Evaluation and legal assessment of certified seafood

This study presents a legal review of international treaties to derive sound definitions of overfishing. It examines seafood stocks that were certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or Friend of the Sea (FOS). Stock size and fishing pressure were compared with the internationally agreed reference points which both organizations have accepted. No suitable status information was found for 11% (MSC) to 53% (FOS) of the certified stocks. For the stocks with available status information, 19% (FOS) to 31% (MSC) had overfished stock sizes and were subject to ongoing overfishing. An analysis of legal implications of certification of overfished stocks suggests that a certifying body cannot be held liable for a violation of internationally agreed standards unless the domestic law of its home country so regulates. States may ban the import of fish products from overfished stocks, but only in very specific cases. Possible causes for the certification of overfished stocks are discussed and recommendations are given on how the certifiers could improve their performance. The study concludes that it is still reasonable to buy certified seafood, because the percentage of moderately exploited, healthy stocks is 3–4 times higher in certified than in non-certified seafood.     

The enhanced element enrichment in the supercritical states of granite–pegmatite systems

In this paper, we show that supercritical fluids have a greater significance in the generation of pegmatites, and for ore-forming processes related to granites than is usually assumed. We show that the supercritical melt or fluid is a silicate phase in which volatiles; principally H₂O are completely miscible in all proportions at magmatic temperatures and pressures. This phase evolves from felsic melts and changes into hydrothermal fluids, and its unique properties are particularly important in sequestering and concentrating low abundance elements, such as metals. In our past research, we have focused on processes observed at upper crustal levels, however extensive work by us and other researchers have demonstrated that supercritical melt/fluids should be abundant in melting zones at deep-crustal levels too. We propose that these fluids may provide a connecting link between lower and upper crustal magmas, and a highly efficient transport mechanism for usually melt incompatible elements. In this paper, we explore the unique features of this fluid which allow the partitioning of various elements and compounds, potentially up to extreme levels, and may explain various features both of mineralization and the magmas that produced them.

     

Hingganite-(Y) from a small aplite vein in granodiorite from Oppach,Lusatian Mts., E-Germany

Mineralogy and Petrology - Crystals of hingganite-(Y) occur co-trapped in quartz crystals from miarolitic cavities in an aplite vein in the Cadomian granodiorite from Oppach/Lusatian, Germany. We...     

Analysis of regional labour market dynamics: In search of indications for self-organised criticality

Self-Organised Criticality (SOC) is a concept developed over the last decade from dynamic systems analysis that aims to investigate the transition trajectories of evolutionary systems. The main emphasis in SOC is on the analysis of the impact of slow exogenous forces in combination with strong localised interactions between single elements or components of the systems concerned, with particular regard to the attainment of a critical state at the macro-level. Against this background, SOC serves to identify the critical conditions from the internal dynamics of the systems that lead to major and significant transformations of their behaviour. The present paper aims to offer insights and reflections originating from the SOC concept, as well as to explore its potential contribution to understanding the evolution of regional economic patterns, in particular the functioning of regional labour markets. In our study, the evolutionary dynamics of employment at a district level in West Germany as well as in the combined West and East German setting will be investigated, in order to detect the possible existence of a power law distribution of growth rates, which may be seen as an indication for SOC at the macro-economic level. In this context, SOC may help to explain the presence of large socio-economic regional fluctuations in a country, and, in general, the dynamics inherent to regional development.     

Stratigraphy and thermoluminescence dating of Late Glacial cover sand in Denmark

In western Jutland deposits with a texture and structure similar to Dutch cover sands have been found. Investigations have been carried out on the lithology and the lithostratigraphic sequences. Pollen analysis is used for biostratigraphic correlation, and ages have been obtained by the radiocarbon method as well as by thermoluminescence techniques using both quartz and eldspar. The five sites are presented separately and the data are integrated into a general stratigraphic outline of the Late Glacial cover-sand sequence in Jutland. During the latest part of the Upper Pleniglacial and the earliest Late Glacial, older cover-sand type was deposited. Locally this sediment was also deposited during the later parts of the Late Glacial. Younger cover-sand type was deposited primarily during the Early Dryas and Late Dryas, but some sand of this type was also laid down during the Allerød and the earliest Holocene. The palaeobotanical records are discontinuous, but plant growth was probably present throughout the Late Glacial; only during the Altered did the deposition of sand decrease long enough to allow a relatively stable vegetational development. The investigation shows that the sequence of events in Jutland is similar to the Dutch record.     

The Olton,Texas, H chondrite regolith breccia: Paired with Dimmitt

Abstract— The Olton ordinary chondrites (two stones found in 1948) are H group, solar wind-bearing regolith breccias. The proximity of the recovery site to the Dimmitt strewnfield, and the similarity in texture, composition, noble gas contents and isotopic ratios to Dimmitt indicate that Olton is paired with Dimmitt.     

Formation of extremely F-rich hydrous melt fractions and hydrothermal fluids during differentiation of highly evolved tin-granite magmas: a melt/fluid-inclusion study

Quartz crystals from topaz–zinnwaldite–albite granites from Zinnwald (Erzgebirge, Germany) contain, in addition to primary and secondary fluid inclusions (FIs), abundant crystalline silicate-melt inclusions (MIs) with diameters up to 200 m. These MIs represent various stages of evolution of a highly evolved melt system that finally gave rise to granite-related Sn–W mineralization. The combination of special experimental techniques with confocal laser Raman-microprobe spectroscopy and EMPA permits precise measurement of elevated contents of H₂O, F, and B in re-homogenized MIs. The contents of H₂O and F were observed to increase from 3 to 30 and 1.9 to 6.4 wt%, respectively, during magma differentiation. However, there is a second MI group, very rich in H₂O, with values up to 55 wt% H₂O and an F concentration of approximately 3 wt%. Ongoing enrichment of volatiles H₂O, F, B, and Cl and of Cs and Rb can be explained in terms of magma differentiation triggered by fractional crystallization and thus, is suggested to reflect elemental abundances in natural magmas, and not boundary-layer melts. Partitioning between melt and cogenetic fluids has further modified the magmatic concentrations of some elements, particularly Sn. The coexistence of two types of MIs with primary FIs indicates fluid saturation early in the history of magma crystallization, connected with a continuous sequestration of Sn, F, and B. The results of this study provide additional evidence for the extraordinary importance of the interplay of H₂O, F, and B in the enrichment of Sn during magma differentiation by decreasing the viscosity of and increasing the diffusivity in the melts as well as by the formation of various stable fluoride complexes in the melt and coexisting fluid.

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P-immobilisation and phosphatase activities in lake sediment following treatment with nitrate and iron

The influence of a further developed inlake restoration method on the P-immobilisation and microbial activities, especially under anoxic conditions was investigated. The impact of nitrate and iron dosing with a newly developed nitrate storage compound (Depox^®Fe) was tested in enclosures in the eutrophic dimictic Lake Dagowsee, Germany. Additions of 50 g m⁻² of NO₃⁻–N and 66 g m⁻² of Fe³⁺ ensured availability of nitrate at the sediment surface during a 2-months period.As a result the phosphate release from the anoxic sediments was completely suppressed even 1 year after the application. The hypolimnetic deoxygenation was unaffected by the Depox^®Fe addition. However, sulfur reduction and methanogenesis were inhibited and the phosphatase activity increased.     

Kinematics of the Inntal shear zone–sub-Tauern ramp fault system and the interpretation of the TRANSALP seismic section, Eastern Alps, Austria

A new interpretation of the Inntal–Tauern sector of the TRANSALP seismic section is presented. One of the most prominent contrasts in reflectivity in the TRANSALP seismic section is the contact between the Bajuvaric unit in the footwall and the overlying Tirolic unit and its basement across a moderately south-dipping interface. We trace this contact from the surface at the southern margin of the Inn valley to a depth of 5 km. There, the contact is deformed or cut by the Tauern Window northern margin. We define the contact between Bajuvaric and Tirolic units as Brixlegg thrust, which is older than Miocene Tauern window exhumation and has a Paleogene age. The sub-Tauern ramp connects with the Inntal fault system at the surface and roots below the Tauern window. Oblique thrust movements across this fault system in the Miocene caused exhumation of the hanging wall, where the fault has a ramp geometry, which is in the area of the TRANSALP cross section and west of it. East of the TRANSALP cross section, the fault system merges with Alpine basal thrust, which is a flat. No Miocene exhumation occurred above the flat.