~ Mother Earth ~
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Gaspé Peninsula
The Gaspé Peninsula or just the Gaspé (la Gaspésie in French) is a North American peninsula on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River, in Quebec. It extends into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and is bounded on the south by New Brunswick, from which it is partially divided by Chaleur Bay and the Restigouche River.
NASA satellite image of the Gaspé Peninsula. Part of Anticosti Island appears to the northeast
The interior is rugged, being a northward extension of the Appalachian Mountains. A section of the International Appalachian Trail travels along the peninsula.
Highway 132 circles the peninsula, with one branch following the coast and the other cutting across the peninsula at Sainte-Flavie. Forillon National Park is found at the tip of the Gaspé.
Together with the Magdalen Islands, the Gaspé makes up the Quebec region of Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
There is a town on the peninsula that is also called Gaspé. The easternmost point of the peninsula jutting into the Gulf of St. Lawrence is called Cap Gaspé.
The name "Gaspé" comes from a Mi'kmaq word gespeg meaning "land's end".
Inside the coast
Travelling along the northern shore of the Gaspé Peninsula, a small highway numbered the 198 turns off towards the higher lands of the Gaspé Peninsula. A few minutes into your voyage up from sea level, the majestic beauty of the forest of the Gaspé Peninsula will captivate your attention. As you head further and further into the hills, you'll cross several small rivers and reach the town of Murdochville at about 660 meters up from sea level. The small town has been around for 50 years or so and offers a large history of ups and downs. Currently, the small town is leading the way in the development of several large windmill farms that are amazing to see. The towers sprout up over the city limits with one of the largest wind generating capacities in the world. As you continue along your voyage, the 198 winds its way along the York River to spill out on the city of Gaspé.
Southern coast
At the communities of Restigouche and Gesgapegiag there are sizeable Mi'kmaq settlements. There is a small remnant left of a once-thriving English-speaking community. It is found opposite New Brunswick and on the coast of Chaleur Bay, especially in the settlements of Carleton and New Carlisle; despite these origins, the majority of people speak French. As a tribute to the colonial Loyalist communities that once inhabited the now more diverse area, a section of New-Richmond has recreated a Loyalist settlement (called le village loyaliste).
Issue #215 -
Taklamakan
The Taklamakan (also Taklimakan) is a desert of Central Asia, in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Some references state that Taklamakan means "if you go in, you won't come out"; others state that it means "Desert of Death" or "Place of no return".
Dust storm in Taklamakan from space, June 25, 2005
"Makan" is a Turkic word meaning "place", of Arabic origin: the word may mean something different if treated as original pre-Islamic native Turkic.
It covers an area of 270,000 km² of the Tarim Basin, extending between roughly 78° to 88° E longitude and 37° to 40° N latitude. It is crossed at its northern and at its southern edge by two branches of the Silk Road. The key oasis towns are Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan (Hetian) in the South-West, Kuqa and Turfan in the North, and Loulan and Dunhuang in the East.
The White Jade River flows into the Taklamakan.
The archeological treasures found in its sand buried ruins point to Tocharian, early Hellenistic, and Indian/Buddhistic influences. Its treasures and dangers have been vividly described by Aurel Stein, Sven Hedin, Albert von Le Coq, and Paul Pelliot.
Numerous mummies, some 4,000 years old, have been found in the region. They show the wide range of peoples who have passed through. Many of the mummies appear European and may have been members of the Tocharian people, who spoke an Indo-European language.
Later, the Taklamakan was inhabited by Turkic peoples. Starting with the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese periodically extended their control to the oasis cities of the Taklamakan in order to control the important silk route trade across Central Asia. Periods of Chinese rule were interspersed with rule by Turkic and Mongol and Tibetan peoples. The present population consists largely of Turkic Uyghur and Kazakh people in the countryside, while the population of the larger cities is predominantly Han Chinese.
Bruce Sterling has written a science fiction short story titled Taklamakan and set in this desert.
Issue #216 -
Bay of Plenty
The Bay of Plenty, often abbreviated to BoP, is a region of New Zealand situated around the body of water of the same name.
The bay itself
The bay stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. The region is bound by the Kaimai and Mamaku Ranges in the west and extends inland to the sparsely populated forest lands around Rotorua, Kawerau and Murupara. Several islands are located in the bay, notably Mayor Island/Tuhua, Motiti Island, Whale Island and, most famously, the active volcano of Whakaari/White Island.
Location of Bay of Plenty
The bay was named by James Cook some time during October or November 1769. Cook named it the Bay of Plenty after he noticed the abundant food supplies at several Maori villages he visited on the coast, in stark contrast to the observations he had made earlier in Poverty Bay.
The region
The local government region has a 2004 estimated population of 257,500, which is forecasted to increase to 277,900 by the year 2011. The region is dominated by two cities: Tauranga (population 106,500) and Rotorua (55,100). As a compromise between the cities, the town of Whakatane was selected as the seat for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. Other towns in the region include Te Puke, Katikati and Opotiki. Agriculture and tourism are the region's two main industries, with the geothermal region around Rotorua being a popular tourist destination.
Issue #217 -
Malaspina Glacier
The Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier in non-polar North America. It is about 65 km (40 mi) wide and 45 km (28 mi) long, with an area of some 3,900 sq km (1,500 sq mi).
The Malaspina Glacier is so large that it can only seen in its entirety from space; this 1994 photo from STS-66, on a rare clear day, is of an area about 100 km (60 mi) across.
It forms where several valley glaciers, primarily the Seward Glacier and Agassiz Glacier, spill out from the Saint Elias Mountains onto the coastal plain facing the Gulf of Alaska between Icy Bay and Yakutat Bay. Although it fills the plain, nowhere does it actually reach the water and so does not qualify as a tidewater glacier.
The Malaspina is up to 600 meters thick in places, with a bottom estimated at up to 300 meters below sea level. There are two lakes on the margin of the glacier; Oily Lake at the foot of the Samovar Hills between the Agassiz and Seward glaciers, and Malaspina Lake at the southeast margin, close to Yakutat Bay.
Study of radar data and aerial photographs dating back to 1972 shows that the Malaspina-Seward system lost about 20 m (60 ft) of its thickness between 1980 and 2000; because the glacier is so large, that was sufficient to contribute 1/2 of one percent of the rise in the global sea level.
The glacier is protected within the boundaries of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.
Issue #218 -
Danube-Black Sea Canal
The Danube-Black Sea Canal is a canal in Romania which runs from Cernavodã on the Danube to Agigea (southern arm) and Nãvodari (northern arm) on the Black Sea.
Danube in blue, the Danube-Black Sea Canal in red
Statistics
It opened in 1984, and the 64km canal reduces the distance by boat from Constanta to Cernavoda; by 400 km, being an important part of the European canal system that links the North Sea to the Black Sea. The Canal has a width of 60 metres and a depth of 7 metres. The Northern arm has a length of 26.6 km, width of 50 m and a depth of 5.5 metres.
A barge on the Danube-Black Sea Canal
Construction
The canal took over nine years to construct, 300 million m³ of soil was excavated, by hand, by over 30,000 people. 4.2 million m³ of reinforced concrete was used in the construction.
There earliest plans for building of this canal were created in 1839, but after the building of a railway connection in 1860, goods could be easily transported from Constanta by railroad, so the plans were forgotten. In 1927, the Romanian engineer Jean Stonescu made a new set of plans.
The construction began only in 1949. During the communist purges, more than 40,000 people, most of them convicts for political reasons in Romanian forced-labour camps, were worked to death on the project between 1949 and 1953. As such, it became known as the Death Canal (Canalul Mortii in Romanian). In 1953, the project came again to a halt, all work being cessed for another 23 years. In 1976, the project was reopened and the southern arm was finished in 1984, with the northern arm being finished in 1987.
Map of the forced labour camps at the Canal
The cost of the building of the canal is estimated to be around $2 billion, and was supposed to be recovered in 50 years. However, nowadays it has a yearly profit of only a little over €3 million.
Issue #219 -
Tonga Trench
The Tonga Trench is located in the Pacific ocean and is 32,000 ft (9,900 m) deep.
Tonga Trench is marked by solid line with barbs on overriding plate. Dashed line represents the trend of the Vitiaz Trench lineament, and dotted-dashed line show trend of the Fiji Fracture Zone. Trend of Louisville Ridge marked by dotted line.
The trench and its forearc form an active convergent margin between two plates of the lithosphere, the Pacific Plate being subducted into the earth's semi-molten aesthenosphere, and the northeastern corner of the Australian Plate overriding it. The Tonga trench extends north-northeast from the North Island of New Zealand.
The convergence is taking place at breath-taking speed: a rate estimated at approximately 15 cm/yr (by Lonsdale, 1986); however, recent Global Positioning Satellite measurements indicate in places a convergence of 24 cm/yr across the northern Tonga Trench, which is the fastest plate velocity yet recorded on the planet (Bevis et al., 1995).
Such oceanic trenches are important sites for the formation of what will become continental crust and for recycling of material back into the mantle. Along the Tonga Trench mantle-derived melts are transferred to the island arc systems, and abyssal oceanic sediments and fragments of oceanic crust are collected.
Issue #220 -
Camel's Hump
Camel's Hump is Vermont's third highest mountain, but perhaps its most recognized. Part of the Green Mountain range, it is one of the oldest mountains on earth. With its neighbor to the north, Mount Mansfield, it borders the notch that the antecedent Winooski River has carved through this area over eons.
Camel's Hump, Vermont, USA
Camel's Hump is more notable for its shape than its height of 4,083 feet. Isolated from neighboring peaks by the Winooski Valley and glacial action, the mountain's conical silhouette is distinctive, if misleading. While it looks somewhat volcanic from the east and west, the movement of glacial ice created its current form. It has two "humps", with the southernmost being the higher, and a steep drop to the south as a result of a quarrying action of the ice passing over it.
Since Europeans first saw the mountain, probably on Samuel de Champlain's 1609 trip down Lake Champlain to the west, it has had a number of names related to its shape. "Camel's Hump" is a modified version of "Camel's Rump." The "Couching Lion" was an earlier name, a version of the French heraldic lion couchant image.
A view northwest from Camel's Hump mountain in Vermont, looking toward Lake Champlain.
The Abnaki name for the mountain was "ta wak be dee esso wadso," or "tahwahbodeay wadso" (wadso meaning mountain), which has been variously translated as "resting place", "sit-down place", and "prudently, we make a campfire in a circle near water (and rest) at this mountain."
One of only two spots of true Arctic tundra in Vermont exists on the summit (the other being on Mount Mansfield).
Camel's Hump is featured on the state seal and the state quarter.
Issue #221 -
Celtic Sea
The Celtic Sea is that area of the Atlantic Ocean which is bounded by the south coast of Ireland, the southwest coast of Wales and the north coast of Devon and Cornwall in England west of the Bristol Channel. It does not really have south and west boundaries, although it is generally considered to stop at the same longitude as the west edge of Ireland and at the same latitude as the western tip of Brittany.
Map of the Celtic Sea, an arm of the Atlantic.
The name is commonly used by workers in the oil and fishing industries to avoid nationalist connotations. The Celtic Sea is separated from the Irish Sea by St George's Channel.
Coccoliths in the Celtic Sea.
Issue #222 -
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It was formed some 3 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch. It lies in the nation of Panama, and is cut by the Panama Canal. Like many isthmuses, it is a location of great strategic value due to its importance in both land and sea transportation.
Isthmus of Panama
Issue #223 -
Cox's Bazar
Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh is the world's longest natural beach (120 km). It is located 152 km south of Chittagong. Cox’s Bazar is also known by the name “Panowa”, the literal translation of which means “yellow flower”. Its other old name was “Palongkee”. The modern Cox's Bazar derives its name from Lieutenant Cox (died 1798), an army officer serving in British India. It is also one of the fishing ports of Bangladesh.
Cox's Bazar
History
The history of the place goes back to the Mughal period. On his way to Arakan, when the Mughal Prince Shah Shuja passed through the hilly terrain of the present day CoxÂ’s Bazar, he was attracted to the scenic and captivating beauty of the place. He commanded his forces to camp there and his retinue moving into 1,000 palanquins halted there for some time. A place named Dulahazara, meaning "1,000 palanquins", still exists in the area.
Sunset in Cox's Bazar
After the Mughals, the place came under the control of the Tipras and the Arakanese, followed by the Portuguese and then the British. After Independence it remained as part of East Pakistan. In 1971, the wharf was used as a naval port by Pakistan Navy's gunboats. This and the nearby airstrip of Pakistan Air Force was the scene of intense shelling by the Indian Navy during the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Places
CoxÂ’s Bazar, mostly famous for its beautiful sea beach and the sunset, has several other attractions including:
- Aggmeda Khyang, a large Buddhist monastery, and a place revered by around 400,000 Buddhist people of CoxÂ’s Bazar; and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
- Himchari, located about 32 km south of CoxÂ’s Bazar, is a picnic spot and famous for its waterfalls.
- Inani, also 32 km south of CoxÂ’s Bazar offers sea bathing.
- Maheskhali is a small island (268 suare kilometers) off the CoxÂ’s Bazar coast. The island offers panoramic scenic beauty and is covered by low hills and mangrove forests. Adinath, a temple of Shiva, and a Buddhist pagoda are also located on the island.
- Ramu, about 16 km from CoxÂ’s Bazar, is the name of a village with sizeable Buddhist population. The village is famous for its handicrafts and homemade cigars.
- Sonadia Island, a small island of only 9 square kilometers
Teknaf, a place situated by the side of Naaf river is the southernmost part of Bangladesh. The place is home to several birds and wild animals.
Cox's Bazar
Issue #224 -
Cinnabar
Cinnabar (German Zinnober), sometimes written cinnabarite, is a name applied to red mercury(II) sulfide (HgS), or native vermilion, the common ore of mercury. The name comes from the Greek, used by Theophrastus, and was probably applied to several distinct substances. Other sources say the word comes from the Persian zinjifrah, originally meaning "lost".
Cinnabar
Cinnabar was mined by the Roman Empire for its mercury content and it has been the main ore of mercury throughout the centuries. Some mines used by the Romans are still being mined today. It is generally found as a vein-filling mineral associated with recent volcanic activity and alkaline hot springs.
Cinnabar is generally found in a massive, granular or earthy form, and is bright scarlet to brick red in color. However, it occasionally occurs in crystals with a metallic adamantine luster. The crystals belong to the rhombohedral (trigonal) system, and are generally of rhombohedral habit, sometimes twinned. The twinning in cinnabar is distinctive and forms a penetration twin that is ridged with six ridges surrounding the point of a pryamid. It could be thought of as two scalahedral crystals grown together with one crystal going the opposite way of the other crystal.
Cinnabar presents remarkable resemblance to quartz in its symmetry and optical characteristics. Like quartz, it exhibits circular polarization, and Alfred Des Cloizeaux showed that it possessed fifteen times the optical rotatory power of quartz. It has higher refractive power than any other known mineral, its mean index for sodium light being 3.02, while the index for diamond—a substance of remarkable refraction—is only 2.42. The hardness of cinnabar is 2 - 2.5, and its specific gravity 8.998.
Cinnabar crystals on Dolomite from China.
Cinnabar is found in all localities which yield mercury, notably Almaden (Spain), New Almaden (California), Idrija (Slovenia), Landsberg, near Ober-Moschel in the Palatinate, Ripa, at the foot of the Apuan Alps (Tuscany), the mountain Avala (Serbia), Huancavelica (Peru), Terlingua (Texas), and the province of Guizhou in China, where very fine crystals have been obtained. Cinnabar is still being deposited at the present day from the hot waters of Sulphur Bank, in California, and Steamboat Springs, Nevada.
Hepatic cinnabar is an impure variety from Idrija in Carniola, in which the cinnabar is mixed with bituminous and earthy matter.
Metacinnabarite is a cubic form of mercury(II) sulfide, this compound being dimorphous.
Cinnabar may be associated with elemental (liquid) mercury and thus be dangerous to handle. Body temperature is often enough to vaporize the mercury out of the rock and this gas can be absorbed through the skin.
Issue #225 -
Kariba Dam
The Kariba Dam is a hydroelectric dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin in Southern Africa. The double curvature concrete arch dam was constructed between 1955 and 1959 at a cost of $135,000,000 for the first stage with only the Kariba South power cavern. Final construction and the additon of the Kariba North Power cavern was not completed until 1977 due to largely political problems for a total cost of $480,000,000. Around 100 workers were killed during construction.
Kariba Dam
It is one of the largest dams in the world at 128 m high and 579 m long. The Kariba supplies 1,320 MW of electricity to parts of both Zambia (the Copperbelt) and Zimbabwe and generates 6,400 GW·h (23 PJ) per annum. Lake Kariba, the reservoir created by the dam, extends for 280 km with a storage capacity of 180 km³.
Lake Kariba
The creation of the reservoir forced resettlement of about 57,000 people living along the Zambezi. In 1960 to 1961, 'Operation Noah' captured and removed around 6,000 large animals and numerous small ones threatened by the lake's rising waters.
Reservoir-induced quakes
Since its construction and filling in the early 1960s, the area has experienced numerous earthquakes, 20 of them in excess of magnitude 5 on the Richter scale, believed to have been induced by the dam reservoir. Seismologists are uncertain as to the exact cause of these quakes as reservoir-induced quakes are still not well understood.
Issue #226 -
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean and various rivers in the United States. It lies between the coast of Connecticut to the north and Long Island to the south. It is also known as "The Gold Coast" due to its breathtaking properties along the shoreline. Many mansions along with wealthy neighborhoods characterize a good portion of the sound from the cityline of New York out to Setauket and Port Jefferson. The towns of Orient, Greenport, East Marion, Southold, and Mattituck have smaller populations are are located on the extreme eastern tip of the Long Island Sound. They offer great property value as well. And,On the extreme western end, it is bounded on the north side by Westchester County, New York and the Bronx, and connects to the East River. On its eastern end it is connected to Block Island Sound. The sound is considered by some to be the natural border between New England and the Mid-Atlantic states.
New York City waterways: 1. Hudson River, 2. East River, 3. Long Island Sound, 4. Newark Bay, 5. Upper New York Bay, 6. Lower New York Bay, 7. Jamaica Bay, 8. Atlantic Ocean
The Sound is 110 miles (177 km) long and 21 miles (34 km) wide at its widest point. It has an average depth of 78 feet (24 m), with the deepest point being 300 feet (90 m). The volume of water in the Sound is 8 trillion US gallons (30 km³). Including all islands, the Long Island Sound has a shoreline of 548 miles (882 km).
Long Island Sound is shown highlighted in pink between Connecticut (to the north) and Long Island (to the south).
The first European to record the existence of Long Island Sound was the Dutch navigator Adriaen Block, who entered the sound from the East River in 1614.
Several major cities are situated along the Long Island Sound, resulting in a total of more than 8 million people living within its watershed. Major Connecticut cities on the Sound include Bridgeport, New London, Stamford, Norwalk, and New Haven. New York cities on the Sound include New York City (the Bronx borough).
Ferries provide service between Long Island and Connecticut, notably between Port Jefferson, New York and Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Orient Point, New York and New London, Connecticut. Some of the ferries that cross the Long Island Sound carry automobiles as well as passengers.
Underwater cables transmit electricity under the Long Island Sound, most notably the controversial Cross-Sound Cable that runs from New Haven in western Connecticut, to Brookhaven in central Long Island. Scientists debate whether or not these cables are safe for the fragile Long Island Sound environment, especially the underwater lifeforms.
Long Island Sound near Guilford, Connecticut
The Long Island Sound side differs from the Atlantic Ocean side of Long Island because the shorelines here are rocky. The Atlantic Ocean side remains sandy with no rocks. This is due to the formation of Long Island nearly 10,000 years ago as glaciers formed the fish-shaped island.
Many attempts have been made to build a bridge over the sound, including a bridge from Rye, New York to Oyster Bay, New York, from New Haven, Connecticut to Shoreham, New York on Long Island and from Orient Point, New York to Rhode Island.
Long Island Sound has historically had a rich fishery, but in recent years the western part of the sound has become increasingly deficient of marine life. The fishing and lobstering industries have encouraged efforts to identify the cause of the dead water and rectify the problem.
Major environmental problems currently affecting the Sound include hypoxia, toxic substance and pathogen contamination, debris and other man-made pollution, and overdevelopment.
Issue #227 -
Moroccan Wall
The Moroccan Wall, dubbed The Wall of Shame by the Sahrawi natives of Western Sahara, is a 2,500 km-long system of defensive walls/berms: sand and stone walls about three meters in height with bunkers, fences and landmines, running mainly through Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. A minor section is located in southeastern Morocco.
Map of the Moroccan Wall
The barrier is longer than the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Berlin Wall. It was gradually built beginning in 1983 with two main functions: to keep the guerrilla fighters of the Polisario Front, which has sought Western Saharan independence since before Spain ended its colonial occupation in 1975, outside and the economically valuable two-thirds of the Western Sahara inside. Effectively, the Polisario controls all areas to the east of the barrier, but these areas are mostly uninhabited.
A large number of Sahrawi refugees are in the Tindouf province of Algeria, where the Polisario is based. Because the barrier is doubled in many places, with a significant distance between the two halves, many Sahrawis are forced to live in this no-man's-land with profound constraints on mobility and accessibility.
International reaction
Western attention to the Moroccan Wall, and to the Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara in general, has been minimal, apart from in Spain. Once a year, a small demonstration is held against the barrier by a few human rights activists, many of them Italian.
In Africa, the occupation has attracted somewhat more attention: Algeria, which supports the Polisario, and the Organization of African Unity/African Union and United Nations have proposed negotiated solutions.
Issue #228 -
Tibesti Mountains
The Tibesti Mountains are a group of extinct volcanoes forming a mountain range in the central Sahara desert in the Bourkou-Ennedi-Tibesti prefecture of northern Chad. The northern slopes extend a short distance into southern Libya.
The Tibesti, including Emi Koussi summit, seen from the International Space Station
The mountains are the largest and highest range in the Sahara. The highest peak is Emi Koussi, 3,415 m. Other summits include Kegueur Terbi (3,376 m), Tarso Taro (3,325 m), the active volcano Pic Tousside (3,265 m) and Soborom (3,100 m). While the high peaks themselves are all constituted of volcanic material, the mountains stand on broad uplifted area possibly caused by a mantle plume.
The range has a substantially wetter climate than the arid surrounding desert; annual rainfall is estimated at five inches in some of the highest areas of the mountains.
The area has long been home to the Toubou people, there been trading relations between them and Carthage as far back as the 500's BC. The main town in the area is Zouar, while Bardaï and Aouzou are smaller settlements.
The mountains are known for their cave paintings, mostly dating from the 5th to the 3rd millennium BC, and for the geysers and hot springs around Soboroum.
Issue #229 -
Okavango Delta
The Okavango Delta (or Okavango Swamp), in Botswana, is the world's largest inland delta.
"Where all this water goes is a mystery", Aurel Schultz, 1897
The area was once part of Lake Makgadikgadi, an ancient lake that dried up some 10,000 years ago. Today, the Okavango River has no outlet to the sea. Instead, it empties onto the sands of the Kalahari Desert, irrigating 15,000 km² of the desert. Each year some 11 billion cubic meters of water reach the delta. Some of this water reaches further south to create Lake Ngami.
The Okavango Delta is home to many elephants and other creatures.
The water entering the delta is unusually pure, due to the lack of industrialization along the Okavango River. Because the water does not have an outlet to the sea, significant quantities of salt have been precipitated beneath the islands as the water passes through the sand aquifer.
The waters of the Okavango Delta are subject to seasonal flooding, which begins about mid-summer in the north and six months later in the south. The water from the delta is evaporated relatively rapidly by the high temperatures, resulting in a cycle of cresting and dropping water in the south. Islands can disappear completely during the peak flood, then reappear at the end of the season.
NASA view of Okavango Delta
Wildlife
The Okavango Delta is home to a prosperity of wildlife and attracts thousands of visitors a year. There are number of camps within the delta region that cater to these visitors.
The delta provides a seasonal habitat to about forty species of large mammal. Among these are the elephant, African buffalo, hippopotamus, red lechwe, tsessebe, Blue wildebeests, giraffe, Nile crocodile, lion, cheetah, leopard, and hyena. The delta also includes over 400 species of birds, including fish eagles, crested cranes, and sacred ibis.
Water lillies in the delta
The Namibian government presented plans to build a dam in the Caprivi region to regulate the water-flow. This could be the end for the rich wild and plantlife in the Delta.
Issue #230 -
2004 Chuetsu Earthquake
The Chuetsu Earthquakes began at 5:56 p.m. on Saturday, October 23, 2004 (0856 UT, same day). The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has named these the Heisei 16 Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Earthquakes or The Mid Niigata Prefecture Earthquake of 2004.
Damage
The earthquakes have caused extensive damage. As late as November 3, the 39th fatality attributable to the earthquakes occurred as perceptible aftershocks continued. Over 3,000 injuries have been reported in Niigata Prefecture. Over one hundred thousand people fled their homes. The earthquakes caused houses to collapse in Ojiya and damaged thousands in the area.
Broken asphalt road caused by the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake at Ojiya, Niigata, Japan.
For the first time in its history, a Shinkansen train derailed while in service. Eight out of ten cars of the Toki 325 (a 200 Series Shinkansen) derailed on the Joetsu Shinkansen line between Nagaoka Station in Nagaoka and Urasa Station in Yamato; no injuries were reported among the 155 passengers. Railbeds, bridges and tunnels were all affected. East Japan Railway Company stopped all trains in Niigata Prefecture, including the extensively damaged Joetsu Line, Shinetsu Main Line, Iiyama Line, Tadami Line and Echigo Line. Part of Nagaoka Station appeared ready to collapse as a result of an aftershock, but after a brief closure, the station has reopened.
The segment of the Joetsu Shinkansen between Echigo Yuzawa Station and Nagaoka Station closed. Buses transferred passengers between the two operating segments of the line: Tokyo Station–Echigo Yuzawa Station and Nagaoka Station–Niigata Station.
On December 27, 2004, service resumed on all remaining parts of the Joetsu and Iiyama Lines reopened. On December 28, 2004, the Joetsu Shinkansen, also reopened, the last to do so.
Japan Highways closed all expressways in Niigata Prefecture. Closures affected the Kanetsu Expressway and the Hokuriku Expressway. As of November 4, the Kanetsu Expressway remained closed between Nagaoka Interchange and Koide Interchange. This segment reopened on November 5.
Landslides and other problems forced closure of two national highways, Route 8 and Route 17, as well as several prefectural roads. This isolated several localities, including nearly the entire village of Yamakoshi, which was then a village in the district of Koshi but since merged with and became part of the city of Nagaoka. On July 22, 2005, the government lifted the nine-month-old evacuation order for 528 of the 690 affected households.
Distribution of cooked soup in front of Ojiya City gymnasium, which became a shelter after the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake in Niigata, Japan.
The earthquakes also caused a landslide that partially buried three vehicles. A young boy was rescued from one of these vehicles, but his mother and sister perished. (Recent typhoons had waterlogged the soil, making landslides more likely.)
The quake broke water mains. Extensive electric power, telephone (including cellular telephone) and Internet outages were reported. The cellular telephone system suffered from direct damage to relay stations, as well as depletion of battery back-up power supplies in as little as a day.
Earthquake details
The first quake struck the Chuetsu area of Niigata Prefecture, Japan with a reading of 7 on the Japanese shindo scale at Kawaguchi, Niigata. On the Richter scale, the moment magnitude of the earthquake is estimated at 6.9. (For comparison, the Great Hanshin earthquake, which devastated much of Kobe, measured 7 on the shindo scale, with a magnitude of 7.2.) The earthquake occurred at a depth of 15.8 km. The JMA gave the coordinates of the earthquake as 37.3° N 138.8° W.
A second earthquake occurred at 6:12 p.m. (16 minutes after the first). This one, at a much shallower depth, also caused a shindo of 6+ and had a magnitude of 5.9. A third, at 6:34, had a shindo of 6-;. At 7:46, another shindo 6-; earthquake occurred. Intervening and subsequent earthquakes of lesser intensity also shook the region. During the first 66 hours, 15 earthquakes with intensities of shindo 5-; or higher rocked the Chuetsu region.
In a press release, the Geographical Survey Institute (GSI) of the Government of Japan published preliminary estimates that a fault having a length of 22 km and a width of 17 km moved approximately 1.4 m.
This was the deadliest earthquake to strike Japan since January 1995's Great Hanshin earthquake.
Background
The shindo scale is a scale of intensity, like the Mercalli Intensity Scale. It provides information related to the severity of shaking at the earth's surface, where it affects structures. In contrast, the magnitude of the earthquake describes the energy released by the quake.
Niigata Prefecture is located in the Hokuriku region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The initial earthquake caused noticeable shaking across almost half of Honshu, including parts of the Tohoku, Hokuriku, Chubu, and Kanto regions.
Issue #231 -
Funkturm Berlin
The Berliner Funkturm or Funkturm Berlin (Radio Tower Berlin) is a transmitting tower in Berlin, built between 1924 and 1926 by Heinrich Straumer. It is nicknamed "der lange Lulatsch" ("the lanky lad") and is one of the best-known points of interest in the city of Berlin. It stands in the Berlin fairground in the Charlottenburg Wilmersdorf district. On September 3, 1926 the radio tower was inaugurated on the occasion of the 3. Großen Deutschen Funkausstellung (third Great German radio exhibition). The tower is now a protected monument.
The Funkturm Berlin
Building method
The tower is built as one large steel framework construction, similar to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The 150 m high and approximately 600 metric ton radio tower was originally planned strictly as a transmitting tower, but later additions included a restaurant at a height of approximately 52 m, and observation deck at a height of approximately 125 m. Visitors reach the restaurant and the observation deck by an elevator which travels up to 4 meters per second.
Funkturm - blue illuminated on the occasion of the Funkausstellung 2005
The radio tower has two very notable structural characteristics. First, it sits on a square surface area merely 20 meters to a side. Its ratio of surface area to height is 1:6.9. For comparison, the Eiffel Tower sits on a square 129 meters to a side, giving surface-area-to-height ratio of 1:2.3. Second, the radio tower is probably the only observation tower of the world standing on porcelain insulators. It was designed as the support tower for a T-antenna for medium wave, and the insulators were intended to prevent the drain of the transmitting power down through the tower itself. However, this was impractical, because visitors would have been vulnerable to massive electric shocks, so the tower was later grounded via its elevator shaft. The insulators used were manufactured in the Koeniglich Preussische Porzellanmanufaktur (Royal Prussian Porcelain Factory).
On March 22, 1935, the first regular television program in the world was broadcast from an aerial on the top of the tower. Since 1962, the tower is no longer used for TV transmissions. Since 1973, the radio tower no longer serves as a regular transmission tower for broadcasting purposes, but it is still used as relay station for amateur radio, police radio, and mobile phone services. The last complete renovation took place in the year 1987 in honor of the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin.
Issue #232 -
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km east of Darwin.
Location of Kakadu National Park
General Information
Area: 19,804.00 km²
Nearest city: Darwin
Coordinates: 12° 06' 06" S, 132° 22' 47" E
Established: 1981
Managing authorities: Department of the Environment and Heritage, Aboriginal traditional land owners (the Gun-djeihmi, Kunwinjku and Jawoyn peoples)
IUCN category: II - National Park
Official Site: Kakadu National Park
The name 'Kakadu' comes from an aboriginal floodplain language called Gagudju which was one of the languages spoken in the north of the park at the beginning of the twentieth century. Gagudju is no longer regularly spoken but descendants of this language group are still living in Kakadu.
The park has two seasons, 'wet' and 'dry'. In the wet (October to April) many of the attractions are impossible to get to so that the dry season (May to September) is the peak period for visitors. The local Bininj/Mungguy Aboriginal people recognize six seasons in the Kakadu region:
* Gunumeleng - mid-October to late December, pre-monsoon storm season with hot weather and building thunderstorms building in the afternoons
* Gudjewg - from January to March, monsoon season with thunderstorms, heavy rain, and flooding; the heat and humidity generate an explosion of plant and animal life
* Banggerreng - April, the "knock 'em down storm" season where floodwater recedes but violent, windy storms knock down grasses
* Yegge - from May to mid-June, relatively cool with low humidity, the Aboriginal people historically started burning the woodlands in patches to 'clean the country' and encourage new growth for grazing animals
* Wurrgeng - from mid-June to mid-August, the cold weather season with low humidity; most creeks stop flowing and the floodplains quickly dry out
* Gurrung - from mid-August to mid-October, hot dry weather with ever shrinking billabongs
The attractions include the opportunity to learn about the people, geology, plants and animals which make Kakadu a unique and precious resource, not only for Australians but for all the people in the world. The Bowali Visitor Centre contains a wealth of information about Kakadu. The Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre presents the culture of the local aboriginal people in an accessible way.
Mamukala
However, the wetlands provide the greatest visual pleasure. The freshwater and estaurine (saltwater) crocodiles sleep on the banks of the Alligator Rivers or the many billabongs for most of the day but can also be seen floating or swimming in the water.
Birdlife abounds from the stately Jabiru to the amusing "Jesus" bird (Jacana) as it steps from lily pad to lily pad. At dusk on the Yellow Water billabong (Ngurrungurrudjba), hundred of herons circle overhead landing and taking off from half-submerged trees. Ospreys sit on termite mounds or soar on high looking for prey beneath the still waters. The billabongs of the Kakadu national park are anything but "stagnant pools of water".
Yellow Water Billabong in July
Aboriginal paintings can be studied in overhangs in the Nourlangie area and there are waterfalls and plunge pools in various parts of the park.
Issue #233 -
Great Australian Bight
The Great Australian Bight is a large bight, or open bay, encompassing an area of the Southern Ocean located off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. By definition of the International Hydrographic Bureau, the Great Australian Bight extends eastward from West Cape Howe, Western Australia, to South West Cape, Tasmania. The more generally accepted boundaries are from Cape Pasley, Western Australia, to Cape Carnot, South Australia - a distance of 1,160 km or 720 miles. Much of the Bight lies due south of the expansive Nullarbor Plain, which straddles the two Australian states of South Australia and Western Australia.
The Great Australian Bight south of the Nullarbor. Credit Jacques Descloitres, Visible Earth, NASA.
The Great Australian Bight was first encountered by European explorers in 1627, when a Dutch navigator, Captain Thyssen, sailed along its western margins. The coast was later first accurately charted by the English explorer Captain Matthew Flinders in 1802, during his circumnavigation of the Australian continent. A later land-based survey was accomplished by Edward John Eyre.
The coast line of the Great Australian Bight is characterised by stunning cliff faces (up to 60 m high), surfing beaches and rock platforms, ideal for whale-watching. The waters of the Great Australian Bight, despite being relatively shallow, are not fertile. While most continental shelves are rich in sea life and make popular fishing areas, the barren deserts north of the bight have very little rainfall, and what there is mostly flows inland, to dissipate underground or in salt lakes. In consequence, the Great Australian Bight receives very little of the runoff that fertilises most continental shelves and is essentially a marine desert. It is probably best noted for the large number of sharks that frequent its coastal waters, as well as the increasing numbers of southern right whales that migrate within the region.
Great Australian Bight
The bight is very stormy during winter months.
Economically, the Bight has been exploited over many years as part of the fishing, whaling and shellfish industries. Bluefin tuna have been a favoured target of fishing in the Bight.
A number of settlements exist along the coastline of the Bight, such as Ceduna.
Issue #234 -
Stromboli
Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, containing one of the active volcanos in Italy. It is one of the Aeolian Islands, a volcanic archipelago north of Sicily. This name is a corruption of the ancient Greek name Strongulæ which was given to it because of its round swelling form.
Stromboli stands approximately 900 m high above sea level, but in total rises over 2,000 m from the ocean floor. There are three active craters at the peak. A significant geological feature of the volcano is the Sciara del Fuoco ("Stream of fire"), a broad channel on the north western side of the cone, generated by a giant flank collapse about 6,000 years ago.
Stromboli
Elevation: 926 metres (3,038 feet)
Coordinates: 38.789° N 15.213° E
Location: Aeolian Islands (Italy)
Type: Stratovolcano
Last eruption: 2005 (continuing)
Stromboli is remarkable because of the length of time for which it has been in almost continuous eruption. For at least the last 2,000 years, the same pattern of eruption has been maintained, in which explosions occur at the summit craters at intervals of minutes to hours. This type of very mild explosive eruption is known as Strombolian activity when observed at other volcanoes. Eruptions from the summit craters typically result in lava rolling down this channel. Stromboli's activity is almost exclusively explosive, but lava flows do occasionally occur - an effusive eruption in 2002 was its first in 17 years.
Sciara del fuoco
The continuous mild explosive eruptions are also occasionally punctuated by much larger eruptions. The largest eruption of the last hundred years occurred in 1930, and resulted in the deaths of several people and the destruction of a number of houses by flying volcanic bombs. Large eruptions occur at intervals of years to decades, and the most recent large eruption began in 2002, causing the closure of the island to non-residents for several months. The eruption started with a lava flow (29 Dec 2002) along the "Sciara del Fuoco" flank that rapidly reached the sea. On 30 Dec 2002 a huge volume of rocks collapsed from the "Sciara del Fuoco" generating at least two landslides and many tsunami waves. The highest wave was 10 m high and caused serious damages at the Stromboli village. On April 5, 2003 a strong explosion from the summit crater ejected rocks that reached the Ginostra village, damaging some houses. The eruption terminated on July 2003.
Historic account of the crater
Several enterprising travellers have ascended to the crater of Stromboli. It was examined with great care in 1828 by M. Hoffmann, a Prussian geologist, who, while being held fast by his companions, leaned over the crag immediately above the crater, and looked right down into one of its active mouths. His description of what he saw follows.
Three active mouths were seen at the bottom of the crater. The principal one, in the middle, was about two hundred feet in diameter; it shows nothing remarkable, only fuming slightly; and numerous yellow incrustations of sulphur coat the walls of its chimney. Close by this mouth is another, somewhat nearer the precipice, only twenty feet wide, in which I could observe the play of the column of liquid lava, which at intervals poised itself at a level. This lava did not look like a burning mass vomiting flames, but as glossy as molten metal -- like iron issuing from the smelting furnace, or silver at the bottom of a crucible.
This melted mass rose and fell -- evidently urged by the powerful tension of elastic vapours pressing it upwards from beneath; and it was easy to perceive the balance of effect between the weight of the molten masses and the pressure of the steam which resisted them. The surface rose and fell rhythmically: there was heard a peculiar sound, like the crackling of air from bellows entering the door of a furnace. A bubble of white vapour issued at each crack, raising the lava, which fell down again immediately after its escape. These bubbles of vapour dragged to the surface of the lava red-hot cinders, which danced as if tossed by invisible hands in rhythmic sport above the brink of the opening.
This play, so regular and attractive, was interrupted, every quarter of an hour or so, by more tumultuous movements. The mass of whirling vapour then rested motionless for a moment -- even making a jerking motion of return, as if inhaled by the crater, from the bottom of which the lava rose more strongly as if to encounter it. Then the ground trembles, and the walls of the crater starting bend. It was quite an earthquake. The mouth of the crater uttered a loud rolling bellow, which was followed by an immense bubble of vapour, bursting at the surface of the lava with a loud thundering report. The whole surface of the lava, reduced to glowing splinters, was then tossed into the air.
The heat struck our faces forcibly; while a flaming sheaf rose right into the air, and fell back in a shower of fire all around. Some bombs ascended to a height of about 1200 feet, and in passing over our heads described parabolas of fire. Immediately after such an eruption, the lava withdrew to the bottom of the chimney, which then yawned black and gaping. But erelong there was seen re-ascending the shining mirror of the surface of lava, which then recommenced the rhythmic play of its ordinary less violent bubblings.
In 1949 and 1957,the volcanologist Haroun Tazieff has visited Stromboli and filmed it from very close distance to the crater.
Issue #235 -
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City & County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the Island of O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Waikiki extends from the Ala Wai Canal (a channel dug to drain former wetlands) on the west and north, to Diamond Head or Leahi on the east. The name means fetched water in Hawaiian for springs that fed wetlands that once separated Waikiki from the interior. Waikiki has long been a place of relaxation. In particular, the area was a retreat for Hawaiian royalty in the 1800s.
Waikiki seen from the top of Diamond Head or Leahi. Green area below is the lawn at Kapi‘olani Park.
Today it is considered the center of the tourist industry in Hawai‘i, with an abundance of both high-rise resort hotels (including the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, and the Sheraton Waikiki) and historic hotels dating back to the early 20th century (such as the Moana Surfrider Hotel and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel).
Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikiki and one of the best known beaches in the world. The beach has had its problems because of groynes built out from the shore. This has led to beach replenishment projects in the past. In the 1920s and 1930s sand was obtained from Manhattan Beach, California and transported via ship and barges to Waikiki. One disastrous sand replenishment project involved a man-made sand that the gentle surf turned into a concrete-like surface.
Issue #236 -
White Rose
White Rose is an oil field development project 350 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. Husky Energy is the operator and 72.5 per cent interest holder in the White Rose oil fields.
Location map of the White Rose oil field
Discovered in 1984, the White Rose offshore oil field is located in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 350 km east of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. The field consists of both oil and gas pools, including the South White Rose oil pool. The oil pool covers approximately 40 km² and contains an estimated 250-300 million barrels of recoverable oil. White Rose is the second harsh environment development in North America to use a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, the SeaRose FPSO. Production from the field began in 2005.
White Rose oil field development schematic
The working interest partners are:
- Husky Energy Operations Ltd. (72.5%) - operator
- Petro-Canada (27.5 %)
Issue #237 -
Tepui
The Tepuis are table-like mountains found only in the Guiana highlands. These geological formations tend to be found as isolated entities rather than in mountain range fashion, which makes them the host of a unique array of endemic plant and animal species. Some of the most outstanding tepuis are Autana, Pico da Neblina (the highest one, on the Venezuelan-Brazil border), Auyantepui and Monte Roraima. They are typically composed of Precambrian sandstone rocks, very hard to climb, that rise abruptly from the jungle, giving rise to spectacular natural scenery. Auyantepui in particular is the source of Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall.
Kukenan Tepui in Guiana Highlands.
Roraima Tepui in Guiana Highlands.
Issue #238 -
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE (Born July 20, 1919) is a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer, most famous for the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the 29,035-foot (8,850 m) summit on May 29, 1953 at 11:30 a.m. local time.
Sir Edmund Hillary after accompanying first plane to land at the Marble Point , Antarctica ground air strip.
The feat was accomplished as part of an expedition with Sir John Hunt. After descending, legend has it that ex-apiarist Hillary said he and Tenzing had 'knocked the bastard off', a phrase which has found its way into colloquial New Zealand English.
Sir Edmund is the only living New Zealander to appear on a banknote.
Born in Tuakau (south of Auckland), Hillary attended the Auckland Grammar School. The trip to school was over two hours each way, time which he spent reading. As he grew up he was smaller than his peers and very shy so he took refuge in his books and daydreams of a life filled with adventure. At age 16, his interest in climbing was sparked during a school trip to Ruapehu. He found that his gangly and uncoordinated frame was physically strong and had greater endurance than many of his tramping companions.
During World War II he was a RNZAF navigator. He was part of an unsuccessful New Zealand expedition to Everest in 1951 before joining the successful British attempt of 1953. He climbed 10 other peaks in the Himalaya on further visits in 1956, 1960-61 and 1963-65. He also reached the South Pole, as part of the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, on January 4, 1958.
He was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) on July 16, 1953 and was created a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ) in 1987. He was created a Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG) on April 23, 1995.
Edmund Hillary on the New Zealand 5 dollar note
Hillary lost his wife Louise and daughter Belinda in an aircrash in Nepal. He later married June Mulgrew. Hillary's son Peter Hillary is an adventurer and has climbed Everest twice.
He has devoted much of his life to helping the Sherpa people of Nepal through the Himalayan Trust which he founded and to which he has given much of his time and energy. Through his efforts he has succeeded in building many schools and hospitals in this remote region of the Himalaya. He has stated that he regards this as his most important achievement. He is also the Honorary President of the American Himalayan Foundation, a US non-profit body that also helps improve the ecology and living conditions in the Himalayas. During the mid-1980s, he was also New Zealand's High Commissioner to India (the equivalent of an Ambassador between Commonwealth countries), where he was in frequent demand as a guest of honor. On one occasion when he was asked about the possibility of the existence of the yeti or abominable snowman, he expressed his skepticism since he had actually searched the Himalayas for that elusive creature.
To mark the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest, the Nepalese Government conferred honorary citizenship upon Sir Edmund at a special golden jubilee celebration in the capital Kathmandu. Sir Edmund is the first foreign national to receive such an honour from the Nepalese.
Edmund Hillary had been scheduled to act as a commentator on the ill-fated Air New Zealand flight TE901, but had to pull out due to work commitments elsewhere; he was replaced by his close friend Peter Mulgrew, who perished on the flight.
As of 2005 Hillary lives in quiet retirement in New Zealand.
Issue #239
