery systems are not preserved. Early condensed shallow marine deposits are overlain by distal basin plain siltstone-prone turbidites and volcanic ashes. An order of magnitude increase in siliciclastic input to the basin plain is represented by up to 270 m of siltstone with thin sandstone turbidites (Vischkuil Formation). The upper Vischkuil Formation comprises three depositional sequences, each bounded by a regionally developed zone of soft sediment deformation and associated 20-45 m thick debrite that represent the initiation of a major sand delivery system. The overlying 300 m thick sandy basin-floor fan system (Unit A) is divisible into three composite sequences arranged in a progradational-aggradational-retrogradational stacking pattern, followed by up to 40 m of basin-wide hemipelagic claystone. This claystone contains Interfan A/B, a distributive lobe system that lies 10 m beneath Unit B, a sandstone-dominated succession that averages 150 m thickness and is interpreted to represent a toe of slope channelized lobe system. Unit B and the A/B interfan together comprise 4 depositional sequences in a composite sequence with an overall basinward-stepping stacking pattern, overlain by 30 m of hemipelagic claystone. The overlying 400 m thick submarine slope succession (Fort Brown Formation) is characterized by 10-120 m thick sand-prone to heterolithic packages separated by 30-70 m thick claystone units. On the largest scale the slope stratigraphy is defined by two major cycles interpreted as composite sequence sets. The lower cycle comprises lithostratigraphic Units B/C, C and D while the upper cycle includes lithostratigraphic Units D/E, E and F. In each case a sandy basal composite sequence is represented by an intraslope lobe (Units B/C and D/E respectively). The second composite sequence in each cycle (Units C and E respectively) is characterized by slope channel-levee systems with distributive lobes 20-30 km down dip. The uppermost composite sequence in each cycle (Units D and F respectively) are characterised by deeply entrenched slope valley systems. Most composite sequences comprise three sequences separated by thin (<5 m thick) claystones. Architectural style is similar at individual sequence scale for comparable positions within each composite sequence set and each composite sequence. The main control on stratigraphic development is interpreted as late icehouse glacio-eustasy but along-strike changes associated with changing shelf edge delivery systems and variable bathymetry due to differential substrate compaction complicate the resultant stratigraphy.     

Digital Elevation Models of the Bottom in the Operational Oceanography System

Oceanology - A new area of oceanography, operational oceanography, involves a comprehensive assessment and forecast of the variability of the state of the marine environment. This requires...     

Crystal clots,amphibole fractionation and the evolution of calc-alkaline magmas

Petrographic and microprobe investigations of calc-alkaline (CA) rocks from the High Cascade Range (i.e., Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Jefferson, Crater Lake and Mt. Shasta) of western North America show that crystal clots represent primary igneous phase assemblages and are not products of amphibole reactions with melt. For each eruptive complex, crystal clots display diverse modal proportions even within a single eruptive unit. Nevertheless, in all cases the crystal-clot minerals are also represented in the rock as phenocrysts or microphenocrysts. Basalts contain clots of ol+plag+mgt, ol+mgt, cpx+ plag+mgt, cpx+mgt and plag+mgt; andesites, clots of cpx+mgt, opx+mgt, cpx+opx+plag+mgt, cpx+plag+mgt, opx+plag+mgt and plag±mgt; and dacites, clots of opx+mgt, cpx+opx+plag+ mgt, opx+plag+mgt, amph+plag+mgt±ilm, amph+mgt±ilm and plag±mgt. The bulk compositions of most of these clot assemblages could not have been derived from amphibole percursors. Although some amphiboles in dacitic rocks display a breakdown reaction of amph=plag+cpx+opx +mag, these mineral clusters, unlike those of clots, typically have a relict amphibole crystal outline and a fine-grained metamorphic texture. Plagioclase grains in the mineral clusters lack oscillatory zoning which is typical of crystal clot plagioclase grains. The euhedral to subhedral shapes of most clot minerals and the oscillatory zoning present in most clot plagioclase grains are not likely to have formed from the breakdown of amphibole. Crystal clots are also observed in Hawaiian and ocean floor basalts, although amphibole fractionation has not been proposed for those lavas. Magnetite fractionation may be the controlling process limiting iron enrichment in CA magmas rather than amphibole fractionation. Textural evidence indicates that magnetite is an early-forming phase in CA magmas. V, which is concentrated in magnetite, shows a strong decrease with increasing silica in many CA rocks, supporting a magnetite fractionation model.Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Contrib. No. 969     

Playa‐lake sedimentation and organic matter accumulation in an Andean piggyback basin: the recent record from the Cuenca de Pozuelos,North‐west Argentina

Expansive playa‐lake systems situated in high‐altitude piggyback basins are important and conspicuous components of both modern and ancient cordilleran orogenic systems. Extant playa lakes provide vital habitat for numerous endemic species, whereas sediments from these deposystems may record signals of climate change or develop natural resources over geological time. Laguna de los Pozuelos (North‐west Argentina) provides the opportunity for an actualistic sedimentological and geochemical assessment of a piggyback basin playa lake in an area of critical interest for understanding Quaternary palaeoclimate dynamics. Silty clays and diatom ooze are the dominant playa‐lake centre microfacies, with concentrations of total organic carbon and biogenic silica commonly exceeding 1·5 wt% in this sub‐environment. Elemental and stable isotopic analyses point to a mixed organic matter composition in the playa‐lake centre, with substantial contributions from algae and transported aquatic macrophytes. Bulk sediment and organic mass accumulation rates in the southern playa‐lake centre approach 0·22 g cm^?2 year^?1 and 2·89 mg cm^?2 year^?1, respectively, indicating moderately rapid deposition with negligible deflation over historic time. Playa margin facies contain higher percentages of fragmented biogenic carbonate (ostracods and charophytes) and inorganically precipitated aragonite crusts due to seasonal pumping and evaporation of ground water. Organic matter accumulation is limited along these heavily bioturbated wet and dry mud flats. Fluvial–lacustrine transitional environments, which are key waterbird habitats, are either silty terminal splay (northern axis) or sandy deltas (southern axis) containing highly oxidized and partially allochthonous organic matter. Modern analogue data from Laguna de los Pozuelos provide key insights for: (i) environmental reconstructions of ancient lake sequences; and (ii) improving facies models for piggyback basins.     

A statistical riverine litter propagation model.

A statistical riverine litter propagation (RLP) model based on importance sampling Monte Carlo (ISMC) simulation was developed in order to predict the frequency distribution of certain litter types in river reaches. The model was preliminarily calibrated for plastic sheeting by a pilot study conducted on the River Taff, Wales (UK). Litter movement was predominantly controlled by reach characteristics, such as vegetation overhang and water-course obstructions. These affects were modeled in the simulations, by utilizing geometric distributions of river reaches in the time domain. The proposed model satisfactorily simulated the dosing experiments performed at the River Taff. It was concluded from the preliminary calibrations that, the RLP model can be efficiently utilized to portray litter propagation at any arbitrarily selected river site, provided that the stream flows and reach characteristics are calibrated by representative probability distributions of similar sections. Therefore, the RLP model can be considered as a new statistical technique that can predict litter propagation in river sections.