Extinct Volcano Research Articles

From the Extinct Volcano, a Bird of Paradise by Carter Revard

Bulbul Sharma Eating Women, Telling Tales Zubaan Ranging from humorous to touching to sometimes grisly, each of the nine vignettes presented in Eating Women, Telling Tales explore the complex reality of women’s everyday lives in India. When a group of women come together and exchange tales from their personal experiences, what emerges is a subtle commentary on the social hierarchy of village life and a glimpse into the intricate role of food in human relationships. Eduardo Sacheri Papers in the Wind Mara Faye Lethem, tr. Other Press Set within the culture of professional soccer, Papers in the Wind follows the story of three close companions taking on the responsibility of caring for the young daughter of their deceased friend. Despite the tragic loss and the odds against them, they rally with humor, love, and remarkable resourcefulness. Nota Bene hell of the Holocaust in one poem, while others locate her in a dreamscape that bears little resemblance to conventional hells or heavens. This is a hallmark of Medbh McGuckian’s style: she is at home in the fluid language of symbols, some archetypal, some drawn from Irish folklore, and some private. Although this death is the volume ’s focal point, the speaker wends her way through times past, present , and future. We can read this as an act of honor, though she refuses to see her mother in idyllic terms and does not flinch from the view of her suffering. The presence of death can have its own beauty, and the eponymous poem of The High Caul Cap offers us an image of a time in love with endings. Yet the poet herself is also in love with time, perhaps obsessed with it here. Temporal markers placing actions before or after, first or last, singly or all at once, abound in the volume. Perhaps she feels unable to keep up with time’s passage; perhaps there is almost too much to gather in a single valediction, one that begins with the speaker “wearing her belatedness.” One certainly cannot fault McGuckian for not saying enough in these dense, sometimes puzzling poems with their many layers. If anything , one wishes at times for breathing room, perhaps a slightly thinner and clearer air. At times, reading the poems makes us feel as if plunged into an element that we cannot quite master. This is not to suggest that the content of the poems is overly dark—it is not—or that the poet ever scants the concrete weight of her subjects: there is “nothing more earthly” than the departed. There is also nothing more complex, given that a single person contains a treasure trove of experiences and elicits a corresponding wealth of imagined scenarios in the lyricist. McGuckian typically uses elaborate, complex images and situates her characters in situations both oneiric and, sometimes , straightforward. She stitches her images closely together, creating a rich, almost baroque tapestry of loss and difficult love, even as ultimately “there is no peace: / no function for the heart to serve / the dear, the best-known face.” Magdalena Kay University of Victoria, B.C. Carter Revard. From the Extinct Volcano, a Bird of Paradise. Brian K. Hudson, ed. Norman, Oklahoma. Mongrel Empire Press. 2014. isbn 9780985133788 The author’s note at the beginning of From the Extinct Volcano, a Bird of Paradise—a new collection of poetry from Oklahoma writer and Osage poet Carter Revard—brings together multiple genres of writing into a single collection of poetry. For example, Revard sees his work as poetry that September–October 2014 • 89 reviews is composed of history, science, personal narrative, and song. The collection could be seen as a compilation of songs that serve as a greatest hits album. Many of the poems in the volume appear in earlier collections of Revard’s work. More compellingly, however, this volume of poetry represents a lyrical echo. The strongest moments in the collection are those of borrowing and repetition wherein Revard uses words and rhythms from the past to create contemporary art. Revard’s poems “Driving in Oklahoma” and “A Song That We Still Sing” ask readers to consider how ordinary drives and ceremonial practices might be tied together. Both contain elements of...

A lesson in defining “extinct”

Toni Feder’s Issues and Events news item about the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray Observatory under construction in Mexico ( Physics Today, October 2013, page 22) begins by describing the site as “nestled at 4100 m on the slopes of Sierra Negra, an extinct volcano.” However, as the picture accompanying her piece or a cursory examination in Google Earth makes clear, the site is not on the slopes of Sierra Negra. It sits in the saddle between Sierra Negra and its much larger companion Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltepetl. Sierra Negra, a minor flank cone of that larger volcanic system, may now be extinct, but Pico de Orizaba (http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vnum=1401-10=) absolutely is not. It is dormant at best, having erupted as recently as 1846. To compound the issue, the photograph shows that the observatory site is built squarely in front of an obviously young lava flow. Now, I’m sure that site selection was done with due attention to natural hazards, but as long as astronomers insist on building expensive observatories on top of volcanoes, there needs to be clear understanding and common vocabulary between astronomers and geologists. “Extinct” is a troublesome word when applied to a volcano.

Fault ruptures and geothermal effects of the second earthquake, 29 May 2008, South Iceland Seismic Zone

The Reykjafjall N–S source fault ruptured during the Mw 6.3 earthquake doublet on May 29, 2008, in the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ). The northern part of the fault intersects the easternmost high-temperature geothermal field of Hengill in an extinct volcano that began shifting away from the Western Rift Zone 120,000 years ago. Geophysical data indicate that the N–S fault ruptured over 20km length at depth. Our detailed field mapping along the fault length shows that the southern part of the fault did not rupture the surface mostly due to the greater depth of seismicity (down to 9km) there. The surface ruptures were dominantly found along the northern half of the fault in the highland within the high-temperature field where aftershocks were shallower than 5km. There, the surface ruptured on portions of six parallel N–S fault segments and not on a single fault plane. Hot springs are aligned on the two westernmost fault segments within the area of increased geothermal activity after the earthquake. Other Riedel shears (ENE, E–W, WNW and NNW) hosting geothermal activity also ruptured. On the N–S faults, surface ruptures and hot springs are organised in left-stepping arrays indicating dextral motion with offsets between 0.5 and 2m. On other Riedel shear sets ruptures have a right-stepping arrangement indicating sinistral motion with a maximum horizontal offset of a metre. All fresh ruptures had centimetre-scale normal-slip and openings <1m but up to 1.5m along atypical N–S structures.Our results fit with the lineations in the aftershocks and with fault plane solutions. They also show that the 2008 source fault ruptured within a 2-km wide deformation zone where previous earthquakes and changes to geothermal activity have occurred at least since 1706. This implies that major earthquakes in this area may have a common source fault at depth and a wider deformation zone at the surface. Our study demonstrates how transform faulting at the junction of a rift segment causes recurring medium–large earthquakes that control fault behavior and permeability in fractured geothermal fields.

Detection of the submerged topography along the Egyptian Red Sea Coast using bathymetry and GIS-based analysis

A long time ago the Red Sea was only known by small-scale bathymetric, magnetic anomaly maps and a few seismic reflection or refraction profiles. Therefore, detection of the major submerged coastal features was unattainable. This study is based on the integration of different data sets of topography and bathymetry (e.g. the global bathymetry data set, the SRTM DTED® 2, the soviet military topographic maps of scale 1:200.000 and the US army topographic maps of scale 1:250.000) to reveal the main submarine landforms that marked the continental shelf and its related slopes along the Egyptian Red Sea Coast from latitude 27°43′N to the Egyptian-Sudanese border at latitude 22°00′N. The study deduced that the continental shelf is noticeably influenced by the surface fault system extending eastward into the main Red Sea depression, showing the continental edge mostly like a fault-scarp of ∼60° anticlockwise fault plane. Sea ridges and subbasins were distinguished at the lower toe of the continental slope, which seem to be a result of a regional fold system. Two sea peaks of extinct volcanoes were recognized. Two types of submarine canyons were recognized as deep incised Messinian canyons and shallow canyons. The deep incised canyons (∼500mbsl) carve the continental edge with remarkable steep walls. They might be formed as a result of the Messinian event (∼5.59Ma). The shallow canyons are mostly developed during the Pleistocene lower sea level (∼90–130mbsl) where the major wadis cut their water courses through the continental shelf. Some individual submerged deltas were identified, showing a close relationship with the present-day drainage system, although they were supposed to be produced by an ancestor drainage system. Notable submarine terraces were recognized at depths 20–25, 50–75, and 100–120mbsl that are in agreement with the generalized global curve of sea-level rise since the LGM (∼23–18ka bp). It is expected that results of this study will be helpful for shedding light on the geomorphologic evolution of the continental shelf and its surrounding landmass.

Subvolcanic neck of Cabugi Peak, state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, and origin of its landform

This article reports geologic, petrographic, and geomorphological observations of the mafic alkaline subvolcanic neck of the Cabugi Peak, located in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The massif is 370 m high and has 0.4 km³ of total volume. It is constituted mainly by Caicó orthogneiss. The neck is exposed on the top of the massif forming a conical morphologic protrusion with relative height of 160 m and diameter of 500 m. The volume of the mafic alkaline rock is 0.056 km³ occupying 14% of the whole massif. The general form of the massif is strongly convex with the MCI (Macro Concavity Index) of -2.3. The neck is constituted by olivine-rich alkaline micro-gabbro in the centre and alkaline dolerite at the contact zone. There are well-developed cooling columnar joints with typical diameter of 60 cm. They are steep at the centre of the neck and sub-horizontal at the contact zone. On the foothill surface, called Sertaneja surface, no outcrops of mafic alkaline lava, other eruptive deposits, or volcanic rock debris have been observed. These observations allow a conclusion that the volcanic edifice and eruptive deposits of the late Oligocene were completely removed by later uplift and consequent regional denudation and that the present-day surface is significantly lower than that of the eruption time. The outcrops of the Cabugi Peak exhibit the underground geologic structure of the late Oligocene volcano. The original volcano form is not preserved anymore and the present morphologic elevation is attributed to differential erosion of the subvolcanic neck. According to the volcanological definition, the present-day morphology of the Cabugi Peak is not classified as an extinct volcano.

Diffuse CO2 Emission at Sfânta Ana Lake-Filled Crater (Eastern Carpathians, Romania)

Abstract In the framework of studies on gas emissions, the surface and time distribution of carbon dioxide flux represent an important geochemical tool for volcanic activity monitoring. Ciomadu volcano, located on the southern part of Eastern Carpathians, witnesses the most recent eruption in the whole Carpathian range. In order to understand the actual behavior and to assess the present phase of this extinct volcano, the diffuse CO 2 flux near Sfânta Ana Lake was measured using the closed chamber method. Carbon dioxide flux values ranged from about 2 g m -2 day -1 up to 90 g m -2 day -1 . The measurements were performed in different places by respect to the Sfânta Ana crater. The results show a tendency of increase in carbon dioxide flux starting from the flank toward the crater, with the highest values located close to the shore lake. A carbon dioxide flux distribution map for the measurements inside the crater was produced, that reveals a particular pattern distribution of CO 2 flux.

Mantle plumes persevere

The ocean floor is littered with hundreds of thousands of mostly extinct volcanoes. The origin of at least some of these seamounts seems to rest with mantle plumes.

V. Ben Meen and the Riddle of Chubb Crater

Aerial photographs of Chubb Crater, a striking 3.4 km-wide circular basin in the far north of Quebec, led the Ontario prospector Fred W. Chubb to think it might be an extinct volcano, and possibly the site of a diamond-bearing diatreme. V. Ben Meen, the Director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Geology and Mineralogy in Toronto, however, suspected it was an impact crater caused by a meteorite. Meen led two expeditions to the crater in 1950 and 1951. Despite early opposition and the initial absence of corroborative field evidence, he held on to a persistent belief in the crater's meteoritic origin. Later fieldwork ultimately provided strong evidence in support of this view. The discovery of the crater led to the development of a program at the Dominion Observatory in Ottawa to search for additional impact craters on the Canadian Shield, and the development of valuable criteria by which they could be authenticated. The craters discovered through the program fit well on the Baldwin curve relating crater depth to diameter, and lent strong support to the argument for the relationship between the meteoritic origin of lunar craters and terrestrial impact structures. Chubb Crater is of historical importance because it was the first meteorite crater to be recognized in Canada, and the first anywhere to be authenticated in the absence of associated meteorites.

Holocene fluid venting at an extinct Cretaceous seamount, Canary archipelago

Seamounts can provide conduits for the entry and exit of hydrothermal fluids in ocean basins. However, only a few ridge flank hydrothermal systems that discharge through seamounts have been discovered, all located on relatively young crust. We have retrieved samples from 126 m.y. old Henry Seamount, an extinct volcano near the youngest Canary island of El Hierro, that provide evidence for Holocene low-temperature hydrothermal fluid discharge. This is the first documented finding of such activity at the Canary archipelago. The samples include shells from vesicomyid clams

Microorganisms participating in the biodegradation of modified polyethylene films in different soils under laboratory conditions

The degree of biodegradation of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films modified with Bionolle ® polyester in different soils under laboratory conditions was evaluated. Films were incubated in soils from waste coal, a forest and an extinct volcano crater. Prior to degradation studies, soils underwent chemical and microbiological analysis. Film weight loss and mechanical properties, as well as the surface of the polymeric samples determined via scanning electron microscopy, were evaluated after 75, 150 and 225 days of biodegradation. Important chemical changes in the polymeric chains were detected by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Fungal and bacterial species that were able to grow on the film surfaces were monitored in order to see whether the films were easily colonised by autochthonous microorganisms (i.e., typical to each soil). Identification of microorganisms was based on their cellular fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profiles. Biodegradation of modified polyethylene films in soils led to significant changes (i.e., elongation at brake of 98%) in their mechanical properties that were caused by biochemical modifications of both polyester and polyethylene. Compared to waste coal soil, films underwent rapid biodegradation in soils that were rich in organic matter. Bacteria belonging to the genus, Bacillus, and the fungi, Gliocladium viride, Aspergillus awamori and Mortierella subtilissima, were easily able to colonise both polyethylene and polyethylene modified with Bionolle ®.

Landscape human shaping and spatial mobility of agropastoral practices in the Chaîne des Puys during historical times (Massif Central, France)

The Chaîne des Puys is a great collection of extinct volcanoes that cover the Hercynian basement and belongs to the Auvergne Volcanoes Natural Regional Park. Both the sedimentary record and the historical archives of this area are numerous. However, the cores studied hitherto do not offer a good knowledge of the historical dynamics because most of the wetlands have dried out during historical times, causing gaps in the sedimentary record and pollen oxidization. Moreover, all the studied cores are located on the crystalline basement or on an old volcanic one predating the Chaîne des Puys. Thus they do not directly provide information about the volcanoes.This article presents the only core obtained from a site, a small maar, located on a volcano. The sequence is short but does not have the same sedimentary gaps as the others. Owing to physical (grain size), chemical (C, N, P, K, Ca, Mg, N–NO3, N–NH4), palaeoecological (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) and historical analyses, this study gives a more precise recording of the landscape changes during the last 500 years in the volcanic area and contributes to the knowledge of the Chaîne des Puys landscape. It illustrates the mobility of the historical landscape, in particular the progression and regression of the forest and the erosive crises related to more intensive grazing activity. The observations are linked with the social and economical changes, especially with the consequences of the French Revolution and the rural depopulation.This landscape history gives data about the direction of changes to the landscape preservationists. They demonstrate that even if the Chaîne des Puys landscape looks natural, it has been shaped by a very specific socio-economical system inherited from the Middle Ages. These aspects could be integrated in a management plan.

JOHN BRYAN HEANEY, 1931–2010

John Heaney was an explorer, a widely travelled oilman, and a long-serving Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) and long standing member of the Geographical Club. Born in Burma on 26 February 1931, his early years were spent in India where his father, Brigadier G F ‘Tim’ Heaney was Surveyor General. Like many men of his generation, he was deeply influenced by his colonial childhood in South Asia, and he developed a love of the outdoors that became life-long. After attending Marlborough College and being trained as a surveyor during National Service, he was chosen for Duncan Carse's South Georgia Survey of 1951–52. That party defined the shape and structure of the island and mapped about 40% of it, including the glacier that bears Heaney's name. On returning from South Georgia, John Heaney went to Cambridge where he read mechanical sciences. With a career in Shell already in view, he was determined to lead his own expedition before the world of work took over. On the advice of Dr Brian Roberts of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Gough Island, an uninhabited extinct volcano 230 miles south south east of Tristan da Cunha, was chosen. The Gough Island Scientific Survey team included Heaney as surveyor, Robert Chambers as assistant surveyor and deputy leader, and a geologist, botanist, two zoologists, a radio operator and a cine-photographer. The South African Weather Bureau seconded a senior meteorologist. Sadly, Heaney had to withdraw through illness before the party left, and Chambers was injured during the landing on Gough in November 1955 and had to be evacuated. The senior scientist, Martin Holdgate, was left in command but had no survey training. Heaney, meanwhile, had made a good recovery and had just married his fiancée, Catherine Haller. She urged him to join the expedition and the result was a new map at 1:40 000, published in The Geographical Journal in 1957. Heaney's determination and toughness were truly tested, not least by the rampant mice on the Island, which invaded their tents (Holdgate 1958, 124). The expedition yielded many scientific papers and established the island's importance to conservation: it is now a World Heritage site. Following a presentation by Heaney and Holdgate to the RGS in 1956, Heaney was awarded the Mrs Patrick Ness Award. The expedition, unusually, returned in financial surplus and was able to establish the Gough Island Fund at the RGS for the benefit of future expeditions. With the expedition over, John Heaney joined Shell. He worked in West Pakistan as an ‘exploitation engineer’ before moving to spend 7 years in Venezuela where his immediate junior was the geologist and mountaineer George Band. Together with their families they spent weekends in the high Andes and on one occasion chartered a DC3 to fly over Canaima and the Angel Falls – with a portable bar in case gin and tonics were needed for libatious uplift! After Venezuela, John Heaney served in London, Brunei and Nigeria before retiring in 1979 to take over the family fruit farm in Essex. But he was soon persuaded to set up a new company, Saxon Oil, which struck oil on its North Sea concession and was promptly taken over by a bigger concern, Enterprise Oil. Fruit farming – to which he devoted his characteristic energy and imagination – then became Heaney's main concern until final retirement in 2003. He also remained keenly interested in the world of geography and exploration and regularly attended RGS meetings. Hindered by Alzheimer's, he remained active, taking daily walks on Southampton Common, where he died suddenly on 3 November 2010, aged 79. He is survived by his wife and by their son and daughter and five grandchildren.

Resolution of Respect: Professor Paul Schultz Martin 1928–2010

Resolution of Respect: Professor Paul Schultz Martin 1928–2010

The sun and fifteen doorways of Phnom Rung

AbstractPhnom Rung was a Khmer-style Hindu temple complex. It was built in sandstone and laterite on the rim of an extinct volcano between the 10th and 13th centuries. At the beginning, the sanctuary was built as a dedication to Shiva. Following the abandonment of Phnom Rung (which was unrecorded) the sanctuary fell into ruin, and it was not until 1971 that it was restored using anastylosis. Phnom Rung Historical Park, along with the other temples Phimai and Muang Tum, have been on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage since 2004.Walking from the eastern side (front) to the western side of Phnom Rung takes the visitor through 15 doorways—those of the inner cloisters, the annex, the principal tower, and the inner sanctum. The centers of these doorways are perfectly aligned, with an azimuth of 84.5°. Every year thousands of people from Thailand and around the world travel to Phnom Rung to see the sun rising through its all of its 15 doorways. This event happens only twice a year, at the beginning of April and the beginning of September. Sunsets can also be seen through the doorways, in March and October. Each pair of sunrise-sunset events is separated by one lunar month.The possible meaning of this event has been investigated by both archaeologists and astronomers. Nothing is recorded about sunrise or sunset among the inscriptions at the site. Another issue is that the many and various structures remain within the complex, showing that constructions in this area spanned several centuries. However, it seems that the overall layout did have a significance, both astronomical and religious.

Parergodrilus heideri Reisinger, 1925 (Annelida: Polychaeta) from a holm oak wood in an extinct volcano of southern Italy

A well established population of the soil-dwelling polychaete Parergodrilus heideri Reisinger, 1925 was discovered during a survey of the woodland soil fauna in the Astroni Crater (a State Nature Reserve near Naples, Italy, 50 m a.s.l., 40°50′52″N, 14°08′59″E) (Fig. 1A, B). This is the southernmost capture of this worm in Europe (Fig. 2A), although a lower latitude record (35°22′0.4″N, 127°34′52″E), the sole (so far) outside the continent, has been reported recently from Korea in this same journal (Dózsa-Farkas &amp; Hong 2010). In Italy the species was known only from the Casentino National Park (1,120 m a.s.l.) in Tuscany and the Regional Park of Suviana and Brasimone Lakes (975 m a.s.l.) in Emilia Romagna (Rota 1997; Rota et al. 2001). Also in central Europe the species appears confined to mountain habitats (650-1,200 m a.s.l.), the lowland records being located along the northern coasts of Spain and Germany and in southern Sweden (Fig. 2A, B).

Desmarest’s “Determination of some epochs of nature through volcanic products” (1775/1779)

In 1775, Nicolas Desmarest (1725-1815) presented an interpretation of geological evidence he had been examining for over a decade, among the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne in south-central France. He interpreted the volcanic remnants in that region in terms of three successive epochs, distinguished from one another by their degree of erosive alteration and the different topographic positions they held following extensive denudation. He insisted on the utility, for the establishment of sequential stages in the region's history, of what he called his 'analytical method' of working backward in time , from recognition of the most recent and therefore least altered products, to reconstruct in the imagination those more thoroughly disturbed and confusing remnants of earlier periods. In addition to being a landmark effort in historical geology based on local observation, Desmarest's paper was also notable as an expression of what would come later to be called uniformitarian thinking: he argued that the erosive processes responsible for wearing down the lavas must have operated gradually and constantly . While Desmarest seems never to have wavered in his view of volcanic action as a subordinate agent in the overall dynamics and history of the globe, he showed awareness that his analysis of the Auvergne lavas pointed toward a considerable role for volcanism during long portions of the province's geological history. The nearest thing to a contemporary publication of Desmarest's 1775 presentation came more than three years later, in the form of an 'excerpt' in the February 1779 issue of the journal Observations sur la physique. An English translation of that excerpt is presented in the present paper for the first time.

Seismicity and volcanism in the rifted zone of western Syria

At the northern part of the Dead Sea fault zone (DSFZ), in the continuity with the Red Sea, Syria has a long record of active seismisity and recent volcanism. Field observations, physical effects on ancient building structures and movement analysis show that tectonics is still active at present time. A seismicity map has been established, based on the analysis of historic and recent seismicity, seismic parameters and laboratory oedometric experiments. The movement rate along the Syrian rift is estimated at less than 1 to 2.7–3.3 mm/year, with a seismic acceleration coefficient ( Z) of 0–0.25 cm/S 2 .The whole Syria territory is divided into five seismic zones of decreasing intensity, from 1 to 5, respectively. Earthquakes may occur in the whole country, but most epicenters, with the highest magnitude, are located within the first two seismic zones, including the Syrian rift and associated volcanism. A closer comparison with structural–petrological data shows, however, this recent volcanic activity, issued from a shallower mantle source, tends to distantiate from the rift zone. Major seisms appear to be related either to ancient, extinct volcanoes (Cretaceous age) or to superficial deformation of the sedimentary cover. Their intensity has significantly decreased during the last millennium.

On the Earth's revolutions: floods and extinct volcanoes in northern Italy at the end of the eighteenth century

Abstract During the second half of the eighteenth century, the study of volcanism was related to the question of orogenesis and the controversial lithogenesis of basalt. In the Italian peninsula, the key outcrops occurred mainly along the foothills of the Alps of Veneto. Moreover, the question of the origin of columnar basalts and other rocks (porphyry, granite) involved theories on the age of the Earth and the possible recognition of an evolutionary process of the making of lithosphere. Consequently, following explorations in the Alps and Prealps several scientists began to regard the basaltic formations as evidence of the relationships between mountains and ancient volcanoes. Nevertheless, especially from the 1780s, the spread of Wernerian theory in some Italian States led to criticism of the vulcanists' conclusions. Thus, some naturalists working in Lombardy tried to re-establish the idea of a great flood to explain the morphology of the Central Alps. Discussing this complex situation, the paper analyses the development of regional geology, based on fieldwork, which emphasized the function of volcanic activity in the history of building the Earth's crust and mountains.

Chromosomal forms of the Mole Rat, Nannospalax nehringi (Satunin, 1898), from the Van Lake Basin in Eastern Turkey

Two different chromosomal forms of the Mole Rat, Nannospalax nehringi (Satunin, 1898), have been found in the Van Basin, Eastern Turkey: a population around the city of Van with 2n=48, NF=72 and NFa=68, and a population around the city of Bitlis with 2n=54, NF=74 and NFa=70. Both populations are confined to well-defined distribution areas. While both populations are separated in the south by Mt Süphan, an extinct volcano over 4000 m high, there is no geographic barrier between both populations in the north, and there seems to be a secondary contact zone. The Van population constitutes a new chromosomal form of Mole Rat in Turkey, and could be regarded as a sibling species. However, no taxomomic decision is taken until more evidence on the evolution of these forms has become available.

Deep structure of the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk mud volcano: Results of multidisciplinary seismic surveys

The paper presents the results of multidisciplinary seismic surveys carried out by refraction and reflection methods for compressional and shear waves on Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk mud volcano. A large extinct (approximately 60–70 years ago) volcano was identified near the active volcano, and its structure was studied. It was found that the recognized intermediate fluid-bearing chambers correlate with the distinguished tectonic dislocations. A supposition was made that the mud volcanism is sequentially developed in the northeastern direction and related to the modern tectonics of the Central Sakhalin Fault.