The Excess of Modernity: Garbage Politics in Oaxaca,Mexico

In the last several decades, garbage strikes have taken place around the world. In this article, I examine the case of garbage strikes in Oaxaca, Mexico, a rapidly growing city. Here, garbage, which is normally considered a hazard, is revealed also to be an effective political tool for people demanding “rights to the city.” Processes of modernization that have produced an expectation of cleanliness in modern cities have, at the same time, relied on production and consumption patterns that create more and more garbage. It is this inherent contradiction that provides a space for marginalized people to use garbage as a political tool.     

Base surge in recent volcanic eruptions

A base surge, first identified at the Bikini thermonuclear undersea explosion, is a ring-shaped basal cloud that sweeps outward as a density flow from the base of a vertical explosion column. Base surges are also common in shallow underground test explosions and are formed by expanding gases which first vent vertically and then with continued expansion rush over the crater lip (represented by a large solitary wave in an underwater explosion), tear ejecta from it, and feed a gas-charged density flow, which is the surge cloud. This horizontally moving cloud commonly has an initial velocity of more than 50 meters per second and can carry clastic material many kilometers. Base surges are a common feature of many recent shallow, submarine and phreatic volcanic eruptions. They transport ash, mud, lapilli, and blocks with great velocity and commonly sandblast and knock down trees and houses, coat the blast side with mud, and deposit ejecta at distances beyond the limits of throw-out trajectories. Close to the eruption center, the base surge can erode radial channels and deposit material with dune-type bedding.     

Talc friction in the temperature range 25°–400 °C: Relevance for Fault-Zone Weakening

Talc is one of the weakest minerals that is associated with fault zones. Triaxial friction experiments conducted on water-saturated talc gouge at room temperature yield values of the coefficient of friction, μ (shear stress, τ/effective normal stress, σ′_N) in the range 0.16–0.23, and μ increases with increasing σ′_N. Talc gouge heated to temperatures of 100°–400 °C is consistently weaker than at room temperature, and μ < 0.1 at slow strain rates in some heated experiments. Talc also is characterized by inherently stable, velocity-strengthening behavior (strength increases with increasing shear rate) at all conditions tested. The low strength of talc is a consequence of its layered crystal structure and, in particular, its very weak interlayer bond. Its hydrophobic character may be responsible for the relatively small increase in μ with increasing σ′_N at room temperature compared to other sheet silicates.Talc has a temperature–pressure range of stability that extends from surficial to eclogite-facies conditions, making it of potential significance in a variety of faulting environments. Talc has been identified in exhumed subduction zone thrusts, in fault gouge collected from oceanic transform and detachment faults associated with rift systems, and recently in serpentinite from the central creeping section of the San Andreas fault. Typically, talc crystallized in the active fault zones as a result of the reaction of ultramafic rocks with silica-saturated hydrothermal fluids. This mode of formation of talc is a prime example of a fault-zone weakening process. Because of its velocity-strengthening behavior, talc may play a role in stabilizing slip at depth in subduction zones and in the creeping faults of central and northern California that are associated with ophiolitic rocks.     

Automatic solar image motion measurements

The solar seeing image motion has been monitored electronically and absolutely with a 25 cm telescope at three sites along the ridge at the southern end of the Magdalena Mountains west of Socorro, New Mexico. The uncorrelated component of the variations of the optical flux from two points at opposite limbs of the solar disk was continually monitored in 3 frequencies centred at 0.3, 3 and 30 Hz. The frequency band of maximum signal centred at 3 Hz showed the average absolute value of image motion to be somewhat less than 2 although wide variations from 20 to an extraordinarily quiet day of less than the measurement limit of 1/2 were observed. The observer estimates of combined blurring and image motion were well correlated with electronically measured image motion, but the observer estimates gave a larger value × 2 presumable because the electronic measurement gave only the uncorrelated motion of opposite limbs. Approximately 30% of the total solar time would allow spatial position measurements of solar features to a precision 2 and, from the visual estimates, blurring limited measurements to a precision 4.     

Vadose CO2 gas drives dissolution at water tables in eogenetic karst aquifers more than mixing dissolution

Most models of cave formation in limestone that remains near its depositional environment and has not been deeply buried (i.e. eogenetic limestone) invoke dissolution from mixing of waters that have different ionic strengths or have equilibrated with calcite at different _pCO₂ values. In eogenetic karst aquifers lacking saline water, mixing of vadose and phreatic waters is thought to form caves. We show here calcite dissolution in a cave in eogenetic limestone occurred due to increases in vadose CO₂ gas concentrations and subsequent dissolution of CO₂ into groundwater, not by mixing dissolution. We collected high‐resolution time series measurements (1 year) of specific conductivity (SpC), temperature, meteorological data, and synoptic water chemical composition from a water table cave in central Florida (Briar Cave). We found SpC, _pCO₂ and calcite undersaturation increased through late summer, when Briar Cave experienced little ventilation by outside air, and decreased through winter, when increased ventilation lowered cave CO_2(g) concentrations. We hypothesize dissolution occurred when water flowed from aquifer regions with low _pCO₂ into the cave, which had elevated _pCO₂. Elevated _pCO₂ would be promoted by fractures connecting the soil to the water table. Simple geochemical models demonstrate that changes in _pCO₂ of less than 1% along flow paths are an order of magnitude more efficient at dissolving limestone than mixing of vadose and phreatic water. We conclude that spatially or temporally variable vadose CO_2(g) concentrations are responsible for cave formation because mixing is too slow to generate observed cave sizes in the time available for formation. While this study emphasized dissolution, gas exchange between the atmosphere and karst aquifer vadose zones that is facilitated by conduits likely exerts important controls on other geochemical processes in limestone critical zones by transporting oxygen deep into vadose zones, creating redox boundaries that would not exist in the absence of caves. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The distribution of sulfur in lunar rocks and its relationship to carbon content

A summary of total sulfur abundances representative of the Apollo Missions is presented. Lunar crystalline rocks range from 0 to 3100μg S g⁻¹. Lunar soils range from 310 to 1300μg S g⁻¹. Rock mixing models evaluate the distribution of sulfur and define indigenous rock components and extralunar contributions of sulfur in lunar soils. Extralunar sulfur shows a positive correlation with a CC-1 like meteoritic component and solar wind derived total carbon content in the Apollo 16 and 17 lunar soils. Presented at the 25th International Geological Congress, Sydney, Australia, Section 15, Planetology. Contribution No. 105 from the Center for Meteorite Studies.     

Impact of pre-Columbian agriculture, climate change, and tectonic activity inferred from a 5,700-year paleolimnological record from Lake Nicaragua

Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America, is a promising site for paleolimnological study of past climate change, tectonic and volcanic activity, and pre-Columbian agriculture in the region. It is near the northern limit of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which brings the rainy season to the tropics, so effects of decreasing precipitation due to southern migration of the ITCZ through the Holocene should be observable. Because fault zones and an active volcano lie within the lake, the long-term impact of tectonic and volcanic activity can also be examined. Finally, the fertile volcanic soils near the lake may have encouraged early agriculture. We analyzed diatoms, biogenic silica (BSi), total organic carbon (TOC), water content, volcanic glass, and magnetic susceptibility in a sediment core from Lake Nicaragua with eleven accelerator mass spectroscopy radiocarbon dates, spanning ~5,700 years. Sediment accumulation rates decreased from the bottom to the top of the core, indicating a general drying trend through the Holocene. An increase in eutrophic diatom abundance suggests that pre-Columbian agriculture impacted the lake as early as ~5,400 cal yr BP. Above a horizon of coarser grains deposited sometime between ~5,200 and 1,600 cal yr BP, planktonic diatoms increased and remained dominant to the top of the core, indicating that water depth permanently increased. Although magnetic susceptibility peaked and water content dipped at the coarse horizon, volcanic glass fragments did not increase, suggesting that the coarse horizon and subsequent increase in water depth were caused by tectonic rather than by volcanic activity. Decreased accumulation rates of BSi and TOC indicate that water became clearer when depth increased.     

Hydrocarbon‐Rich Groundwater above Shale‐Gas Formations: A Karoo Basin Case Study

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have enhanced unconventional hydrocarbon recovery but raised environmental concerns related to water quality. Because most basins targeted for shale‐gas development in the USA have histories of both active and legacy petroleum extraction, confusion about the hydrogeological context of naturally occurring methane in shallow aquifers overlying shales remains. The Karoo Basin, located in South Africa, provides a near‐pristine setting to evaluate these processes, without a history of conventional or unconventional energy extraction. We conducted a comprehensive pre‐industrial evaluation of water quality and gas geochemistry in 22 groundwater samples across the Karoo Basin, including dissolved ions, water isotopes, hydrocarbon molecular and isotopic composition, and noble gases. Methane‐rich samples were associated with high‐salinity, NaCl‐type groundwater and elevated levels of ethane, ⁴He, and other noble gases produced by radioactive decay. This endmember displayed less negative δ¹³C‐CH₄ and evidence of mixing between thermogenic natural gases and hydrogenotrophic methane. Atmospheric noble gases in the methane‐rich samples record a history of fractionation during gas‐phase migration from source rocks to shallow aquifers. Conversely, methane‐poor samples have a paucity of ethane and ⁴He, near saturation levels of atmospheric noble gases, and more negative δ¹³C‐CH₄; methane in these samples is biogenic and produced by a mixture of hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic sources. These geochemical observations are consistent with other basins targeted for unconventional energy extraction in the USA and contribute to a growing data base of naturally occurring methane in shallow aquifers globally, which provide a framework for evaluating environmental concerns related to unconventional energy development (e.g., stray gas).