Social justice in coastal erosion management: The temporal and spatial dimensions

Coastal erosion management is primarily based on economic considerations (cost-benefit analysis). From the perspective of social justice (as a particular expression of the wider concept of human rights), however, several arguments can be advanced regarding public intervention in coastal defence management when private property is threatened by coastal erosion. In this paper we examine these arguments at both the short-term local scale and the long-term large spatial scale and consider the merits of inclusion of a social justice dimension in coastal erosion management. The coast provides a range of resources that benefit society as a whole. Coastal residents and property owners face a direct financial loss from coastal erosion but the general public also stands to incur losses other than purely financial if it there is public intervention for the benefit of these property owners. The arguments for public intervention are strongest at the local and short-term scales but they weaken (and even reverse) at geographically larger and longer time scales. At larger scales, the costs to society increase as intergenerational equity, non-coastal residents, climate and sea level change, and the environment are considered. Because of the intensity of interest involved at the local level, we argue that the necessary hard decisions must be made nationally if a sustainable policy is to be adopted. Social justice considerations provide a potential improvement on the traditional economic cost/benefit-based decision-making process of coastal erosion management but they only contribute to sustainability if viewed at the national level.     

Reclamation planning for coal mine in Istanbul, Agacli Region

This paper outlines mining aspect of view to reclamation studies based on rather simpler but more practical analyses in terms of legislations and regulations in Turkey. This paper also presents the results of various multi-disciplinary experimental studies aimed at the development of a reclamation proposal for an open pit mine located in the Istanbul Agacli region. Within the scope of this study, the current conditions and environmental features of the working area and its surrounding were evaluated. Various experimental studies were carried out on the representative samples taken from the overburden material and water sources in order to detect the existence of any contamination and also to determine the properties of samples subjected to the reclamation. Then, both environmental features and the results of experimental studies of the working area were evaluated. At the end of the evaluation, a simple and practicable reclamation proposal was developed.     

Identification of the origin of salinization in groundwater using multivariate statistical analysis and geochemical modeling: a case study of Kaohsiung,Southwest Taiwan

The study of brine aquifers in southern Taiwan is highly complicated by hybrid geochemical reactions, which obscure important geochemical information. Using multivariate analysis on major and minor ion compositions normalized by Cl⁻ content, chemical constituents were combined into two principal components representing brine mixing and mineral precipitation. Comparing to multivariate analysis on the original data, this procedure reveals more geochemical information. It demonstrates that the brine groundwater of the region is primarily composed of highly evaporated seawater. The evaporation ratio is >70%; a point at which calcite, dolomite and gypsum precipitate. Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions confirm this inference; and further, geochemical modeling quantitatively determined the evaporation ratio to be about 85%. Natural boron contamination is a consequence of brine groundwater. Two evolutionary trends in the plotting of the Cl/B ratio versus Cl⁻ can be identified: (1) Cl/B ratio decreases with boron being released from clay minerals when brine aquifers are flushed with freshwater; and (2) Cl/B ratio increases when seawater of a high Cl/B ratio infiltrates coastal aquifers.     

Vernacular heritage and evolving environmental policy in Australia: Lessons from the Murray–Darling Outreach Project

The interface between environmentalism and neoliberalism in industrialised nations is dynamic and evolving with each of these significant socio-political movements exerting influence on the other. In the context of Australian environmental policy, ideas of heritage, sense of place and belonging are increasingly invoked to support the current policy emphasis on the role of regional communities for realising goals for land and water conservation and environmental restoration. To explore the broader meaning and consequences of these developments, we focus on the manner in which ideas of heritage are employed and evoked within the Murray–Darling Outreach Project, a collaboration between the Murray–Darling Basin Commission, a key natural resource management agency, and the National Museum of Australia. The Murray–Darling Outreach Project has the aim of increasing community involvement in local environmental issues by promoting ideas of vernacular heritage.     

The derivation of an Arctic sea ice normal through temporal mixture analysis of satellite imagery

The use of temporal mixture analysis (TMA) for creating a long-term baseline, or environmental “normal” is described. TMA is a promising analysis method derived from the hyperspectral image processing technique of spectral mixture analysis (SMA). TMA is algebraically identical to SMA, except that it is applied to temporal spectra rather than to electromagnetic spectra. TMA has particular potential to extract climate signals from long image sequences.     

Postmaterialism and Support for the Environment in the United States

Postmaterialist theory suggests that under conditions of continuously expanding economic and personal security, younger generations will be less oriented to acquiring material goods and more committed than their older peers to attaining postmaterial social goals such as increased free self-expression and a healthy natural environment. Using the latest World Values Survey sample for the United States, ordinary least squares (OLS) and logit regressions are employed to test whether youth is a predictor of postmaterialism as theory suggests, and whether postmaterialism positively predicts environmental concern and individual actions in support of the environment. Age is found to be a negative and statistically significant factor in explaining variation in the postmaterialism index, and this index is in turn found to be a statistically significant positive factor in explaining individual environmental concern and activism. A combination of increased economic security and entrance of younger generations into adulthood could well matter for our environmental future.     

Post-mine metal transport and attenuation in the Keno Hill mining district, central Yukon, Canada

 The Keno Hill mining district in central Yukon was the second largest silver producer in Canada with mines operating from 1913 to 1989 on more than 65 vein silver deposits. The seven and a half decades of mining activities have generated large volumes of mine waste disposed on the land surface, resulting in elevated metal contents in numerous small drainages. To assess the extent of metal mobilization, old mine workings and the associated mine waste were examined and the water courses draining to a major river valley sampled. The results of field observations and an array of water and sediment analyses led to three major conclusions. 1. Acid mine drainage is not widespread because of galvanic protection of pyrite from oxidative dissolution and neutralization by carbonates in the country rock. 2. Mechanisms operative to limit aqueous metal transport in small streams in the district include cryogenic precipitation, coprecipitation and sorption. 3. The near-surface concentration of metals limits the options of waste disposal in future mining developments due to potential metal-leaching problems. Received: 12 December 1995 · Accepted: 26 March 1996     

Study of evaporation and recharge in desert soil using environmental tracers, New Mexico, USA

 The purpose of this study is to investigate the rates and mechanisms of recharge and evaporation in soils of a desert environment using two environmental tracers (chloride and oxygen-18). The profiles of chloride concentration and oxygen-18 enrichment in soil-water, together with the depth distribution of water content in soil, reveal information about long-term recharge and instantaneous evaporation processes without needing to know the physical properties of the soil. Three holes were hand-augured, in different desert settings in southeastern New Mexico. The chloride concentration profiles were used, with the chloride mass balance method, to estimate long-term recharge rates in these three holes as 0.5, 0.8, and 2.4 mm yr^–1. Analysis using a bimodal flow and transport model shows that possibly 85% of the recharge occurs via movement of water through preferred pathways in the root zone. Preferential flow was evident in all three sampling sites. Clay layers have a noticeable effect on the development of water content distribution and thus on oxygen-18 enrichment and chloride concentration profiles. The spatial variation in clay layering partly explains the variation in recharge rate estimates. Received: 13 October 1995 · Accepted: 15 November 1995     

晋西北地区末次盛冰期古风成砂的发现及环境演化

野外调查中在晋西北地区首次发现了马兰黄土中的古风成砂沉积，其机械组成主要是极细砂和细砂，而且具有明显的风成交错层理等特征。结合年代资料和孢粉分析，认为古风成砂形成于２７０００～１００００ａＢ．Ｐ．间的末次冰期盛冰期，当时晋西北地区是干旱荒漠－干草原景观，气候寒冷干燥，风的地质作用成为控制该区环境变化的主要动力因素，沙漠化土地迅速扩展或沙漠大范围地南侵，说明该区土地沙漠化过程至少在晚更新世晚期就已断续存在     

国外勘查地球物理工作现状和发展趋势

概略介绍了国外勘查地球物理工作的现状和某些发展趋势,其中着重介绍利用地球物理方法进行区域地质调查和地壳、上地幔调查、寻找深部隐伏矿床、计算矿产储量和研究环境地质问题.还提到勘查地球物理方法技术的重大进展.在介绍现状的同时,力图指出勘查地球物理的一些新的应用领域、新的方法技术和发展思路.