Ever Vigilant: Chinese Perceptions of Adversarial Alliances

Thesis advisor: Robert S. RossThis dissertation presents a structured and focused comparison of how Chinese leaders and academics have perceived the security cooperation of states on China’s periphery. This study examines three cases: the U.S.S.R.-Vietnam Alliance (1978-1989); the U.S.-Japan Alliance (1990-2016) and the U.S.-South Korea Alliance (1990-2016). They exemplify adversarial alliances in that they represent security cooperation that threatened or potentially threaten Chinese vital interests. Similarly, they all represent adversarial alliances of an asymmetric power relationship between a larger and smaller state. I gathered this data from Chinese journal articles and books related to the three cases, interviewed Chinese academics and think tank analysts, and compared the Chinese perceptions with non-Chinese primary and secondary sources. The research explores how well four concepts describe alliance behavior in the evidence. The first three concepts relate to how China views the alliances’ intentions, capabilities, and cohesion. The fourth concept relates to China’s self-perception as a rising state relative to the adversarial alliances. Knowledge of Chinese past and present perceptions of adversarial alliances should assist academics and policy makers in understanding the implications of security cooperation of states that are in close proximity to the Chinese mainland.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Political Science

Geo-neutrinos and the Radioactive Power of the Earth

Chemical and physical Earth models agree little as to the radioactive power of the planet. Each predicts a range of radioactive powers, overlapping slightly with the other at about 24 TW, and together spanning 14-46 TW. Approximately 20 % of this radioactive power (3-8 TW) escapes to space in the form of geo-neutrinos. The remaining 11-38 TW heats the planet with significant geo-dynamical consequences, appearing as the radiogenic component of the 43-49 TW surface heat flow. The non-radiogenic component of the surface heat flow (5-38 TW) is presumably primordial, a legacy of the formation and early evolution of the planet. A constraining measurement of radiogenic heating provides insights to the thermal history of the Earth and potentially discriminates chemical and physical Earth models. Radiogenic heating in the planet primarily springs from unstable nuclides of uranium, thorium, and potassium. The paths to their stable daughter nuclides include nuclear beta decays, producing geo-neutrinos. Large sub-surface detectors efficiently record the energy but not the direction of the infrequent interactions of the highest energy geo-neutrinos, originating only from uranium and thorium. The measured energy spectrum of the interactions estimates the relative amounts of these heat-producing elements, while the intensity estimates planetary radiogenic power. Recent geo-neutrino observations in Japan and Italy find consistent values of radiogenic heating. The combined result mildly excludes the lowest model values of radiogenic heating and, assuming whole mantle convection, identifies primordial heat loss. Future observations have the potential to measure radiogenic heating with better precision, further constraining geological models and the thermal evolution of the Earth.Comment: 48 pages, 11 figures, 8 table

The Pivot to Asia: The Persistent Logics of Geopolitics and the Rise of China

The 2011 pivot illustrated the persistence of post-World War II geopolitical thinking that seeks to prevent a single state or coalition from dominating Eurasia. For nearly seven decades, the U.S. has relied on a forward deployed presence and alliances in the Asia Pacific to maintain stability and deter conflict. This article will analyze the long-standing policy and the continuation of the policy with the 2011 pivot, and will explore the logics behind the policy. Next, the paper will explore three topics: the current-day situation in Eurasia, how nuclear weapons have altered the geopolitical logics, and the rise of China as an economic and military power in Asia

Precambrian crustal evolution and Cretaceous–Palaeogene faulting in West Greenland: Origin and evolution of the Kangâmiut mafic dyke swarm, West Greenland

The Kangâmiut dyke swarm in West Greenland intruded Archaean terrains at 2.04 Ga, and its northern portion was subsequently metamorphosed to granulite facies during the Nagssugtoqidian orogeny(c. 1.8 Ga). Mineral and whole-rock major and trace element compositions show that the parental magmas for the dyke swarm differentiated by the fractionation of olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and late stage Fe-Ti oxides. Petrographical observations and the enrichment of K2O during differentiation argue that hornblende was not an important fractionating phase. Field observations suggest emplacement at crustal levels above the brittle–ductile transition, and clinopyroxene geothermobarometry constrains dyke emplacement depths to less than 10 km. Granulite facies metamorphism of the Kangâmiut dykes and their host rocks in the northern portion of the swarm requires subsequent burial to c. 30 km, related to roughly 20 km of crustal thickening between the time of dyke emplacement and peak metamorphism during the Nagssugtoqidian orogeny. Kangâmiut dykes are characterised by low Ba/La ratios (12 ±5), and high Nb/La ratios (0.8 ±0.2), compared to subduction relatedbasalts (Ba/La c. 25; Nb/La c. 0.35). These geochemical characteristics argue that the Kangâmiut dykes are not related to subduction processes. Forward modelling of rare-earth element data requires that primitive magmas for the Kangâmiut dykes originated from a moderately depleted mantle source with a mantle potential temperature of c. 1420°C. The inferred potential temperature is consistent with potential temperature estimates for ambient mantle at 2.0 Ga derived from secular cooling models and continental freeboard constraints. The geochemistry and petrology of the Kangâmiut dykes support a model that relates the dyke activity to passive rifting of the proposed Kenorland supercontinent rather than to mantle plume activity or subduction

Origin and evolution of the Kangâmiut mafic dyke swarm, West Greenland

The Kangâmiut dyke swarm in West Greenland intruded Archaean terrains at 2.04 Ga, and its northern portion was subsequently metamorphosed to granulite facies during the Nagssugtoqidian orogeny (c. 1.8 Ga). Mineral and whole-rock major and trace element compositions show that the parental magmas for the dyke swarm differentiated by the fractionation of olivine, clinopyroxene, plagioclase and late stage Fe-Ti oxides. Petrographical observations and the enrichment of K2O during differentiation argue that hornblende was not an important fractionating phase. Field observations suggest emplacement at crustal levels above the brittle–ductile transition, and clinopyroxene geothermobarometry constrains dyke emplacement depths to less than 10 km. Granulite facies metamorphism of the Kangâmiut dykes and their host rocks in the northern portion of the swarm requires subsequent burial to c. 30 km, related to roughly 20 km of crustal thickening between the time of dyke emplacement and peak metamorphism during the Nagssugtoqidian orogeny. Kangâmiut dykes are characterised by low Ba/La ratios (12 ± 5), and high Nb/La ratios (0.8 ± 0.2), compared to subduction related basalts (Ba/La c. 25; Nb/La c. 0.35). These geochemical characteristics argue that the Kangâmiut dykes are not related to subduction processes. Forward modelling of rare-earth element data requires that primitive magmas for the Kangâmiut dykes originated from a moderately depleted mantle source with a mantle potential temperature of c. 1420°C. The inferred potential temperature is consistent with potential temperature estimates for ambient mantle at 2.0 Ga derived from secular cooling models and continental freeboard constraints. The geochemistry and petrology of the Kangâmiut dykes support a model that relates the dyke activity to passive rifting of the proposed Kenorland supercontinent rather than to mantle plume activity or subduction