Time, idealisation and international development: promoting Canadian co-management in northern Russia

In this article, I trace the efforts of a development team working to promote a Canadian approach to natural resources management in the Russian North. These development workers used two communication strategies related to time and history to render Canadian knowledge mobile and applicable to a new location: (1) imagining today's Russian North as equivalent to the Canadian northern past and (2) reframing and idealising the Canadian past and present to make the governance export less discursively 'messy' for an outside audience. The relative failure of these communicative strategies points to the need for richer dialogue in efforts to move knowledge cross-culturally.     

GIS‐assisted modelling for debris flow hazard assessment based on the events of May 1998 in the area of Sarno,Southern Italy: Part I. Maximum run‐out

Based on the debris flow events that occurred in May 1998 in the area of Sarno, Southern Italy, this paper presents an approach to simulate debris flow maximum run‐out. On the basis of the flow source areas and an average thickness of 1·2 m of the scarps, we estimated debris flow volumes of the order of 10⁴ and 10⁵ m³. Flow mobility ratios (ΔH/L) derived from the x, y, z coordinates of the lower‐most limit of the source areas (i.e. apex of the alluvial fan) and the distal limit of the flows ranged between 0·27 and 0·09. We performed regression analyses that showed a good correlation between the estimated flow volumes and mobility ratios. This paper presents a methodology for predicting maximum run‐out of future debris flow events, based on the developed empirical relationship. We implemented the equation that resulted from the calibration as a set of GIS macros written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and running within ArcGIS. We carried out sensitivity analyses and observed that hazard mapping with this methodology should attempt to delineate hazard zones with a minimum horizontal resolution of 0·4 km. The developed procedure enables the rapid delineation of debris flow maximum extent within reasonable levels of uncertainty, it incorporates sensitivities and it facilitates hazard assessments via graphic user interfaces and with modest computing resources. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interrogating the ten-year transport plan

This paper presents an analysis of Transport 2010, the government's ten-year plan for transport. It develops discussions held by members of the RGS-IBG's Transport Geography Research Group (TGRG) in September 2000. It is argued that the plan marks something of a return to previous policies designed to accommodate increasing mobility.     

210Pb and 137Cs dating methods in lakes: A retrospective study

²¹⁰Pb has been used for more than two decades to provide the geochronology of annually deposited sediments and to construct pollution histories. Evidence from some lakes suggests that this radionuclide may be adequately mobile to compromise dating reliability. This study provides one test of that possibility by comparing recent measurements of ²¹⁰Pb and trace metals to ones carried out more than 20 yrs in the past. ¹³⁷Cs dating is used to confirm sediment accumulation rates in the recent cores. In the three Connecticut, USA, lakes studied, sediment accumulation rates changed abruptly to higher values between 40-50 yrs ago (increasing by factors of 2.2, 2.9, and 3.0). In all three lakes, rates calculated from ²¹⁰Pb distributions both above and below this horizon agreed, within measurement uncertainty, in recent and older cores. Furthermore, when the older data were corrected for 20 yrs of burial, the changes in slope in ²¹⁰Pb distributions occurred at the same depth in each pair of cores. The depth of sharp peaks in concentrations of trace metals also matched. In general, this evidence supports the idea that sediments in these lakes have simply been buried, without significant diagenetic remobilization of ²¹⁰Pb and trace metals . Nevertheless, some important differences were also observed. For two of the three lakes, there was a significant difference in average sediment accumulation rate during the past 33 yrs as calculated from ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb in the recent cores. Most potential causes for this difference can be ruled out, and it appears that one of the two nuclides is remobilized compared to the other. There were also significant differences in the total inventories of both ²¹⁰Pb and trace metals (both up to 2 ×) between recent and older cores in some cases. This may be due to dissimilar sediment focusing, since it is not known for certain whether the new cores were collected at exactly the same sites as in the past.     

Residential Mobility and Urban Restructuring under Market Transition: A Study of Guangzhou,China

Residential mobility can be conceptualized as an outcome of a choice process exercised under complex institutional and personal constraints. China's rather unique pattern of housing market segmentation under market transition impinges directly on residential location and relocation. Drawing upon data from a sample survey, this paper analyzes the pattern of residential moves resulting from commodity housing construction in a major Chinese city, Guangzhou. Most moves are of short distance, although the general direction is towards the urban periphery. Danweis and the municipal housing bureau, rather than the market per se, are the primary driving forces behind suburbanization in China today.     

Rare-earth element mobility during ore-forming hydrothermal alteration: A case study of Dongping gold deposit Hebei Province,China

REE mobility during hydrothermal ore-forming processes has been extensively investigated in recent years and the potential of REE to provide information about ore forming processes has commonly been recognized.The Dongping gold deposit,which is located in northwestern Hebei Province,China,occurring in the inner contact zone of the Shuiquangou syenite complex,is spatially,and probably genetically,related to the syenite,the deposit was formed under the moderate to high temperature(220℃ to 320℃),weakly acidic to weakly alkaline,rather high fo2(lgfo2=-30～-34)environment.The REE study of the host rocks,altered wall rocks,ores and gangue minerals from the deposit suggests that the REEs have been mobilized and differentiated during K-feldspathization and silicification.The extremely altered syenite enveloping auriferous quartz vein shows positive Ce anomaly and larger LREE/HREE ratio than that of the unaltered syenite.The REE concentrations and patterns of the ores are determined by the ore types and mineral assemblages,LREE/HREE ratios in the gangue quartz and hydrothermal Kfeldspars are relatively low.The most significant observation is that the gangue quartz shows significant positive Eu anomaly,whereas the hydrothermal K-feldspars show less significant or no positive Eu anomaly at all relative to the primary feldspar in the unaltered syenite. It is evident that the REEs are mobile during K-feldspathization and silicification in the ore forming process.Weak to moderate K-feldspathization caused REE mobility without apparent differentiation with the exception of extreme K-feldspathization and silicification which resulted in significant depletion of HREE and Eu and relative enrichment of Ce.The REE,Y,U,Th and Au contents of the syenite decrease as the degrees of K-feldspathization and silicification of the rocks increase towards the auriferous quartz veins.As the ores were deposited under a rather oxidized environment,Ce^4 predominated over Ce^3 .The precipitation of the former in the form of CeO2 or absorpted onto the secondary mineral assemblage resulted in the inconsistent removal of the REE and the relative Ce enrichment in the strongly altered rocks.in contrast,Eu was present mainly in a low valence state (Eu^2 ).The geochemical differences from the other REE^3 and much less sites in the secondary minerals to accommodate the Eu released form the original minerals resulted in the enrichment of Eu in the fluids.The mobility and differentiation of REE and the coherent mobilities of Y,U,Th and Au also support the argument that the syenite is one of the source rocks for gold mineralization.The REE contents and patterns of the altered rocks enveloping the auriferous quartz vein could be used as a guide for locating ore veins in mineral exploration.     

Environmental transformation of the Bilbao estuary,N. Spain: microfaunal and geochemical proxies in the recent sedimentary record

The distribution and abundance of benthic foraminifera and a range of elements have been analysed in six long cores (up to 10 m long) from the Bilbao estuary, N. Spain, to document environmental transformation of this estuarine ecosystem and to determine sediment contamination levels. Three different environmental zones could be distinguished in the recent sedimentary record based on its microfaunal and geochemical contents. Initially, a pre-industrial zone containing very abundant and diverse foraminiferal assemblages together with baseline metal levels. Secondly, an older industrial zone exhibiting co-existence of abundant and diverse foraminiferal assemblages with high concentrations of metals. Finally, a younger industrial zone with extreme concentrations of metals and barren of indigenous foraminifera. This environmental transformation has been caused by the discharge of untreated domestic and industrial effluents during the last 150 years. The occurrence of foraminifera in the two industrial zones and along the estuary is not related to defined levels of metals, and this seems to confirm oxygen limitation as the key factor to explain complete estuarine defaunation during deposition of the younger industrial zone (period 1950-2000). Effectiveness of current regeneration schemes could be assessed using microfaunal and geochemical proxies as environmental quality indicators.     

Sediment contamination in floodplains and alluvial terraces as an historical record of gold exploitation in the Carmo River basin,Southeast Quadrilátero Ferrífero,Minas Gerais,Brazil

This paper describes the geochemistry of sediment samples placed in floodplains and alluvial terraces downstream from gold mines in the Carmo River basin, Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The geochemistry signature Na₂O, K₂O, SiO₂, CaO, MgO, Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃, TiO₂, P₂O₅, Mn, As, Cu, Zn, Ba, Ni, Cr, S, Co were analyzed in different facies from stratigraphic profiles. As, Cu, Zn, and Mn anomalies are mainly associated with the clayed facies deposited in floodplains and oxbow lakes, and with coarse‐sediment facies deposited in the channel. The facies were accumulated by the gold exploitation activity in the region. The contamination of As, Cu, and Zn was controlled by minerals such as iron oxides and hydroxides (hematite, magnetite, and mainly goethite), manganese oxides, and sulfide‐rich minerals. The As‐bearing sediments of the region characterize one of the most As contaminated area of Brazil. Their main source is associated with gold exploration in the last three centuries.     

Spatial distribution and bonding forms of heavy metals in sediments along the middle course of the River Elbe (km 287ċ390)

Sediments of eight groyne fields along the middle course of the River Elbe (river km 287?390) were geochemically studied. The 78 sediment samples were analysed for pH and grain size distribution. The grain size fraction < 2 μm was used for mineralogical and chemical analysis: semiquantitative clay mineral analysis; total element content (Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mn, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn), total inorganic and organic C, and bonding form fractionation with a six‐step sequential chemical extraction. The latter was performed on selected samples (n = 32). The sediments along the Elbe's course are still contaminated with heavy metals far above the local geogenic background level. An enrichment factor of more than 15 was calculated for zinc. Cr and Ni are the elements with the lowest enrichment. The bonding form analysis of selected heavy metals shows a dominance of relatively immobile bonding forms, e. g. the moderately reducible and the residual fraction, which implies a relative low mobility potential. Only Zn poses a higher potential threat to the environment, since it has a higher percentage of the first three extracted phases: adsorbed, carbonate, and easily reducible fraction.     

Segregation and Residential Mobility of Vietnamese Immigrants in Brisbane,Australia

The study focuses on residential mobility propensities of Vietnamese immigrants in the city of Brisbane, Australia, as a principal force contributing to the persistence or change of ethnic residential segregation over time. Using 1990 survey data, discrete-time logit models are estimated to assess the effects of locational, contextual, and personal characteristics on the likelihood of changing residence within the city. The results indicate that locational variables operate in such a way that the most dominant Vietnamese neighborhood in Brisbane increases its prominence even further, while secondary Vietnamese clusters are likely to weaken. The results also indicate that initial settlement conditions are important for the first move only, whereas personal attributes contribute to variations in mobility propensities primarily in the second move. This implies that the composition of the immigrant population potentially influences the speed at which changes in ethnic residential patterns will occur in urban areas.