Case Study: Glacial Retreat

Case Study: Glacial Retreat

PART A

1. Himalayas: due to the rising temperature in the Himalayas, the glaciers are melting at a faster rate than the rest of the world. Warmer summers and less snow in the winters will cause a negative mass balance and the glaciers will retreat.

    Glacier National Park: mountain snowpacks hold less water and melt two weeks earlier in the spring, this drastically impacts wildlife drinking water. Some of the parks glaciers might actually vanish by 2030, and if the climate continues, all of them could disappear as well.

    Antarctic Peninsula: warming has been much slower in spring and summer than in fall and winter, but has been sufficient at increasing positive-degree-days by 74%. Seasonal snow coverage has decreased, floating ice shelves have been lost, and glacier termini have retreated.

2. Social: over one million people in Bangladesh have been displaced due to rising sea levels. People depend on river runoff for water, and even transport. Years from now when glaciers melt even more, this will be an issue.

Environmental: sea level has risen by 6 to 8 inches over the last 100 years. Water is stored in glaciers, and the melted water helps maintain river systems. There will be an increase in river runoff, but a sharp decline of it once glaciers melt more.

Economic: ice will no longer be available for winter sports and game, and sightseeing. Less tourists will want to visit if there is not much to see, causing income for tourism to be very low in certain areas (where there are glaciers). Mountain/snow related jobs that people may have could be worthless and could cause them to have to quit their job, or their place of work goes out of business. This could be true for ski lodges, and hotels.

PART B

As stated above in the economic impacts, tourism would be a huge issue. Skiing, snowboarding, and sightseeing would be no more if the glaciers retreated drastically. People would lose their jobs and places would go out of business such as hotels and resorts.

PART C

Sea levels rising is really the only thing that may impact Vanuatu, but even so, the impacts may not be seen for decades or even centuries because of how far Vanuatu is from any glaciers. Sea level is reported to rise 60-70cm by the year 2100, by then you may be able to notice some impact on these countries further away.

    

Case Study: Desertification In Botswana

Desertification In Botswana

1. Desertification is when fertile land becomes desert and is dried out. This is usually caused by drought or deforestation. Sometimes even inappropriate agriculture can be a factor.

2. Most of the land surface in Botswana  is constituted for by the desert which doesn't hold surface water for longer periods of time. Underground water is not a necessity because of this. Botswana is around 600 square kilometers, and the Kalahari Desert makes up 70% of it. Drought is the main cause of the desertification, due to the fact that Botswana is fairly flat with no rolling hills to let water flow throughout the country with ease. Water gets absorbed into the ground too quickly.

3. Deforestation, poor cropping methods, improper soil conservation, and overgrazing have all had significant contributions to the desertification in this country. 95% of Botswana raises cattle and livestock for a source of income. This means that tons of the land is used for grazing, which has been a large cause for desertification. 75% of the country's human and animal populations depend on groundwater, but the drought has left an even bigger impact on the land. Groundwater is gathered by drilling deep holes, which unfortunately causes erosion of the land.

4. A project was designed in Botswana to battle desertification. The project covers steps to conserve the whole spectrum of local resources, including wildlife and products such as firewood and grass for grazing and thatching. All the local plans benefit from indigenous knowledge and traditional land management systems. They include fencing off parts of communal grazing areas to heal the land and control sand dunes. Some of their goals are to keep it as cheap as possible and introduce ecologically sound to make it socially acceptable.

Land Use and Agriculture In Your Country

Land Use and Agriculture In Vanuatu

1. One estimate, made in 2005, is that only 9% of land is used for agriculture. 7% of that land is permanent crops, and the other 2% is arable. Around 36% of the land is forests, the rest is classified as other.

2. Monoculture: The pros are that it reduces plant competition for nutrients, it costs less, and machinery reduces the amount of labor needed. Finally, it sells well in market for a high price.

The cons are that it relies on fossil fuels a lot, and can lower the amount of nitrogen in the soil, as well as let diseases spread easily through the plants. This method can even produce less food per acre.

Polyculture: The pros are that more than one crop can be planted in the same space. It reduces the chances that plants may get diseases. Animal wastes can be used to fertilize the crops, and the income for farmers is more stable.

The cons are that it takes longer to harvest all of the crops, and it requires more time to tend to all the individual types of crops. There can also be seed loss and higher up-front seed costs.

Slash and Burn: The pros are that if it is done in smaller areas it is not as harmful as doing it in super large areas. If slash and burn is done from decade to decade it can actually be good for the soil and environment. If used properly, it can be a good source of food and income. It also allows people to farm in places that it wouldn't be possible because of low soil nutrient content, soil infertility and ect.

The cons are that deforestation can occur if this method is done before vegetation can grow back. Nutrient loss in soil can happen, and even biodiversity loss is a possibility if slash and burn is not perfected.

3. 80% of the people in Vanuatu take part in agricultural activities that range from subsistence farming to smallholder farming of coconuts. The most important agricultural product is copra. This is the dried flesh of coconuts, that is typically produced by individual households on large-scale plantations. Without agriculture, i imagine that Vanuatu would be in severe debt because they would lose a large chunk of their income.

Water Use In Your Country

Water Use In Vanuatu

1. I was not surprised that water was being taken from streams, but what I was surprised about was the amount of water being taken. I really thought that the water would be taken by huge drink companies such as Coca-Cola - certainly not Nestle. This makes me somewhat upset because they are just taking water from wherever they can to make a profit. If this keeps up for a long time, water may become scarce in some areas.

2. In Vanuatu cyclones hit frequently and can limit the peoples drinking water. In April there was one that hit and caused nearly half of of the people to lose access to clean water.

Groundwater drilling machinery is responsible for ensuring that rural communities have access to a fresh and clean water supply and that water resources, in these rural communities, are properly utilized to promote rural economic development. If these break down it could leave the people waterless for a while. Water pollution is also an issue in many urban areas due to poor sanitation systems.

Case Study: Land Subsistence in the American Southwest

Case Study: Land Subsidence in the American Southwest

a) Land subsidence is the lowering of the land-surface elevation from changes that take place underground. Common causes of land subsidence from human activity are pumping water, oil and gas from underground. These places can be; reservoirs, sinkholes, collapse of underground mines, drainage of organic soils, and initial wetting of dry soils. This actually occurs in almost every state in the United States of America. More than 17,000 square miles in 45 states have been affected by subsidence.

b) Land subsidence causes many problems, such as the following: 

          - Changes in elevation and slope of streams, canals, and drains

          - Damage to bridges, roads railroads, storm drains, sanitary sewers, canals, and levees

          - Damage to private and public buildings

          - Failure of well casings from forces generated by compaction of fine-grained materials in aquifer systems.

          - In some coastal areas, the effects of subsidence has made tides move into low-lying areas that were previously above high-tide levels

c) If humans cut down on how much oil and other resources then less land subsidence will occur. In some areas where ground-water pumping has caused subsidence, it has been stopped by switching to surface-water supplies from ground-water. Reducing water usage will also minimize subsidence. Determining what locations for pumping will also help reduce subsidence.

Deforestation In Your Country

Deforestation in Vanuatu

1) Logging in Vanuatu is a limited industry. There is some logging on the main Island of Efate and also Santo. Apart from that logging is very limited. 36% of Vanuatu is covered by forests. Vanuatu is utilizing more forests than is being planted and some of the customary landowners are developing their logged forest areas for other activities, like the rearing of cattle.

2) Unfortunately the environment is affected by deforestation; 13% of the 108 species of animals are endangered due to deforestation. If the amount of deforestation was reduced it most likely wouldn't be the end of the world. From an economic standpoint, Vanuatu would be relatively unaffected. Their main source of income is fishing, and tourism. To me this means that they can spare cutting down a few trees to save endangered species. Socially, there are no drawbacks, or perks to deforestation. If they stopped deforestation I'm almost positive that nobody would be affected by it because of how little the industry is.

3) Canada is a larger land mass and has way more forests than Vanuatu does. Canada's forests represent around 9% of the worlds forests. Canada also only produces around 2% of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions. Even though Canada is larger, Vanuatu is endangering species that do not exist anywhere else. I feel that Vanuatu is the bigger threat because of this.

Mass Wasting in China

Mass Wasting in China

China is very prone to landslides, due to it being on shaky ground, so they should be more well prepared for these disasters, like the one in Zhouqu. The landslide made many people homeless, and unfortunately killed many people as well. The Ministry of Land and Resources said the landslide had been caused by many things; one being that the location was an area prone to geological disasters and that the effects of the Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008 didn't help either. Zhou Pinggen, head of CIGEM’s geological risk survey and monitoring office had said that the majority of China’s counties do not have geological monitoring stations. Efforts have been made to help restore the regular way of life in the western part of China. A permanent water supply is being restored and should give people safe drinking water within five months of being completed. Zhouqu's main water supplies were cut after the mudslides, so emergency water containers had been used for a while after the disaster, but cannot be used forever.

Rhine River Case Study

Rhine River Case Study (with Matt Sawatzky)

1. What makes the Rhine River the "Industrial Heartland" is that it encompassed the major empires. It made trade and economic growth possible. It also linked European countries together, and was the best means of transport for people and goods.

The industrial heartland of North America could be the rust belt. It is the region around the North-Eastern United States, the great lakes, and Midwest states. It is surrounded by water which makes it good for trade and economic growth. It is also a great connection between Canada and the States

2. The river has been involved in a straightening process due to improved navigation which means the water will move downstream more quickly. Urbanization has actually helped flooding because the concrete can send more water to the river than the fields they replaced.

3. Barricades could be put up to slow down the flow of water, which would also keep a lot of the trash out. Sewers could be implemented to lead elsewhere so there would be less pollution, resulting in cleaner water. Finally, using water efficient strategies would decrease the amount of water wasted.

Water Use in Agriculture

Water Use in Agriculture

Drip Irrigation

Pros: Helps prevent weeds from germinating nearby
          Keeping the moisture at the soil level will reduce water loss due to wind and evaporation

          There are no muddy spots, and keeps an even distribution of moisture

          Less runoff into drains so soil remains filled with nutrients

Cons: Not setting up the tubes properly can lead to poor root development
        The system of tubes needs to be flushed     often
        Can easily cut the tubes and mess up the system

        Always check to make sure no water pressure has built up

Sprinkler Irrigation

Pros: Very efficient means of watering your plants
        It can be placed on almost any surface
        Ideal for many irrigable soils
         
Cons: Cost a lot of money
        Effectiveness can be impacted by the wind
        Some crops are affected from leaf scorch, fungal disease, and other damage done by salt being deposited on the leaves

Surface Irrigation

Pros: Doesn't cost a lot of money
        Less affected by climatic and water quality factors
        Easy to see the effectiveness of the system

Cons: Tend to be less efficient than other systems
        Labour can be intensive and hard to engineer
        Can be higher disease pressure

I think that sprinkler irrigation is the best for fsrmers to use because of its efficiency. Sure it cost more money to maintain, but because of its effectiveness over a large area, the farmers can easily make their money back by selling their crops for a good amount of money. It can also be placed on almost any surface so it can be placed easily to counter the effect of the wind.

Aquaculture

Aquaculture

1. Aquaculture, is also known as aquafarming, which is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish and aquatic plants.

2. 

Social

Pros: Provides a stable way for fishermen to make a living

          Fish farms can be created almost anywhere

          Continuous, growing supply of seafood

Cons: Fish farms use pesticides which concern a humans health

           The fish in fish farms will have a lot less protein than usual

Environmental

Pros: It can only help the environment if people are responsible enough to limit the amount of pollution being emitted

Cons: Contributes to the growing issue of water contamination

           Large portions of aquatic ecosystems have been destroyed

           Lots of degradation and a lot of suspended soils

Economic

Pros: Can increase the revenue in a city

          Cheap to buy fish from

Cons: Costs a lot of money to keep running

3. I think that aquaculture is a good thing in moderation. If society catches a significant lower amount of fish, it would help preserve many species of fish, and not cause them to go extinct. It provides many jobs for people, and will continue to do so. It also provides a steady supply of food to the people. It is possible to fix the problems that are associated with aquaculture today. There are a few things wrong with aquaculture, but as long as the people running them don't cause the fish to go extinct and watch out for how much pollution they cause, fish will still be plentiful.

Earthquake in Vancouver

Earthquake in Vancouver

1) There has not been a very huge earthquake in BC since 1700, which was of 8.7-9.2 magnitude. Looking back at the earthquakes in history, swarms of eathquakes predict a larger one only 1 out of 20 times. So 19 out of 20 times, there is no major earthquake to follow. Although this may be true, the people of BC should be prepared for a big one eventually.

2) The simplest plate boundary by BC is a convergence zone called the Cascadia subduction zone. This zone has ruptured several times over history. Much of the force that leads oceanic plates to subduct beneath the North American plate is generated by a ridge system, or divergent zone.

The largest ridge in the Vancouver region is the Juan de Fuca ridge, located between the Mid-Pacific Rise and Juan de Fuca fault.

3a) i. Liquefaction: this can occur in Richmond and Vancouver as well as all the sea-level areas. The ground is softer beneath buildings and other structures, which could cause water-saturated sediments such as sanflooded. lt to turn into a fluid mass.

   
      ii. Landslides: these could happen in North Vancouver and Vancouver Island where there are loose rocks held up by wire mesh.

      iii. Tsunamis: Victoria would be the biggest concern for tsunamis as it is the furthest into the Pacific Ocean. Many other citys close to the water are at risk as well.

      iv. Flooding: Richmond and other areas at sea level would get flooded. Also cities by the water would get flooded as well due to sea levels rising.

b) i. Social: if any of these disasters were to happen, people's lives would be at risk and there could be several casualties. People whodo survive would have a rough time returning to a normal life because of the destruction of property in their city.

    ii. Economic: destroyed buildings and other structures will cost a ton of money to repair/replace, so Vancouver will be out millions of dollars.

    iii. Infrastructure: it would take a lot of time to repair broken structures as well as make them as nice as they are today. Vancouver would never be the same again after a massive earthquake.

4) The city plans to harden key components of water system in high risk areas, increase seismic resilience of reservoirs and enhance post-earthquake acess to firefighting water supply.

The city will install flexible couplings in main sewage pipes.

Also new buildings are being built with earthquake proof mechanisms that help keep the building upright when an earthquake happens.

Earthquake in Vanuatu

Earthquake in your Country

1) A 6.5 magnitude earthquake occurred on February. 19 at 12:00am.

2) It's focus was 92km north of the capital city, Port Villa

3) This eathquake occurred at a depth of 10km, suggesting that it was the result of internal deformation rather than movement at the plate interface. This plate interface being the Australian plate subducting beneath the Pacific plate.

4) The Richter scale magnitude of the earthquake was 6.5, which is 5 times stronger than a 6.0 earthquake.

5a) Some trees were taken out, but not much else was effected and nobody was injured.

  b) Not many roads were damaged, but others were just slightly

  c/d) There was no economic impact because there were no buildings completely destroyed.

Plate Tectonics In Your Country

Plate Tectonics in Vanuatu

1) Vanuatu is located on the New Hebrides Plate, which is a minor tectonic plate found in the Pacific Ocean. The plate is bounded om the southwest by the Indo-Australian Plate which is subducting below it.

2) The New Hebrides Plate comes into contact with the Indo-Australian Plate (subducting). The New Hebrides Subduction zone is very active and causes around 20 earthquakes over 7.0 annually. The plates come together, so it is a convergent boundary.

3) Many volcanoes have formed due to the subduction of plates, pushing earth upwards to do so.

4) Lots of earthquakes have occurred due to these plates, as stated above. Earthquakes as large as 7.3 have been recorded over the years and they dont plan on stopping.

Volcano eruptions have also happen, although most of them are dormant now.

5) Only minor folding and faulting have occurred because of the New Hebrides Plate.

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Impact of Fishing

Impact of Fishing

1)       Fishermen: They will not be able to make a living off of fishing because all of the fish in the oceans will be gone.

          Consumers: People will not be able to buy any more fish, and if that is their staple food, they might be in trouble. Also, many seafood restaurants would probably close down due to lack of fish.

          Governments: People would be very upset at the government because they will think it's their fault that all the fish are gone. They could have been more strict on laws to prevent over fishing.

          Environment: Certain fish could go extinct if they aren't already endangered. This could cause the way of life in the oceans to change due to a kink in the food chain.

2) According to 2009 figures, approximately 77% of households in Vanuatu are involved in fishing activity. In 2005, Vanuatu caught 151,080 fish that year, with frozen fish accounting for half the country's commodity exports. It is safe to say that Vanuatu needs to fish.

In Vanuatu over fishing has resulted in a big decline in catches from 90,000 tonnes in 1999 to less than 30,000 in 2001. If fish stocks continue to be exploited, there will be less possibility of earning an income from fishing. 

Catches of tuna are expected to increase in the western pacific and decrease further east due to climate change. Thus benefiting Vanuatu at the expense of other countries.

Near-shore fish species are deleting because around 90% of all households in Vanuatu consume fish. If Vanuatu wasn't able to fish anymore then they wouldn't have any food, and lose tons of money because they wont be able to export any fish.

Timeline of Plate Tectonic Theory

Plate Tectonic Theory (with Matt Sawatzky)

BEFORE Continental Drift

1) Antonio Snider-Pellegrini created two maps demonstrating how America and Africa continents may have once fit together, then separated.

In 1889, Alfred Russel Wallace had said that the belief that the features of the earth's surface have been subjected to continual mutations had been common among geologists. Also that time had caused changes between land and the oceans.

He said that the first person to bring this up was James D. Dana in 1863 by publishing the 'Manual of Geology'. Dana was very influential in America, and his 'Manual of Mineralogy' is still in print in revised form.

His theory became known as Permanence theory.

Theory of Continental Drift

2) The theory that all the continents formed a single landmass, called Pangaea, before breaking apart and drifting was first explained by Alfred Wegener in 1912. Wegener's theory was more complete than previous ones, but he credited many past authors with the similar ideas.

Wegener was the first to use the phrase 'continental drift' and formally published the hypothesis that the continents somehow drifted apart.

Even though he had lots of evidence of his theory, he couldn't provide a convincing explanation for what might have caused continental drift.

The Theory of Plate Tectonics

3) Although Alfred Wegener was the first to begin to explaini our moving continents, Arthur Holmes, a British geologist, introduced a theory of thermal convection to explain the movement of the Earth's continents in 1929. According to Holmes it was the heating and cooling cycle of the Earth's mantle that caused continental drift. This idea didn't attract much attention at the time.
By the 1960's his idea became more credible because of scientists' increased understanding of the ocean floor by mapping. In 1961 scientists had proposed the process of the sea floor spreading caused by the mantle convection to explain the movement of the Earth's continents and plate tectonics.

The Theory of Hot Spots
4) A Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson came up with the 'hot spot' theory in 1963. It explained why although most earthquake and volcanic activity happened at plate boundaries, there are some that occur away from these boundaries.
The theory claimed that small, very 'hot' areas of magma are located under certain points of Earth. These places (hot spots) provide localized heat and that sustain long-lasting volcanic activity on the surface. This volcanism builds up seamounts, and eventually rise above the ocean current, forming volcanic islands.
When islands slowly move away from the hot spot, because of plate tectonics, the magma supply is cut, and the volcano goes dormant. According to Wilson's theory, the Hawaiian volcanoes should be growing older and more eroded the further they are from a hot spot. Once one volcano becomes extinct, another develops over the hotspot, and the cycle is repeated. Wilson's theory is accepted as valid to this day.

Impact of Climate Change

Impact of Climate Change

Vanuatu is in a tropical maritime climate with uniform temperature, high humidity, and variable rainfall.
Winds are usually light except during a tropical storm.
The climate can be defined by two main seasons:
          Cold (dry) season from May to October
          Hot (wet/cyclone) season from November to April

Atmosphere
- There has been evidence of warmer and dryer climate.
- Climate change can also alter disease patterns.
- The warmer conditions may facilitate the spread of malaria and dengue fever in the region.
- Warmness of the atmosphere may cause cyclones to become more common, as well as larger.
- Just recently cyclone Pam hit, and was one of the most devastating cyclone they have ever experienced, killing 24 people and destroying lots of agriculture. It was blamed on climate change.
- After the cyclone hit, many people are without clean water and toilets. If they don't get these things soon, more people may die.


Hydrosphere
- High water temperatures, combined with ocean acid levels rising due to higher CO2 levels, are likely to cause severe stress to coral reefs in the south-western Pacific.

- Warmer water temperatures can increase the risk of ciguatera poisoning, which is a major health hazard for those people consuming reef fish.
- Wet season rainfall is likely to increase, which could damage crops.
- If sea level rises significantly people will need to relocate closer into the middle of the island.
-Higher sea levels could also cause certain species to become endangered on the Vanuatu islands.

Lithosphere
- Agriculture yields could be lower due to heat stress and lack of precipitation.
- Trying to compensate for lower yields of crops can also damage the environment.
- Soil degradation, deforestation, and undermining will happen while trying to regain lost yields.
- Vital roads are being located to avoid impacts of climate change including higher water marks.
- Bridges could be rendered useless if sea level rises high enough.



Biosphere
- Very dry conditions can harm Vanuatu's prime export; coconuts.
- Mangrove ecosystems are also threatened.
- Population growth can also suck up much needed resources that they may lose due to the dry climate.
- Tourism is Vanuatu's most valuable export industry, but the increase chance of natural disasters and diseases will likely turn away people from traveling there.
- 75% of the people there live off the land and are already being affected by climate change.
- Ten different projects are being implemented to help adapt to climate change, and disaster risk reduction.
- Reducing emissions to hopefully reduce size of cyclones.

Mining

Strip Mining and Shaft Mining

Part A
Strip Mining is an open mine, that runs close to ground level, and is exposed by the removal of the top layer of soil and rocks.

Pros: it is easy and cheap for the mining companies to do
         space is not restricted so trucks and mining machinery can move around freely
         workers are not exposed to explosive poison gas dangers

Cons: it removes a lot of the environment, sometimes miles wide
          leaves giant holes in the ground
          the use of acid washes on site to isolate the ore that is being mined can damage the soil                         and environment as well

Shaft mining is when a excavate a vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom.

Pros: produces very little waste and less damaging to the environment
         easier to permit, and requires a smaller mill
         more profit per ton of ore mined
       
Cons: it is very expensive to conduct
          not much ventilation for workers to breathe
          this way of mining is more hazardous to workers overall

Part B

Spouse of a miner: As a spouse of a miner I would definitely be worried about their safety when going to work in a mine. Shaft mining is dangerous for a miners health, so I would prefer strip mining because it is much safer.

Owner of a mining company: As an owner of a mining company I would want to do the cheapest type of mining, which would be strip mining. Also, I would want my employees to be safe on the job.

Environmentalist: As an environmentalist I wouldn't care about how much the mining would cost, all I would care about is the environment. So I would prefer shaft mining over strip mining.

Owner of nearby ski resorts: As an owner of nearby ski resorts I would be more concerned about the environment around the ski resort, so I would prefer shaft mining. Nobody wants to ski in an ugly landscape.

Politician: If I was a politician that cared about money, and how much things cost, then I would prefer strip mining because it is cheaper overall.

Part C

In Vanuatu there are many mineral resources including precious metals and manganese. Even though these minerals exist, it is really hard to mine them due to the lack of infrastructure make it very difficult to support a large mining industry.