Rocky Plateau Research Articles

The Mesolithic in the South of France: a critical analysis

At the time when the type-sites of the Dordogne were being explored French archaeologists were equally active further south in their country. From caves and surface sites in the Mediterranean provinces local landowners, doctors and clergy were collecting material which not only matched most of the palaeolithic tool forms being distinguished in the south-west of France, but was later to provide Déchelette with many of his illustrations for the neolithic and metal ages. It was not uncommon for flints, pottery and metal all to come from the same cave.These old collections, or such of them as can be traced, are the basis of what is known about the prehistory of the south of France. Unfortunately, much of the material has come down to us with very little information, apart from provenance, and although some details of excavation were carefully recorded it seems generally to have been considered that plans of caves were more informative than sections through them.Topographically the south of France consists largely of a narrow alluvial plain, stretching right round the Gulf of Lions between the Italian and Spanish frontiers and broadening out in the delta of the Rhône. Today the region is distinguished from the rest of France by its Mediterranean climate. East of the Rhône, in Provence, this coastal climate is soon modified to the north by the high mountains, but in the old province of Languedoc between the Rhône and the Pyrenees the typical Mediterranean vegetation is carried up onto the rocky limestone plateau, or Garrigue, until it reaches the barren Causses of the Massif Central. In France, the western limit of this climatic zone falls between Carcassonne and Toulouse, but eastward and to the south the Mediterranean conditions continue, so that the south French plain forms a climatic unit with the coastlands of Italy and Spain.This plain, shut in to the north by high land, is most easily accessible from the sea or coastwise from adjacent Mediterranean countries. Easy communication with the rest of France is confined to the great river valleys of the Rhône and Aude which cut through the mountains to the north and west.

Grounding Effectiveness at Grand Coulee 230-Kv Switchyards Verified by Staged Fault Tests

Very little has been published in the past regarding the hazard to the integrity of long control circuits due to possible excessive rise in ground potential at one end of the circuits during station faults; and the verification of the safety of such control circuits through actual tests. This paper describes the rather unique arrangement at Grand Coulee power plant wherein the plant is located at the bottom of the Columbia River Channel and one of the associated 230-kv switching stations is located on a rocky plateau approximately 600 feet higher in elevation, thus requiring control cables over 4,000 feet in length. By means of several fault tests staged specifically for this purpose, and as a by-product of subsequent high-interrupting capacity circuit breaker tests, the actual rise in ground potential was determined and the safety of the control circuits positively verified, under 60-cycle fault conditions.

The Volcanic Zone of Tarawera, New Zealand

the map, roughly in the shape of a narrow wedge whose blunted apex includes Lake Taupo and the group of volcanic mountains: Ngauruhoe (7515 feet), still active; Tongariro (6400 feet), with its Ketetahi spring; and Ruapehu (9175 feet), the latter the highest mountain in the North Island, with a hot lake in its snow-bound crater. From here the sides of the wedge run approximately north-east for 100 miles to the Bay of Plenty, where they touch the coast at Tauranga Harbour and the mouth of the Whakatane River respectively. The whole of this area is an elevated pumice plateau, 1000-1500 feet above sealevel, dotted with numerous large lakes, extinct volcanic cones, and hot springs. Activity is further continued in the sea-bed of the Bay of Plenty between the above-mentioned points; in Whale Island, with its hot springs; Mayor Island, with hot springs and a shining, black, obsidian-lined, extinct crater 5 miles in circumference; and White Island, an active volcano in the solfatara stage with warm water-filled crater half a mile in diameter, where, with hot sulphuric acid springs, is found hydrochloric acid of remarkable strength. A little to the north of the centre of this belt of thermal activity, and along side the lake from which it takes its name, is the town of Rotorua (3000 inhabitants) surrounded by and built amongst?one might almost say built on top of?hundreds of geysers, boiling springs, hot mud volcanoes, fumaroles, steaming lakes, and silica terraces. The many therapeutic waters and wellappointed bath houses of Rotorua are known to visitors from many countries. South-east of Rotorua and at a distance of between 10 and 17 miles, in the heart of the thermal belt, lies a group of mountains, lakes, and valleys, which some fifty-four years ago were the scene of volcanic and thermal upheaval of a magnitude never even remotely approached in Australia or New Zealand during the last five or six hundred years. Appreciation of the present topography and general appearance of the district as portrayed by the accompanying photographs is hardly possible without previous description of the country prior to the convulsions which so drastically reshaped it. Running from north-east to south-west was a mountain group whose three summits known to the Maoris as Wahanga, Ruawahia, and Tarawera, formed a rough, rocky, and much-crevassed plateau 3 miles long by half a mile in width, covered with large angular fragments of trachyte, broken and split up as though by frost. Although undoubtedly of volcanic origin, it seems reasonable to conclude from the state of the rocks and from the dense native forests that clothed the lower slopes, that no eruption of any size had taken place for many hundreds of years. The statement of the Maoris that it had never been known to erupt since they came to New Zealand

An Outbreak of the Beet Webworm, Loxostege sticticalis L., in Western Kansas in 1934

One of the most widespread insect outbreaks experienced in Kansas in recent years occurred over the western two thirds of the state during the late summer and fall of 1934. It was caused by Loxostege sticticalis L., commonly known as the beet webworm. The damage from this outbreak was comparatively slight because the chief host plant was the Russian thistle (Salsola pestifer A. Nels.), which was totally destroyed over large areas. The extent of the webworm outbreak was limited only by the distribution of the Russian thistle, the only vegetation to flourish on cultivated lands over much of the western two thirds of the state during 1934. The wheat stubble, abandoned lands, allotment acres, and roadsides carried unusually heavy growths of this plant. It was also present on much of the land planted to corn and sorgo. By the middle of September the thistles were generally populated by webworms. Lamb's quarters and pigweed, though present only in limited numbers, were also hosts; the former appeared to have been the first species attacked and to have suffered the most serious injury. Occasional minor infestations also occurred in fields of sugar beets and in alfalfa that was excessively weedy with Russian thistles. The beet webworm is a Lepidopteron of European origin which reached this section by way of the Pacific coast. It has been in this country and in Canada for many years and is now firmly established in the Rocky Mountain and plateau states, where its frequent and serious attacks upon sugar beets have earned its common name, beet webworm. In addition to the plants mentioned, numerous truck and garden crops are also listed as its hosts.2 The 1934 outbreak came to the attention of the wheat growers at seeding time and caused them considerable worry. As the horses and machinery moved through the Russian thistles while disking or drilling stubble lands and allotment acres, they jarred to the ground thousands of green and black stripped caterpillars. These worms, though smaller, resembled and acted much like the destructive army cutworms that have frequently destroyed wheat in various parts of the state. Fortunately wheat is not a host plant for the beet webworm. The writer became aware of an impending outbreak of the webworms during the first week of September. At this time in the Arkansas river valley between Larned and Syracuse, from early evening until midnight the moths swarmed in countless numbers about every available light. The heat and drought of the summer had not restricted the webworms as it did the grasshoppers and many other insects, because the Russian thistles gave them a food supply upon which to complete their development. From the thistles the worms moved to the soil and constructed silken tubes, which were very resistant to desiccation. Within these tubes the larvae pupated and awaited rains. The general rains of late August and early September over much of western Kansas not only made conditions ideal for the emergence of the webworm moths, but also stimulated the Russian thistles to vigorous growth. Through-

Notes and Inscriptions from Pamphylia

The following notes were made by us on a short journey in Pamphylia during March 1911.It had been our intention on reaching Adalia about the middle of the month to go at once into Lycia, but the lateness of the season made the higher ground impossible, and it seemed better to spend a short time in examining the country in the immediate neighbourhood of Adalia, much of which was still imperfectly known (Fig. 1).The best description of the Pamphylian plain is that given by Lanckoronski. From the Kestros to the Melas stretches a low-lying, swampy plain, traversed by three great rivers which come down from the Pisidian highlands, feverish in summer, and during the winter months impossible for wheeled traffic. To the west of the Kestros rises a rocky plateau of travertine some hundred feet above sea-level, on which stands the town of Adalia (Attaleia) on cliffs above the sea, which diminish towards the west. To the north of Adalia rises a third level, which viewed from the south, resembles a high raised beach, running roughly parallel with the present coast as far as the village of Barsak. To the east of that point the hills turn in a north-easterly direction and sink gradually down towards the Kestros. The western part of the plateau is crossed by two main roads, leading respectively to Istanoz and Buldur.