Until recently the traditional spatial configuration of the European geography was based upon the core-periphery model. The
‘pentagon’, broadly defined as lying between London, Paris, Milan, Munich and Hamburg, was seen as the core area characterised
by having the highest concentration of economic development in the European Union (EU), with the remainder of the European
territory viewed as peripheral, albeit to varying degrees. In a number of cases such peripheral areas equated with clear regional
disparities. The elaboration of the European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) (CEC, European spatial development perspective, towards balanced and sustainable development in the territory of the
European Union, 1999) challenged this core-periphery model. European spatial planning policies, aimed at encouraging social
and economic, and with ever increasing importance, territorial cohesion, seek amongst other aspects to encourage the development
of a balanced and polycentric urban system. This paper adopts a network analysis approach to the analysis of air passenger
flows between some 28 principal European metropolitan urban regions. The evaluation of these flows contributes to an enhanced
comprehension of the spatial dynamics of the European metropolitan territory which goes beyond that deriving from the more
standard analyses of the individual components of the urban system. Several indicators are used, deriving from gravitational
modelling techniques, to analyse the complexity of the air passenger flows. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique is
introduced in order to interpret and visualise the resulting spatial configuration and positioning of the different metropolitan
centres within the conceptual European ‘space of air passenger flows’, thereby contrasting with the more traditional map-based
geographical image of Europe, based upon Cartesian coordinates.
Rock-magnetic measurements along with grain size, acid-insoluble residue (AIR), organic carbon (OC), CaCO3 and δ18O of the planktonic foraminifers of the sediments were determined for 15 gravity cores recovered from the western continental margin of India. Magnetic susceptibility (MS) values in the surficial sediments reflect the land-derived input and, in general, are the highest in terrigenous sediment-dominated sections of the cores off Saurashtra–Ratnagiri, followed by the sediments off Indus–Gulf of Kachchh and then Mangalore–Cape Comorin.
The down-core variations in mineral magnetic parameters reveal that the glacial sediments off the Indus are characterized by low MS values/S-ratios associated with high AIR-content, low OC/CaCO3 contents and relatively high δ18O values, while those off SW India are characterized by low MS values/high S-ratio% associated with low AIR content, and relatively high OC, CaCO3 and δ18O values. Conversely, the Early Holocene sediments of all cores are characterized by high MS values/S-ratio% associated with high AIR content, low OC, CaCO3 contents and gradually decreased δ18O values. These results imply that during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the cores off northwestern India received abundant continental supply leading to the predominance of eolian/fluvial sedimentation. In the SW region the influence of hinterland flux is less evident during this period, but convective mixing associated with the NE monsoon resulted in increased productivity. During the early Holocene intense SW monsoon conditions resulted in high precipitation on land, which in turn contributed increased AIR content/MS values in the continental margin sediments. A shallow water core off Kochi further suggests that the intense SW monsoon conditions prevailed until about 5 ka. The late Holocene organic-rich sediments of the SW margin of India were, however, subjected to early diagenesis at different intervals in the cores. Therefore, caution is needed when interpreting regional climatic change from down-core changes in sediment magnetic properties. 相似文献