Paleontology of brackish-water faunas in two tongues of the Cannonball Formation (Paleocene, Danian), Slope and Golden Valley counties, southwestern North Dakota

In June and July, 1972, four stratigraphic sections were mea sured and described in Slope and Golden Valley Counties, southwestern North Dakota. Within the sections, the Cannonball and Ludlow Formations are recognized. The Cannonball consists of two tongues in the upper part of the Ludlow (perhaps equivalent to the Lebo Member), separated stratigraphically by about 30 roof Ludlow. The U tongue (upper tongue in the study area) is up to 11. 7 m thick. The L tongue (lower tongue. in the study area) is up to 3.8 m thick. The Cannonball is composed mostly of mudstones and the Ludlow consists of sandstones, mudstones, and lignite. The sections were sampled systematically for microfossils and macroinvertebrates, and 13 species in 12 genera ware identified. Both formations can be distinguished by their contained fossils. The fauna of the U tongue of the Cannonball consists of three bivalves (Corbicula berthoudi?, Corbula (Bicorbula) subtrigonalis., and Crassostrea glabra) and the trace fossil Ophiomorpha. The fauna of the L tongue of the Cannonball consists of two foraminiferids (Trochammina sp. and ?Haplophragmoides sp.) and three bivalves (Corbicula berthoudi?, Corbula (Bicorbula) subtrigonalis, and ?Ostrea sp .) The Ludlow biota consists of 3 gastropods (Viviparus sp., .Goniobasis cf. G. tenuicarinata, and ?Coniobasis sp.) 2 ostracods (Candona sp. and Ilyocypris sp.), and 1 charophyte (Sphaerochara sp.). No species are in common with the two formations and only two species are in common with the two Cannonball tongues (Corbicula berthoudi? and Corbula (Bicorbula) subtrigonalis). The ostracods and the charophyte in the Ludlow and the foraminiferids, ?Ostrea sp., and Ophiomorpha in the Cannonball tongues are here reported. The foraminiferids and Oohiomorpha have been reported from the marine Cannonball to the east of the study area, whereas sp. is newly reported for formation. The fauna of the tongues is characteristically brackish, but three species of the L tongue mina sp., ?Haplophragmoides sp. and ?Ostrea sp.) suggest conditions of slightly higher salinity than those in which the U tongue was deposited. The two tongues are interpreted to have been deposited on tidal flats and in lagoons in an interdeltaic region behind a barrier island

Postglacial ostracod distribution and paleoecology, Devils Lake basin, northeastern North Dakota

Sediment cores were taken from Main Bay and Creel Bay of Devils Lake (in 1975 and 1976) and East Devils Lake (in 1978), within the Devils Lake basin, and from Red Willow Lake (in 1979), a control lake outside of the Devils Lake basin, northeastern North Dakota. The cores were sampled, for the recovery of the ostracods, at 10-cm intervals. Fifteen species of ostracods were present in the studied cores: 8 candonids, 1 cyclocyprid, 3 cyprids, and 3 limnocytherids. Two distinct faunas are recognized. The Devils Lake-East Devils Lake fauna consists of Candona lactea, C. rawsoni, Cyprinotus glaucus, Potamocypris smaragdina, Limnocythere (Limnocytherina) ceriotuberosa, and L. staplini. The Red Willow Lake fauna consists of Candona acutula, C. candida, C. caudata, C. decora, C, ohioensis, C. lactea, C. pronopa, C. rawsoni, Cypridopsis vidua, Cyclocypris ampla, and Limnocythere (Limnocytherina) itasca. Only two species are in common in the two faunas. Variations of diversity, similarity, and equitability indices, and abundance of species with depth are used to interpret major episodes of environmental disruption. The faunas do not increase in complexity with time. The Devils Lake-East Devils Lake fauna indicates that the lakes have remained saline with time, but episodes of greatly increased salinity or desiccation have occurred at several intervals. Using sedimentation rates determined by Callender (1968) for Main Bay, major disruptive events are interpreted at 7,000, 1,500, 1,200, and 900 years BP. Sed imentation rates have not been determined for the other cores. The Red Willow Lake fauna indicates that the lake has remained relatively fresh with time, but periods of environmental disruption have occurred. The changing environments through time of Main Bay of Devils Lake, as interpreted on the basis of ostracod distribution patterns, correlates only generally with interpretations based on diatom succession and geo chemical analysis of the sediments

Contesting corporate environmentalism in post-apartheid South Africa: A process of institutional and organisational change.

The environmental governance of multinational corporations in developing countries is relatively understudied. Much of the existing work on the greening of industry focuses on one scale of governance (international, national or local), without adequately accounting for the socio-spatial complexities, either external or internal to the firm, which influence the take up and implementation of corporate environmentalism at the site level. My thesis explores how and why corporate environmentalism has evolved in three South African fuel oil refineries (two in Durban and one in Cape Town) between 1994 and 2006. Institutional and organisational theory, with insights from the literature on spatialities of corporate greening, informs this study. An analytical framework of multinational corporation complexity and organisational field dynamics is established to explore the process of institutional and organisational change. At the macro or organisational field level, actors compete to construct meanings of legitimate corporate environmental practice. Organisational fields are shaped by the interaction between institutional actors, institutional logics and governance structures. At the micro level, firm legitimation strategies and characteristics may explain how corporate greening differs. The research findings are triangulated using key informant interviews, document analysis and social network analysis. Punctuated by key events, bifurcated processes of institutional and organisational change are documented. In Durban changing normative and cognitive institutions drove the evolution of regulation: above all, an internationally networked civil society exercised discursive power by demanding environmental justice and corporate accountability from the private and public sectors. In Cape Town the organisational field remained fragmented as community-driven discursive strategies did not achieve significant governance outcomes and institutional and organisational change evolved more slowly. The company with the most significant home country and parent company pressure, Shell/Sapref, made the most gains in repairing its legitimacy and improving its environmental performance. In sum, corporate environmentalism in post-apartheid South Africa has been contested and constructed by processes of scalar and place-based politics

Ghana\u27s petroleum industry: Expectations, frustrations and anger in coastal communities

With much fanfare, Ghana\u27s Jubilee Oil Field was discovered in 2007 and began producing oil in 2010. In the six coastal districts nearest the offshore fields, expectations of oil-backed development have been raised. However, there is growing concern over what locals perceive to be negative impacts of oil and gas production. Based on field research conducted in 2010 and 2015 in the same communities in each district, this paper presents a longitudinal study of the impacts (real and perceived) of oil and gas production in Ghana. With few identifiable benefits beyond corporate social responsibility projects often disconnected from local development priorities, communities are growing angrier at their loss of livelihoods, increased social ills and dispossession from land and ocean. Assuming that others must be benefiting from the petroleum resources being extracted near their communities, there is growing frustration. High expectations, real and perceived grievances, and increasing social fragmentation threaten to lead to conflict and underdevelopment

Applications of Two-Body Dirac Equations to the Meson Spectrum with Three versus Two Covariant Interactions, SU(3) Mixing, and Comparison to a Quasipotential Approach

In a previous paper Crater and Van Alstine applied the Two Body Dirac equations of constraint dynamics to the meson quark-antiquark bound states using a relativistic extention of the Adler-Piran potential and compared their spectral results to those from other approaches, ones which also considered meson spectroscopy as a whole and not in parts. In this paper we explore in more detail the differences and similarities in an important subset of those approaches, the quasipotential approach. In the earlier paper, the transformation properties of the quark-antiquark potentials were limited to a scalar and an electromagnetic-like four vector, with the former accounting for the confining aspects of the overall potential, and the latter the short range portion. A part of that work consisted of developing a way in which the static Adler-Piran potential was apportioned between those two different types of potentials in addition to covariantization. Here we make a change in this apportionment that leads to a substantial improvement in the resultant spectroscopy by including a time-like confining vector potential over and above the scalar confining one and the electromagnetic-like vector potential. Our fit includes 19 more mesons than the earlier results and we modify the scalar portion of the potential in such a way that allows this formalism to account for the isoscalar mesons {\eta} and {\eta}' not included in the previous work. Continuing the comparisons made in the previous paper with other approaches to meson spectroscopy we examine in this paper the quasipotential approach of Ebert, Faustov, and Galkin for a comparison with our formalism and spectral results.Comment: Revisions of earlier versio

Resource governance dynamics: The challenge of 'new oil' in Uganda

Resource governance norms have evolved at multiple scales to counter the potential negative socio-economic, environmental and institutional impacts of the extractive industries. Advocates of these 'good governance' initiatives have sought to mainstream transparency throughout the extractive industries value chain and implement pro-poor projects at the site level. However, these types of resource governance interventions often fall short of their promised development benefits. Poorly understood is how the process of resource extraction and the expectation of supposed revenue windfalls affect the governance dynamics of host countries and localities. Using a qualitative and inductive approach this paper highlights emerging spaces of governance within a new petro-state, Uganda. The research findings highlight four significant governance gaps: lack of coherence among civil society organisations (CSOs); limited civil society access to communities and the deliberate centralisation of oil governance; industry-driven interaction at the local level; and weak local government capacity. The ad hoc and fragmented modes of resource governance in the oil bearing regions, particularly related to transparency and corporate social responsibility activities, do not bode well for this new petro-state's development trajectory. By identifying how spaces of resource governance emerge in new resource contexts, more proactive and timely interventions can be designed and implemented by state and non-state actors

Can national policy blockages accelerate the development of polycentric governance? Evidence from climate change policy in the United Kingdom

Many factors can conspire to limit the scope for policy development at the national level. In this paper, we consider whether blockages in national policy processes − resulting for example from austerity or small state political philosophies − might be overcome by the development of more polycentric governance arrangements. Drawing on evidence from three stakeholder workshops and fifteen interviews, we address this question by exploring the United Kingdom’s recent retrenchment in the area of climate change policy, and the ways in which its policy community have responded. We identify two broad strategies based on polycentric principles: ‘working with gatekeepers’ to unlock political capital and ‘collaborate to innovate’ to develop policy outputs. We then empirically examine the advantages that these actions bring, analysing coordination across overlapping sites of authority, such as those associated with international regimes, devolved administrations and civic and private initiatives that operate in conjunction with, and sometimes independently of, the state. Despite constraining political and economic factors, which are by no means unique to the UK, we find that a polycentric climate policy network can create opportunities for overcoming central government blockages. However, we also argue that the ambiguous role of the state in empowering but also in constraining such a network will determine whether a polycentric approach to climate policy and governance is genuinely additional and innovative, or whether it is merely a temporary ‘sticking plaster’ for the retreat of the state and policy retrenchment during austere times

Shale gas policy in the United Kingdom: An argumentative discourse analysis

Shale gas has become an energy policy priority in the United Kingdom in light of profitable extraction activities in the United States. Since 2012 the Coalition Government has created key economic drivers to encourage shale exploration, whilst growing activism in affected site communities has stirred significant media and academic commentary. This study examines the growing national debate as a matter of discourse, adopting an argumentative discourse analytic approach to assess data collected from stakeholder interviews (n=21) and key policy actor statements quoted in broadsheet newspapers. We explore three dominant "storylines" emerging in relation to shale gas policy: (1) "cleanliness and dirt" concerns the relative framing of the environmental benefits and harms of shale gas; (2) "energy transitions - pathways and diversions" concerns geographic metaphors of transitions to carbon intensive and low-carbon energy systems; and (3) "geographies of environmental justice" concerns divisions of economic benefit distribution, environmental impact and procedural fairness. We find that central government policy rhetoric emphasises economic development, regulatory oversight and distribution of benefits to site communities, whilst minimising discussion of the implications of shale gas for anthropogenic climate change. The role of these discourses in influencing shale gas policy is discussed