A late Devonian impact event and its association with a possible extinction event on Eastern Gondwana

Evidence from South China and Western Australia for a 365-Ma impact event in the Lower crepida conodont zone of the Famennian stage of the Late Devonian (about 1.5 Ma after the Frasnian/Famennian extinction event) includes microtektitelike glassy microspherules, geochemical anomalies (including a weak Ir), a probable impact crater (greater than 70 k) at Taihu in South China, and an Ir anomaly in Western Australia. A brachiopod faunal turnover in South China, and the 'strangelove ocean'-like c-delta 13 excursions in both Chinese and Australian sections indicate that at least a regional-scale extinction might have occurred at the time of the impact. A paleoreconstruction shows that South China was very close to and facing Western Australia in the Late Devonian. The carbon isotopic excursions, which occur at the same stratigraphic level in both South China and Western Australia cannot be explained as being coincidental. The c-delta 13 excursions and the brachiopod faunal turnover in South China indicate that there might have been at least a regional (possibly global) extinction in the Lower crepida zone. The impact-derived microspherules and geochemical anomalies (especially the Ir) indicate a Lower crepida zone impact event on eastern Gondwana. The location, type of target rocks, and possibly age of the Taihu Lake crater qualify as the probable site of this Late Devonian impact

Tinjauan Hukum Internasional Terhadap Reklamasi Pulau-pulau Yang Dipersengketakan Di Laut China Selatan Oleh Republik Rakyat Tiongkok

Agung Wahyudi Pamungkas* Suhaidi** Arif*** South China Sea if viewed of its geographic location is an area that has economic value, both political and strategic for countries bordering the South China Sea or not.South China Sea has a very important role as a trade and distribution of oil.In addition, the South China Sea also known as the vital shipping lanes and is one of the busiest International shipping lanes in the world.Based on geographical location can also be seen that the South China Sea is an semi enclosed sea because it is surrounded by some countries.Such conditions are frequent causes of disputes or conflicts in the South China Sea.One of the disputes and conflicts are disputes or conflicts related to reclamation actions undertaken by the People's Republic of China on the disputed islands in the South China Sea region. As for the issue is how the status and position of the South China Sea in accordance with International maritime law, how the act of reclaiming the islands disputed South China Sea by the People's Republic of China in accordance with International maritime law, and how efforts to resolve disputes that can be done related to reclamation of disputed islands in the South China Sea by the People's Republic of China. Status of the South China Sea as the sea is bordered by many costal states.While the position of the South China Sea is a semi-enclosed sea. That Status and position of the South China Sea often lead to disputes or conflicts in the South China Sea region.One of the disputes or conflicts in the South China Sea is a dispute or conflicts related to reclamation actions undertaken by the People's Republic of China.Reclamation that undertaken by the People's Republic of China on the disputed islands in the South China Sea region is actually contrary to International maritime law, especially UNCLOS 1982 and DOC 2002. Efforts to do in resolving disputes in the South China Sea, particularly disputes incurred due to actions undertaken by PRC reclamation should be done in ways that are justified by the 1982 UNCLOS and the DOC in 2002, which means peaceful resolution of disputes.And the suggestions in this paper is that in order to prevent disputes or conflicts in the South China Sea need to be done in cooperation between the countries around the South China Sea region and the need to set up a code of conduct in the South China Sea behave more binding.And that efforts for settling disputes or conflicts in the South China Sea is done by peaceful means. Keywords: Sea, China, South China, Reclamation * Mahasiswa Departemen Hukum Internasional FH USU **Dosen Pembimbing I, Departemen Hukum Internasional FH USU ***Dosen Pembimbing II, Departemen Hukum Internasional FH USU *Students of the Department of International Law FH USU **Supervisor I, Department of International Law FH USU ***Supervisor II, Department of International Law FH US

THE PERCEPTION AND THE ORIGINS OF THE U. S. SOUTH CHINA SEA POLICY DURING THE EVENTS HAPPENED IN THE REGION BEFORE THE COLDWAR

The South China Sea policy of the United States after World War II was formed by the United States’ perception of the three events in the South China Sea before the Cold War. After events such as France’s occupation of the nine small islands in the South China Sea, Japan’s occupation of the South China Sea, and the struggle against Japan during the Pacific War, the United States has continuously deepened its understanding of the South China Sea and increasingly valued its important value. With Japan's gradual retreat in the later stages of World War II, the United States gradually gained control of the South China Sea and took a dominant position in the South China Sea dispute. With the continuous deepening of the United States' understanding of the South China Sea and the changes in its identity, status, and interests in the South China Sea region, the U.S. South China Sea policy has gradually taken shape

What are Australia’s national security interests in the South China Sea?

Abstract This paper examines Australia’s national security interests in the South China Sea. It notes that a number of states lay claim to various islands in the region, and that territorial disputes over those claims have occasionally erupted into armed conflict in the past. The paper contends that China’s more recent behaviour in asserting its claim is unsettling the region and heightening strategic competition between China and the US, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the South China Sea. The paper explores two key interests: first, the maintenance of a rules-based international order, especial ly in a contested and strategically-located area so close to Australia’s diplomatic, economic and military interests; and second, in ensuring continued and free access to the ‘global commons’. It concludes that Australia has real and tangible national security interests in the South China Sea that will become increasingly significant across the next decade, not least because Australia’s interests are closely aligned with those of the US, which potentially could involve aiding the US in the event of conflict

Barbarians in the south: China's Vietnam policy, 1966-73

This thesis examines the policy of the People's Republic of China to the Second Indochina (or Vietnam) War. It looks at how Mao Zedong's perception of the United States' escalation of the conflict in Vietnam influenced both China's diplomatic and military response, and also Mao's own domestic campaign to transform Chinese society in the form of the Cultural Revolution. In the 1960s China sought to avoid war with the U.S. for both ideological and security reasons, yet offered large-scale support for Hanoi's war effort. China's military support fell as the prospect of a war with the Soviet Union loomed, and rebounded in the early 1970s when the threat had receded. Sino-Vietnamese discord in this period has been over-emphasised, for throughout the duration of the Vietnam War intimate co-operation characterised the relationship. The key change in Sino-Vietnamese relations came not from Hanoi's decision to enter into negotiations with the U.S., but in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, for which Hanoi exhibited fulsome support. From this point on differing Chinese and North Vietnamese interests in the occupant of the White House set Hanoi's and Beijing's tactics on divergent paths. This does not mean, however, that Beijing reduced its support for Hanoi's war effort as a result of Sino-American rapprochement. Henry Kissinger continually misinterpreted Chinese strategy and statements on the topic of Vietnam, and failed to understand the Chinese paternalism that underpinned much of Beijing's policy. Mao remained determined to see a complete American withdrawal from Indochina and substantially increased its military and economic aid. When an apparent stalemate was arrived at in mid-1972, only then did China intervene to counsel moderation and compromise at the negotiating table, hoping to have the war ended before Richard Nixon began his second term in office

Paleogene monsoons across India and South China: Drivers of biotic change

Monsoonal climates at low latitudes (2. Fossil leaf form reveals that under such 'hothouse' conditions megathermal early Eocene to earliest Miocene forests were exposed to strong monsoonal climates typical of those experienced today arising from annual migrations of the ITCZ, possibly enhanced by a lower equator-to-pole temperature gradient. Throughout the Paleogene an elevated Tibetan highland produced no discernable modification of this ITCZ monsoon, although rainfall seasonality similar to that of the modern South Asia Monsoon (SAM) is observed in northern India as early as the beginning of the Eocene, despite its near-equatorial palaeoposition. In South China rainfall seasonality increased progressively achieving modern monsoon-like wet season/dry season precipitation ratios by the early Oligocene. Despite evidencing weak rainfall seasonality overall, fossil leaves from South China have exhibited monsoon-adapted morphologies, comparable to those seen in today's Indonesia-Australia Monsoon, for at least 45 million years. Together, the Indian and South China fossil leaf assemblages show that the evolution of megathermal ecosystems across southern Asia has been influenced profoundly by monsoonal climates for at least the last 56 million years. The Paleogene ITCZ-driven monsoon system strongly impacted India as it transited the Equator likely eliminating Gondwanan taxa not able to adapt to seasonal precipitation extremes. Furthermore, powerful seasonally-reversing winds, and associated surface ocean currents, are likely to have facilitated two-way biotic transfer between India and Eurasia long before closure of the Tethys Ocean