Eurasian Landmass Research Articles

The climate of Montenegro: Modificators and types - part two

The main objective of this study is to emphasize the basic climate modificators and types in Montenegro. Rarely could you find such a small area with more climate types and several subtypes and varieties as it is the case here. The most important climate modificators in Montenegro have been discussed in the Part One of the study, such as: mathematical - geographical position, relief dissection, atmospheric circulation and the Adriatic Sea. Atlantic and Mediterranean aquatories and Eurasian landmass play an important part in climate modification in the area of Montenegro. These vast areas represent the source of atmospheric action centres and air masses. In the Part Two of this study, the climate regionalization of Montenegro is given according to the K?ppen criteria, as it has been proved that it gives a good basis for solving several practical and scientific problems.

Mapping the aerosol over Eurasia from the Zotino Tall Tower

The present study covers more than 5 yr corresponding to more than 40 000 hours of particle and gas data measured at the Siberian tall tower Zotino Tall Tower (ZOTTO) (60.8°N; 89.35°E). Extrapolated along 10-d back trajectories, the ZOTTO measurements cover large parts of the Eurasian land mass. Mapping the extrapolated ZOTTO data points to major anthropogenic source regions and Siberian fire regions, consistent with emission data for CO and vegetation fires. Middle East mid-latitude sources stand out strongly and possibly emissions from Northern China may be seen at times from ZOTTO. The maps of measured light scattering and absorption characteristics support the interpretation of different source types. Three clusters of substantially different submicrometer particle size distributions were found, the maps of which also could be related to major aerosol source regions.

The Homo Neanderthalis and the Dravidians: A Common Origin and Relation to Harappan Civilisation and Vedas

INTRODUCTION: The postulated Lemurian part of the Indian sub-continent in South India is inhabited by the dominant Nair community. The dominant Nair community also has a high incidence of autism. Neanderthal anthropometric features have been described in autism. Neanderthal metabolonomics have also been described in autism. It is possible that homo neanderthalis would have originated in the super continent which occupied the southern ocean. The island of Sumatra is home to another human species homo floresiensis which lived along with homo neanderthalis. This suggests an oceanic origin of homo neanderthalis in the supercontinent in the southern ocean. Recurrent Tsunamis would have forced the migration of homo neanderthalis to the Eurasian land mass especially to Harappa, Sumeria, Etruscia, Egypt and Basque country. There is a high incidence of Neanderthal genes in the Basque population. The language spoken in Harappa, Sumeria, Etruscia, Egypt and Basque country had a Dravidian sub-stratum. The population in these areas are matrilineal and female dominant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Neanderthal anthropometric features were evaluated in the Nair community and in autism. The parameters checked include dolichocephalic skull, prominent supraorbital ridge and mid face large flat nose and ring finger index finger ratios. RESULTS: The Nair community had a high prevalence of Neanderthal anthropometric features. Neanderthal anthropometric features were also dominant in autism. CONCLUSION: This suggests an out of oceania hypothesis for the origin of homo neanderthalis.

A range-wide synthesis and timeline for phylogeographic events in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

BackgroundMany boreo-temperate mammals have a Pleistocene fossil record throughout Eurasia and North America, but only few have a contemporary distribution that spans this large area. Examples of Holarctic-distributed carnivores are the brown bear, grey wolf, and red fox, all three ecological generalists with large dispersal capacity and a high adaptive flexibility. While the two former have been examined extensively across their ranges, no phylogeographic study of the red fox has been conducted across its entire Holarctic range. Moreover, no study included samples from central Asia, leaving a large sampling gap in the middle of the Eurasian landmass.ResultsHere we provide the first mitochondrial DNA sequence data of red foxes from central Asia (Siberia), and new sequences from several European populations. In a range-wide synthesis of 729 red fox mitochondrial control region sequences, including 677 previously published and 52 newly obtained sequences, this manuscript describes the pattern and timing of major phylogeographic events in red foxes, using a Bayesian coalescence approach with multiple fossil tip and root calibration points. In a 335 bp alignment we found in total 175 unique haplotypes. All newly sequenced individuals belonged to the previously described Holarctic lineage. Our analyses confirmed the presence of three Nearctic- and two Japan-restricted lineages that were formed since the Mid/Late Pleistocene.ConclusionsThe phylogeographic history of red foxes is highly similar to that previously described for grey wolves and brown bears, indicating that climatic fluctuations and habitat changes since the Pleistocene had similar effects on these highly mobile generalist species. All three species originally diversified in Eurasia and later colonized North America and Japan. North American lineages persisted through the last glacial maximum south of the ice sheets, meeting more recent colonizers from Beringia during postglacial expansion into the northern Nearctic. Both brown bears and red foxes colonized Japan’s northern island Hokkaido at least three times, all lineages being most closely related to different mainland lineages. Red foxes, grey wolves, and brown bears thus represent an interesting case where species that occupy similar ecological niches also exhibit similar phylogeographic histories.

The climate of Montenegro: Modificators and types - part one

The aim of this study is to point out the basic climate modificators and types in Montenegro. Rarely could you find such a small area with more climate types and several subtypes and varieties as it is the case here. In the Part one of the study the most important climate modificators in Montenegro have been discussed, such as: mathematical - geographical position, relief dissection, atmospheric circulation and the Adriatic Sea. Atlantic and Mediterranean aquatories and Eurasian landmass play an important part in climate modification in the area of Montenegro. These vast areas represent the source of atmospheric action centres and air masses.

Evidence for right-lateral strike-slip environment in the Kutch basin of northwestern India from moment tensor inversion studies

Abstract The Kutch region located in northwestern part of India is an ancient rift basin that was active until Cretaceous period. The region falls close to the India–Arabia and the India–Eurasia plate boundaries and has experienced devastating earthquakes in the past, namely the 1819 Allah Bund earthquake, the 1956 Anjar earthquake and the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. To understand the tectonics of this region with respect to the adjacent plate boundaries, we invert seismic waveform data of 11 earthquakes in this region recorded by a network of the Institute of Seismological Research (ISR) during 2007–2009. The study yields focal mechanism solutions of reverse fault and strike-slip type mechanism. The inferred fault planes correlate well with the local trends of the known tectonic faults while the principal stress directions derived from stress inversion based on a linearized least squares approach, trend agreeably with the ambient stress field directions. A consistently right-lateral sense of shear is found on all the local faults as derived from each of the matching planes of the focal mechanism solutions computed in the present study. It is inferred that in the Kutch region a right-lateral strike-slip environment prevails along predominantly EW to NW-SE oriented deep-seated pre-existing faults in an otherwise compressive stress regime. This, in conjunction with the left-lateral movements along the Girnar mountain in southern Saurashtra, inferred from previous studies, indicates a westward escape of the Kutch–Saurashtra block as a consequence of the northward collision of the Indian plate with respect to the Eurasian landmass.

What Happened to the Soviet Superpower’s Nuclear Arsenal? Clues for the Nuclear Security Summit

Twenty years ago Russia and fourteen other newly-independent states emerged from the ruins of the Soviet empire, many as nations for the first time in history. As is typical in the aftermath of the collapse of an empire, this was followed by a period of chaos, confusion, and corruption. As the saying went at the time, “everything is for sale.” At that same moment, as the Soviet state imploded, 35,000 nuclear weapons remained at thousands of sites across a vast Eurasian landmass that stretched across eleven time zones. Today, fourteen of the fifteen successor states to the Soviet Union are nuclear weapons-free. When the U.S.S.R. disappeared, 3,200 strategic nuclear warheads remained in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, most of them atop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that stood on alert, ready to be fired at targets in the U.S. Today, every one of the nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus has been deactivated and returned to Russia, where they were dismantled and the nuclear material in the warheads blended down to produce fuel for civilian reactors. Strategic nuclear weapons are nuclear warheads aimed at an adversary’s nuclear weapons, cities and military infrastructure. Typically, they are large in yield and heavy. Of greater interest to terrorists, however, were the former U.S.S.R’s 22,000 tactical nuclear weapons with smaller yields and shorter ranges. These were designed primarily for battlefield use, with some small enough to fit into a duffel bag. Today, all of these have also been returned to Russia, leaving zero nuclear weapons in any other state of the former Soviet Union. Former Czech president Vaclav Havel observed about the rush of events in the 1990s: “things have changed so fast we have not yet taken time to be astonished.” Perhaps the most astonishing fact about the past twenty years is something that did not happen. Despite the risk realistically estimated by former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney in 3 What Happened to the Soviet Superpower's Nuclear Arsenal? Clues for the Nuclear Security Summit December 1991, two decades have passed without the discovery of a single nuclear weapon outside Russia. This paper will address the question: how did this happen? Looking ahead, it will consider what clues we can extract from the success in denuclearizing fourteen post-Soviet states that can inform our non-proliferation and nuclear security efforts in the future. These clues may inform leaders of the U.S., Russia, and other responsible nations attending the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit on March 26-27, 2012. The paper will conclude with specific recommendations, some exceedingly ambitious that world leaders could follow to build on the Seoul summit’s achievements against nuclear terrorism in the period before the next summit in 2014. One of these would be to establish a Global Alliance Against Nuclear Terrorism.

THE RESURGENCE OF ASIA

After a period of some 250 years in which Europe has been in the ascendency, the economic pendulum has begun to swing back towards Asia, “back” because until about 1750 it was Asia that dominated the Eurasian land mass with its large cities, sophisticated lifestyles and flourishing trade. Then Europe embraced the modernizations of the Industrial revolution and reaped the benefits. Now a dynamic Asia is modernizing very fast. Is it sustainable? Much depends on whether Asia can resolve peacefully those problems of old-style nationalism which exhausted Europe. Even so, the statistics of recent growth in India and China cannot necessarily be extrapolated into the future; export-led growth is one thing, running global businesses is quite another. There is much talk of corruption in Asia, but this is perhaps a problem to be managed, rather than solved. Asia is not just South Asia (India), East Asia (China) and South East Asia (the “Tiger” economies). Recent events in the Middle East (West Asia) suggest a move towards democracy, which could transform the nature of Asia. And then there is Central Asia, with its huge mineral resources. The Resurgence is proceeding at a different pace in different parts of Asia and the fantastic prospect is of the whole Eurasian land mass prospering at the same time.

Back to civilization (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This editorial reinforces recent calls for anthropologists to participate more actively in multidisciplinary reappraisals of the concept of civilization. Beyond the dominant relativist model of discrete cultures and historical accounts of complex trading networks across the Eurasian landmass, it is important to recognize the civilizational coagulations that sustained such networks. The challenge is how to explain the dogged persistence of civilizational boundaries in the face of continuous contacts between them, accelerated by modern means of communication.

A test of the influence of continental axes of orientation on patterns of human gene flow.

The geographic distribution of genetic variation reflects trends in past population migrations and can be used to make inferences about these migrations. It has been proposed that the east-west orientation of the Eurasian landmass facilitated the rapid spread of ancient technological innovations across Eurasia, while the north-south orientation of the Americas led to a slower diffusion of technology there. If the diffusion of technology was accompanied by gene flow, then this hypothesis predicts that genetic differentiation in the Americas along lines of longitude will be greater than that in Eurasia along lines of latitude. We use 678 microsatellite loci from 68 indigenous populations in Eurasia and the Americas to investigate the spatial axes that underlie population-genetic variation. We find that genetic differentiation increases more rapidly along lines of longitude in the Americas than along lines of latitude in Eurasia. Distance along lines of latitude explains a sizeable portion of genetic distance in Eurasia, whereas distance along lines of longitude does not explain a large proportion of Eurasian genetic variation. Genetic differentiation in the Americas occurs along both latitudinal and longitudinal axes and has a greater magnitude than corresponding differentiation in Eurasia, even when adjusting for the lower level of genetic variation in the American populations. These results support the view that continental orientation has influenced migration patterns and has played an important role in determining both the structure of human genetic variation and the distribution and spread of cultural traits.

Shrines and Sovereigns: Life, Death, and Religion in Rural Azerbaijan

Shrines fill the Eurasian land mass. They can be found from Turkey in the west to China in the east, from the Arctic Circle in the north to Afghanistan in the south. Between town and country, they can consist of full-scale architectural complexes, or they may compose no more than an open field, a pile of stones, a tree, or a small mausoleum. They have been at the centers and peripheries of almost every major religious tradition of the region: Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Yet in the formerly socialist world, these places of pilgrimage have something even more in common: they were often cast as the last bastions of religious observance when churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues were sent crashing to the ground in rapid succession across the twentieth century.

Rethinking the Middle East and North Africa in the Cold War

The new Cold War history has begun to reshape the ways that international historians approach the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) during the post-1945 era. Rather than treating the region as exceptional, a number of scholars have sought to focus on the historical continuities and transnational connections between the Middle East and other areas of the Third World. This approach is based on the notion that the MENA region was enmeshed in the transnational webs of communication and exchange that characterized the post-1945 global system. Indeed, the region sat not only at the crossroads between Africa and the Eurasian landmass but also at the convergence of key global historical movements of the second half of the 20th century. Without denying cultural, social, and political elements that are indeed unique to the region, this scholarship has drawn attention to the continuities, connections, and parallels between the Middle Eastern experience and the wider world.

Guest editorial for the special issue “Tectonics of Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea with special emphasis on coastal and marine geohazards”

The Indian Ocean, the third largest of the world’s oceans, is comprised of diverse and complex tectonic features. The Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, bordering the Indian Peninsula on west and east, respectively, constitute the northwestern and northeastern parts of the Indian Ocean. The evolution of Indian Ocean and the present morphology and tectonics of the bordering continental margins are the consequence of the breakup of Eastern Gondwanaland and subsequent seafloor spreading between the constituent continents viz., Madagascar, Seychelles, India, Antarctica, and Australia, since the Early Cretaceous. There were three main episodes in the disintegration of Gondwanaland (Storey 1995). The rifting started during the Early Jurassic, when Gondwanaland separated into eastern and western parts, causing a seaway separating South America–Africa from Madagascar–Seychelles–India-Antarctica–Australia–New Zealand. The second stage occurred in Early Cretaceous, with South America separating from an African-Indian plate and African-Indian plate itself separating from the Antarctica. Finally, the third stage occurred in Late Cretaceous when Australia and New Zealand got separated from Antarctica. Around this time, Madagascar separated from India, and the latter migrated northward. The initial separation of India from Antarctica (130 Ma) was in a NW–SE direction, and around Late Cretaceous (90–80 Ma), a plate reorganization took place when this orientation changed essentially to N–S. The soft collision between India and Eurasia might have occurred around 59 Ma (Paleocene-Eocene boundary), which resulted in the initiation of Himalayan uplift (Curray and Munasinghe 1989). The hard Continent–Continent collision with the Eurasian landmass occurred at about 15 Ma (Middle Miocene). The massive uplift of Himalayas caused huge sediment influx into the adjoining ocean basins and formed the Indus Fan in the Arabian Sea and the Bengal Fan in the Bay of Bengal, the world’s two largest Fan systems (Curray et al. 2003; Kolla 2007). The earliest studies on the stratigraphy, structure, and tectonics of the northern Indian Ocean during the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE: 1960–1965) evoked considerable nterest on this tectonically complex region. Subsequent geophysical studies during the period from 1970 to this date, mainly by the National Institute of Oceanography, India, and also by other academic institutes and organizations led to the generation of several new concepts on the structure, tectonics, and

Hierarchical mapping of Northern Eurasian land cover using MODIS data

The Northern Eurasian land mass encompasses a diverse array of land cover types including tundra, boreal forest, wetlands, semi-arid steppe, and agricultural land use. Despite the well-established importance of Northern Eurasia in the global carbon and climate system, the distribution and properties of land cover in this region are not well characterized. To address this knowledge and data gap, a hierarchical mapping approach was developed that encompasses the study area for the Northern Eurasia Earth System Partnership Initiative (NEESPI). The Northern Eurasia Land Cover (NELC) database developed in this study follows the FAO-Land Cover Classification System and provides nested groupings of land cover characteristics, with separate layers for land use, wetlands, and tundra. The database implementation is substantially different from other large-scale land cover datasets that provide maps based on a single set of discrete classes. By providing a database consisting of nested maps and complementary layers, the NELC database provides a flexible framework that allows users to tailor maps to suit their needs. The methods used to create the database combine empirically derived climate–vegetation relationships with results from supervised classifications based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. The hierarchical approach provides an effective framework for integrating climate–vegetation relationships with remote sensing-based classifications, and also allows sources of error to be characterized and attributed to specific levels in the hierarchy. The cross-validated accuracy was 73% for the land cover map and 73% and 91% for the agriculture and wetland classifications, respectively. These results support the use of hierarchical classification and climate–vegetation relationships for mapping land cover at continental scales.

Contribution of the east–west thermal heating contrast to the South Asian Monsoon and consequences for its variability

The focus of this paper is to assess the relative role of the north–south and east–west contrasts in atmospheric heating for the maintenance of the South Asian summer monsoon climatology. The juxtaposition of the Eurasian land mass and the Indian Ocean is responsible for the north–south contrast, while the greater diabatic heating above the western Pacific compared to the one over the African and the tropical South Atlantic Ocean region introduces the east–west gradient. With a series of idealized atmospheric general circulation model experiments, it is found that both contrasts contribute to the maintenance of the South Asian monsoon climatology, but their impact varies at regional scales. The surface atmospheric cyclone and precipitation over northern India are mainly due to the north–south contrast. On the other hand, when the Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures are close to their climatological mean values, the low-level cyclone and consequent rainfall activity in the Bay of Bengal and southern India result from the east–west gradient. The physical mechanism relays on the southern part of the upper-level South Asian monsoon high being forced by the east–west diabatic heating contrast via Sverdrup balance. The east–west heating difference controls also the strength of the Tropical Easterly Jet. Finally, the contribution of the El Nino Southern Oscillation to the interannual variability of the Indian monsoon is interpreted as the result of a longitudinal shift of one of the centers of diabatic heating contributing to the east–west contrast.

Detarieae sensu lato (Fabaceae) from the Late Oligocene (27.23 Ma) Guang River flora of north-western Ethiopia

New species of caesalpinioid legumes, Cynometra sensu lato and Afzelia, are described from the Late Oligocene (27.23 Ma) Guang River flora in north-western Ethiopia. Both taxa show leaf characteristics that are shared with extant species in the Guineo-Congolian, Sudanian and/or Zambezian regions of Africa today. The presence of these two species in Ethiopia during the Palaeogene provides further evidence of the importance of the legume tribe Detarieae in northern and north-eastern Africa throughout much of the Cenozoic, even although the clade is poorly represented in these regions today. The fossil record documents a significant palaeogeographical and evolutionary history of Detarieae in Africa, especially compared with that of Europe and Anatolia. Based on this evidence, it is unlikely that significant diversification of extant African Detarieae took place on the Eurasian landmass. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 163, 44‐54.

1989 as a Lens for the Communist Past and Post-communist Future

AbstractPolitical scientists have documented significant variation in political and economic outcomes of the 1989–91 revolutions. Countries bordering on western Europe have become relatively democratic and economically successful, with both democracy and wealth dropping off as one moves east and south. Explanations for this variation and the replication of an older pattern on the Eurasian landmass have moved farther and farther into the past. Yet in moving to thelongue durée, more proximate events such as the revolutions of 1989, the demise of communism and even the communist experience itself recede into the background and are themselves accounted for by antecedent conditions. The article discusses how two more proximate factors helped to change older patterns in central and eastern Europe: the impact of communist modernisation and the prospect of European integration.

Genotypic diversity of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses

Besides enormous economic losses to the poultry industry, recent H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIVs) originating in eastern Asia have posed serious threats to public health. Up to April 17, 2008, 381 human cases had been confirmed with a mortality of more than 60 %. Here, we attempt to identify potential progenitor genes for H5N1 HPAIVs since their first recognition in 1996; most were detected in the Eurasian landmass before 1996. Combinations among these progenitor genes generated at least 21 reassortants (named H5N1 progenitor reassortant, H5N1-PR1-21). H5N1-PR1 includes A/Goose/Guangdong/1/1996(H5N1). Only reassortants H5N1-PR2 and H5N1-PR7 were associated with confirmed human cases: H5N1-PR2 in the Hong Kong H5N1 outbreak in 1997 and H5N1-PR7 in laboratory confirmed human cases since 2003. H5N1-PR7 also contains a majority of the H5N1 viruses causing avian influenza outbreaks in birds, including the first wave of genotype Z, Qinghai-like and Fujian-like virus lineages. Among the 21 reassortants identified, 13 are first reported here. This study illustrates evolutionary patterns of H5N1 HPAIVs, which may be useful toward pandemic preparedness as well as avian influenza prevention and control.

A new paleogeographic configuration of the Eurasian landmass resolves a paleomagnetic paradox of the Tarim Basin (China)

New paleomagnetic data from Permian red beds and Middle Jurassic limestones from the Tarim Basin pose a paradox. Their declinations are similar to Upper Carboniferous to Neogene rocks collected from the same sections, and their inclinations parallel present values. When assuming that lower than expected inclinations in continental sedimentary rocks arise from inclination shallowing effects, then the paleolatitudes of all Upper Carboniferous to Present rocks from Tarim are indistinguishable. Local vertical axis block rotations occurring in the last 20 million years explain why declinations vary at different localities in the basin. Our Middle Jurassic data positions Tarim 23.6 ± 8.4° farther south than that predicted from the coeval reference pole for Eurasia; however, no geologic argument exists to support the closure of a large ocean basin between Tarim and Siberia since the Middle Jurassic. Thus the paradox: are the rocks from Tarim totally overprinted, or is the middle Mesozoic part of the reference Eurasian apparent polar wander path erroneous? Several lines of evidence suggest the Tarim rocks are not remagnetized. We conclude that Tarim has experienced little or no apparent polar wander since the Carboniferous. Moreover, our Middle Mesozoic reconstruction of Eurasia using the new Middle Jurassic pole from Tarim results in a more geologically compatible solution for the eastern Asian blocks over previous reconstructions.

China-India-Russia

At different stages of their history, leaders of China, India and Russia, the most prominent constituents of the Eurasian landmass and home to one-third of the human population of the world, have formulated the aim of breaking out of the ‘backward’ state of their respective countries as a major goal of their movements, their strategies and their policies. Almost in all cases, such a state of backwardness has been perceived in relation to the ‘advanced’ Western countries, and more specifically to the industrialised countries of Europe and North America. All three countries have been caught several times in recent centuries in the cunning passages of history. All of them now see light at the end of the labyrinthine tunnel. A recognition of their common destinies as homes of human beings with complicated histories and of the need for cooperation to protect themselves against the forces of evil, in the shape of market fundamentalism, religious fanaticism and super-hegemonic imperialism can help them to guard themselves against being caught again in Minotaur's lair.