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last SG · 2005-03-28T01:23:34+00:00

Celtic Sea The Celtic Sea (Irish: An Mhuir Cheilteach) is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the south coast of Ireland. It is bounded to the east by Saint...

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Weddell Sea

The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. Much of the southern part of the sea, up to Elephant Island, is permanent ice, the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The entire sea is part of the Argentinian claim in Antarctica. At its widest the sea is around 2,000 km, in area it is around 2.8 million km².

Antarctica. Weddell Sea is the 'bay' in the top left corner.

The sea is named after the British sailor James Weddell who entered the sea in 1823 as far as 74° S. It was first widely explored by the Scot William S. Bruce over 1902-04. In was in this sea that Shackleton's ship, the Endurance was trapped and crushed by ice.

It is believed that the break-up of Gondwana started in the Weddell Sea.

Issue #289

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Isthmus of Chignecto

The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia which connects the mainland portion of Nova Scotia with North America. The isthmus separates the waters of Chignecto Bay, a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy, from those of the Northumberland Strait, an arm of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The isthmus is generally acknowledged to stretch from its northerly point at an area in the Petitcodiac River valley near the city of Dieppe, New Brunswick to its southerly point at an area near the town of Amherst, Nova Scotia. At its narrowest point between Amherst and Tidnish, Nova Scotia, the isthmus measures 24 kilometres wide.

An old map showing the Isthmus of Chignecto

Geography

The majority of the lands comprising the isthmus have very low elevation above sea level with a large portion comprising the Tantramar Marshes, as well as tidal rivers, mud flats, inland freshwater marshes, coastal saltwater marshes, and mixed forest. Several prominent ridges rise above the surrounding low land and marshes along the Bay of Fundy shore, namely the Fort Lawrence Ridge (in Nova Scotia), the Aulac Ridge, the Sackville Ridge, and the Memramcook Ridge (in New Brunswick).

History

Prior to British control of present-day mainland Nova Scotia (after 1713), the isthmus was host to a growing Acadian farming community called Beaubassin. The isthmus became the location of the historic dividing line between the British colony of Nova Scotia and the French territory. French military forces established Fort Beausejour on the Aulac Ridge in 1749 in response to the British construction of an outpost called Fort Lawrence on the ridge immediately to the east - between the two ridges was a tidal stream called the Misaquash River which France generally accepted to be the boundary between the French and British territories, despite the fact that an official boundary had never been determined. France also constructed Fort Gaspereaux on the shores of the Northumberland Strait to effectively control travel on the isthmus.

On May 22, 1755 a fleet of three warships and thirty-three transports carrying 2100 soldiers sailed from Boston, Massachusetts, landing at Fort Lawrence on June 3, 1755. The following day the British forces attacked Fort Beausejour and on June 16, 1755 the French forces evacuated to Fort Gaspereaux, arriving on June 24, 1755 and onward to Fortress Louisbourg where they were re-garrisoned on July 6, 1755. This battle proved to be one of the key victories in the Seven Years War which saw Britain gain control of all of Nouvelle France and l'Acadie.

Fort Beausejour was renamed Fort Cumberland and replaced Fort Lawrence due to its substantial construction over the British post. The British forces set about burning the French villages at Beaubassin and rounded up the settlers as part of the 1755 Acadian expulsion (the Great Upheaval).

In 1758 Governor Lawrence issued a proclamation inviting New Englanders to come to Nova Scotia and settle on vacated Acadian lands and take up free land grants. He also extended this invitation to new England soldiers whose enlistments had expired and were planning on returning home. These people became known as the New England Planters.

Following the war in 1763 the isthmus saw three 100,000 acre (400 km²) townships created which took the names of Amherst, Sackville and Cumberland.

The New England settlement drive was not very successful, and after a few small groups arrived and 1760 and 1761 some families returned home and the British government decided to look elsewhere for settlers. Between 1772 and 1775 over twenty ships carried upwards of 1000 settlers from Yorkshire, England to the new townships. The descendants of this Yorkshire Emigration continue to be prominent in the areas development and history.

The American Revolutionary War saw a semi-organized, yet unsuccessful, attempt by local guerrilla and U.S. forces to take Fort Cumberland and the Tantramar region in October and November 1776. The invaders were routed by British forces from Halifax and Windsor.

Transportation

A key surface transportation route, the Isthmus of Chignecto was host to French and later British military roads across the Tantramar Marshes and along the strategic ridges since the 1600s.

In 1872, construction of the Intercolonial Railway of Canada saw the mainline between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick built across the southern portion of the isthmus, skirting the edge of the Bay of Fundy while crossing the Tantramar Marshes between Amherst, Nova Scotia and Sackville, New Brunswick.

In the 1880s a railway line was built from Sackville across the isthmus to Port Elgin and on to Cape Tormentine which played host to an iceboat service and in 1917 a ferry service to Prince Edward Island was established to connect with the Prince Edward Island Railway.

The isthmus also saw one of Canada's earliest mega-projects in the 1880s when a broad gauge railway was built from the port of Amherst to the Northumberland Strait at Tidnish for carrying small cargo and passenger ships. This ship railway was never successfully operational and construction was abandoned shortly before completion.

In the 1950s, while construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway was underway, a group of industrialists and politicians from the Maritimes called for a Chignecto Canal to be built as a shortcut for ocean-going ships travelling between Saint John and U.S. ports to the Great Lakes to avoid travelling around Nova Scotia. The project never progressed beyond the survey stage.

The Trans-Canada Highway was built on the isthmus in the early 1960s, connecting with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, parallelling existing Canadian National Railway trackage.

Issue #290

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Daytona Beach, Florida

Daytona Beach is a city located in Volusia County, Florida, USA. As of 2004, the population estimates recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 64,422. It comprises a mainland and a peninsula separated by the Intracoastal Waterway, locally called the Halifax River. The peninsula comprises the world-famous beach along the Atlantic Ocean. In 1927, during the early days of racing on the beach, one of the city's founding father's created the slogan, "The World's Most Famous Beach." Currently, over eight million tourists flock to Daytona Beach each year to enjoy the beach and the city's events.

A Daytona Beach Bar

Daytona Beach's wide beach and smooth sands have been open to drivers for many years and were also used for the high-speed testing and racing of cars and motorcycles. This made the beach a mecca for racing enthusiasts and the city is now home to the Daytona International Speedway (a conventional racetrack founded by William France, which replaced the famous beach course in 1959). Close to the Speedway and adjacent to Daytona Beach International Airport is Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a world-class university for the training of pilots and aviation professionals.

The city is a popular vacation destination, especially for college students on spring break, a "special event" period. The city also is home to Daytona Beach Community College, Bethune-Cookman College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Keiser College. Today, motor vehicle driving and parking is still allowed on certain sections of the beach, which is fully lined with hotels, motels, condominiums and houses. There is a wide variety of accommodations in all price ranges. Hotel and motel rooms are typically plentiful except during special events, which also include winter Speed Weeks, summer NASCAR races, Bike Week, Biketoberfest and Black College Reunion (BCR). During the motorcycle events (Bike Week and Biketoberfest), several hundred thousand bikers from all over the world visit the greater Daytona Beach area.

A section of the Beach

History

Daytona Beach, named for its founder, Matthias Day, was incorporated in 1876. The towns of Daytona (originally a separate town) and Seabreeze were merged to form Daytona Beach in 1926 at the urging of local civic leader J.B. Kahn, among others.

Daytona Beach was the birthplace of musical theater writer Robert Wright.

On March 8, 1936, the first stock car race was held on the beach. The world-famous Daytona International Speedway complex is now the site of the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame and Daytona USA, a fan attraction.

The town is home to the Daytona Cubs minor league baseball team of the Florida State League.

The Daytona Beach area was the setting for the 2003 movie Monster, portraying the life and crimes of serial killer and Daytona Beach resident Aileen Wuornos. Its star, Charlize Theron, won the best actress Oscar) for her portrayal. Although set in Daytona Beach, it was actually shot in Orlando, Florida and Kissimmee, Florida.

Geography

Daytona Beach is located at 29°12'26"N, 81°2'16"W.

Location of Daytona Beach, Florida

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 168.2 km² (64.9 mi²). 152.0 km² (58.7 mi²) of it is land and 16.2 km² (6.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 9.63% water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 64,112 people, 28,605 households, and 13,844 families residing in the city. The population density is 421.8/km² (1,092.6/mi²). There are 33,345 housing units at an average density of 219.4/km² (568.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 62.33% White, 32.75% African American, 1.73% Asian, 0.32% Native American, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.05% from other races, and 1.76% from two or more races. 3.48% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 28,605 households out of which 18.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.1% are married couples living together, 14.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 51.6% are non-families. 39.4% of all households are made up of individuals and 14.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.06 and the average family size is 2.77.

In the city the population is spread out with 17.6% under the age of 18, 16.6% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 19.7% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 37 years. For every 100 females there are 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 98.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $25,439, and the median income for a family is $33,514. Males have a median income of $25,705 versus $20,261 for females. The per capita income for the city is $17,530. 23.6% of the population and 16.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 34.9% of those under the age of 18 and 12.1% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Issue #291

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Talc

Talc is a mineral composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula H2Mg3(SiO3)4 or Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. It occurs as foliated to fibrous masses, its monoclinic crystals being so rare as to be almost unknown. It has a perfect basal cleavage, the folia non-elastic although slightly flexible. It is sectile and very soft, with a hardness of 1 (Talc is the softest known solid). It has a specific gravity of 2.5 - 2.8, a waxlike or pearly luster, and is translucent to opaque. Its color ranges from white to gray or green and it has a distinctly greasy feel.

Talc block

Talc is a metamorphic mineral resulting from the alteration of silicates of magnesium such as pyroxenes, amphiboles, olivine and other similar minerals. It is usually found in metamorphic rocks, often of a basic type due to the alteration of the minerals mentioned above.

A coarse grayish-green talc has been called soapstone or steatite and has been used for stoves, sinks, electrical switchboards, etc. Talc finds use as a cosmetic (talcum powder), as a lubricant, and as a filler in paper manufacture. Talc is used in baby powder, an astringent powder used for preventing rashes on the area covered by a diaper. Most tailor's chalk is talc, as is the chalk often used for welding or metalworking.

The origin of the name derives from the Persian via Arabic talq.

Talc is also used as food additive or in pharmaceutical products. In the European Community the additive number is E553b.

Several studies have established preliminary links between talc and pulmonary issues, ovarian cancer, and lung cancer. This is a major concern considering talc's widespread commercial and household use; however, no conclusive study has yet been made to determine either the toxicity and/or carcinogenic nature of talc.

Issue #292

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Snowy Mountains Scheme

The Snowy Mountains Scheme is a massive water diversion and storage scheme, taking water from the eastern slopes of the Australian Alps (part of the Great Dividing Range) in eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales through pipes, tunnels and aqueducts into a series of dams, for use in hydro-electric power generation and irrigation in the Murrumbidgee and Murray valleys.

Talbingo Dam of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

The associated Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme is one of the most complex integrated water and hydro-electric power schemes in the world. Listed as a "world-class civil engineering project" by the American Society of Civil Engineers; the scheme interlocks 7 power stations and 16 major dams through 145 kilometres of trans-mountain tunnels and 80 kilometres of aqueducts. The Scheme is in an area of 5,124 square kilometres, almost entirely within the Kosciuszko National Park.

The Scheme was managed by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority, now called Snowy Hydro Limited, and took 25 years to build, from 1949 to 1974, at an historical cost of AUD$800 million, a dollar value equivalent today to AUD$6 bn. It employed over 100,000 people from over thirty countries in its construction, providing valuable employment for a large number of recently arrived immigrants, and was important in Australia's post-war economic and social development. The Scheme built several temporary towns for its construction workers, several of which have become permanent: Cabramurra (the highest town in Australia); and Khancoban. Additionally, the economy of Cooma has been sustained by the Scheme.

The Scheme is the largest renewable energy generator in mainland Australia and plays a pivotal role in the operation of the national electricity market, generating approximately 3.5% of the mainland grid's power. The Scheme also has a significant role in providing security of water flows to the Murray-Darling Basin. The Scheme provides approximately 2100 gigalitres of water a year to the Basin, providing additional water for an irrigated agriculture industry worth about $5 bn per annum, representing more than 40% of the gross value of the nation's agricultural production.

Environmental concerns

The original plan was for 99% of the water of the Snowy River's natural flow to be diverted by the Scheme below Lake Jindabyne. Releases from the Scheme were only based on the needs of riparian users and took no account of ecosystem needs; it soon became known that the lower reaches of the river were in environmental crisis. An extensive public campaign led to the Snowy Water Inquiry being established in January 1998. The Inquiry reported to the New South Wales and Victorian Governments in October of that year, recommending an increase to 15% of natural flows. The two Governments were equivocal about this target; aside from economic considerations there was a view that the health of the Murray is more important than that of the Snowy and any extra environmental flows are better used there instead.

Tumut 2 underground power station.

In 1999 the seat of East Gippsland was won in the Victorian election by an independent, Craig Ingram, based in large part on his campaign to improve Snowy flows. In 2000, Victoria and NSW agreed to a long-term target of 28%, requiring $375 million of investment to offset losses to inland irrigators. In August 2002 flows were increased to 6%, with a target of 21% within 10 years.

A major spillway upgrade is being constructed to facilitate these flows.

Issue #293

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Sound

In geography a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land.

There is little consistency in the use of 'sound' in English-speaking cartography.

Traditionally, in British and northern European usage, the Sound is the Øresund, the strait that separates Denmark (the outermost Danish island being Sjaelland) and Sweden, the narrow channel (2.5 miles or 4 kilometers wide) that connects the Kattegat with the Baltic Sea.

Northern Øresund

In the United States, Long Island Sound separates Long Island from the coast of Connecticut, but on the Atlantic Ocean side of Long Island, the body of water between the ocean and its barrier beaches is termed the Great South Bay. Pamlico Sound is a similar lagoon that lies between North Carolina and its barrier beaches, the Outer Banks, in a similar situation. On the West Coast, Puget Sound, by contrast, is a deep arm of the sea.

A Sound is often formed by the sea flooding a river valley. This produces a long inlet where the sloping valley hillsides decend to sea-level and continue beneath the water to form a sloping sea floor. The Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand are a good example of this type of formation.

A live oak on Knotts Island, North Carolina, overlooks the Currituck Sound.

Sometimes a Sound is produced by a glacier carving out a valley on the coast then receding, or the sea invading a glacier valley. The glacier produces a sound that often has steep, near vertical, sides that extend deep under water. The sea floor is often flat and deeper at the landward end than the seaward end, due to glacial moraine deposits. This type of sound is more properly termed a fjord (or fiord). The sounds in Fiordland, New Zealand, have been formed this way.

Issue #294

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Retaining wall

A retaining wall is a structure that holds back earth. Retaining walls stabilize soil and rock from down slope movement or erosion and provide support for vertical or near-vertical grade changes. Cofferdams and bulkheads, structures to hold back water, are sometimes also considered retaining walls. Retaining walls are generally made of masonry, stone, brick, concrete, steel or timber. Once popular as an inexpensive retaining material, railroad ties have fallen out of favor due to environmental concerns.

Structure in the foreground is called a 'mud box' - a kind of retaining wall built to hold the flood waters in check. Note the buildings on the opposite side are half-submerged. May 1973, Mississippi river, USA.

The most important consideration in proper design and installation of retaining walls is that the retained material is attempting to move forward and downslope due to gravity. This creates a soil pressure behind the wall (depending on the angle of internal friction (phi) and the cohesive strength (c) of the material). This pressure is smallest at the top and increases toward the bottom and will push the wall forward or overturn it if nor proprely addressed. Also any groundwater behind the wall that is not dissipated by a drainage system causes an additional horizontal hydraulic pressure on the wall.

There are three common types of retaining structures: gravity, cantilevered, and sheet pile walls.

Gravity walls are made from a large mass of stone, concrete, or composite materials. Gravity walls depend on the size and weight of the wall mass to resist pressures from behind. Gravity walls will often have a slight setback, or batter, to improve wall stability by leaning back into the retained soil. For short, landscaping walls, gravity walls made from dry-stacked (mortarless) stone or segmental concrete units (masonry units) are commonly used. Dry-laid gravity walls are somewhat flexible and do not require a rigid footing below frost.

Earlier in the 20th century, taller retaining walls were often gravity walls made from large masses of concrete or stone. Today, taller retaining walls are increasingly built as composite gravity walls such as: geosynthetic or steel-reinforced backfill soil with pre-cast facing; gabions (stacked steel wire baskets filled with rocks), crib walls (cells built up log cabin style from pre-cast concrete or timber and filled with soil) or soil-nailed walls (soil reinforced in place with steel and concrete rods).

For reinforced-soil gravity walls, the soil reinforcement is placed in horizontal layers throughout the height of the wall. Common soil reinforcement materials include steel straps and geogrid, a high-strength polymer mesh, that provide tensile strength to hold soil together. The wall face is often pre-cast, segmental concrete units that can tolerate some differential movement. The reinforced soil's mass, along with the facing, becomes the gravity wall. The reinforced mass must be built large enough to retain the pressures from the soil behind it. Gravity walls usually must be a minimum of 50 to 60 percent as deep (thick) as the height of the wall, and may have to be larger if there is a slope or surcharge on the wall.

Prior to the introduction of modern reinforced-soil gravity walls, cantilevered walls were the most common type of taller retaining wall. Cantilevered walls are made from a relatively thin stem of steel-reinforced, cast-in-place concrete or mortared masonry (often in the shape of an inverted T). These walls cantilever loads (like a beam) to a large, structural footing; converting horizontal pressures from behind the wall to vertical pressures on the ground below. Sometimes cantilevered walls are butressed on the front, or include a counterfort on the back, to improve their stability against high loads. Buttresses are short wing walls at right angles to the main trend of the wall. These walls require rigid concrete footings below seasonal frost depth. This type of wall uses much less material than a traditional gravity wall.

Sheet pile walls are often used in soft soils and tight spaces. Sheet pile walls are made out of steel sheet piles or wood driven into the ground. Structural design methods for this type of wall exist but these methods are more complex than for a gravity wall. As a rule of thumb; 1/3 third above ground, 2/3 below ground. Taller sheet pile walls usually require a tie-back anchor "dead-man" placed in the soil some distance behind the wall face, that is tied to the wall face, usually by a cable or a rod. Anchors must be placed behind the potential failure plane in the soil.

Proper drainage behind the wall is critical to the performance or retaining walls. Drainage materials will reduce or eliminate the hydraulic pressure and increase the stability of the fill material behind the wall (assuming of course, that this is not a retaining wall for water).

Issue #295

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Livingstone Mountains

The Livingstone Mountains, named after David Livingstone, are a band of highlands in East Africa, forming the eastern border of the rift-valley of Lake Nyasa, at the northern end of the lake.

Livingstone Mountains, Tanzania

In parts these highlands, known also under their native name of Kinga, present rather the character of a plateau than of a true mountain range, but the latter name may be justified by the fact that they form a comparatively narrow belt of country, which falls considerably to the east as well as to the west. The northern end is well marked in 8 50 S. by an escarpment falling to the Ruaha valley, which is regarded as a north-eastern branch of the main rift valley Southwards the Livingstone range terminates in the deep valley of the Ruhuhu in 10 30 S., the first decided break in the highlands that is reached from the north, on the east coast of Nyasa. Geologically the range is formed on the side of the lake by a zone of gneiss running in a series of ridges and valleys generally parallel to its axis.

The ridge nearest the lake (which in Mount Jamimbi or Chamembe, 9 41 S., rises to an absolute height of 7,870 ft., or 6,200 ft. above Nyasa) falls almost sheer to the water, the same steep slope being continued beneath the surface. Towards the south the range appears to have a width of some 20 m. only, but northwards it widens out to about 40 m., though broken here by the depression, drained towards the Ruaha, of Buanyi, on the south side of which is the highest known summit of the range (9,600 ft.). North and east of Buanyi, as in the eastern half of the range generally, table-topped mountains occur, composed above of horizontally bedded quartzites, sandstones and conglomerates. The uplands are generally clothed in rich grass, forest occurring principally in the hollows, while the slopes towards the lake are covered with poor scrub. The climate is here healthy, and night frosts occur in the cold season. European crops are raised with success. At the foot of the mountains on Lake Nyasa are the ports of Wiedhafen, at the mouth of the Ruhuhu, and Old Langenburg, at the north-east corner of the lake.

Issue #296

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Great Chilean Earthquake

The Great Chilean Earthquake of May 22, 1960 is the largest magnitude earthquake recorded since seismographic monitoring began. Striking at 19:11 UTC (early afternoon local time), it measured 9.5 magnitude and affected southern Chile.

Valdivia suffered catastrophic damage because of its proximity to the epicenter of the massive Great Chilean Earthquake.

There had been a swarm of earthquakes, as large as magnitude 8, about 160 km (100 miles) to the north the previous day.

Its epicenter was located in Valdivia, approximately 700 kilometers (435 miles) south of Santiago. The earthquake caused a tsunami that ran through the Pacific Ocean and devastated Hilo, Hawaii, 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) from the epicenter, as well as coastal regions of South America. The total number of fatalities from the earthquake/tsunami combination was estimated to have been as many as 3,000.

Despite the record strength of the earthquake, more people were killed by tsunamis than by the earthquake.

Issue #297

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Oriental Pearl Tower

The Oriental Pearl Tower is a TV tower in Shanghai, China. Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower is located at the tip of Lujiazui in the Pudong district, by the side of Huangpu River, opposite the Bund of Shanghai. The design of the building is based on a Tang dynasty poem about the haunting sound made by a lute.

Oriental Pearl Tower

It was designed by Jia Huan Cheng of the Shanghai Modern Architectural Design Co. Ltd. Construction began in 1991 and the tower was completed in 1995. At 468 m (1,535 feet) high, it is the tallest tower in Asia, and the third tallest tower in the world. The Oriental Pearl Tower belongs to the World Federation of Great Towers.

The Pearl Tower attracts three million visitors each year.

Structural data

The tower features 5 spheres. The 2 biggest spheres have a diameter of 50 m, for the lower one, and 45 m, for the higher one. They are linked by 3 columns, each are 9 m in diameter. The smallest sphere at the top is 14m in diameter.

The tower has three observatory levels. The highest one (Space Module) is at 350 m. The lower ones are respectively at 263 m (Sightseeing Floor) and at 90 m (Space City). There is a revolving restaurant at the 267 m level. The project also contains exhibition facilities, restaurants and a shopping mall. There is also a 20 room hotel called the Space Hotel between the two big spheres.

An antenna extends the construction by another 118 m and transmits TV and radio programs.

Issue #298

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Tsavo East National Park

Tsavo East National Park is one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya at 11,747 square kilometers. Opened in April of 1948, it is located near the village of Voi in the Taita District of Coast Province. The park is divided into east and west sections by the A109 road and a railway. Named for the Tsavo River, which flows west to east through the national park, it borders the Chyulu Hills National Park, and the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania.

Elephants crossing road in Tsavo East National Park.

Geography

The park can be accessed by three main gates, from Voi through the Manyani gate, from Mombasa through the Bachuma gate or from Malindi through the Sala gate. There are also several airstrips in the park that allow chartered light planes. Inside the park, the Athi and Tsavo rivers converge to form the Galana River. Most of the park consists of semi-arid grasslands and savanna. It is considered one of the world's biodiversity strongholds, and its popularity is mostly due to the vast amounts of diverse wildlife that can be seen. The park also offers camping and several geographical points of interest.

The slightly larger Tsavo East is generally flat, with dry plains across which the Galana River flows. Other features include the Yatta Plateau and Lugards Falls. Wildlife in Tsavo East includes black rhinos and hirola antelopes.

Tsavo West is more mountainous and wetter than its counterpart, with swamps, Lake Jipe and the Mzima Springs. It is known for birdlife and for its large mammals. It is also home to a black rhino sanctuary.

Major Attractions

Mudanda Rock
The Mudanda Rock is a 1.6 km inselberg of stratified rock that acts as a water catchment that supplies a natural dam below. It offers an excellent vantage point for the hundreds of elephants and other wildlife that come to drink during the dry season.

Yatta Plateau
The Yatta Plateau, the world's longest lava flow, runs along the western boundary of the park above the Athi river. Its 290 km length was formed by lava from Ol Doinyo Sabuk Mountain.

Lugard Falls
Lugard Falls, named after Frederick Lugard, is actually a series of rapids on the Galana river.

Aruba Dam
Aruba Dam was built in 1952 across the Voi river. The reservoir created by the dam attracts many animals and water birds.

Issue #299

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Cape Cod Bay

Cape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts to the west; to the north of Cape Cod Bay lie Massachusetts Bay and the open ocean. Cape Cod Bay is the southernmost extremity of the Gulf of Maine.

A map showing the location of Cape Cod Bay.

Generally, currents in the Bay move in a counter-clockise fashion, moving south from Boston, to Plymouth, then east and then north to Provincetown. All Cape Cod is composed of glacially derived rocks, sands, and gravels. The last glaciation ended about 10,000 years BP. During the end of the last glaciation, Cape Cod Bay was probably a large freshwater lake with drainages across Cape Cod in places like Bass River and Orleans harbor.

Since 1914, Cape Cod Bay has been connected to Buzzards Bay by the Cape Cod Canal, which divides Cape Cod from the rest of the mainland.

Issue #300

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Novarupta

Novarupta, meaning "new eruption", is a volcano located on the Alaska Peninsula in the Katmai area, about 290 miles southwest of Anchorage. Novarupta sits below Mount Katmai. Its eruption of June 6-June 8, 1912 was ten times more powerful than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and also lead to the formation of this 841 metre (2759 ft) volcano.

Novarupta Lava Dome

Elevation: 2,759 feet (841 metres)
Location: Alaska, USA
Range: Aleutian Range
Coordinates: 58°16'0"N, 155°9'24"W
Topo map: USGS Mount Katmai B-4
Type: Caldera
Last eruption: 1912

The 1912 Novarupta eruption was the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century. About 15 km³ of volcanic material had been ejected. The 1815 eruption of Tambora however, had displaced about 7 times as much material. The 1883 eruption of Indonesia's Krakatoa displaced half as much as Novarupta. Novarupta's 1912 eruption has been rated a 6 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. Magma from underneath the Mount Katmai area was drained away to Novarupta, resulting in a collapsed 3 x 4 km caldera.

Location of Novarupta on the Alaska Peninsula

The lava dome that formed to plug the vent from which the eruption occurred is what is now referred to as Novarupta. Pyroclastic ash flow from the eruption formed what was named the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes by Robert Griggs, who explored the volcano's aftermath for the National Geographic Society in 1916. Katmai National Park and Preserve was formed to protect the area around Novarupta.

Issue #301

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Costa Smeralda

Costa Smeralda ("Emerald Coast") is a coastal area in northern Sardinia, 55 km long and covering more than 30 km², with enchanting beaches and a system of villages built according to an extremely detailed urban plan. The area is a very luxurious tourist destination, with high affluence of European VIPs from the entertainment, politics and industry.

Map of Costa Smeralda

The main towns and villages in the area are Arzachena, Olbia, Porto Cervo, Liscia di Vacca, Capriccioli and Romazzino.

Annually in September the Sardinia Cup sailing regatta is held off the coast, usually featuring famous boats.

Achaeological sites include Li Muri, Nuragici People's "Tomba dei Giganti" (Giants' Tomb).

The development of the area started in 1961, and was financed by a consortium of companies. The president of the consortium and representative figure was Prince Karim Aga Khan. Famous architects involved in the project included Busiri-Vici and Vietti.

Issue #302

poon cho tang SG

Samotlor Field

Samotlor Field is the largest oil field of Russia, located at Lake Samotlor in Urals Federal District, Siberia (61° 7' N 76° 45' E). Discovery of this field in 1965 had changed Nizhnevartovsk from a small nearby village into a busy oil city. Samotlor used to be the most important oil production base of the Soviet Union. This field reached its peak production of 7 million barrels (1,000,000 m³) of oil per day in 1980, more than half of the whole nation's production. Attempting to maintain production by injecting water into the field resulted in water mixing with the remaining oil. The production has been in decline ever since.

Samotlor Field

In 1997 Samotlor Field, which was then thirty years old, had produced over 16 billion (2.5 km³) barrels of oil. Production rate had dropped to 300,000 barrels (47,700 m³) per day. This oil field was considered to be nearly depleted. However, advanced Western technologies allow for the extraction of more oil. Based on high-quality 3D seismic survey, US oil field service companies plan to drill 4,500 horizontal wells in addition to the existing 17,000 wells, which allowed the production rate to rebound to 450,000 barrels (72,000 m³) per day.

Ultimate recovery of Samotlor, estimated by U.S. Geological Survey in 2000, is about 20 billion barrels (3.2 km³). Also, many large oil fields presently found in the adjacent area, making the West Siberian Basin one of the major oil production regions of the world.

The location of Samotlor Field is still censored on many maps produced in Russia, a holdover from secrecy practices in the Soviet Union, despite the fact that it can be easily located using civilian satellite mapping technology.

Issue #303

poon cho tang SG

North Island Volcanic Plateau

The North Island Volcanic Plateau (often called the Central Plateau and occasionally the Waimarino Plateau) is located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is located to the south of the dormant supervolcano, Lake Taupo, and extends south past the three active peaks of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu.

The three active peaks at the North Island Volcanic Plateau: Snow-capped Ruapehu (left), conical Ngauruhoe (centre) and broad-domed Tongariro (right).

To the west of these three volcanoes, the land is rough forested hill country, and the north, close to Lake Taupo, is fertile and undulating. To the east, however, the landscape is quite different. The barren, ash-laden soils of the region and harsh alpine climate leave the high land to the east largely bare and unprofitable, capable of growing only scrubby plants. This area is known as the Rangipo Desert. To the east of this lies further rough hill country, notably the Kaimanawa Ranges.

The entire area bounded by the towns of Taihape in the south, Ohakune in the west, and Taupo in the north, and by the Kaweka Ranges in the east is above 300 metres, with a considerable proportion of it more than 800 metres above sea level.

The majority of the population of the area lives close to the shores of Lake Taupo, with some smaller settlements to the east of the volcanoes. These make their living largely through tourism, including skiing in the winter season, or by forestry in the plateau's northeast, which borders the Kaingaroa Forest.

The Rangipo region is largely uninhabited. It is used by the New Zealand Army, based at Waiouru in the south, and by the Rangipo prison farm in the north.

Issue #304

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Juan Ponce de León

Juan Ponce de León (c. 1460 July 1521) was a Spanish conquistador. Juan Ponce de León was born in Santervás de Campos (Valladolid). As a young man he joined the war to conquer Granada, the last Moorish state on the Iberian peninsula. Ponce de León accompanied Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World. He became the first Governor of Puerto Rico by appointment of the Spanish Crown. He is regarded as the first European known to have visited what is now the United States when he set foot in Florida in 1513.

Juan Ponce de León

Juan Ponce de León settled in Hispaniola after arriving in the New World. He helped conquer the Tainos of the eastern part of Hispaniola, and was rewarded with the governorship of the Province of Higuey that was created there. While there he heard stories of the wealth of Boriquin (now known as Puerto Rico, and he sought and received permission to go there. In 1508, Ponce de León founded the first settlement in Puerto Rico, Caparra (later relocated to San Juan). He was greeted with open arms by the Taino Cacique, Agueybana, and quickly gained control of the island. As a result, Ponce de Leon was named Governor of Puerto Rico in 1509. Ponce de León and the other conquistadors forced the Tainos to work in the mines and to construct fortifications. The Tainos subsequently died in great numbers after exposure to the European diseases the sailors brought with them and to which the natives had no immunity. Ponce de León, however, became rich while serving as Governor.

In 1506, upon the death of Christopher Columbus, who had been appointed lifetime military governor of his newly found discoveries, the Spanish authorities refused to grant the same privilege to his son Diego Columbus. The Spanish Crown by then had selected Ponce de León to colonize and govern the island of Puerto Rico. In the meantime Diego Columbus had taken his claim to the top court in Madrid and won his rights. Ponce de León was then removed from office in 1512 and felt his good name had been damaged. Not wishing to serve Diego, Ponce de León obtained title to explore the areas north of Cuba.

The popular story that Ponce de León was searching for the Fountain of Youth when he discovered Florida is misconceived. He was seeking a spiritual rebirth with new glory, honor, and personal enrichment, not a physical rebirth through the waters of the Fountain of Youth. The Tainos had told the Spanish of a large, rich island to the north named Bimini, and Ponce de Leon was searching for gold, slaves and lands to claim and govern for Spain, all of which he hoped to find at Bimini and other islands. The story of Ponce de León searching for the Fountain of Youth seems to have surfaced in the 1560s in the Memoir of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, and was later included in the Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos of Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas.

Juan Ponce de León equipped three ships at his own expense, and set out on his voyage of discovery and conquest in 1513. On March 27, 1513, he sighted an island, but sailed on without landing. Later, on April 2, he landed on the east coast of the newly discovered land at a point which continues to be disputed, but was somewhere on the northeast coast of the present State of Florida. Ponce de León claimed "La Florida" for Spain. Ponce de León named the land La Florida, meaning flowery, either because of the vegetation in bloom he saw there, or because he landed there during Pascua Florida, Spanish for Flowery Passover, meaning the Easter season. Pascua Florida Day, April 2, is a legal holiday in Florida.

Juan Ponce de Leòn then sailed south along the Florida coast, charting the rivers he found, passed around the Florida Keys, and up the west coast of Florida to Cape Romano (Marco Island). He sailed back south to Havana, and then up to Florida again, stopping at the Bay of Chequesta (Biscayne Bay) before returning to Puerto Rico.

Statue of Juan Ponce de Leon at the Plaza San José in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The statue was made in New York in 1882 using the bronze from English Cannons seized after the English attacked San Juan in 1792.

In 1514 Juan Ponce de Leon returned to Spain and recieved commissions to conquer the Caribs of Guadalupe and to colonize the Island of Florida. His expedition to Guadalupe in 1515 was not successful, and he returned to Puerto Rice where he stayed until 1521.

In 1521 Juan Ponce de Leòn organized a colonizing expedition on two ships. It consisted of some 200 men, including priests, farmers and artisans, 50 horses and other domestic animals, and farming implements. The expedition landed on the southwest coast of Florida, somewhere in the vicinity of the Caloosahatchee River or Charlotte Harbor. The colonists were soon attacked by Calusas and Ponce de León was injured by a poisoned arrow. After this attack, he and colonists sailed to Havana, Cuba, where he died. His tomb is in the cathedral in Old San Juan.

Issue #305

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Lake Ladoga

Lake Ladoga (Russian: Ladozhskoye Ozero, Finnish: Laatokka) is the largest lake in Europe, located in Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, near the border with Finland.

Map of Lake Ladoga

The area of the lake is 17,700 km² (approximately 6,800 square miles). It has about 660 islands with the total area of 435 km². Most of the islands are situated near the northwestern coast, including the famous Valaam islands. The lake drains into the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea via river Neva.

The area of its basin is 276,000 km². The basin of the Ladoga Lake includes about 50,000 lakes and 3,500 rivers longer than 10 km. About 85% of the water income is due to the three most important tributaries:

* River Svir from lake Onega (south-east)
* River Vuoksi from lake Saimaa in Finland (west);
* Volkhov River from lake Ilmen (south).

Ladoga has its own endemic Ringed Seal subspecies.

The 2003 film Vozvrashcheniye, directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev, was filmed on and around Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland.

Towpath Bridge between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (from a photograph taken ca. 1912).

History

The lake formed an important part of the Trade Route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The oldest Russian capital, Old Ladoga, took its name from the lake.

The ancient Valaam Monastery was founded on the island of Valaam (Finnish: Valamo), the largest in Lake Ladoga, abandoned between 16111715, magnificently restored in the 18th century, and evacuated to Finland during the Winter War in 1940. In 1989 the monastic activities in the Valaam were resumed. Other historic cloisters in the vicinity are the Konevets Monastery, which sits on another island, and the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery, which preserves fine samples of medieval Muscovite architecture.

Between 16171721 the Swedish-Russian border was drawn through Lake Ladoga, then later 18121940 the border between Finland and Russia.

During the siege of Leningrad, 19411944, lake Ladoga provided the only access to the besieged city. Supplies were transported into Leningrad with trucks on winter roads over the ice, the "Road of Life", and by boat in the summer.

Issue #306

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Gulf of Maine

The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the northeastern coast of North America, roughly between Cape Cod in Massachusetts on the south and Cape Sable Island on the southern tip of Nova Scotia to the northeast. It includes the entire coastlines of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine, as well as Massachusetts north of Cape Cod, and the southern and western coastlines of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia respectively. Massachusetts Bay and the Bay of Fundy are included within the Gulf of Maine system. As such, the Gulf of Maine is also home to the highest tidal variations on the planet.

Gulf of Maine

The coastline of the Gulf of Maine is predominantly rocky and scenic; the only significant coastal development is located in the Boston, Portsmouth, Portland and Saint John metropolitan areas. The effects of glaciation are responsible for stripping sedimentary soil away from the coastline, therefore the gulf lacks the sandy beaches found to the south along the Eastern Seaboard. The underwater features of the seabed sculptured during the lower sea levels of the ice ages make the gulf a semi-enclosed sea bounded to the south and east by underwater banks. Georges Bank in particular, on its southern end, protects the Gulf of Maine waters from the Gulf Stream. Gulf of Maine waters are more strongly influenced by the Labrador Current, making the gulf waters significantly colder and more nutrient-rich than those found to the south. Undersea valleys in the central basin can reach depths of 1,500 feet (500 meters) while undersea mountains rise up 800 feet (266 meters) from the sea floor, almost reaching the surface in some locations.

The watershed of the gulf encompasses an area of 69,115 miles² (179,008 km²), including all of Maine, 70 percent of New Hampshire, 56 percent of New Brunswick, 41 percent of Massachusetts, and 36 percent of Nova Scotia. The watershed also includes a small southern portion (less than 1 percent) of the Canadian province of Quebec. Significant rivers that drain into the Gulf include, from east to west, the Annapolis, Shubenacadie, Salmon, Petitcodiac, St. John, Magaguadavic, St. Croix, Penobscot, Kennebec, Piscataqua and Merrimack Rivers; the St. John and Penobscot having the greatest discharge.

The cold waters of the gulf make it one of the most productive marine environments in the North Atlantic, and it furnishes habitat for many diverese species including most notably the Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) and the American lobster (Homarus americanus), which grows to famously large sizes in the gulf. The waters of the Gulf of Maine system, particularly at the boundary with the Bay of Fundy are also home to the summering grounds for many different whale species, most notably the highly endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, a beach on the Gulf of Maine.

The gulf's relative proximity to Europe made it an early destination for European colonization. French settlers founded a settlement on St. Croix Island in 1604. English settlers founded the Popham Colony on an island in the Kennebec River in 1607, the same years as the Jamestown settlement, followed by the Plymouth Colony on the shores of Massachusetts Bay in 1620.

In the 1960s and 1970s there was a dispute between Canada and the United States over fishing and other resource rights in the Gulf of Maine, specifically the Georges Bank region. This dispute was taken to the International Court of Justice, which delineated a boundary through the Gulf in 1984. Canada and the U.S. continue to disagree on the sovereignty of Machias Seal Island and the waters surrounding it in the northeastern part of the gulf. In recognition of the Gulf's importance to marine habitat, both nations currently maintain complementary embargos against offshore oil and gas exploration activities on Georges Bank in the southern part of the gulf.

Issue #307

poon cho tang SG

Great St. Bernard Pass

The Great St Bernard Pass (Fr. Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard, It. Colle del Gran San Bernardo) is the most ancient pass through the Western Alps, with evidence of use as far back as the Bronze Age, surviving traces of the Roman road and more recently the path of Napoleon's army into Italy in 1800. A hospice for travellers founded in 1049, named after Saint Bernard of Menthon, which later became famous for its St. Bernard dogs. The hospice still functions, occupying two buildings, of 1560 and 1898. Pope Pius XI confirmed Bernard as patron saint of the Alps in 1923.

Hospice at the Great St Bernard, with ancient road in foreground.

The pass runs northeast-southwest through the Valais Alps at an elevation of 2,469 m (8,101 ft). From the north (Switzerland), the route to the pass follows the Dranse River valley above Martigny, then into the wild and desolate valley of the Dranse d'Entremont. The Great St Bernard Tunnel (and the main road) plunges through the mountains at the 1,915 m level; after the construction of the Simplon Tunnel further east in 1905, railroad traffic partly superseded the St Bernard road. The much smaller historic road winding over the pass itself, which is part of the Swiss border with Italy is only passable June to September. On the south side of the pass, the Great St Bernard Valley is drained by the Artanavaz River, which runs down to Aosta.

Just below the pass is a small lake, and several buildings making up the hospice straddle the pass itself. The old road may still be seen, above the paved road. The minor peaks Mont Mort and Pic de Drona flank the pass. The elevation is such that snow may keep the pass closed until June, and indeed the motivation for the hospice was to aid travellers overcome by the difficulties of the crossing.

Likewise, the dogs from this area, known as St. Bernards, were bred to be large enough to handle deep snow and to scent out lost persons. It is often said that they carried small casks of brandy around their necks (although this might be only a legend), in the belief that the liquor had medicinal properties (in reality, the effect would have been more psychological than physiological, as alcohol even increases the rate of heat loss in persons suffering from hypothermia).

The Grand St.Bernard Pass (which is on the way from Turin to Switzerland) was featured in the film The Italian Job where Michael Caine and his gang crashed their coach full of gold and ultimately came up with the immortal line "hang on a moment lads, I've got a great idea . . . . "

Issue #308

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