Eastern Periphery Research Articles

Fixing Prussia's Peripheries: Rural Disasters and Prusso-German State-Building, 1866–1914

AbstractIn the 1860s, rural disasters on Prussia's eastern and western peripheries forced lawmakers to wrestle with the definition of the termemergency(Notstand), as well as with its temporal and spatial boundaries. The article first explores the legislative decision by Berlin politicians to limit state aid to East Prussia in 1868, even as other hunger crises devastated remote regions in the northwestern state of Hanover. The article then turns to the political conflicts over the 1868 law, including the disputes after unification over how to determine eligibility for state funds; the jostling among representatives of poor regions for attention; the creation of permanent relief funds; and politicians’ use of new understandings of moor science to strengthen and link Prussia's eastern and western peripheries. The article also considers the larger political context, emphasizing that the dismay over Prussian “backwardness” and inner-Prussian competition for disaster aid unfolded against the backdrop of the state's successful leadership during German unification.

Low genetic diversity in small leading edge populations of the European paleoendemic Ramonda serbica (Gesneriaceae) in Bulgaria

Ramonda serbica Panč. (Gesneriaceae) is an endangered endemic species of the Balkan Peninsula which has been the subject of several studies in the past, but has not yet been investigated in terms of its genetic variation. Ramonda serbica is one of only five European representatives of the mainly subtropical family Gesneriaceae categorized as paleoendemics or Tertiary relicts sequestered in southern Europe by Quaternary climate oscillations. Here, an inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis was performed to determine the genetic diversity of five populations sampled from the geographically eastern fringe of its range in northwestern Bulgaria. We found relatively low levels of genetic diversity and significant genetic differentiation among the investigated populations, typical of a leading edge scenario. From a conservation point of view, the low genetic diversity, together with the presence of only few extant localities stress the need for urgent in situ and ex situ conservation actions to ensure the long‐term survival of R. serbica in Bulgaria.

Hydrogeological conceptual model of large and complex sedimentary aquifer systems – Central Kalahari Basin

Successful groundwater resources evaluation and management is nowadays typically undertaken using distributed numerical groundwater flow models. Such models largely rely on hydrogeological conceptual models. The conceptual models summarize hydrogeological knowledge of an area to be modelled and thereby providing a framework for numerical model design. In this study, an efficient data integration method for developing hydrogeological conceptual model of the large and hydrogeologically-complex, Central Kalahari Basin (CKB) aquifer system, was undertaken. In that process, suitability of 3-D geological modelling with RockWorks code in iterative combination with standard GIS (ArcGIS) was tested. As a result, six hydrostratigraphic units were identified, their heads and related flow system interdependencies evaluated and hydraulic properties attached. A characteristic feature of the CKB is a thick unsaturated Kalahari Sand Unit (KSU), that restricts the erratic recharge input to <1 mm yr−1 in the centre to about 5–10 mm yr−1 in the eastern fringe. The analysis of the spatial distribution of topological surfaces of the hydrostratigraphic units and hydraulic heads of the aquifers, allowed to identify three flow systems of the three aquifers, Lebung, Ecca and Ghanzi, all three having similar radially-concentric regional groundwater flow patterns directed towards discharge area of Makgadikgadi Pans. That pattern similarity is likely due to various hydraulic interconnections, direct or through aquitard leakages, and also due to the presence of the overlying unconfined, surficial KSU, hydraulically connected with all the three aquifers, redistributing recharge into them. The proposed 3-D geological modelling with RockWorks, turned to be vital and efficient in developing hydrogeological conceptual model of a large and complex multi-layered aquifer systems. Its strength is in simplicity of operation, in conjunctive, iterative use with other software such as standard GIS and in flexibility to interface with numerical groundwater model. As a result of conceptual modelling, fully 3-d, 6 layer numerical model, with shallow, variably-saturated, unconfined layer is finally recommended as a transition from conceptual into numerical model of the CKB.

Spatiotemporal pattern of terrestrial evapotranspiration in China during the past thirty years

Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the most important fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems that regulate atmosphere–hydrosphere–biosphere interactions. Several studies have suggested that global ET has significantly increased in the past several decades, and that such increase has exhibited big spatial variability, but there are few detailed studies on the spatio-temporal change in ET over China. Here, we developed a high-resolution data-oriented monthly ET product in China between 1982 and 2015 by integrating remote-sensing and the eddy covariance technique observed ET data in a machine learning approach (model tree ensemble, MTE). We showed that the mean annual ET over China is 552 ± 14 mm yr−1, which is comparable to the estimate from a MTE-derived product based on water balance, but is larger than that from both previous MTE-derived global product and process-based land surface models. ET in China significantly increased with a rate of 10.7 mm yr−1 per decade over the past 30 years (p < 0.05). The largest increases in ET (>60 mm yr−1 per decade) occurred in the eastern periphery of Sichuan, southern Taiwan, and central China, which was attributed to the increases in temperature and solar radiation, as well as the enhanced vegetation productivity. About 22% of the area showed a decreasing trend in ET, mainly in parts of southeastern, southwestern, and northeastern China. The regional decrease in ET was likely due to decreasing precipitation and/or vegetation browning. Although our finding of the significant increase in China’s ET at the country scale is supported by five different ET products, there are still less agreement on the change in ET at the regional scale among different ET products.

Delineation of groundwater resources using electrical resistivity tomography

Chandrabhaga basin of the Nagpur district is a part of the drought prone Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India. This region is facing acute shortage of water for drinking and irrigation purposes. The basin is located at the eastern fringe of the Deccan traps consisting of volcanic rocks. Presently, dug wells penetrating composite layers of the weathered mantle and highly fractured rocks overlying stratified basaltic lava flows are the main source of water supply. However, water available in the dug wells is inadequate to meet the ever increasing demand for water causing considerable economic losses to the farming community. In this work, we present the results of an electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey carried out in the basin for the delineation of groundwater potential zones. Validity of the hydrogeological setup obtained from the ERT results has been confirmed by bore well drillings at two investigated sites. The study demonstrates the efficacy of the ERT technique in delineation of groundwater potential zones in the hydrogeologically complex basaltic terrain of the Deccan traps.

West of the Best

The Northwest of Namibia bears a concentration of rock art that is among the highest in the world. One of the centres is Twyfelfontein, a cluster of sites surrounding a waterhole at the eastern fringe of the Namib Desert, classified as the prime rock engraving site in southern Africa and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Recent prospections in the desert west of Twyfelfontein have resulted in the discovery of engravings and paintings that exceed those at the UNESCO site, both in quantity and quality. Our contribution to this volume in memory of Klavs Randsborg introduces this newly discovered archaeological landscape and discusses the connection between water - a rare commodity in the desert environment - and the rich array of rock art and other archaeological features found here.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Territoriality and Governance in the Globalizing European Eastern Peripheries

This special issue focuses on the governance of peripheries in CEE from a multiscalar perspective to identify current policy responses and practices at the European, regional, cross-border and local levels. We attempt to unite various paradigms of peripheries by taking a governance approach – paradigms that, when used independently, threaten to further fragment our understanding of non-core territories across CEE. The introductory paper progresses from discussing the territorial basis of peripheries, through rescaling processes and issues of governance, to the introduction of selected papers included in this issue.

Nouvelles données sur la chronologie des sites paléolithiques en contexte lœssique du Nord-Est et du Sud-Est de la Roumanie (Périphérie orientale des Carpates)

In the present study, the chronology of several intraloessic Upper and Middle Palaeolithic sites, located in Moldova, Dobrogea and the eastern Danube Plain, is re-examined and better defined on the basis of new chronological data (IRSL ages on loess, ESR/U-Th ages on teeth) and also biostratigraphic and pedostratigraphic evidence. Middle Palaeolithic occupations have been identified in the MIS 6 loess L2 (interstadial episode), the MIS 7 pedocomplex S2 and the red soils S3 presumably assigned to MIS 9. These results are questioning the chronological extension of the Middle Palaeolithic in Romania which until early 2000 (Păunescu, 1999 a, b; Cârciumaru, 1999) was restricted to the Upper Pleistocene (short chronology: 130–35ka; MIS 5-MIS 3). Hence, we demonstrate herein that Humans were already present during the Middle Pleistocene at the eastern periphery of the Carpathian Mountains, along the Danube valley and its tributary, the Prut River.

Impact of Accessibility on Housing Prices in Dalian City of China Based on a Geographically Weighted Regression Model

This paper studies the relationship between accessibility and housing prices in Dalian by using an improved geographically weighted regression model and house prices, traffic, remote sensing images, etc. Multi-source data improves the accuracy of the spatial differentiation that reflects the impact of traffic accessibility on house prices. The results are as follows: first, the average house price is 12 436 yuan (RMB)/m2, and reveals a declining trend from coastal areas to inland areas. The exception was Guilin Street, which demonstrates a local peak of house prices that decreases from the center of the street to its periphery. Second, the accessibility value is 33 minutes on average, excluding northern and eastern fringe areas, which was over 50 minutes. Third, the significant spatial correlation coefficient between accessibility and house prices is 0.423, and the coefficient increases in the southeastern direction. The strongest impact of accessibility on house prices is in the southeastern coast, and can be seen in the Lehua, Yingke, and Hushan communities, while the weakest impact is in the northwestern fringe, and can be seen in the Yingchengzi, Xixiaomo, and Daheishi community areas.

Reconstruction of postglacial landscape evolution within the eastern periphery of Chuya depression on the basis of multidisciplinary analysis of peats in Boguty river basin, SE Altai, Russia

This paper presents the results of multidisciplinary investigations of the peat-bed under hummocky permafrosted boggy meadow within the Boguty basin. For the last 7600 years 4 evolutionary phases of peatbog formation within the drained part of Low Boguty Lake bottom were established and corresponding 4 pollen complexes were described. 18 radiocarbon dates suggest some chronological bench marks of postglacial landscape evolution in the region. After degradation of Sartan glaciation about 14000 BP, trees grew in now forestless areas at 11000 BP and 8500-7800 BP. The climate in the first half of the Holocene was warmer and more humid. Accumulation of lacustrine loams within the studied peatbog occurred before 7600 BP with predominated algae Pediastrum, Zygnemataceae and Botryococcus. After the lake level lowered in the result of destructing moraine dam, two lower peat horizons were developed about 7600 – 7200 BP. An episode of significant lake desiccation (later than 7200 BP) was recorded in all proxy archives. Further rise of water supply led to increasing the number of water-bog plants, diatomaceous, euglenic and green algae. At the same time, the pollen of xerophytes began to predominate in the pollen complexes, indicating aridization. The final stage reflects stable peatbog drying and its transformation into boggy meadow, decomposition and mineralization of peat.

Crisis in the European Monetary Union: A Core-Periphery Perspective

“Crisis in the European Monetary Union: A Core-Periphery Perspective” explains what lies behind the decision of a set of politically, economically and socially heterogeneous countries, having in common a loose geographical proximity, to engage in a process of monetary integration, consisting of fully liberalizing goods and capital movements, establishing supranational authorities in charge of ensuring undistorted competition in a supposedly levelled playing field, and abandoning fiscal, monetary and exchange-rate sovereignty. This process of European-wide globalization reshaped the structural core-peripheries trade and industrial relationships. We assist today to the emergence of a polarized Europe, characterized by an industrial and industrialising core, a less industrialized and de-industrializing south periphery and a rapidly catching-up eastern periphery.

Spatio-temporal variation and the driving forces of tea production in China over the last 30 years

As a daily necessity and an important cash crop in China and many other countries, tea has received increasing attention. Using production concentration index model and industry’ s barycenter theory, we analyzed the spatio-temporal distribution of tea production and barycenter movement trajectory of tea plantations and production in China between 1986 and 2015. Driving forces of the movement were also analyzed. From 1986 to 2000, tea production in China’s Mainland of grew slowly (by 210×103 t). The continuous increase in tea yield per unit area was the primary contributor (more than 60%) to the growth in tea production during this period. Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, tea production has grown rapidly, by 1.59×106 t between 2001 and 2015. The increase in the tea plantations area is the main contributor. Over the last 30 years, the barycenters of tea production in China have moved westward from the Dongting Lake Plain to the eastern fringe of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Guizhou, Guangxi, and Sichuan in southwestern China have gradually become regions of new concentrated tea plantations and main tea production provinces. Lower cost of land and labor in southwestern China are the main drivers of the westward movement of China’s tea industry. In addition, supportive policies and the favorable natural geographical environment contribute to the westward movement of tea industry. Our research highlights the spatio-temporal variation of China’s tea production in the last three decades. The result indicates importance to make appropriate policies to promote the development of tea industry in China.

The ‘Populist Explosion’ in the West and its Effect on the NMS

The key messages of this paper can be summarized in three statements: First, the new wave of populism, as neopopulism, has been shaped in the current age of information society first of all in the terms of ‘cultural’ globalization as identity politics. Second, since the outbreak of global crisis in the late 2000s there has been an ‘alienation’ between the Core and the Periphery in the EU with very marked features in the ‘East’, in New Member States as widespread disappointment of populations with the results of EU membership. Third, Poland and Hungary have been pioneering in this process of divergence from the EU mainstream and in the emergence of the anti-EU populist elites, so they represent the classical case of Eupopulism in the Eastern periphery in the EU. Thus, this paper focuses on the specificity of neopopulism in NMS within the EU first of all by analysing the emergence of authoritarian populism in Poland and Hungary.

Changes in Greenland’s peripheral glaciers linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation

Glaciers and ice caps peripheral to the main Greenland Ice Sheet contribute markedly to sea-level rise 1–3 . Their changes and variability, however, have been difficult to quantify on multi-decadal timescales due to an absence of long-term data 4 . Here, using historical aerial surveys, expedition photographs, spy satellite imagery and new remote-sensing products, we map glacier length fluctuations of approximately 350 peripheral glaciers and ice caps in East and West Greenland since 1890. Peripheral glaciers are found to have recently undergone a widespread and significant retreat at rates of 12.2 m per year and 16.6 m per year in East and West Greenland, respectively; these changes are exceeded in severity only by the early twentieth century post-Little-Ice-Age retreat. Regional changes in ice volume, as reflected by glacier length, are further shown to be related to changes in precipitation associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), with a distinct east–west asymmetry; positive phases of the NAO increase accumulation, and thereby glacier growth, in the eastern periphery, whereas opposite effects are observed in the western periphery. Thus, with projected trends towards positive NAO in the future 5,6 , eastern peripheral glaciers may remain relatively stable, while western peripheral glaciers will continue to diminish. Combining historical aerial surveys, expedition photographs, and both spy and modern satellite imagery reveals a pronounced retreat of peripheral glaciers in east and west Greenland, linked to changes in precipitation associated with the NAO.

The client kings of Emesa: a study of local identities in the Roman East

The dynasts of Emesa, today Homs in northwest Syria, ranked among the most important of the Roman allies at the eastern fringe of the Roman Empire. For good reasons the Roman cemetery of Tall Abū Ṣābūn has been identified as necropolis of the royal family. The finds from the 22 tombs of the early and mid of the 1st cent. ad uncovered under the direction of H. Seyrig in 1936 and a tomb monument with pyramidal roof that has been blown up in 1911 have provided valuable information about the cultural history and identity of the client kingdoms in the 1st cent. bc and ad. The objects, mainly clothing accessories, jewellery, weapons and parts of the tomb furniture have recently been subject of a detailed analysis. It reveals a changing self-image of the oriental client kings going together with intensified contacts with Rome. But whereas the burial customs show clear local traditions until the mid of the 1st century the jewellery and insignia show striking parallels to the cultures of the Central-Asian steppe. In the case of Emesa these characteristic items, that originally unified the local elites of the steppe-desert, seem to disappear with the liquidation of the client status in the early 70ies ad, and were substituted by Roman forms of representation. In consideration of the written sources this case study discusses the parameters of identity and identitary change of the eastern client kings in their interaction with Rome. The results reveal that care for control and safety on the eastern fringe of the Roman Empire was only one aspect of their specific role. However their full significance becomes only understandable by regarding the complex cultural, social, political and economic situation in Syria in the 1st cent. ad.

Dynamics of free-living and plant-parasitic nematodes on vegetables in Dhapa municipal waste of Kolkata, India

We investigated areas at the eastern fringe of Kolkata, Dhapa–a land filled with Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) land of West Bengal (India) for exploring nematode species diversity, abundance and dynamic at three sites practising different vegetable-based cropping sequences. The area sampled at monthly interval and the soil and root populations estimated at laboratory. The plant-parasitic nematode (PPN) species and free-living group (saprozoics) were estimated from soil. No differences in the diversity of nematode species and feeding groups among the sites in the MSW land were found but considerable variations in abundance and dynamics of PPNs were noted. All three sites at MSW, total PPNs outnumbered free-living nematodes in most of the samples but mononchids were less abundant. Saprozoic nematode index (SNI) was determined; SNI value was low (0.33–0.40) in this organic rich production system.

Seasonal variations and sources of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and organochlorine compounds in a high-altitude city: Evidence from four-year observations.

Lijiang is a high-altitude city located on the eastern fringe of the Tibetan Plateau, with complex seasonal atmospheric circulations (i.e. westerly wind, Indian Monsoon, and East Asia Monsoon). Very few previous studies have focused on seasonal variations and sources of organic pollutants in Lijiang. In this study, a four-year air campaign from June 2009 to July 2013 was conducted to investigate the temporal trends and the sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine compounds [including organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)]. The atmospheric PAH concentrations in winter are 2-3 times of those in summer, probably because of the combined result of enhanced local emission and long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT) during winter. Traffic pollution was the primary local source of PAHs, while biomass burning is the dominant LRAT source. OCPs and PCBs also mainly underwent LRAT to reach Lijiang. The peak concentrations of most of OCPs occurred in pre-monsoon season and winter, which were carried by air masses from Myanmar and India through westerly winds. As compared with other sites of the Tibetan Plateau, without the direct barrier of the Himalaya, Lijiang is easily contaminated by the incursion of polluted air masses.

European Integration, Capitalist Diversity and Crises Trajectories on Europe’s Eastern Periphery

ABSTRACTEuropean policy responses to the Global Financial Crisis and its European manifestation have set off a scholarly debate whether different national varieties of capitalism are equally able to cope with deepened European integration. To date, this debate has mostly focused on the contrasting fates of the thriving northern export-oriented capitalisms and the ailing southern European ones. This paper seeks to broaden the debate by focusing on Europe’s Eastern periphery. It argues that a combination of domestic transformation strategies and the EU’s accession policies resulted in two different growth regimes on Europe’s Eastern periphery: a dependent export-driven in the Visegrád countries and a dependent debt-driven in the Baltic States. On the basis of the pre- and post-crisis trajectories of these two growth models, this paper finds that because East Central European capitalisms were profoundly shaped by EU integration, they are on balance also more compatible with deepened integration than Southern European capitalisms.

The core‒periphery pattern of European business cycles: A fuzzy clustering approach

The literature on business cycle synchronization in Europe frequently presumes an alleged ‘core‒periphery’ pattern without providing empirical verification of the underlying cyclical (dis)similarities or the supposed but unobservable ‘European business cycle(s)’. To provide a data-based country group analysis, we apply a fuzzy clustering approach to quarterly output gap series of 27 European countries over the period 1996‒2015. Our results confirm the existence of a persistent core cluster as opposed to clusters on the Eastern and Southern European peripheries, highlighting the inadequate composition of the euro area (EA). Moreover, we find that Germany's business cycle is not a suitable substitute for the core. By analyzing the relation between the identified ‘European core business cycle’ and the peripheral cycles over time, we show diverging patterns for the southern periphery after the financial crisis as well as convergence for the eastern periphery.

Evaluation of water resource management in Salt Lake City, West Bengal, India

ABSTRACTThe tenets of sustainable development are often ignored by growing cities in developing countries. Salt Lake City, located on the eastern fringes of Kolkata, despite being a planned township, has failed to manage its water resources in a sustainable way. Results from the study show that the water supplied at the households is hard in nature, saline, and replete with dissolved solids. The problem is further aggravated due to over-extraction of groundwater resources, resulting in an intense fall of the groundwater level in the area. This paper attempts to suggest measures for sustainable water resource management, with particular emphasis on rainwater harvesting.