Renewable energy technology innovation can benefit the environment by promoting green productivity, as proposed by existing theoretical studies. However, recent uneven developments of both ...environmental performance and renewable energy technology among regions in China remind us to revisit the above theoretical link. In this paper, we relax the hypothesized homogeneity and linearity in traditional empirical models to investigate the effects of renewable energy technology innovation on China's green productivity. The results of the partially linear functional-coefficient models show that the effect of renewable energy technological innovation on green productivity is significant only when the relative income level of a province passes a critical turning point. Beyond the turning point, such an effect increases with the growth of relative income levels. Finally, we provide provincial specific policy implications based on the estimated nonparametric relationship between renewable energy technology innovation and green productivity.
•The PLFC model is employed to explore the heterogeneous effects of RETI.•The income level shapes the relationship between RETI and green productivity.•The positive role of RETI is found in China's well-developed provinces.
Sediments from the Magadi Basin (south Kenya Rift) preserve a one-million-year palaeoenvironmental record that reflects interactions between climatic, volcanic and tectonic controls. Climate changes ...that impacted sedimentation include wet-dry cycles on variable timescales and an overall progressive trend towards greater aridity. Volcanic influences involved inputs of tephra to the basin, significant inflow of geothermal fluids, and the effects of weathering, erosion and transportation of clastics from trachyte and basalt terrains. Tectonic controls, which were often step-like, reflect the influence of faults that provided pathways for fluids and which controlled accommodation space and drainage directions.
Intensified aridity and evaporative concentration resulted in salinity and pH increasing with time, which led to a change from calcite deposition in mildly saline lakes before 380 ka to the later formation of zeolites from reactions of volcaniclastic debris with highly alkaline lake and pore water. After 105 ka, hyperalkaline conditions led to trona accumulation and increasingly variable rare earth elements (REEs). The presence of mixed saline and freshwater diatom taxa between 545 and 16 ka indicates climate variability and episodic inputs of fresh water to saline lakes. Calcrete formed in lake marginal settings during semi-arid periods.
Tectonic controls operated independently of climate, but they interacted together to determine environmental conditions. Aquatic deposition was maintained during periods of increasing aridity because fault-controlled ambient and geothermal springs continued to flow lakewards. This recharge, in turn, limited pedogenesis: palaeosols are common in other rift floor sequences. Trona formed when aridity and evapoconcentration increased, but its precipitation also reflects increased magmatic CO2 that ascended along faults. Basin fragmentation and north-south fractures caused loss of cross-rift (east-west) drainage from rift-marginal basalts, resulting in reduced transition metals after 545 ka. The Magadi Basin demonstrates how a careful reconstruction of these complex tectono-climatic interactions is essential for accurate palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in continental rifts and in other tectonic settings.
•Progressive increase in palaeolake alkalinity and salinity over the past million years.•Middle Pleistocene to Holocene increase in aridity was interrupted by climate-induced wetter episodes.•Diatom floras indicate episodically meromictic palaeolakes.•Step-like changes in sedimentation reflect faulting and drainage diversion.•Faulting tapped deep groundwater releasing Si-enriched deep fluids and mantle CO2 to produce abundant chert and thick trona deposits.
Landscape genomics is an emerging research field that aims to identify the environmental factors that shape adaptive genetic variation and the gene variants that drive local adaptation. Its ...development has been facilitated by next‐generation sequencing, which allows for screening thousands to millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms in many individuals and populations at reasonable costs. In parallel, data sets describing environmental factors have greatly improved and increasingly become publicly accessible. Accordingly, numerous analytical methods for environmental association studies have been developed. Environmental association analysis identifies genetic variants associated with particular environmental factors and has the potential to uncover adaptive patterns that are not discovered by traditional tests for the detection of outlier loci based on population genetic differentiation. We review methods for conducting environmental association analysis including categorical tests, logistic regressions, matrix correlations, general linear models and mixed effects models. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches, provide a list of dedicated software packages and their specific properties, and stress the importance of incorporating neutral genetic structure in the analysis. We also touch on additional important aspects such as sampling design, environmental data preparation, pooled and reduced‐representation sequencing, candidate‐gene approaches, linearity of allele–environment associations and the combination of environmental association analyses with traditional outlier detection tests. We conclude by summarizing expected future directions in the field, such as the extension of statistical approaches, environmental association analysis for ecological gene annotation, and the need for replication and post hoc validation studies.
This book explores how climate institutions in industrialized countries work to further the recognition of social differences and integrate this understanding in climate policy making. With ...contributions from a range of expert scholars in the field, this volume investigates policy-making in climate institutions from the perspective of power as it relates to gender. It also considers other intersecting social factors at different levels of governance, from the global to the local level and extending into climate-relevant sectors. The authors argue that a focus on climate institutions is important since they not only develop strategies and policies, they also (re)produce power relations, promote specific norms and values, and distribute resources. The chapters throughout draw on examples from various institutions including national ministries, transport and waste management authorities, and local authorities, as well as the European Union and the UNFCCC regime. Overall, this book demonstrates how feminist institutionalist theory and intersectionality approaches can contribute to an increased understanding of power relations and social differences in climate policy-making and in climate-relevant sectors in industrialized states. In doing so, it highlights the challenges of path dependencies, but also reveals opportunities for advancing gender equality, equity, and social justice.Gender, Intersectionality and Climate Institutions in Industrialized States will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate politics, international relations, gender studies and policy studies.
Urgonian platform carbonate (Cretaceous; Barremian, Aptian) forms an important lithostratigraphic unit in the Helvetic fold- and thrust unit of the northern Swiss Alps. Its widespread distribution ...and ubiquity allow for an integrated high-resolution study of macro- and microfacies, benthic foraminiferal biostratigraphy, sequence stratigraphy, and carbon-isotope and phosphorus records. The resulting data confirm the importance of environmental forcing and sea level change on the style of carbonate production and accumulation along the margin of the northern Tethys during the late Early Cretaceous. Stratal geometries, the succession of microfacies, the identification of major emersion surfaces, and biostratigraphy observed and analysed in twelve sections through the inner, middle, and outer platform, and in the panorama of the Churfirsten range, permit subdivision of the analysed succession into eight depositional sequences. The succession starts with a phase of sedimentary condensation (Altmann Member (Mb); late Hauterivian – late early Barremian; sequences H7, H8, and B1), followed by the deposition of hemipelagic sediments (Drusberg Mb; restricted to sequence B2 of the late early Barremian on the inner platform; and covering the late early Barremian to the middle late Barremian on the outer platform, and to the early Aptian on the outer shelf, thereby showing an important diachroneity of its upper boundary related to the inception and progradation of the Urgonian platform), and the development of predominantly lagoonal carbonate (Schrattenkalk Formation (Fm); early late Barremian – early Aptian; sequences B3, B4, B5, and A1). The Schrattenkalk Fm documents important progradation and aggradation of the carbonate platform, and the change from a ramp-like to flat-topped geometry. The oldest, allochthonous remains of the shallow-water carbonate platform were identified intercalated in and on top of the lower Barremian Drusberg Mb (sequence B2). Sequence boundary (SB) B3 resulted from an important regressive phase near the early-late Barremian boundary, which led to the emersion of the hemipelagic sediments of the Drusberg Mb in the inner part of the shelf and to the deposition of a lowstand systems tract at the base of the Lower Schrattenkalk Mb (late Barremian; sequences B3–5) in intermediate and distal domains. Deposition of in-situ platform carbonate started during the following transgressive phase in the middle late Barremian, which flooded the entire investigated area. The associated faunal assemblages and phosphorus contents indicate a concomitant increase in nutrient input, which led to a mixed photozoan-heterozoan platform association dominated by annelids and flat orbitolinids, and the formation of a condensed phosphate-rich bed on the outer shelf (Chopf Bed; middle late Barremian). The subsequent sea-level highstand allowed for the deposition of the first typical Urgonian carbonates rich in corals and rudists. This depositional sequence (B3) terminated by the important infilling of accommodation space combined with sea-level fall of at least 15 m. Later on, close to the Barremian-Aptian boundary, a further, major emersion phase (SB A1) was triggered by sea-level fall, estimated here as at least 16 m, which terminated this first phase in the deposition of rudist and coral-rich platform carbonates covering the middle late to latest Barremian (B3–B5). The overlying Rawil Mb (lowermost Aptian; transgressive systems tract A1) resulted from progressive deepening and document a phase of increasing eutrophication of the depositional environment, resulting in a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate platform build-up, characterized by sea-grass facies and the massive occurrence of Palorbitolina lenticularis. The overlying Upper Schrattenkalk Mb (lower Aptian; highstand systems tract A1) records recovery of the rudist-rich photozoan Urgonian platform. Its subsequent demise occurred well before the Selli oceanic anoxic episode (OAE 1a). It was initiated by emersion of the platform due to high-amplitude sea-level fall (SB A2), followed by eutrophication during the subsequent transgressive phase.
The carbon-isotope records show an increase towards more positive values during the Lower Schrattenkalk Mb and the base of the Rawil Mb, interrupted in most sections by an excursion to lower values near the Barremian–Aptian boundary. A shift to lower values occurred also in the uppermost part of the Rawil Mb, followed by variable trends in the Upper Schrattenkalk Mb. These long-term trends are well correlated with the basinal record (Angles, La Bédoule). Deviations in the correlations are related to the influence of facies and microfacies, primary mineralogy, emersion phases, and post-depositional alteration.
This book explores the role of feminist activists in The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and highlights the progress they have made in mainstreaming gender as a key issue in ...global climate governance. It is now commonplace for gender to be framed as a political issue in global climate politics within academic scholarship, but there is typically a lack of robust empirical analysis of existing advocacy approaches. Filling this lacuna, Joanna Flavell interrogates the political strategies of the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) in the UNFCCC (The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Through a conceptual framework that integrates climate change with intersectional critical inquiry and political practice, Flavell analyses hundreds of historical documents, coupled with interviews and observations from two UNFCCC conferences. This research uncovers a so-far untold story about the history of the UNFCCC that foregrounds gender and feminist advocacy, highlighting the importance of the WGC in shaping dominant narratives of global climate governance through a series of rhetorical and procedural strategies. Overall, the book draws important conclusions around power in global climate governance and opens up new avenues for advancing a feminist green politics. This volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental justice, climate politics and governance, environmental activism, and gender studies more broadly.
This study investigates Holocene sedimentary evolution and hypoxia development using borehole cores CJK06 and CJK09, in combination with other published core data. Based on lithology and microfossil ...(benthic foraminifera) characteristics, seven types of sedimentary facies were identified from the base upward: river, tidal flat, tide-influenced river, transgressive lag, estuary, inner-shelf, and prodelta. Isochronous correlation among the cores was established relying on accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dates. Facies succession indicates that a weak progradation occurred in coastal environments (12–10 ka BP) due to the Younger Dryas-induced deceleration of sea-level rise; rapid deposition locally occurred in the southern marginal area of tide-dominated estuary environments (10–8 ka BP), likely due to the junction of the Yangtze and Qiantangjiang River currents; and marine current-induced fluid mudflows prevailed in the shallow marine environments (8–1 ka BP), with the cooling climates of 5–1 ka BP. Furthermore, prodelta and shallow marine environments co-occurred with an uneven progradation of the delta within the last 1 ka, while deposition occurred just inside the more southern, delta-influenced area. The occurrence of euryhaline benthic foraminifera suggests that an enhanced freshwater discharge of the mid-Holocene (8–5 ka BP) was followed by a sharp decline in the late Holocene (5–1 ka BP) with climate change. The occurrence of cold-water benthic foraminifera indicates a severe cold-water condition during the mid-Holocene due to the intrusion of upwelling currents triggered by the propelling force of warm currents and summer monsoon winds. In addition, the occurrence of low-oxygen foraminiferal assemblages reveals that hypoxia has developed since 10 ka BP in stages consistent with the sedimentary evolution: localized hypoxia formation coincident with the southern depocenter during the early Holocene (10–8 ka BP); severe hypoxia with enhanced freshwater discharge and upwelling current intrusion during the mid-Holocene; and weakened hypoxia of the late Holocene, mainly due to the sharp decline in freshwater discharge. Within 1 ka BP, freshwater discharge from the approaching river mouth and increased nutrient inputs from enhanced human activities on land have contributed to the prevalence of hypoxia, especially in the southern deltaic area. Overall, it was revealed that the freshwater discharge modulated with climate variations and delta progradation plays a primary role in controlling the sedimentary evolution and hypoxia development during the mid-late Holocene.
•Gravity flows (fluid mudflow) prevailed during the late Holocene (5–1 ka BP).•Holocene freshwater discharge was enhanced (8–5 ka BP) and then sharply declined.•Severe upwelling current intrusion occurred during the mid-Holocene (8–5 ka BP).•Hypoxia boomed during the mid-Holocene (8–5 ka BP).
The discovery of turbidites represents perhaps the major genuine advance of sedimentology during the twentieth century. Turbidites are the deposits of turbidity currents and were originally related ...to the gravitational instability and re-sedimentation of previously accumulated shallow water sediments into deep waters. As these flows originate and entirely evolve within a marine or lacustrine basin, their associated deposits are here termed intrabasinal turbidites. Controversially, increasing evidences support that turbidity currents can also be originated by the direct discharge of sediment–water mixtures by rivers in flood (hyperpycnal flows). Since these flows are originated in the continent, their associated deposits are here termed extrabasinal turbidites. Deposits related to these two different turbidity currents are often confused in the literature although they display diagnostic features that allow a clear differentiation between them. Intrabasinal turbidites are mostly related to surge-like (unsteady) flows that initiate from a cohesive debris flow that accelerates along the slope and evolves into a granular and finally a turbulent flow. Its flow behavior results on the accumulation of normally graded beds and bedsets that lacks terrestrial phytodetritus and lofting rhythmites. Extrabasinal turbidites, on the contrary, are deposits related to fully turbulent flows having interstitial freshwater and sustained by a relatively dense and long-lived river discharge. According to the grain size of suspended materials, hyperpycnal flows can be muddy or sandy. Sandy hyperpycnal flows (with or without associated bedload) often accumulate sandy to gravelly composite beds in prodelta to inner basin areas. Their typical deposits show sharp to gradual internal facies changes and recurrence, with abundant plant remains. In marine waters, the density reversal induced by freshwater results in the accumulation of lofting rhythmites at flow margin areas. Muddy hyperpycnal flows are loaded by a turbulent suspension dominantly composed of a mixture of silt and clay-sized particles (<62.5μm) of varying compositions. Since the suspended sediment concentration does not substantially decrease in waning flows, muddy hyperpycnal flows will be not affected by lofting, and the flow will remain attached to the sea bottom until its final accumulation. Typical deposits compose cm to dm-thick graded shale beds disposed over an erosive base with displaced marine microfossils and dispersed plant remains.
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A comprehensive sedimentological study was undertaken in the Miocene of the subalpine massifs and southern Jura (France) with the aim to constrain the evolution of process changes in third‐order ...sequences of peripheral foreland basins during the overfilled phase (i.e. sediment supply higher than accommodation space). Fieldwork analyses based on 35 sedimentological sections allowed the identification of four depositional models: wave dominated, mixed wave‐tide, river to tide and river dominated. The sections were dated using chemostratigraphy (i.e. marine strontium isotopic ratios), revealing three‐third‐order sequences between the Upper Aquitanian and the Langhian. Chronostratigraphical and sedimentological results document prominent and recurrent changes in depositional models along third‐order sequences: (i) in the earliest stage of the transgression, mixed‐energy coastal environments influenced by the local coastal morphology prevailed (in palaeo‐highs or incised valleys); (ii) during the course of the transgression, Gilbert delta deposits suggest a prominent steepening linked to a tectonic uplift in the proximal depozone (between the tectonically active frontal part of the orogenic wedge and the proximal foredeep). Instead, in the distal depozone (between the proximal foredeep and the proximal border of the flexural uplifted forebulge), deposits were characterized either by wave‐dominated or mixed wave‐tide environments and are likely eustatically‐driven; (iii) during the maximum flooding stage, water depth remained shallow below the storm‐weather wave base; and (iv) during the regression, the proximal depozone is characterized by the progradation of gravel‐rich fan deltas. In the distal depozone, mixed wave‐tide systems preceded the development of river to tidal depositional environments. These results were integrated and compared with facies models from other basin analogues worldwide. A model tackling the evolution of process changes within third‐order sequences (of the overfilled phase) of foreland basins is proposed, thereby improving sequence stratigraphic predictions in foreland basins.
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