scholarly journals No Country for Men: Searching for Late Medieval Submerged Settlements in the North-Eastern Zuiderzee Area in the Netherlands

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 567-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yftinus T. van Popta

This article focuses on the maritime cultural landscape of the former Zuiderzee (ad 1170–1932) in the central part of the Netherlands. Since the large-scale reclamations from the sea (1932–1968), many remains have been discovered, revealing a submerged and eroded late medieval maritime culture, represented by lost islands, drowned settlements, cultivated lands, shipwrecks, and consequently socio-economic networks. Especially the north-eastern part of the region, known today as the Noordoostpolder, is testimony to the dynamic battles of the Dutch against the water. By examining physical and immaterial datasets from the region, it is possible to give a modern-day idea of this late medieval maritime cultural landscape. Spatial distribution and densities of late medieval archaeological remains are analysed and compared to historical data and remote sensing results. This interdisciplinary approach has led to the discovery of the remains of the drowned settlement of Fenehuysen.

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Rahimpour Golroudbary ◽  
Yijian Zeng ◽  
Chris M. Mannaerts ◽  
Zhongbo Su

AbstractKnowledge of the response of extreme precipitation to urbanization is essential to ensure societal preparedness for the extreme events caused by climate change. To quantify this response, this study scales extreme precipitation according to temperature using the statistical quantile regression and binning methods for 231 rain gauges during the period of 1985–2014. The positive 3%–7% scaling rates were found at most stations. The nonstationary return levels of extreme precipitation are investigated using monthly blocks of the maximum daily precipitation, considering the dependency of precipitation on the dewpoint, atmospheric air temperatures, and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index. Consideration of Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) land-cover types upwind of the stations in different directions classifies stations as urban and nonurban. The return levels for the maximum daily precipitation are greater over urban stations than those over nonurban stations especially after the spring months. This discrepancy was found by 5%–7% larger values in August for all of the classified station types. Analysis of the intensity–duration–frequency curves for urban and nonurban precipitation in August reveals that the assumption of stationarity leads to the underestimation of precipitation extremes due to the sensitivity of extreme precipitation to the nonstationary condition. The study concludes that nonstationary models should be used to estimate the return levels of extreme precipitation by considering the probable covariates such as the dewpoint and atmospheric air temperatures. In addition to the external forces, such as large-scale weather modes, circulation types, and temperature changes that drive extreme precipitation, urbanization could impact extreme precipitation in the Netherlands, particularly for short-duration events.


2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Verhoeven

Hamont is a small town located on the north-eastern edge of the Belgian province of Limburg, on the national border with the Netherlands. It is situated about 30 km south of Eindhoven and 15 km west of Weert in the Netherlands. The town has about 13,500 inhabitants. According to Belemans, Kruijsen & Van Keymeulen (1998), the dialect of Hamont belongs to the West Limburg dialects (subclassification: Dommellands). Limburg dialects occupy a unique position among the Belgian and Dutch dialects in that their prosodic system has a lexical tone distinction, which is traditionally referred to as SLEEPTOON ‘dragging tone’ and STOOTTOON ‘push tone’. In line with recent conventions, stoottoon is referred to as Accent 1 and transcribed as superscript 1; sleeptoon is referred to as Accent 2 and is transcribed as superscript 2 (cf. Schmidt 1986).


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 2355-2389 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. Dermody ◽  
H. J. de Boer ◽  
M. F. P. Bierkens ◽  
S. L. Weber ◽  
M. J. Wassen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Previous studies have proposed that potential vegetation in the Mediterranean maintained a wetter climate during the Roman Period until the initiation of large scale deforestation. The reduction in evapotranspirative fluxes associated with deforestation is suggested to have caused climatic aridification leading to the establishment of the present-day Mediterranean climate. There is also evidence to indicate that during the Roman Period Mediterranean climate was influenced by low frequency fluctuations in sea level pressure over the North Atlantic, termed here: the Centennial North Atlantic Oscillation (CNAO). In order to understand the importance of each of these mechanisms and disentangle their respective signals in the proxy record, we have employed an interdisciplinary approach that exploits a range of tools and data sources. An analysis of archaeological site distribution and historical texts demonstrate that climate did not increase in aridity since the Roman Period. Using an Earth system model of intermediate complexity prescribed with a reconstruction of ancient deforestation, we find that Mediterranean climate was insensitive to deforestation in the Late Holocene. A novel analysis of a composite of proxy indicators of climatic humidity depicts spatial and temporal patterns consistent with the CNAO. The link between the CNAO during the Roman Period and climatic humidity signals manifest in our composite analysis are demonstrated using a modelling approach. Finally, we present evidence indicating that fluctuations in the CNAO contributed to triggering a societal tipping point in the Eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Roman Period.


1997 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 185 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Kennelly ◽  
S. C. Drew ◽  
C. D. Delano Gagnon

The retained- and discarded-catch rates of fish, crustaceans and molluscs caught by demersal fish trawlers were quantified in a large-scale observer survey of fleets working off the north-eastern United States. The data presented come from catches sampled from 7757 tows on 1010 fishing trips during the four-year period from July 1990 to June 1994 and are summarized as the weights retained and discarded (per hour of trawling) for many of the important commercial and recreational species in the region. Problems with the spatial and temporal design of the programme restricted statistical analyses of the data and prevented summaries across all statistical areas and months. However, separate summaries for individual areas (over all months) and individual months (over all areas) identified several spatial and temporal patterns in retained- and discarded-catch rates for individual species and combinations of species. Noticeable increases and decreases in catch rates during the four-year period provided information on the relative health of certain stocks, and overall discard percentages indicated relative selectivities of the trawling operations sampled.


1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
A.B.S. Clark ◽  
B.M. Thomas

In 1981 Shell and its co-venturers were the successful applicants for gazettal block V80-3, now permit VIC/P19, on the north-eastern margin of the Gippsland Basin where, subsequently, 10 exploration wells were drilled. At the time of the award, the offshore Gippsland Basin had been explored for some 20 years, and the conventional 'Top Latrobe' play even then was considered to be largely exhausted although a few small traps of doubtful economic viability remained untested. Thus, from the outset, exploration in VIC/P19 also emphasised the intra-Latrobe play. While the existence of the intra-Latrobe play has long been recognised, its extent and limiting parameters are less well documented.Recent exploration results in the southern part of VIC/P19 indicate that the main phase (peak) of generation and expulsion of hydrocarbons from intra- Latrobe source rocks occurs at depths of 4 to 5 km for oil and 5 to 6 km for gas. Large-scale vertical migration of hydrocarbons (up to 2 km or more) is probably occurring in many parts of the central Gippsland Basin and has charged faulted intra- Latrobe traps, such as found at Basker-1 and Manta-1. These accumulations are characterised by multiple stacked reservoirs (fluvial and alluvial sandstones) and thin hydrocarbon columns. However, similar adjacent traps are dry, despite the presence of equivalent reservoirs (e.g. Basker South-I and Chimaera-I), probably due to inadequate lateral fault seals. Lateral sealing may occur along the fault plane itself or by favourable juxtaposition of lithologies, both cases being demonstrated in the Manta accumulation. The petrology and reservoir characteristics of Latrobe Group sandstones vary considerably, depending largely on sedimentary facies. Sands of fluvial or alluvial origin are generally inferior to those deposited in shoreline environments. An effective intra-Latrobe reservoir 'floor' lies at around 4 km burial depth for both fluvial and alluvial sandstones.


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