Fiji’s fisheries: their contribution to development and their future

The industrial fisheries of Fiji have had mixed fortunes. The fresh fish export industry has grown rapidly in importance so that fisheries is now the third most valuable export industry; its positive effect on the economy is mainly in the increase in the purchase of goods and services, such as air freight. The present ‘hands off’ policy by government in the fresh fish export industry should continue until the industry matures. In the longer run, ad valorem royalties should be considered as a mean of capturing resource rents. The government-owned export cannery has been in financial decline, and the maintenance of the social benefits of regional employment generated by the cannery has come at a high cost to government coffers. The future of the cannery, now leased to a private operator, is clouded by the uncertainty of the continuity of concessional access to European markets beyond the year 2000. The main task faced by government is the management of fisheries and fish stocks. The management of the inshore fisheries — vital to the needs of a large proportion of the population — needs additional resources. The capability for management of the industrial fisheries, necessary to maximise long term public benefits, would be enhanced by full cost recovery through a user pays policy. This article is based on a paper presented to the Fiji Update seminar, held at the National Centre for Development Studies, the Australian National University, Canberra, on 19 June 1998. The author wishes to thank Mr Krishna Swamy, Senior Fisheries Officer in the Fiji Fisheries Division, and Mr Grahame Southwick, Managing Director of the Fiji Fish Company Ltd, for their generous provision of information for the preparation of this paper; and Mr Joeli Veitayaki, Coordinator of the Ocean Resources Management Programme, University of the South Pacific, for helpful comments. Any errors or omissions are the author’s responsibility, however.     

40Ar/39 mineral ages from the Scituate Granite, Rhode Island: implications for Late Palaeozoic tectonothermal activity in New England

The alkalic Scituate Granite was emplaced into crystalline sequences within the New England Esmond–Dedham terrane in the Late Devonian ( c. 370 Ma). Variably recrystallized amphibole (iron-rich, hastingsite–hastingsitic hornblende) from four variably deformed samples of the pluton record south-westerly younging ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar plateau ages ranging between 276 and 263 Ma. These are interpreted to date diachronous cooling through temperatures appropriate for intracrystalline retention of argon following late Palaeozoic orogenic activity. Iron-rich biotite concentrates from the samples record only slightly younger ages, and therefore suggest relatively rapid post-metamorphic cooling. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages indicate that the late Palaeozoic tectonothermal overprint was much more regionally pervasive than was previously considered. The apparent timing of this activity is similar to previous estimates for the chronology of high-grade metamorphism throughout the adjacent Hope Valley terrane and for phases of ductile movement on the intervening Lake Char–Honey Hill fault system.     

Structural and stratigraphical constraints on the kinematics history of the Southern Tan–Lu Fault Zone during the Mesozoic Anhui Province, China

The Tan–Lu Fault Zone (TLFZ) extends in a NNE–SSW direction for more than 2000 km in Eastern China. It has been considered either as a major sinistral strike-slip fault, as a suture zone or as a normal fault. We have conducted a structural analysis of the southern segment of this fault zone (STLFZ) in the Anhui Province. The ages (Triassic to Palaeocene) of the formations affected by the faults have been re-appraised taking into account recent stratigraphical studies to better constraint the ages of the successive stages of the kinematics of the STLFZ. Subsequently, the kinematics of the faults is presented in terms of strain/stress fields by inversion of the striated fault set data. Finally, the data are discussed in the light of the results obtained by previous workers.We propose the following history of the STLFZ kinematics during the Mesozoic. At the time of collision, a  NNE orientated Tan–Lu margin probably connected two margins located north of the Dabie and Sulu collision belts. During the Middle–Late Triassic, the SCB has been obliquely subducted below the NCB along this margin which has acted as a compressional transfer zone between the Dabie and Sulu continental subduction zones. The STLFZ has been initiated during the Early Jurassic and has acted as a sinistral transform fault during the Jurassic, following which the NCB/SCB collision stopped. A  NW-trending extension related to metamorphic domes was active during the basal Early Cretaceous ( 135–130 Ma); it has been followed by a NW–SE compression and a NE–SW tension during the middle–late Early Cretaceous ( 127 to  105 Ma, possibly  95 Ma); at that time the TLFZ was a sinistral transcurrent fault within the eastern part of the Asian continent. During the Late Cretaceous–Palaeocene, the STLFZ was a normal fault zone under a WNW–ESE tension.     

滇东老厂地区地热水成因：来自水化学和碳氢氧硫同位素的约束

滇东弥勒-师宗断裂带地热资源丰富,但是由于研究程度较低,成因机制不明,制约了区内地热资源的可持续开发利用。本文以弥勒-师宗断裂带北段老厂地区天然温泉水和地热钻孔水为研究对象,综合应用野外调查、水文地球化学和环境同位素方法,对区内地热水的地球化学特征和成因机制进行了研究。结果显示,区内地热水pH值介于7.30～8.12之间,TDS在224～382 mg/L之间,属于弱碱性淡水。地热水水化学类型为HCO₃·SO₄^Ca型和HCO₃·SO₄-Ca·Na型,且含有较高含量的Fe、As、Sb等微量组分,不宜饮用。地热水中HCO₃^-的δ¹³C值为-3.31‰～-7.79‰,计算得出参与水岩作用的CO₂的δ¹³C值为-9.50‰～-15.68‰,具有明显的沉积有机质来源特征。离子比值分析及硫同位素特征表明碳酸盐岩矿物和石膏的溶解是区内地热水主要离子来源的控制因素,此外赋存于浅部断裂带内...     

Assessing the impact of conceptual mineral systems uncertainty on prospectivity predictions

The past two decades have seen a rapid adoption of artificial intelligence methods applied to mineral exploration. More recently, the easier acquisition of some types of data has inspired a broad literature that has examined many machine learning and modelling techniques that combine exploration criteria, or ‘features’, to generate predictions for mineral prospectivity. Central to the design of prospectivity models is a ‘mineral system’, a conceptual model describing the key geological elements that control the timing and location of economic mineralisation. The mineral systems model defines what constitutes a training set, which features represent geological evidence of mineralisation, how features are engineered and what modelling methods are used. Mineral systems are knowledge-driven conceptual models, thus all parameter choices are subject to human biases and opinion so alternative models are possible. However, the effect of alternative mineral systems models on prospectivity is rarely compared despite the potential to heavily influence final predictions. In this study, we focus on the effect of conceptual uncertainty on Fe ore prospectivity models in the Hamersley region, Western Australia. Four important considerations are tested. (1) Five different supergene and hypogene conceptual mineral systems models guide the inputs for five forest-based classification prospectivity models model. (2) To represent conceptual uncertainty, the predictions are then combined for prospectivity model comparison. (3) Representation of three-dimensional objects as two-dimensional features are tested to address commonly ignored thickness of geological units. (4) The training dataset is composed of known economic mineralisation sites (deposits) as ‘positive’ examples, and exploration drilling data providing ‘negative’ sampling locations. Each of the spatial predictions are assessed using independent performance metrics common to AI-based classification methods and subjected to geological plausibility testing. We find that different conceptual mineral systems produce significantly different spatial predictions, thus conceptual uncertainty must be recognised. A benefit to recognising and modelling different conceptual models is that robust and geologically plausible predictions can be made that may guide mineral discovery.     

Origin and variability of resource-grade marine ferromanganese nodules and crusts in the Pacific Ocean: A review of biogeochemical and physical controls

Marine ferromanganese nodules and crusts containing Mn, Cu, Ni and Co in the most promising resource-grade concentrations and quantities, together with Fe and Zn (all elements of biogeochemical importance) are found far from land on the deep seafloor of the Pacific Ocean. The biogeochemical, chemical and physical mechanisms contributing to their formation, distribution, abundance and – for these six elements – variability in their concentrations in these deposits, are the main focus of the present review. The mechanisms addressed include biological productivity, sedimentation types and rates, bottom water characteristics, the Calcium Carbonate Compensation Depth, the depth and intensity of the oxygen minimum zone, and biogeochemical characteristics of the six focal elements. Particular attention is given to comparisons between the deposits found in the north and the south Pacific, in order to present an overarching view of our current understanding of the mechanisms that apply to both nodules and crusts in both oceanic hemispheres, including examination of the possible existence of a marine ferromanganese oxide continuum. The renewed interest in the commercial exploitation of these deposits has stimulated a welcome increase in scientific research that is essential to informing the public discourse on seabed mining. We briefly reflect on the work addressed in this review in that context.     

秦岭-大别-苏鲁印支造山带连接枢纽的形成时代——来自宁陕断裂带同构造花岗岩锆石U-Pb年代学的限定

最新的研究表明,南秦岭勉略缝合带可以经宁陕左行走滑断裂带与大别苏鲁的高压/超高压变质带相连。对于这个模型,两带间的"连接枢纽"—宁陕走滑断层的活动时间是关键问题之一。研究显示宁陕断裂带是南秦岭中的一条走向近E-W的走滑剪切带,早期为左行韧性剪切变形,晚期叠加了左行脆性剪切变形。对带内千糜岩化石英片岩中的两期同构造花岗岩脉的构造地质学、岩石学和锆石U-Pb和Lu-Hf同位素研究,获得早期面理化细粒花岗岩的年龄为214.4±1.1Ma(MSWD=1.3),εHf(t)主要集中在-8.58~-0.29之间,tDM2=2.45~1.62Ga;晚期钾长花岗岩脉的年龄212.8±1.6Ma(MSWD=2.1),εHf(t)=-5.79~2.07,tDM2=2.53~1.49Ga。同位素数据表明两期花岗岩脉具有相同的岩浆源区,是古老地壳物质的再循环;晚期钾长花岗岩脉是早期花岗岩演化的产物。两期同构造花岗岩脉年龄的确定,表明宁陕左行走滑断层至少从晚三叠世中期之前就已经开始活动,而不是前人认为的早-中侏罗世或晚三叠末。尤其是宁陕左行走滑断裂带与勉略缝合带具有相同的左行韧性走滑叠加晚期脆性走滑的构造样式和活动时间,表明二者的形成可能都与古特提斯洋的斜向俯冲或者扬子板块的顺时针旋转有关。本研究成果为南秦岭的"古特提斯洋缝合带"——勉略缝合带向东经宁陕断裂带与大陆俯冲和深俯冲形成的耀岭河-桐柏-大别-苏鲁高压/超高压变质带相接提供了关键的年代学证据。     

Administrative hierarchy and urban land expansion in transitional China

In a growing body of literature on urbanization in China, scholars have emphasized the proactive role of the Chinese local state in urban land expansion. Drawing upon official land use change data from 1998 to 2008, this study investigates the relationship between the hierarchical structure of the Chinese urban administrative system and urban land expansion. We find that urban land expansion coincides with administrative hierarchy, and cities with higher administrative levels (ranked by central government) tend to expand more rapidly while controlling for other economic and demographic drivers of urban expansion. Spatial regime models reveal that economic and demographic drivers of urban growth are also sensitive to a city's administrative rank. By quantifying the link between a city's rank and urban land expansion, we conclude that considering the hierarchical structure of the Chinese cities will result in a fuller understanding of the rapid urban growth in China.     

陕西镇巴火焰溪法门阶牙形刺研究

陕西镇巴火焰溪剖面位于大巴山西段，临近川陕交界、交通便利。那里晚泥盆世地层出露完好，层序清楚，化石丰富。本文就该剖面法门阶牙形刺动物群、泥盆系石炭系的界线进行了研讨，建立了该区法门阶的两个浅水相牙形刺生物组合带。     

略论当代发达资本主义的经济特征

在经济全球化时代 ,我国要实现社会主义现代化建设的宏伟目标 ,有必要考察一下当代资本主义经济的特征 ,从资本主义经济的发展中吸取有益的经验