Metropolization in China?

Not merely the rapid growth of the metropolitan cities in the Third World but the overconcentration of the political and administrative functions together with the economic, social and cultural activities within the metropolitan regions — in short: the primacy —should be considered as the essential component of the term metropolization.An accurate computation of the metropolitan population growth in China is difficult because of the frequent change of city area delimitations after 1953 in connection with the missing distinction between shiqu-, jiaoqu- and hsien-population in the statistics. Therefore a solid assessment of the Chinese policy to restrict the growth of the metropolitan cities seems to be impossible.Recent data reveal that there is still a strong primacy for the metropolitan cities together with a heavy concentration of this primacy in the historical core regions. The evaluation indicates that the efforts towards balanced regional development and reduction of the regional disparities could not be considered as successful so far.     

Petrology of the Northern East Greenland Tertiary Flood Basalts: Evidence from Hold with Hope and Wollaston Forland

Predominantly silica-oversaturated tholeiitic basalts spreadwidely across the northern East Greenland continental margin(73–76° N) at the onset of Tertiary magmatism. Thesehave been studied in two of the principal outcrop areas: Holdwith Hope and Wollaston Forland. In Hold with Hope very minoreruption of nephelinitic magma preceded the tholeiitic phase.The early tholeiites of northern East Greenland tend to be moresiliceous and aluminous and less iron and titanium rich thantheir more voluminous counterparts in the main East Greenlandprovince south of 70° N. Some, notably those of WollastonForland, approach ‘enriched MORB’ compositions.The early flood basalts (distinguished in the Hold with Hoperegion as the Lower Plateau Lava Series, LPLS) show limitedcompositional range. Such variation as is shown is attributedto low-pressure plagioclase—olivine—augite fractionation.Intrusion of quartz dolerite sills within and beneath the LPLSmay have constituted a separate but closely allied magmaticevent. The sills are slightly more enriched in incompatibleelements, have higher initial Sr isotopic ratios and show morepronounced Fe-enrichment trends. Conformably overlying the LPLS in the Hold with Hope area isa succession of incompatible element enriched basalts composingthe Upper Plateau Lava Series (UPLS). The more extremely enrichedlavas (anomalous UPLS) tend to define the base of the UPLS andrange from olivine tholeiites to analcime basanites. Togetherwith the more normal UPLS, these range from nearly aphyric tostrongly porphyritic varieties; the latter include highly magnesianoceanites and ankaramites. The normal UPLS ranges from picriticolivine tholeiites to quartz tholeiites. While orthopyroxenephenocrysts occur among the more differentiated basalts, pigeoniteappears wholly absent from the UPLS. Compositional variationamong the normal UPLS is ascribed to olivine + spinel fractionationjoined by clinopyroxene in compositions with less than 8 percent MgO. The UPLS basalts have incompatible element levelsand elemental ratios (e.g. Zr/Nb, Zr/Y, La/Y and Ti/V) thatdistinguish them from the earlier, more depleted tholeiites.Initial Sr isotope ratios vary widely, with high values indicativeof crustal interaction. A genetic model is proposed whereby the more depleted tholeiites,as exemplified by those of Wollaston Forland and the earliervolcanic products on Hold with Hope, arose from large-scalemelting of relatively infertile asthenosphere prior to the initiationof the Mohn's Ridge and continental separation, while the UPLSof the Hold with Hope region and isolated inland occurrencesof nephelinitic and basanitic magmatism were produced by meltingof K–Ti–P enriched facies of the heterogeneous mantlepresumed to have formed the lower part of the sub-Greenlandcontinental lithosphere. Basalts of the Vøring Plateauon the Norwegian continental shelf, may represent analoguesof the UPLS on the eastern Atlantic margins.     

Occurrence and distribution of sulfur in peat-forming environments of southern Florida

Cores and surface samples of peats from the Everglades—Mangrove region of Southern Florida were analyzed for total sulfur and pyritic sulfur. These values were compared with the petrographic-botanical components of the peats as determined from point-counts of oriented microtome sections. Pyrite occurs as individual euhedral crystals, loosely packed framboids, and lenses or crusts of minute crystals. Framboids and minute crystals are often associated with organic matter and sometimes with bacteria and fungi. Pyrite tends to selectively occur in void spaces in or between peat tissues. In samples containing very small amounts of pyrite, framboidal pyrite is the prevalent form.Marine to brackish peats contain the highest pyrite and total sulfur contents, with brackish peats generally containing more pyrite than marine peats. Pyrite tends to be lower in all peats within 30 cm of the surface, whether marine or brackish.Burial of freshwater peats beneath marine or brackish peats tends to increase the total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying peats. Burial beneath brackish-water, clay-rich deposits (such as splays) tends to increase total sulfur and pyritic sulfur in the underlying deposits more than burial beneath less clay-rich deposits.     

The Askervein Hill Project: Wind-tunnel simulations at three length scales

Wind-tunnel simulations of neutrally-stable atmospheric boundary-layer flow over an isolated, low hill (Askervein) have been carried out at three different length scales in two wind-tunnel facilities. The objectives of these simulations were to assess the reliability with which changes in mean wind and turbulence structure induced by the prototype hill on boundary-layer flow can be reproduced in the wind tunnel, and to determine the relative impact of certain modelling approaches (surface roughness, model scale, measurement techniques, etc.) on the quality of the simulations. The wind-tunnel results are compared with each other and with full-scale data and are shown in general to model the prototype flow very well. The effects of relaxing the criterion of aerodynamic roughness of the model surface were limited to certain regions in the lee of the hill and were linked to separation phenomena.