Dimensions of environmental justice in anti-gold mining movements in Latin America

The present article examines two Latin American gold mining conflicts, one in the city of Esquel (Patagonia in Argentina) and the other in Pascua–Lama (Chilean border with Argentina). We identify the emergence of three dimensions of environmental justice (distribution, recognition, participation) in the anti-mining movements of these two cases. The study finds that some dimensions of justice appear first (participation and recognition), while distribution emerges later, as movements jump scales engaging with national and international networks that provide a systemic perspective of the conflicts. The findings are consistent with other studies that refer to environmental justice as multi-scalar and context related. We also point to the relevance of studying decision-making procedures and jumping scales to understand how environmental justice claims are framed in resource extraction conflicts.     

WorldView-2数据在西昆仑库斯拉甫含煤盆地的应用与研究

WorldView-2作为全新多光谱高分辨率遥感数据,在煤田环境地质的应用目前处于探索研究阶段.本文以西昆仑库斯拉甫含煤盆地WorldView-2数据在煤田环境地质中应用与研究为基础,采用Envi4.8对WorldView-2数据预处理,大气校正后,探索性自动提取水体、植被、含煤地层界线等环境地质相关要素信息,为煤田环境地质研究提供技术支撑.     

Afghanistan’s development and functionality: Renewing a collapsed state

Afghanistan has long been backward and underdeveloped where centuries of desertification, deforestation, overgrazing and environmental degradation have combined with successive invasions, violence, and terrorism to reduce the population to abject poverty. In the post 9/11 world, development of Afghanistan is seen as the only hope to revive the failed nation and reduce its threat to the external world. New assessments of natural resources offer many solutions to old problems of development and the potential economic functionality through renewal of the collapsed state. Oil, gas, copper, iron, gemstones, and a number of other resources, combined with a renewed transportation grid, offer a viable solution that is now underway to possibly produce a somewhat more promising future, providing that corruption, renewed violence, and environmental despoliation can be kept to a minimum.     

Use of magnetic signatures to correlate tephra layers in Holocene loessial soil profiles from a small region, SE Iceland

Rock magnetic measurements have been applied to two adjacent loessial soil sections from a small region, SE Iceland. The soils are composed of reworked locally derived sediment (including airfall tephra) and also contain several visible discrete airfall tephra layers. The main magnetic minerals in the airfall tephras are ferrimagnetic (e.g. magnetite) with paramagnetic minerals also present. The main magnetic grain sizes in the tephras are pseudo single domain. The results show that individual tephras do not have unique magnetic signatures that can be used for identification and correlation between sedimentary sequences. However, a correlation of tephra layers was achieved through the application of statistical techniques to a comprehensive dataset of magnetic parameters. Similarity coefficients and Euclidian distance measures were used to identify the best correlation between tephra layers in the two soil profiles. The technique works well providing some tephras present within both profiles have been formally identified (e.g. Oraefajokulla ad 1362) using electron microprobe analyses. Given this initial framework, the statistical analyses of the magnetic parameters can help in the identification and correlation of unknown tephras between two soil profiles.     

城市地铁运营期间对地下水环境影响分析

长距离地铁隧道的运营期间会对地下水环境造成一定影响。本文以北京市M8二期北段为例,进行该类问题的分析研究,首次建立了科学的评价方法体系。根据本文的方法体系,在一定渗流计算的基础上,获得了北京市M8二期北段对渗流场阻隔作用的量化评价,并在此基础上做了进一步的环境及工程影响评价,评价结论为保证地下水环境和该新线建设节省造价和工期提供了科学依据。同时,本文工作也为今后地铁建设中类似问题的评价与研究提供方法上的借鉴与参考。     

泥河湾盆地晚新生代微体古生物地层及环境演化的探讨

通过对泥河湾盆地43条剖面和6个钻孔晚新生代地层和微体古生物(介形类和有孔虫)的调查研究,发现非常丰富的介形类,计26属70余种,有孔虫4属4种,其中介形类自下而上可明显地划分为5个组合带:(1)Potamocypris plana-Candoniella-Ilyocypris组合带;(2)Leucocythere-Ilyocypris-Candoniella组合带;(3)Leucocythere-Cytherissa-Limnocythere组合带;(4)Ilyocypris-Limnocythere flexa-Limnocythere dubiosa组合带;(5)Limnocythere dubiosa-Limnocythere sancti-Patricii-Ilyocypris组合带。按以上5个介形类组合带的分布,第1组合带及所含地层红崖村组和石匣组的时代为上新世;第2~4组合带及所含地层泥河湾组的时代为早更新世;第5组合带为中-晚更新世,分布于虎头梁组和许家窑组,虎头梁组置中更新世为宜,许家窑组为晚更新世。根据5个介形类组合带和有孔虫的分布及介形类的始现、繁盛、兴衰的演替特征,对泥河湾古湖和盆地的形成经历了上新世的起始,早更新世早期的扩展,中、晚期稳定、发展、湖面最大,中更新世向西部退缩和晚更新世消亡、桑干河水系形成五个发展阶段的演化进行了探讨。     

大溪河流域主要环境地质问题与土地功能区划分析

大溪河流域环境工程地质问题主要表现为地质灾害、岩溶、水土流失三方面,本文调查和分析了上述问题的基本特征、影响因素及对国土规划的影响;在此基础上,结合大溪河流域的特色,对流域进行了国土功能分区与适宜性评价,分为:林业经济区、农业经济区、河谷经济区三个大区,详细阐述各区环境地质问题及适宜性情况,为流域规划开发决策提供参考建议。     

Mineralogical and geochemical constraints on environmental impacts from waste rock at Taojiang Mn-ore deposit,central Hunan,China

The mineralogy and geochemistry of the waste rocks distributed at Taojiang Mn-ore deposit, central Hunan province, China, were studied using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA) fitted with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrum (atomic emission spectra) ICP-MS (AES), with the aim of predicting the environmental impacts of weathering of the waste rocks. The mineralogical results from microscope observation and XRD and EMPA studies show that the waste rock is composed of black shale and minor Mn carbonates. The oxidation of sulfide minerals such as galena, pyrite and chalcopyrite is accompanied by decomposition of Mn carbonates and K-feldspar during exposure to atmospheric O₂. The geochemical characteristics of major, rare earth elements (REE) and trace elements of the waste rocks also show that the waste rock can be divided into black shale and Mn carbonate, and both of them are currently under chemical weathering. The major alkalies and alkaline elements (Ca, Mg, Na, K, Rb, Sr and Cs) and major elements (Fe, S and P) and heavy metals (Sc, V, Cr, Th, U, Sn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Mo, Cd, Sb, an Tl) are being released during weathering. The mobility of alkalis and alkaline elements Ca, Mg, Na, K, Rb, Sr and Cs is controlled by decomposition of Mn carbonates. The dispersion of Cr, Sc and Th (U) might be related to weathering of K-feldspar, and the release of the heavy metals Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Pb, Mo, Cd Sb and Tl is dominated by the breaking of sulfide minerals. The REE of the waste rocks and surrounding soils and the spidery distribution patterns of heavy metals in the waste rocks, the surrounding soils and the surface waters show that weathering of the waste rocks and bedrock might be the sources of heavy metal contamination for the surrounding soils and surface water system for the mining area. This is predicted by the mass-balance calculation by using Zr as an immobile element. Therefore, it is urgently necessary take measures to treat the waste rocks distributed throughout the area for the local environmental protection.     

The importance of alternative conceptual models for simulation of concentrations in a multi-aquifer system

Four different conceptual models based on alternative geological interpretations were formulated for a shallow 600 km² aquifer system in Denmark comprising Quaternary deposits. Each of the four models was calibrated against groundwater heads and discharge measurements through inverse modeling. Subsequently, the transport capabilities of the four models were compared to 32 concentration measurements of environmental tracers (tritium ³H, helium-3 ³He, chlorofluorocarbons CFC11, CFC12 and CFC113). The flow simulations showed only minor differences in spatial head distribution associated with alternative conceptualizations despite the complexity of the aquifer system and the significant differences in geological interpretations. The models, however, showed major differences in predictions of the age of the groundwater and environmental tracer concentrations, differences that are seen as an effect of model structure uncertainty, because no additional calibrations to these data were performed. A single conceptualization may be adequate in characterizing the natural behavior of a field system after calibration, because the calibration procedure is able to compensate for errors in the data or in the conceptual model through biased parameter values. However, once extrapolation beyond the calibration base is attempted, different conceptual model formulations result in significantly different results. Consequently, it is crucial to take model conceptual uncertainty into account when making predictions beyond the calibration base.     

A critique of development and conservation policies in environmentally sensitive regions in Brazil

More than a strategy for environmental conservation, protected area paradigm has represented a specific conception of nature–society relationship. Originated in a context of capitalist consolidation, rapid urbanisation and frontier development in the US, this paradigm has given rise to a ‘politically viable rationale' in which utilitarian use of natural resources by tourism development would ensure nature preservation. This political rationality has deeply influenced environmental policies in developing countries, fostering a paradoxical model in the history of nature preservation. It also has brought into play diverse interests that have shifted patterns of local nature–society interaction, configuring a complex politicised environment. Established in ‘isolated' regions, protected areas have been implemented often by top–down approaches, disrupting resident peoples' livelihoods strategies through conflicts over the control of natural resources. Understanding the implications of development and conservation policies on resident peoples' livelihoods may represent a starting point for an integrated developmental conservation policy towards the promotion of sustainable livelihoods in environmentally sensitive regions in developing countries. These issues are analysed in the region of the Lençois Maranhenses National Park in Brazil. This paper argues that the context facing the region reveals a standardised conservationist paradigm marked by the absence of wider ecological criteria informing nature protection and a disregard for the strengthening of sustainability in existent socio-economic dynamics. The regional development and conservation policies have not only promoted tensions between resident peoples' livelihoods and the protected area paradigm, but also reinforced the legitimisation of social exclusion and environmental disruption under the prevalent rhetoric of nature protection and tourism development.