Mapping and spatial analysis of the soybean agricultural frontier in Mato Grosso, Brazil, using remote sensing data

The main pioneer frontier considered by geographers is the Amazonian pioneer frontier. The occupation of the Brazilian territory has been carried out through successive economic cycles. Currently, the expansion of soybean crops in Amazonia is considered as the last economic cycle involving new migrations to still unexplored areas. Mapping this frontier is necessary in order to better understand its drivers and think about efficient land use policies to struggle its progress. In this paper, we propose an innovative methodology for mapping the agricultural frontier in the Amazonian state of Mato Grosso (Brazil) using satellite data acquired during the 2000–2006 period. We assume that the frontier evolves through successive land-use stages such as wildlands, non-croplands, extensive croplands and intensive croplands areas. The transitions between two stages can then be monitored through land-use change analysis. A particular emphasis is given on three land-use transitions named “deforestation”, “economic” and “intensification sub-frontiers”. In order to adapt this model for the use of remote sensing data, we defined (1) a relevant spatial scale corresponding to an agrarian locality, (2) relevant indices to qualify the land-use types and (3) rules applied on land-use types to define the frontier’s location. Our results highlight the dynamic of the agricultural frontier towards northern areas. We identified four main agricultural regions with different levels of agricultural intensification. We finally discuss these results with respect to governmental policies and economics for a better understanding of the frontier’s dynamic.     

Structure of the Abercrombie beds south of Reids flat,new South Wales

The Late Ordovician Abercrombie Beds, south of Reids Flat, New South Wales, and adjacent to the Wyangala Batholith, show evidence of three successive fold episodes. First generation folds are tight to isoclinal, with fold axes ranging from vertical to horizontal and north‐trending, and steep axial‐plane slaty cleavage. Second generation folds are steeply plunging, tight to open with north‐striking axial planes. In pelitic rocks the axial plane structure is a crenulation cleavage which overprints the slaty cleavage. The first two fold episodes were accompanied by greenschist‐facies metamorphism. Granite emplacement occurred prior to the second fold episode. A third deformation was of relatively mild intensity and produced open, north‐trending folds with axial planes dipping moderately to the east, and crenulation cleavage as the axial plane structure in pelitic rocks. These latest folds are correlated with the latest folds in the Abercrombie Beds north of the Abercrombie River. The mapped area has no apparent macroscopic structure and may be considered as a single domain.     

Application of cathodoluminescence microscopy to recent and past biological materials: a decade of progress

Cathodoluminescence (CL) microscopy is a powerful technique for studying biominerals. New progress on CL observation of biological materials is discussed especially the Mn²⁺ incorporation in shells during life and the relationship with environmental and/or diagenetic parameters. The aragonite-calcite transformation temperature during heating is reviewed, for example, in order to trace the chemical alteration of archaeological fired shells. New data are presented for Mn²⁺ activated luminescence in crystalline vaterite.     

Review: Hydraulic head measurements—new technologies, classic pitfalls

The hydraulic head is one of the most important metrics in hydrogeology as it underlies the interpretation of groundwater flow, the quantification of aquifer properties and the calibration of flow models. Heads are determined based on water-level measurements in wells and piezometers. Despite the importance of hydraulic head data, standard textbooks used in groundwater curricula provide relatively little discussion of the appropriate measurement procedures. This paper presents a review of the literature dealing with the determination of hydraulic heads, and aims to provide quantitative guidance on the likely sources of error and when these can be expected to become important. The most common measurement procedures are discussed and the main sources of error are identified, i.e. those related to (1) the measurement instruments, (2) the conversion from pressure to heads, (3) time lag effects, and (4) observation well defects. It is argued that heads should be determined following well-defined guidelines, and that it should become standard practice in hydrogeology to provide quantitative estimates of the measurement error.     

Overcoming unreported violence using place-based ambulance data: The case for mapping hotspots based on health data for crime prevention initiatives

A key concern in crime analysis is the “hidden crime” problem. Crime events unaccounted for in police records limit the external validity of official statistics and, more importantly, hinder the ability of the police to manage crime and utilize their resources effectively. The problem is exacerbated in proactive initiatives aimed at curbing violence through hotspot policing, where inaccuracies and imprecision, or, worse, no data at all, diminish prevention efforts. Previous studies have sought to overcome the data problem by juxtaposing police records with ambulance data on assault callouts and have found profound disparities. Specifically, researchers matched “crime hotspots” with “ambulance hotspots” (rather than individual events) because patient confidentiality considerations have prevented health professionals from sharing subject-level data with the police. However, health services can safely share spatial data on wider areas that do not disclose personal information. We build on this line of inquiry by analyzing data from the Thames Valley, United Kingdom, and observing spatial hotspots of different sizes. The results demonstrate that while the police and ambulance services attend to the same communities and similar types of facilities, the police are “blinded” to the location of nearly 8 out of 10 assaults. The incongruency is shown even with severe assaults, but to a lesser extent. We then simulate the reduction in injuries if the police had access to health data at different spatial levels and show that even under the most conservative set of assumptions, such an approach can prevent between 113 and 116 violent injuries each year that might otherwise require hospitalization.     

Instability of a High Alpine Rock Ridge: the Lower Arête Des Cosmiques,Mont Blanc Massif,France

Rockfalls are dominant in the rock slopes and rock ridge morphodynamics in high mountain areas and endanger people who pass along or stay there, as well as infrastructure that host them (cable cars, refuges). Risks are probably greater now because of fast permafrost degradation and regression of surface ice, two consequences of the atmospheric warming of the last decades. These two commonly associated factors are involved in the instability of rock slopes by modifying the mechanical behaviour of often ice‐filled rock fractures and the mechanical constraints in the rock masses. This paper examines over 15 years the instability of the lower Arête des Cosmiques on the French side of the Mont Blanc massif. Its vulnerability is due to the presence of a high‐capacity refuge on its top (3613 m a.s.l.). In 1998, a part of the refuge was left without support when a collapse of 600 m³ occurred immediately below it. Since this date, reinforcement work has been carried out in this area, but the whole ridge has been affected by around 15 relatively shallow rockfalls. Through a multidisciplinary approach, this article assesses the role of the cryospheric factors in the triggering of these rockfalls.     

Climatic variations in MIS 11 recorded by stable isotopes and trace elements in a French tufa (La Celle,Seine Valley)

Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 palaeoclimate has so far been documented in marine and ice sheet isotopic records. However, excepting some lacustrine pollen records, very little is known about palaeoclimatic conditions in continental areas. This study uses geochemical records in calcareous tufa deposits from rivers as a basis for reconstructing temperate palaeoclimatic conditions. Tufa deposits are now proven to record high‐quality palaeoclimatic information in recent to Holocene deposits. Work on older interglacial tufas is just starting and in this paper we present the first comprehensive results from a MIS 11 tufa. The tufa comes from the Seine Valley (La Celle, northern France). Geochemical data in the tufa calcite are interpreted to record primarily air temperature (δ¹⁸O) and humidity (δ¹³C and Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca). The combined data identify a warm and wet climatic optimum followed by two temperature decreases associated with oscillations in humidity. These marked climatic variations recorded through the La Celle profile are strongly coherent with the palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from malacological data. The abrupt climatic and environmental events recorded could be related to short‐term degradation of vegetation cover in Europe, which is itself controlled by global palaeoclimatic events. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mauritius since the last glacial: environmental and climatic reconstruction of the last 38 000 years from Kanaka Crater

A 10 m long peat core from the Kanaka Crater (20° 25′ S, 57° 31′ E), located at 560 m elevation in Mauritius, was analyzed for microfossils. Eight radiocarbon ages show the pollen record reflects environmental and climatic change of the last ca. 38 cal ka BP. The record shows that the island was continuously covered by forest with Erica heath (Philippia) in the uplands. Cyperaceous reedswamp with Pandanus trees was abundant in the coastal lowlands as well as locally in the waterlogged crater. The record shows changes in climatic humidity (wet from 38.0 to 22.7 cal ka BP, drier from 22.7 to 10.6 cal ka BP, and wetter again from 10.6 cal ka BP to recent) as the main response to climate change. A high turnover in montane forest species is evidenced at 22.7 cal ka BP and at the start of the Holocene. The limited altitudinal ranges in the mountains of Mauritius (maximum altitude 828 m), and changing humidity being more important than changing temperature, suggests that in response to climate change a reassortment in taxonomic composition of montane forests might be equally important as displacement of forest types to new altitudinal intervals. We found weak impact of the latitudinal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and data suggest that the Indian Ocean Dipole is a more important driver for climatic change in the southwest Indian Ocean. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

To Move or not to Move: Community Members’ Reaction to Surface Mining Activities in the Upper West Region of Ghana

Abstract

Despite the impact of mining-induced environmental change on community livability, we know little about how disparities in knowledge of health risks associated with mining influence residents’ response, especially in an already environmentally stressed context. Guided by theoretical insights from solastalgia, we examined residents’ decision to relocate due to increasing gold mining activities in the fragile Northern Savannah Ecological Zone of Ghana. Fitting complementary log-log regression models to cross-sectional data from the Upper West Region (UWR) of Ghana, we found that residents with limited knowledge of potential health impacts of mining and those who believe mining activities were not meeting environmental standards were more likely to consider relocating. Given the centrality of land in community health and wellbeing in the UWR, Ghana’s mining guidelines should promote local participation in the regulation of mining activities and guarantee the rights of indigenes to livable native lands.