Updated Characterization of Dorowa Phosphate Rock Mined in Zimbabwe

Natural Resources Research - The physical and chemical characteristics of mined phosphate rock will vary temporally as the location and nature of the ore body changes and as the type of equipment...     

The Geographical Distribution of Mental Disorder in Denmark 1971–1990: A Study of First Admission Rates

Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 97: 132–142, 1997.

In the period 1971–90 the first admission rate to Danish psychiatric hospitals and wards decreased by approximately 45%. This might reflect the similar decrease in number of available psychiatric beds. Generally, the decrease of first admission rates was larger in the metropolitan area than in the rest of the country. Consequently, the disparity in admission rates between town and country was reduced. Number of available beds has gained increasing importance as a predictor of variations between counties and municipalities whereas the importance of distance to hospital and degree of urbanization has declined. As regards socio-demographic variables special importance should be attached to variables for social aid and the employment rate in the social and health sector. However, it is generally difficult to determine whether regional variations are due to differences in treatment facilities or morbidity differences. From a disaggregate analysis it will appear that the diagnoses schizophrenia and alcoholism are especially related to low status areas whereas a connection with social status regarding neuroses and manic-depressive psychoses is less obvious.     

Gravity anomalies and the origin of the Puerto Rico Trench

The Puerto Rico Trench is assumed to be caused by a downwards bending of the Atlantic lithosphere. The gravitational body force that acts on a flap of lithosphere, hanging in the aesthenosphere and more dense than it, pulls the lithosphere down at the trench. Gravity anomalies are modelled assuming that the crustal thicknesses of the Atlantic and Caribbean Oceans are constant (but different) and that the Atlantic Ocean floor seaward of the outer rise, Puerto Rico, and the Caribbean Sea floor are each in isostatic equlibrium. The residual gravity anomalies are then consistent with the existence of a subcrustal dense mass, that could be the hanging slab of lithosphere. The value of this excess mass depends upon more arbitrary assumptions for the crustal mass in the Puerto Rico Trench and its landward wall, but if the other assumptions above are realistic, the dense mass is required and is adequate to bend the surface down at the trench.     

Dryland salinity in a subcatchment at Glenthompson,Victoria

Dryland salinity is a widespread and serious environmental problem in western Victoria. As a result river environs and farmland have been seriously degraded with loss of habitat, reduced farm production and increased erosion. Until recently, the preferred method of salinity investigation was centred around expensive drilling programs to obtain information on groundwater provinces. More recently, electromagnetic surveys have provided the means of rapidly assessing the levels of soil and water salinities present within the landscape. At a site south of Glenthompson, Victoria, the results of an electromagnetic survey together with an investigation of relevant soil properties are being used to plan salinity control options. High recharge areas do not appear to be present in the study district. The effects of agronomic control options, such as the establishment of perennial grasses, can be predicted by the use of a monthly water balance whereby climatic factors and the crop's efficiency in plant water use can be related. The likely reduction in deep infiltration can then be estimated.     

CHILDREN'S PERCEPTION OF A DOWNTOWN SHOPPING CENTER

This paper offers an exploratory investigation of the effects of a child's age on three behavioral constructs (awareness space, activity space, and attitude) concerning a downtown shopping center in Bristol, England. The data are elicited from three samples of Bristol school children defined according to age and are analyzed using statistical inferential procedures. The results disclose that awareness space and activity space consistently increase with age. In addition, attitudinal responses to specific features of the shopping center exhibit a gradual change over a long-term period.     

An inexpensive, optical (infrared) detector to locate the sediment/water interface in lakes with unconsolidated sediments

Unconsolidated, flocculent sediments that are frequently resuspended by wind action are found in many shallow-water lakes. Collecting sediment/water interface cores in such lakes for paleolimnological study may be problematic because it is difficult to determine the depth to the water/sediment interface. Accurately determining this water depth is necessary to guarantee that a piston corer does not penetrate the sediments prior to the drive and to maximize the core length. A simple instrument constructed with inexpensive, readily available components is described. This infrared floc detector (IFD) is used to sense the increased optical density of unconsolidated sediments as the detector is lowered into a lake. The IFD, in effect, yields a precise as well as an accurate measure of water depth. The depth to the water/sediment interface can be measured with an accuracy of approximately 1 cm, provided surface waters are relatively calm.     

Palaeomagnetism of the Fishnish dykes, Mull, Scotland

summary . In Fishnish, eight dykes of E-W trend are all normally magnetized and all cut dykes of other trends. Normally magnetized dykes form a small minority of the dykes in the British Tertiary igneous province and this is the first reported incidence of a clearly defined group of a single polarity. The balance of the evidence - which is conflicting — favours the E—W dykes being contemporary with the later parts of the centre.