Synthesis of organic compounds of arsenic: the preparation of acridone arsonic acids

I. The P'reuss and Binz reaction, i.e. the conversion of o- nitrotoluene to anthranilic acid by concentrated alkali, has been extended to 3- nitro4- methylphenyla.rsonic with the formation of 3- amino4- carboxyphenylarsonic acid.II. The synthesis of 3- amino, 4- amino -, 3 methy 1 -4- amino-, 2- amino -3- methyl, 1- methyl -4- amino -, and 7- nitro-3- bromoacridone is described and a review is made of the effect of the nature and position of substituents on the cyclisation of substituted diphenylamine -2- carboxylic acids.III. The methods of synthesis of acridone arsonic acids are reviewed and examined, and the preparation of acridone -3 -, acridone-4-, nitroacridone -3 -, and 3- methylacridone -2- arsonic acids described

An inventory of wild sandalwood stocks in Vanuatu

Characterizing sandalwood (S. austrocaledonicum) abundance in Vanuatu is challenging due to the broad, discontinuous yet highly modified distribution of sandalwood and the lack of systematic historical inventories or detailed harvest documentation. The preliminary distribution has been estimated from anecdotal ranges provided by the Vanuatu Department of Forests (VDoF), GIS spatial analyses and recorded sandalwood locations collected during the Oil Quality Survey (Page, 2005) and during the 2007 sandalwood inventory survey conducted for this project. Historic densities have been estimated from anecdotal descriptions and harvest data records. Current densities are based on the 2007 field survey of sandalwood populations on four Vanuatu islands. The surveys were conducted in regions of known sandalwood populations. The low aggregated density (0.4 trees/ha) of commercially sized trees found in these surveyed populations is a cause for concern. Based on the field data, we estimate that the current resource on the four islands surveyed is approximately 210 tonnes, with another 80 tonnes estimated on other islands of Vanuatu. At current harvest rates this resource may be quickly depleted and there will be a shortfall until plantation sandalwood is available in 10-15 years. Consideration should therefore be given to reducing the quota for wild sandalwood harvest to a sustainable level

Monitoring the environmental impact of mining in remote locations through remotely sensed data

Mining is an integral part of the development of many countries in the Asia-Pacific region and is associated with adverse environmental and social impacts. The monitoring of mining in remote locations is problematic due to difficulties of access. Satellite remote sensing is able to provide information on landscape transformation in a cost-effective way around large-scale mines. The PT Freeport Indonesia mine in Papua (Indonesia) is the world's largest copper-gold mine and previous studies have documented a range of impacts. A multi-temporal analysis of Landsat 5 imagery of the Freeport area was undertaken for the years between 1988 and 2004. Anthropogenic land cover changes were quantified by screen digitising polygons from three false colour composite images over this period to determine the area of forested land that had been cleared and the area that had been affected by mine-derived sediment transported by the Ajkwa River system. The results show that both settlement and sediment had radically altered land cover and together had led to a sixfold increase in the area of ultra-diverse lowland tropical rainforest cleared in the study area. The study highlights the utility of this method to monitor elements of the impact of large-scale mining and other extensive forms of resource exploitation such as deforestation in developing countries

Reducing uncertainty with flood frequency analysis: the contribution of palaeoflood and historical flood information

Using a combination of stream gauge, historical, and paleoflood records to extend extreme flood records has proven to be useful in improving flood frequency analysis (FFA). The approach has typically been applied in localities with long historical records and/or suitable river settings for paleoflood reconstruction from slack‐water deposits (SWDs). However, many regions around the world have neither extensive historical information nor bedrock gorges suitable for SWDs preservation and paleoflood reconstruction. This study from subtropical Australia demonstrates that confined, semialluvial channels such as macrochannels provide relatively stable boundaries over the 1000–2000 year time period and the preserved SWDs enabled paleoflood reconstruction and their incorporation into FFA. FFA for three sites in subtropical Australia with the integration of historical and paleoflood data using Bayesian Inference methods showed a significant reduction in uncertainty associated with the estimated discharge of a flood quantile. Uncertainty associated with estimated discharge for the 1% Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) flood is reduced by more than 50%. In addition, sensitivity analysis of possible within‐channel boundary changes shows that FFA is not significantly affected by any associated changes in channel capacity. Therefore, a greater range of channel types may be used for reliable paleoflood reconstruction by evaluating the stability of inset alluvial units, thereby increasing the quantity of temporal data available for FFA. The reduction in uncertainty, particularly in the prediction of the ≤1% AEP design flood, will improve flood risk planning and management in regions with limited temporal flood data

Karst in Southeast Asia

[Extract] Flying over the patchwork quilt of land uses that comprise Southeast Asia, one often sees extensive tracts of\ud rugged topography with plateaux pitted with depressions,\ud deep gorges, rivers arising at the bases of mountains, and towers arising from alluvia ted plains, These are the karst lands, formed on limestone bedrock and subject to the solutional erosion of that bedrock above and below ground. With a total area of about 400 000 km2, Southeast Asia contains some of the more extensive\ud karst regions in the world (Figure 10. 1). Many of these karst areas are of high relief with spectacular arrays of tower and cone karst. Many have now been inscribed on the World Heritage list in recognition of their unique geomorphology and biology. They are scattered throughout the islands of the Malay archipelago as well as the adjoining fringe of the Asian mainland. Karst is found in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, and Papua New Guinea

Coastal geomorphology and historic change in the Pennefather River area, Cape York

[Extract] The Australian coastline is shaped by processes operating over a wide range of time-scales, ranging from post-glacial sea level rise to daily tides. In northern Australia cyclonic waves and winds must be added, as well as the effects of major floods. Geomorphic process records are largely absent over most of the area, while maps and aerial photography rarely predate the 1960s. Thus there may be value in considering the written records of early explorers in combination with historic imagery to evaluate long-term coastal change. Such an opportunity was provided through the Flinders Bicentenary expedition organised by the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland. The specific area was the Pennefather River of western Cape York, some 40 km north of Weipa.\ud \ud The Pennefather River (Figure 1, page 202) has a well developed spit at its mouth, backed by extensive mud banks and mangrove swamps. This is a consequence of dominant longshore drift and periodic flood outflows from the river. This spit may well have changed its extent and location in historic times since Flinders visited the area in 1802. To the north and south of the estuary are a set of three well developed transgressive dunes which may correlate with the early to mid-Holocene sequence recorded near Weipa by Lees et al. (1999). These transgressive dunes were probably formed by the reworking of late Pleistocene sand masses following recovery of sea level after the Last Glacial. This mechanism, termed the Cooper-Thom event, relies on the role of large storms in the Gulf of Carpentaria destroying coastal vegetation and thus remobilising stabilised dunes. Do such storms cause similar effects today? Have major cyclones in the historic period reshaped this landscape? What other disturbance processes are at work