Women's status, environmental changes and child health in the riverine area of Ondo State, Nigeria

The viewpoint that most health problems are environmentally related has always been promoted by medical geography. In recent times, concern about environmental degradation has been of high priority for many national and international organizations as ‘we human beings become a threat to our planet’. There is also a need to specifically focus attention on the impact of so-called development efforts on the health of women and children, in particular those living in highly marginalized regions which often contribute substantially to the overall development of their countries. This paper uses the concept of vulnerability as a departure point from which to map the health risks to children in Igbekun area of Ondo State, the ‘transgressive muddy’ oil-rich coastal area of Nigeria. The paper attempts to highlight the poor quality of life and health of children in particular, and how it is becoming much more difficult to practice health intervention programmes, especially oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the area. The Igbekun area is an unhealthy and harsh environment, complicated by the devastating effects of oil drilling in recent years. The siltation and sedimentation of the creeks and lagoons have serious health dimensions as human faeces float in and around villages because the ‘bush toilets’ can no longer be reached. The on-going environmental crisis has also deprived women of their traditional means of livelihood; fishing. There is a relatively high level of ignorance (compared with other women living in the same local government area (LGA) of causes of the commonest diseases such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection (ARI) and measles. A majority of the women have never heard of family planning, immunization against diseases and interventions such as ORT. Promotive health care services, especially those that strive to reduce the high mortality of children have passed the mothers by. It is also becoming impracticable to promote ORT because of the widespread ‘salty and oily’ water supply in the area. The greatest concern of the women now is that oil drilling activities have further amplified their stressful conditions especially their health and that of their children. Unfortunately, their plight is not acknowledged by the Nigerian authorities and the oil companies are least concerned about alleviating the poor health status of the community, in particular the most vulnerable groups, children under the age of five. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

中国石炭纪生物礁造礁群落演化

中国石炭纪造礁群落是弗拉斯期—法门期生物绝灭事件后新兴起的。该群落在早期演化过程中经历了形成、发展、完善和衰落的过程,构成一个群落演化旋回。晚期又开始新一轮的旋回,群落的二分性十分显著。显然,石炭纪造礁群落代表一个不连续的演化过程。     

Geochemical engineering; taking stock

Geochemical engineering makes use of optimized geochemical processes for the solution of environmental problems. It has developed in a few years from a collection of unrelated scientific and technological incidents into a coherent concept about how and where we can improve our geo-environment. All solutions to problems of pollution are based on neutralization/breakdown, concentration, dilution, isolation or immobilization, which serve to eliminate the pollutant, make it more manageable, or prevent its entry into the mobile phase, usually water, from which it can affect the biosphere. All of these solutions have their counterpart in nature, where many examples are found of high concentrations of potentially harmful substances. A major prerequisite of geochemical engineering solutions is that they should be compatible with the natural evolution of the system in its geo-environment. The advantages of this approach are that we can devise low-cost technologies (nature does most of the hard work itself), interfere least with nature, and quite often end up with useful by-products. Disadvantages are that technologies based on natural geochemical processes tend to be slow. The application of geochemical engineering concepts requires a better understanding of our environment and its ongoing processes than is necessary for a ‘classical' technology. In most environmental technologies the conditions are externally imposed on the system to be treated, and the natural evolution of the system is eliminated, or at best neglected. The concept of seeking a closer conformity with nature is paralleled in other disciplines like agriculture or the medical sector, where we see a similar evolution in the direction of techniques that are more in harmony with nature. Geochemical engineering brings many advantages, particularly in developing countries, or in countries where the state of the economy does not permit the introduction of expensive high-tech environmental technologies. So far, most of the applications of geochemical engineering concepts have focussed on solutions to environmental problems, but there are a number of cases where the environmental issue is more indirect, as e.g. in civil engineering. Geochemical engineering may be practised on a large, almost global scale, down to that of individual minerals, in accordance with the fact that geochemical processes also act on vastly different scales. An overview will be given of some of the problems that are being studied.     

二连盆地侏罗系地层热演化史研究

本文应用磷灰石裂变径迹,镜质体动力学模型等方法恢复二连盆地侏罗系地层的热演化史,二连盆地图参１井磷灰石退火浓度为１６００－２７７４ｍ,对应的退火温度为６４－１０２．７℃,图参１井现今温度小于最高古地温,这是由于二连盆地地温梯度逐渐降低及地层发生抬升和剥蚀所致。根据磷灰石裂变径迹分析和镜质体动力学模型模拟图参１井的热演化史,在晚侏罗世时其经受的最高地温梯度分别为７℃／ｈｍ和６℃／ｈｍ。侏罗系地层在晚     

Microclimatic characterization of a karstic cave: human impact on microenvironmental parameters of a prehistoric rock art cave (Candamo Cave, northern Spain)

The Candamo Cave contains an important group of paleolithic paintings which have been seriously deteriorated due to mass tourism. In this work, an analysis was carried out of different climatic parameters (CO₂, temperature, humidity, ²²²Rn) during annual cycles with the cave closed to the public and during an experimental period of controlled visits. The effect of visits on the geochemical characteristics of karstic water was also analyzed together with the cave ventilation. The natural variations in the cave air CO₂ were above 3000 ppm, the increase produced through visits was only 100–110 ppm and since the humidity is almost permanently at saturation point, the critical parameter which limits the visitor capacity becomes air temperature. The temperature changes during the annual cycle are of the order of 1  °C in the external part and less than 0.5  °C in the internal part of the cave and a maximum increase of 0.13  °C was observed during the period of the visits. The ²²²Rn and CO₂ concentration minimums in the summer period (July–October) show that this is the most propitious time for visits, since the greatest ventilation is produced in the cave at this time and, therefore, the greatest capacity for recovery. The geochemistry of the water, on the other hand, indicated that this is the period of the year in which processes of wall corrosion can be most easily introduced, although this would be of limited magnitude. The visitor capacity calculated was 29 visitors/day. Received: 29 August 1996 · Accepted: 23 June 1997     

Life in sandy deserts: the scorpion model

The biology, ecology, biogeography, phylogeny, and evolution of sand-dwelling scorpions are reviewed. We present general features of sand that form the ecological theatre on which psammophiles have evolved. Sand scorpions, compared to those that live off sand, are not very diverse in any one local habitat, although they are often relatively abundant. Worldwide, they are represented by 29 genera, 11 of which exist exclusively in sand. Endemic genera belong to non-related families, suggesting that psammophilic adaptations evolvedin situin different sand deserts of the world.     

Post-Palaeozoic evolution of weathered landsurfaces in Uganda by tectonically controlled deep weathering and stripping

A model for the evolution of weathered landsurfaces in Uganda is developed using available geotectonic, climatic, sedimentological and chronological data. The model demonstrates the pivotal role of tectonic uplift in inducing cycles of stripping, and tectonic quiescence for cycles of deep weathering. It is able to account for the development of key landforms, such as inselbergs and duricrust-capped plateaux, which previous hypotheses of landscape evolution that are based on climatic or eustatic controls are unable to explain. Development of the Ugandan landscape is traced back to the Permian. Following late Palaeozoic glaciation, a trend towards warmer and more humid climates through the Mesozoic enabled deep weathering of the Jurassic/mid-Cretaceous surface in Uganda during a period of prolonged tectonic quiescence. Uplift associated with the opening South Atlantic Ocean terminated this cycle and instigated a cycle of stripping between the mid-Cretaceous and early Miocene. Deep weathering on the succeeding Miocene to recent (African) surface has occurred from Miocene to present but has been interrupted in the areas adjacent to the western rift where development of a new drainage base level has prompted cycles of stripping in the Miocene and Pleistocene.     

陕西神府矿区束鸡沟流域风蚀水蚀交互作用特征研究

以神府矿区束鸡沟为典型小流域,讨论了风蚀水蚀交互作用的时空分布及其特征。风蚀水蚀交互作用在沙质坡面,坡面切沟和沙质沟道区表现最为突出,并形成了风蚀水蚀交互作用特有的侵蚀形态。     

地震前兆场的演化和能量非线性聚集的关系

运用非均匀介质中“非线性振动的局域能量聚集”过程,模拟唐山７．８级和大同６．１级地震的前兆场演化,发现地震孕育过程中出现的诸多前兆特征与地壳内构造能量的非线性聚集有关。     

云南楚雄前陆盆地晚三叠世沉积建造及盆地演化

根据沉积建造的类型、系列和体态认为楚雄盆地在晚三叠世经历了３个明显的发育阶段：第一阶段为早期聚敛碰撞阶段,发育了黑色页岩建造和碳酸盐复理石建造;第二阶段为构造相对静止期,发育了火山复理石建造和陆源复理石建造;第三阶段为盆地充填阶段,发育了海相磨拉石建造和陆相磨拉石建造。３个阶段中的沉积建造属于次稳定型和非稳定型两大类。