Abyssal geography†

Today, we are held to live in the Anthropocene, bringing to an end modern binary imaginaries, such as the separation between Human and Nature, and with them Western assumptions of progress, linear causality and human exceptionalism. Much Western critical theory, from new or vital materialism to post- and more-than-human thinking, unsurprisingly reflects this internal crisis of faith in Eurocentric or Enlightenment reasoning. At the same time, a radically different critique of modernity has gained prominence in recent years, emerging from critical Black studies, which places the Caribbean at the centre of the development of a new and distinct mode of critical thought. In attempting to grasp the ways in which Caribbean thought and practice have been seen to enable a distinctive alternative non-Eurocentric imaginary, this paper heuristically sets out a paradigmatic framing of ‘abyssal geography’. We emphasize two key points. The first is that abyssal thought is not grounded in abstract and timeless philosophical assumptions but figuratively draws upon aspects of Caribbean practices of resistance and survival, for example, from the Middle Passage, Plantation, carnival, creolization, dance forms and speculative fiction. The second is that abyssal work engages the legacies of modernity and coloniality by explicitly seeking to question the lure of ontology: seeking to disrupt, suspend and to problematize the modern project of the human and the world.     

山东省地层古生物工作研究新进展

地层古生物研究工作对促进基础地质发展,指导矿产勘查等具有十分重要的意义。近年来山东省地质科学研究院通过对全省地层古生物化石研究,在生物地层、年代地层方面取得了重要进展;通过开展全国古生物化石保护工程规划研究、山东省重要古生物化石保护规划研究、胶莱盆地白垩纪脊椎动物化石保护、开发方案与规划研究等,为古生物化石保护、开发规划及其编制提供了科学依据;通过对济南、临沭、诸城、莱阳、临朐、莒南等地质公园古生物化石的调查研究,为地质公园的科学定位、科学研究、科学普及以及地学旅游发展提供了重要的科学指导,对推动社会经济可持续发展起到了支撑作用;通过开展地层古生物研究,为相关的地质找矿工作提供了基础理论依据;通过以上工作,为山东省培养了一批地层古生物人才,建立了一支技术过硬、力量雄厚、结构合理的专家团队。     

The Social Nature of Participatory Ecological Monitoring

Participatory ecological monitoring brings together conservationists and members of the public to collect data about changes in nature. This article scrutinizes the “social nature” of such monitoring, considering not only its impacts for nature, but also society, and importantly the ways in which these interact. Drawing on the field of nature–society studies we present a framework with which to explore case studies from the community forests of Nepal. We document the importance of multiple knowledges of nature, including what is referred to as “local monitoring” and its relation to the scientific procedures promoted in participatory monitoring; the consequences of participatory monitoring as a situated and embodied practice, such that it may (re)produce social inequalities; and the place of monitoring within the wider socioecological regime, with regard to possible unintended consequences for both nature and society. This article thus expands our understanding of the complexities of this increasingly popular approach to conservation.     

全球地表覆盖高分辨率遥感制图

全球地表覆盖分布及变化是气候变化研究、生态环境评估、地理国情监测、宏观调控分析等不可或缺的重要基础信息.国际上现有全球五套地表覆盖数据产品的空间分辨率为1 km或300 m,数据精度、分类体系、时空分辨率等均存在不足.为了满足全球变化研究与地球模式模拟的需求,应该研制具有较高时空分辨率、更符合全球变化需要、精度较好的全...     

中国的世界地理研究进展与展望

本文总结近年来中国地理学家在世界地理学科领域的研究进展,并分析指出其存在的问题及未来的发展方向。近年来,地缘政治日益成为世界地理学者研究的热点领域,研究成果涉及地缘政治学相关理论,世界热点地区的地缘政治格局变化趋势以及大国与周边地区地缘政治形势对中国的影响等;国际投资和跨国公司地理一直是世界地理学者关注的重点领域,近年来尤其在跨国公司研发全球化问题的研究方面取得了一些重要成果;此外,在世界城市和区域发展的实证研究以及全球资源与环境治理方面也有不少成果。由于种种原因,当前我国世界地理学科的发展尚存在许多问题,一是研究力量薄弱,二是研究水平不高,三是研究经费严重不足。这三方面的问题互为因果,致使世界地理学科的发展处境每况愈下。为此,作者提出振兴世界地理学科的行动计划,包括组织举办“地理学与中国全球战略高层论坛”;加强全球性重大问题的专题研究;加强周边国家以及与我国经济关系密切国家的综合研究等。     

NOTES ON THE RISE OF THE AREA STUDIES TRADITION IN U.S. GEOGRAPHY, 1910–1929*

Area studies emerged as the leading tradition in American geography during the second decade of this century, supplanting the earth science tradition. The man-land tradition, reaching its peak during the second and third decades, never became as dominant as did the area studies tradition, based on a classification of the number of articles published, papers presented at annual AAG meetings, doctoral dissertations, and philosophical and methodological pronouncements by noted figures in American geography.     

Numerical versus field studies of delayed yield in response to a moving water-table

As pumping proceeds in an unconfined aquifer the water-table is lowered and slowly drains out of the initially saturated material giving a delayed yield from storage. Although considerable work has been carried out on delayed yield, a definitive solution is still lacking. The unsaturated zone was treated here as a significant factor in delayed yield analysis. The one-dimensional unsaturated flow equation was solved numerically to simulate the flow in the zone located between successive water levels in the unconfined aquifer for the case with zero flux at the upper boundary. The moisture content distribution curve was integrated numerically to determine the amount of water drained with time. The study shows that the numerical results are in close agreement with the monitored field data, which implies the important role of the unsaturated zone and the reliability of the numerical simulation in describing this physical phenomenon. The results show that the relationship between the flux and time is sensibly in exponential form, which agrees with the general applicability of Boulton's assumption.     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: The Vanishing Farmland Crisis, Critical Views of the Movement to Preserve Agricultural Land . John Baden Protecting Farmlands . Frederick R. Steiner and John E. Theilacker Ecological Effects of Fire in South African Ecosystems . Peter de V. Booysen and Neil M. Tainton Geography in China . Wu Chuanjun , Wang Nailiang , Lin Chao and Zhao Songqiao Resource Inventory and Baseline Study Methods for Developing Countries . Francis Conant , Peter Rogers , Marion Baumgardner , Cyrus Mc Kell , Raymond Dasmann, and Priscilla Reining Principles of Remote Sensing . Paul J. Curran Famine As A Geographical Phenomenon . Bruce Currey and Graeme Hugo The Suburban Squeeze: Land Conversion and Regulation in the San Francisco Bay Area . David E. Dowall Senses of Place . John Eyles Uneven Development and the Geographical Transfer of Value . D. K. Forbes and P. J. Rimmer Issues in Wilderness Management . Michael Frome Land-use and Prehistory in South-east Spain , The London Research Series in Geography 8. Antonio Gilman and John B. Thornes with Stephen Wise Regions in Question, Space, Development Theory and Regional Policy . Charles Gore The Colorado River: Instability and Basin Management . William L. Graf Hazardous Waste Sites: The Credibility Gap . Michael R. Greenberg and Richard F. Anderson Peasants, Subsistence Ecology, and Development in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea . Lawrence S. Grossman Silver Cities: The Photography of American Urbanization, 1839-1915 Peter B. Hales Silicon Landscapes . Peter Hall and Ann Markusen Remaking Ibieca: Rural Life in Aragon under Franco . Susan F. Harding The European Energy Challenge: East and West . George W. Hoffman The Global Climate . John T. Houghton The Urban Jobless in Eastern Africa . Abel G. M. Ishumi . The Tourist: Travel in Twentieth-Century North America . John A. Jakle City and Society: An Outline for Urban Geography . R. J. Johnston Residential Segregation, The State and Constitutional Conflict in American Urban Areas . R. J. Johnston Accessibility and Utilization: Geographical Perspectives on Health Care Delivery . Alun E. Joseph and David R. Phillips To the Heart of Asia: The Life of Sven Hedin . George Kish North American Culture , Vol 1. Ary J. Lamme III Past and Present in the Americas: A Compendium of Recent Studies . John Lynch Ethnicity in Contemporary America: A Geographical Appraisal . Jesse O. Mc Kee The Shell Countryside Book . Richard Muir and Eric Duffey 1990 Planning Conference Series. Proceedings of the National Geographic Areas Conference . Proceedings of the Regional Geographic Areas Conferences Wood, Brick, and Stone: The North American Settlement Landscape . Vol. 2: Barns and Farm Structures . Allen G. Noble Bangladesh: Biography of a Muslim Nation . Charles Peter O'donnell     

Scientific objectives and selection of targets for the SMART-1 Infrared Spectrometer (SIR)

The European SMART-1 mission to the Moon, primarily a testbed for innovative technologies, was launched in September 2003 and will reach the Moon in 2005. On board are several scientific instruments, including the point-spectrometer SMART-1 Infrared Spectrometer (SIR). Taking into account the capabilities of the SMART-1 mission and the SIR instrument in particular, as well as the open questions in lunar science, a selection of targets for SIR observations has been compiled. SIR can address at least five topics: (1) Surface/regolith processes; (2) Lunar volcanism; (3) Lunar crust structure; (4) Search for spectral signatures of ices at the lunar poles; and (5) Ground truth and study of geometric effects on the spectral shape. For each topic we will discuss specific observation modes, necessary to achieve our scientific goals. The majority of SIR targets will be observed in the nadir-tracking mode. More than 100 targets, which require off-nadir pointing and off-nadir tracking, are planned. It is expected that results of SIR observations will significantly increase our understanding of the Moon. Since the exact arrival date and the orbital parameters of the SMART-1 spacecraft are not known yet, a more detailed planning of the scientific observations will follow in the near future.