The role of aerocosmic research in metallogenic prediction (on the example of antimony-mercury ore formation deposits in Azerbaijan)

Mercury degassing is a global process. In geological development, it begins with the formation of deep fractures that can penetrate the great depths of the mantle. As the linearity lengthens, the temporal degassing and intensity of mercury weaken this connection with the depths of its individual parts and the Earth, or the period of strengthening of this connection will vary depending on the development of the characteristics observed. The concentration of mercury and antimony-mercury ores along the outer frame of circular and oval and other structures can most likely be explained by the Earth's total mercury degassing. In our opinion, the ideal situation is the junction of circular, oval, and other structures with linear nodes, where industrially important deposits of minerals can be formed. Key words: mercury, aerospace research, metallogenic prediction, minerals

Hydrogen and Abiotic Hydrocarbons: Molecules that Change the World

Molecular hydrogen (H2), methane, and hydrocarbons with an apparent abiotic origin have been observed in a variety of geologic settings, including serpentinized ultramafic rocks, hydrothermal fluids, and deep fractures within ancient cratons. Molecular hydrogen is also observed in vapor plumes emanating from the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and methane has been detected in the atmosphere of Mars. Geologic production of these compounds has been the subject of increasing scientific attention due to their use by chemosynthetic biological communities. These compounds are also of interest as possible energy resources. This issue summarizes the geological sources of abiotic H2 and hydrocarbons on Earth and elsewhere and examines their impact on microbial life and energy resources.

Laser-Induced Thermography for Quantitative Detection of Cracks in Building Materials

Laser-induced thermography is a an active technique using a laser source to heat a very small area on a side of a crack in a building material. The presence of a crack is easily detected as a sharp change in the temperature due to its insulating nature, but no information about its depth is directly available from the thermal image. The method described in this paper uses a heuristic form of the temperature on the surface of the heated specimen, which is transformed to a two-dimensional distribution. Then, a relation is used (called β -tool) between the thermal gap across the crack and the unknown depth of the damage. The purpose is that of making it possible to distinguish between shallow and deep fractures (more than 15mm deep).

The thermal state and geothermal energy accumulation mechanism in the Xiong’an New Area, China

There are abundant geothermal resources in the Xiong’an New Area, China. However, the thermal state and geothermal energy accumulation mechanism are not clear. Based on the geological conditions and the characteristics of the present geothermal field, a 2D model was established to analyze the process of mantle-derived heat conduction and to predict the distribution of the deep geothermal field. We calculated the terrestrial heat flow for the Rongcheng uplift and Niutuozhen uplift to be 64 and 75 mW/m2, respectively. The geothermal resources in this area are controlled by a four-element model comprising heat conduction, structural uplift, large deep fractures, and convection within the reservoir.

Evaluating British prime ministerial performance: David Cameron’s premiership in political time

This article contributes to the developing literature on prime ministerial performance in the United Kingdom by applying a critical reading of Stephen Skowronek’s account of leadership in ‘political time’ to evaluate David Cameron’s premiership. This, we propose, better understands the inter-relationship of structure and agency in prime ministerial performance than existing frameworks, particularly those based on Greenstein’s and Bulpitt’s approaches. We identify Cameron as a disjunctive prime minister, but find it necessary significantly to develop the model of disjunctive leadership beyond that offered by Skowronek. We identify the warrants to authority, strategies and dilemmas associated with disjunctive leadership in the United Kingdom. We argue that Cameron was relatively skilful in meeting many of the challenges confronting an affiliated leader of a vulnerable regime. However, his second term exposed deep fractures in the regime, which proved beyond Cameron’s skills as a disjunctive leader.

A ‘grand stade’ for Paris: stadia, urban planning and the 1924 Olympics

This chapter focuses on the debates over the construction of a monumental, 100,000-person stadium in advance of the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. The stadium’s advocates argued that it would spark a nationwide revival of French physical fitness, deemed critical in light of demographic anxieties generated by the First World War, while its detractors saw the stadium as an expensive space for parasitic mass spectatorship. Yet even the promoters of the Olympic Games (both in France and outside its borders) were leery of the crowds that they hoped to attract: they feared that the mass public was disorderly and dangerous, and that it showed an alarming propensity to seek out the ‘spectacle’ of sport rather than appreciate the latter’s higher moral and physical purpose. This ambivalence contributed to the Paris municipal council’s refusal to support the stadium. While the Olympics still took place, at a privately-owned stadium in the suburb of Colombes northwest of Paris, the Olympic stadium crisis ultimately revealed deep fractures over spectator sport as a matter of official public policy and in relation to urban development, and set the template for sporting practices and further debates that continued well into the 1950s.

Application of gravity and airborne magnetics to structural-magnetic mapping of the metamorphic massive Isla de la Juventud

In an attempt to contribute to the structural mapping of metamorphic massif Isla de la Juventud, with emphasis to acidic magmatism, gravitational-magnetometer data of the territory by means the processing technology Oasis Montaj are used. According to their findings, the presumed postmetamorphic granitic bodies of low density and magnetic susceptibility are located mainly in the central and southwestern part of the massif. On the flanks of Antiform Río Los Indios are mapped rocks of the high part of Cañada Formation, also with low density. The granitic bodies apparently were introduced through the system of longitudinal (synmetamorphic) and transverse (postmetamorphic) faults at the end of the multifolding and metamorphism process of the sequences of the massif, taking a dominant role the zones of longitudinal deep fractures of sublatitudinal direction in the central and southern part of the massif. Late regional dome structure is understand now within the meaning of morfoanticlinal uprising in the region, resulting from the exhumation of metamorphic massif. Does this mean that cracking generated during the evolution of this structure is not affected by acidic magmatism and in consequence for its specific metallogeny of rare and precious metals.

Protestant conversion and social conflict: The case of the Hmong in contemporary Vietnam

This article analyses the social implications of the recent mass conversions to Protestantism by one-third of the one million Hmong in Vietnam. The conversions have been condemned by the Vietnamese state, while being understood by international human rights activists as acts of conscience on the part of the Hmong converts. This article focuses on the internal debate and divisions surrounding conversion among the Hmong themselves. The converts believe that Protestantism is the only way to alter the ethnic group's marginal status in Vietnam while the unconverted Hmong see conversion as a betrayal of Hmong ethnicity. Such conflicting views have been causing deep fractures in Hmong society.