Politics of the Oak Ridges Moraine

The politics of the Oak Ridges Moraine in southern Ontario, Canada, have centred on the question of how to preserve this extensive natural resource that is increasingly threatened by human modification. Although preservation of the moraine was first suggested in the 1940s, and intermittently over the subsequent fifty years, it was not until 1991 that the issue achieved prominence in political discourse. For the ensuing decade, use of the moraine was hotly contested between the interests of local residents, developers and environmentalists.
On December 14, 2001 legislation was enacted, along with a provincial land use plan for the Oak Ridges Moraine. However, it seems clear that regulation, alone, is insufficient to preserving these valuable lands. Implementing the plan has required "political will, an engaged and informed public, and... broad based private and public partnerships." Monitoring of the Moraine project by citizens and environmental organizations, along with credible ecological information are essential to its continued preservation.
Political action.
The Oak Ridges Moraine began to come to public awareness in the late 1980s. The establishment, in 1989, of the Save the Oak Ridges Moraine (STORM) Coalition
contributed to a growing sense among local residents that action needed to be taken to save the moraine. The Government of Ontario created the "Oak Ridges Moraine Technical Working Committee" in June 1991 with the joint membership of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The STORM Coalition played a significant role in the committee's work. The committee's aim was to create a regional planning strategy to coordinate the activities of various regional and municipal governments with jurisdiction over parts of the moraine. This multi-stakeholder process produced a comprehensive long-term strategy for the Moraine in 1994. However the strategy was subsequently dismissed in favour of local government administration of the affected lands. This led to intense development on some portions of the moraine. Most of this development was suburban detached single-family dwellings with road networks to accommodate them. In particular, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Newmarket experienced significant growth in the 1990s.
In early 1999, the Oak Ridges Moraine became a sensitive political issue; developers targeted Richmond Hill for large subdivisions on the moraine, which would house over 100,000 people. Environmental groups began a media campaign to raise public awareness of the moraine, referring to it as the "rain barrel of Ontario". Public opposition to the developments grew quickly, and the issue was transferred to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) in 2000.
Environmentalists, often critical of the OMB for allegedly fast-tracking developments over the concerns of municipal governments, again raised the issue in the media. The dispute remained unresolved until May 2001, when the provincial Conservative government announced a six-month moratorium on moraine development. A panel was formed to create a land-use plan consistent with the current Smart Growth policy. The plan was released in October 2001, and was both praised and condemned. It became the basis for the "Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act", dividing the area into four zones of increasingly stringent controls on development. Under the Act, only eight percent of the moraine can be developed, and only in lands designated as "settlement areas".
The Bayview Avenue extension.
Throughout the process, debate continued about the extension of Bayview Avenue from Stouffville Road, in Richmond Hill, to Bloomington Road in Aurora. The land on which the extension would pass had been clear-cut in 1999, after the Government of Ontario Ministry of Environment approved the extension in 1998. The road's construction began in September 2001, though environmental groups had entered into legal procedures to block it. The Ontario Court of Appeals rejected the request; York Region officials agreed to resolve some of the concerns that were raised.
As a result, a bridge was added to the plan, spanning a 70 m section of a dry ravine near Stouffville Road. Moreover, five salamander tunnels were added to the design, and were built in September 2002. The Bayview extension was officially opened on November 18, 2002.
North Pickering Land Exchange.
During the provincial election of 2003, the Liberal Party of Ontario promised to terminate development on the moraine as part of its election campaign. Once elected, the party failed to deliver on that promise, as a development in the northern part of Richmond Hill consisting of over 6600 housing units continued. The government, in its attempt to halt other nearby developments, proposed the "North Pickering Land Exchange". Discussed as early as November 2001, it involved exchanging government-owned public lands in North Pickering for privately owned lands on the Oak Ridges Moraine in Richmond Hill and Uxbridge.
The exchange settled outstanding disputes being considered by the OMB involving moraine lands in Richmond Hill and Uxbridge. Lands acquired by the developers had been previously identified as high-growth urban areas in regional and local Official Plans, often referred to as Seaton. However, the process by which the exchange was settled angered environmentalists, who considered the lack of transparency in the process a betrayal: "Josh Matlow, founder of Earthroots, accused the Tories of making a "sleazy, secret, sweetheart deal" with developers."
Moreover, the swap allowed the development of 600 acres (2.4 km2) on the moraine; the northern Richmond Hill development ceased operations for several days after the 2003 election, but resumed soon thereafter. The development of "MacLeod's Landing", as it is now known, was completed in late 2005. One of the developers, Brookfield Homes, had used the "Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan" as a marketing device, claiming that "as one of the last approved developments on the Oak Ridges Moraine, rest assured that the preservation of the natural landscape that surrounds you is forever." The other developers of the community were Kaitlin Group and Aspen Ridge Homes. The site was desirable for development because of the presence of Phillips Lake and a dozen other small kettle lakes, regular features throughout the Oak Ridges Moraine.
The Big Pipe.
The political struggle regarding the moraine continues. The community of King City in King Township has been embroiled in a decade-long argument about replacing septic systems with a sewerage connection to the Durham-York Sewage System. Proponents of the link claim that the septic systems leak, endangering the subterranean aquifers of the moraine. Opponents claim that such a link would enable explosive growth in the small community, which would be detrimental to the preservation of the moraine. Construction of the link began in early 2005, creating the main sewer trunk from King City to Oak Ridges along King Road, connecting to the existing system near Yonge Street.
The connection to King City, despite the appellation "Big Pipe", is relatively small compared to the overall system expansion governed by York Region, which has also been labeled "The Big Pipe". The construction of this north–south extension to the system requires daily pumping of 30 million litres of water from subterranean aquifers, over its projected five-year construction schedule (lasting to early 2008). This has upset environmentalists greatly, and disturbed some residents of Markham who rely on wells as their source of water. These residents were the first to be affected by construction because of their proximity to the initial area of development.
The $800 million project is divided into several phases, creating fourteen new links in the system. The system trunks, consisting of 2.7 metre concrete pipes, will collectively transport 740 million litres of raw sewage daily from York and Durham to treatment facilities in Pickering. On October 2, 2004, the province ordered a full environmental assessment of the "Southeast Collector" (in the Rouge Valley) and the "Upper Leslie Trunk"; a further 44 environmental conditions were placed on four other links in the new system.
When complete, the regional "Big Pipe" will extend from the eastern edge of Lake Simcoe in the north, to treatment plants near Lake Ontario in the south, running along Leslie Street. It will twin with the near-capacity Yonge Street trunk, increasing capacity sufficiently to serve the region's growth until 2030. Intended to cover major growth areas in the eastern part of the region, it will connect directly to emerging developments from Markham to Holland Landing. Moreover, new connections to rural communities will be created; King City is connected to the existing system, whereas Stouffville will connect to the new pipe.
Construction of the extensions have been contentious. York Region has been accused of failing to conduct a proper environmental assessment for the expansion. Ontario's environmental commissioner Gord Miller noted such concerns: "One of the most significant problems with this project is the lack of a full environmental assessment. Officials never looked at the full picture and the impact it has on the Oak Ridges Moraine and surrounding communities."
As pumping of the aquifers continued throughout 2002, residents in nearby areas complained about dropping water levels in their wells, as well as dirty water; the range of affected areas increased with the total volume of water pumped from the aquifer, some as far away as 10 km. Environmentalists claim that continued pumping may jeopardize the aquifer system, so much so that it may reverse its flow in some areas. York Region's planners counter that by indicating that all water that is pumped is re-introduced into nearby streams after being warmed (aquifer water from 50 m below ground level is very cold), and will not affect the aquifer system. Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence for either claim. Environmentalists have observed, though, that water isn't heated evenly, often resulting in the scalding and death of many fish. Also, according to "The Globe and Mail", "York Region has acknowledged that the first phase of building the 16th Avenue sewer line, finished in 2003, had a negative impact on local watersheds."
In late October 2005, Toronto City Council voted 34–3 to join an environmental coalition attempting to block the construction of the extension. The city, southern neighbour to York Region, allocated $100,000 to conduct a study of the impact of the system on the city's watersheds, specifically the Rouge River Valley, and requested the provincial Environment Minister to defer the approval for construction until the study is complete.
Lessons learned in watershed preservation.
The action to save the moraine yields insights into the state of sustainable land use planning and smart growth in watershed protection. In its 2002 case study, the International Association for Great Lakes Research noted that it was “only through citizen initiatives, shaped and focused by environmental groups, that serious debate, and eventual formation of a land use plan, took place." As the struggle to save the moraine shows, significant political pressure is necessary to overcome the obstacles to controls: municipalities dedicated to encouraging growth and higher level governments reluctant to intervene. The importance of access to good science and policy information is crucial, as is the need for ongoing monitoring and vigilance."


Pristiguana

Pristiguana is an extinct genus of primitive iguanids from the Maastrichtian Marília Formation of Brazil. The type species is "P. brasiliensis".
Description.
"Pristiguana" was discovered in the Bauru Group of Brazil. Its discoverers said, in 1973, that it is the oldest fossil lizard in the family Iguanidae. It resembles living primitive South American iguanids in some features, and shares some features with teiids, too.


La Saline Natural Area

La Saline Natural Area in the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta, Canada, preserves Saline Lake, a saline oxbow lake adjacent to the Athabasca River north of Fort McMurray. The lake is an important stop for waterfowl and other birds that migrate along the Athabasca River. Large deposits of tufa have accumulated around the salt springs on the lake's southeastern shore.
Natural setting.
Saline Lake is the region's most productive lake for waterfowl, and birdwatching is the main recreational activity at La Saline Natural Area. Thousands of ducks, geese and other birds migrate along the Athabasca River to nesting sites on the Peace-Athabasca Delta, and Saline Lake is an important resting and feeding spot for them. Some, including coots, mallards, widgeons, buffleheads, and green-winged teal, nest on Saline Lake. The lake is also important to migrating shore birds that feed on the "Daphnia" and other small invertebrates that are abundant in its saline waters during summer. Mineral licks created by the salt springs attract moose, deer, and other animals to the lake.
La Saline Natural Area lies within the Boreal Forest – Central Mixedwood Region of northeastern Alberta. Rare hypersaline vegetation types are found on the tufa mound, and rare brackish and saline plant communities grow in the salt marshes along the lake shore.
Geologic setting.
La Saline Natural Area lies in the heart of the Athabasca Oil Sands region. The spring water at La Saline originates primarily from the Devonian strata that underlie the region, including the carbonate rocks of the Keg River and Waterways Formations, and the halite (rock salt) deposits of the Prairie Evaporite Formation. As the water travels through those formations it becomes enriched in dissolved carbonate and evaporite minerals. The spring water at La Saline has a reported total dissolved solids content of and it comes to the surface because it has reached an aquitard formed by the bitumen-saturated sands at the base of the overlying Early Cretaceous McMurray Formation. As carbon dioxide and small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas are released to the atmosphere, some of the dissolved minerals precipitate, forming the tufa. Analysis of the tufa has shown that it includes calcite, dolomite, quartz, gypsum, anhydrite, barite, and elemental sulfur. Tufa deposits, including a large mound measuring in width, have accumulated around the salt springs on the lake's southeastern shore.
Outcrops of the Devonian limestones of the Waterways Formation (Moberly Member) are present along the Athabasca River on the western edge of the Natural Area. They include fossil brachiopods, gastropods, stromatoporoids, and crinoid remains.
Access.
There are no roads or developed trails to La Saline Natural Area. The best access is from the Athabasca River.


Australopyge

Australopyge is an extinct genus from a well-known class of fossil marine arthropods, the trilobites. It lived during the Arenig stage of the Ordovician Period, approximately 478 to 471 million years ago.


Auxilio

Auxilio (possibly from Quechua "Awkillu" word for apu (Andean mountain deity) or grandfather, old man, the Hispanicized spelling is the misleading word "Auxilio" which means "assistance" or "support") is a mountain in the west of the Huayhuash mountain range in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is located in the Ancash Region, Bolognesi Province, Pacllon District, and in the Lima Region, Cajatambo Province, Copa District. Auxilio lies on the sub-range west of Yerupaja, south of Auxilio Lake and southwest of the mountain Huacrish.


Coloradisaurus

Coloradisaurus (meaning "Los Colorados lizard") is a genus of massospondylid sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Late Triassic period (Norian stage) in what is now La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is known from two specimens collected from the Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin.
Taxonomy.
"Coloradisaurus" was originally named "Coloradia brevis" by José Bonaparte in 1978, but that genus name was preoccupied by the pine moth "Coloradia". David Lambert unintentionally proposed "Coloradisaurus" as a replacement name in 1983. Lambert had gotten the name from Bonaparte in a personal communication and mistakenly thought that Bonaparte had already published it. Since it was not stated to be a new name, and it did not have a diagnosis or type species, it was a "nomen nudum". In 1990, Peter Galton provided both a diagnosis and a type species for "Coloradisaurus" while still crediting the name to Lambert. Although similarly unintentional, Galton's description meets the requirements of the ICZN and the authorship of "Coloradisaurus" should be attributed to him.
Description.
The holotype of "Coloradisaurus" (PVL 3967) is a mostly complete skull found associated with an undescribed partial skeleton. While the right side of the skull is well-preserved with almost all bones intact, the left side is distorted and missing more bones. The holotype individual has been estimated to have been 3 m (10 ft) long with a mass of 70 kg (150 lb). A referred specimen (PVL 5904) is a partial skeleton including the most of the dorsal vertebrae and parts of the pectoral and pelvic girdles and limbs. All of this material was discovered in 1971 at the La Esquina locality in the upper section of the Los Colorados Formation near Pagancillo, La Rioja Province, Argentina. The top of the Los Colorados Formation has been dated to 213 Ma, which would place "Coloradisaurus" in the Norian stage of the Late Triassic.
Phylogeny.
"Coloradisaurus" was classified as a plateosaurid in the original description by Bonaparte, but this pre-dated the use of phylogenetic analyses in paleontology. He later became opposed to cladistics and continued to consider "Coloradisaurus" a plateosaurid without testing its phylogenetic position. The analyses of Galton (1990), Galton & Upchurch (2004), and Upchurch "et al." (2007) found it to be a plateosaurid, supporting Bonaparte's placement. However, the analyses of Benton "et al." (2000) and Yates (2003) recovered it in a polytomy with other basal sauropodomorphs or as a massospondylid, respectively. Subsequent analyses such as Yates "et al." (2010), Apaldetti "et al." (2013; 2014), Wang "et al." (2017), and Müller (2020) have reached the consensus that "Coloradisaurus" is a massospondylid most closely related to "Lufengosaurus" and "Glacialisaurus". These three taxa share four synapomorphies found in the metatarsals and femur.
Below is a simplified cladogram after Galton & Upchurch (2004), reflecting its early placement as a plateosaurid.
Below is a simplified cladogram after Müller (2020), showing its current position as a massospondylid.


Mamuil Malal Pass

Mamuil Malal Pass (Mapudungun for "corral of wooden sticks") is an international mountain pass in the Andes between Chile and Argentina. The pass connects Pucón and Curarrehue in Chile with Junín de los Andes in Argentina. The road passes just north of Lanín Volcano (). During winter the pass may close due to heavy snowfalls. From the Chilean side the pass is accessed through Route 199-CH, branch line which begins at the Panamerican Highway near Freire.


Abrictosaurus

Abrictosaurus (; "wakeful lizard") is a genus of heterodontosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Early Jurassic in what is now southern Africa. It was a bipedal herbivore or omnivore and was one of the most basal heterodontosaurids. It was approximately long and weighed between .
This dinosaur is known from the fossil remains of only two individuals, found in the Upper Elliot Formation of Qacha's Nek District in Lesotho and Cape Province in South Africa. The Upper Elliot is thought to date from the Hettangian and Sinemurian stages of the Early Jurassic Period, approximately 200 to 190 million years ago. This formation is thought to preserve sand dunes as well as seasonal floodplains, in a semiarid environment with sporadic rainfall. Other dinosaurs found in this formation include the theropod "Megapnosaurus", the sauropodomorph "Massospondylus", as well as other heterodontosaurids like "Heterodontosaurus" and "Lycorhinus". Remains of terrestrial crocodylomorphs, cynodonts and early mammals are also abundant.
Description.
Heterodontosaurids like "Abrictosaurus" were small, early ornithischians, named for their markedly heterodont dentition. They are best known for the large, canine-like tusks (often called "caniniforms") in both upper and lower jaws. There were no teeth in the front of the jaws, where a hard beak was used to crop vegetation. There were three premaxillary teeth, with the first two small and conical and the third enlarged to form the upper caniniform, counterpart to the even larger lower caniniform, which was the first dentary tooth. In the upper jaw, a large gap (or diastema) accommodated the lower caniniform tooth and separated the premaxillary teeth from the wider chewing teeth of the maxilla. Similar teeth lined the remainder of the lower jaw.
"Abrictosaurus" is usually considered the most basal member of the family Heterodontosauridae. "Lycorhinus" and "Heterodontosaurus" both had high-crowned cheek teeth, which overlapped each other in the jaw, forming a continuous chewing surface analogous to those of Cretaceous hadrosaurids. "Abrictosaurus" had more widely separated cheek teeth, with lower crowns, more similar to other early ornithischians. It has been suggested that "Abrictosaurus" lacked tusks and that this is another primitive feature. However, caniniforms were clearly present on one of the two specimens of "Abrictosaurus". The upper caniniform measured 10.5 millimeters (0.4 inches) high, while the lower reached 17 mm (0.67 in). These caniniforms were serrated only on the anterior surface, unlike those of "Lycorhinus" and "Heterodontosaurus", which were serrated on both anterior and posterior edges. "Abrictosaurus" also had smaller, less powerful forelimbs than "Heterodontosaurus" and one fewer phalanx bone in both the fourth and fifth digits of the forelimb.
History and naming.
Both specimens of "Abrictosaurus" are housed in the collection of University College London. The holotype specimen was discovered in Lesotho and consists of a partial skull and skeleton (UCL B54). Paleontologist Richard Thulborn, who first described the specimen in 1974, considered it a new species of "Lycorhinus" and named it "L. consors", using the Latin word "" which means 'companion' or 'spouse'. As UCL B54 lacked the caniniforms which had been found in the type species, "Lycorhinus angustidens", Thulborn believed it to be female. Neither the skull nor the skeletons of "Abrictosaurus" have been fully described in the literature. A tooth from the latest Triassic of Switzerland has been assigned to "Abrictosaurus" sp., but this has not been supported, as the specimen does not have unique characteristics of "Abrictosaurus", heterodontosaurids, or ornithischians in general.
In 1975, James Hopson redescribed a fragmentary heterodontosaur skull (UCL A100) found in South Africa that Thulborn had previously assigned to "Lycorhinus angustidens". After showing that UCL A100 could not belong to "L. angustidens" but was instead more similar to UCL B54, Hopson erected a new genus to contain both specimens. The generic name "Abrictosaurus" (from the Greek ' (') meaning 'wakeful' and ("") meaning 'lizard') refers to Hopson's disagreement with Thulborn's hypothesis that heterodontosaurids underwent periods of aestivation (hibernation during hot and/or dry seasons). The specific name was retained, creating the new binomial "Abrictosaurus consors". Despite Hopson's renaming, Thulborn continued to consider "Lycorhinus angustidens", "Heterodontosaurus tucki", and "Abrictosaurus consors" to be three species of the genus "Lycorhinus". Most paleontologists maintain all three genera separately, although there is no precise definition of a species or genus in paleontology.
Sexual dimorphism.
The hypothesis of sexual dimorphism in heterodontosaurids has long centered on "Abrictosaurus". Tusks are a sexually dimorphic trait in many modern mammals, including musk deer, walrus, Asian elephants and many pigs, with tusks being present primarily in males. The lack of tusks in UCL B54 led to suggestions that it was female; perhaps even a female of another species. The discovery of caniniforms in UCL A100 showed that "A. consors" also has this 'male' characteristic, suggesting that it is at least a valid species in its own right. However, UCL B54 may actually be a juvenile, based on its short face and unfused sacral (hip) vertebrae. Therefore, the lack of tusks could be a juvenile trait instead of a secondary sexual characteristic, weakening the case for sexual dimorphism.


List of earthquakes in Mexico

This is a partial list of earthquakes in Mexico. This list considers every notable earthquake felt or with its epicenter within Mexico's current borders and maritime areas.
Geology.
Mexico lies within two seismically active earthquake zones. The Baja California peninsula lies near the boundary of the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, while southern Mexico lies just north of the boundary between the North American Plate and the Cocos and Rivera tectonic plates. The Cocos Plate is subducting under the North American Plate at a rate of per year, while the Pacific and Rivera plates are moving northwest relative to the North American Plate. Southern Mexico also contains numerous faults, which causes that section of the country to have high tectonic activity. Northeastern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula are not as seismically active as the area close to the boundary between the North American and Cocos plates, but destructive earthquakes can still occur in those areas.


Ebbe Mountains

The Ebbe Mountains () or Ebbe form a range of uplands up to high in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. They have given their name to the Ebbe Mountain Nature Park and are part of the Süder Uplands within the Rhine Massif.
Geography.
Location.
The Ebbe lies in the Sauerland in the districts of Märkischer Kreis and Olpe. It stretches between Herscheid and Plettenberg (outside the area) in the north, Attendorn and Finnentrop (outside the area) in the east, the Biggesee in the south and Kierspe and Meinerzhagen in the west, where the Ebbe Hills are surrounded by the Ebbe Hills Nature Park. It is grazed by the A 45 motorway in the west.
Hills.
The highest elevation in the Ebbe Mountains is the Nordhelle () between Valbert and Herscheid. Other notable hills are the: Rehberg (645.9 m), Rüenhardt (636.0 m), Waldberg (ca. 635 m), Rothenstein (ca. 600 m), Der Griesing (552,6 m), Homert (538,3 m) and Kahler Kopf (540.1 m).
Rivers and lakes.
The following rivers rise in the Ebbe or around its edges: the Bruchbach, Else, Fürwigge, Ihne, Lister, Oesterbach, Verse and Volme. Within the Ebbe and its foothills are the Ahaus Reservoir, the Biggesee and the Fürwigge, Jubach, Lister, Oester and Verse Dams.


Sillajhuay

Sillajhuay (also known as Sillajguay or Alto Toroni) is a volcano on the border between Bolivia and Chile. It is part of a volcanic chain that stretches across the border between Bolivia and Chile and forms a mountain massif that is in part covered by ice; whether this ice should be considered a glacier is debatable but it has been retreating in recent decades.
The volcano has developed on top of older ignimbrites. The volcano was active within the last one million years, but not within recent times considering the heavy glacial erosion of the mountain and the widespread periglacial modifications. Non-eruptive activity however occurs in the form of surface deformation and earthquake activity.
Geography and geomorphology.
Sillajhuay is located in the Andes on the border between Bolivia and Chile (commune of Pica-Colchane, Tarapaca Region) although only a small easterly sector of the mountain is located in Bolivia. The volcano lies in a thinly inhabited region; the towns of Cancosa and Villa Blanca lie southeast and northeast of Sillajhuay, respectively, and a road runs west of the volcano. The volcano is also known as Alto Toroni, Sillajguay, or sometimes Candelaria. The name "Sillajhuay" means "devil's chair" in Aymara but the part "silla" may also refer to which means llama.
About 50 different volcanoes and geothermal features have been active in the Central Andes during the Holocene, with earthquakes observed at Guallatiri, Irruputuncu, Isluga, Lascar, Olca, Parinacota and Putana. Most volcanoes of the Central Volcanic Zone (CVZ) are relatively poorly researched and many exceed of elevation. Some of these volcanoes were active during historical time; these include El Misti, Lascar, San Pedro and Ubinas; the largest historical eruption of the CVZ occurred in 1600 at Huaynaputina. Other volcanoes in the CVZ that have been the subject of research are Galan and the Purico complex. The CVZ has a characteristically thick crust () and the volcanic rocks have peculiar oxygen and strontium isotope ratios in comparison to the Southern Volcanic Zone (SVZ) and the Northern Volcanic Zone (NVZ).
The mountain is most commonly stated to be maximally high, but a higher heights or a lower height of are also possible. It is the highest peak in the region. Sillajhuay is part of a larger massif that rises above the surrounding flat pedimented terrain to a median elevation of elevation. Subsidiary summits in the massif include the high Cerro Carvinto southwest of Sillajhuay, the Cerro Picavilque west-northwest of Sillajhuay, high Cerro Irpa southeast, Cerro Candelaria due east and Morro Chuncaron and Alto Totoni northeast. Generally, the massif is elongated northeastwards and its summit region is poorly accessible. Above elevation, glaciation has eroded the massif and thus the volcano is heavily degraded with no recognizable craters; below that elevation volcanic landforms are more clearly expressed. The volcano was the source of thick lava flows that reached lengths of about and valleys occur all around it. Farther west lie the Cerros de Quimsachata which form a volcanic chain with Sillajhuay.
Glaciation.
Firn including penitentes occurs on the mountain at elevations of over and is visible over large distances but there are no presently active, moving glaciers unless they are buried beneath a snow cover. Some sources consider Sillajhuay's firn a glacier however, in which case it would be considered to be the southernmost glacier north of the Arid Diagonal of the Andes. Between 1989 and 2011 the firn lost over half of its surface, interrupted by some small advances, and further retreat is likely. Ice loss between 2000 and 2003 amounted to about .
In the past during the Late Quaternary, the mountain was more extensively glaciated, with about nine glaciers surrounding it including a subsidiary summit to the south. Former glaciers did reach lengths of and their tongues descended to elevations of on the northern, eastern and southern flanks; they have left well developed glacial striae, glacial valleys and various types of moraines. The lowest moraines are found on the eastern flank, with the northern flanks having the highest moraines and the southern flank moraines reaching intermediate elevations. Some ancient tills have been overrun by porphyries. The extent of glacial erosion suggests that at least two stages of glaciation occurred at Sillajhuay.
Some rock glaciers are found on the southern side of Sillajhuay and mostly in the Rincon Tucuruma valley; they occur at elevations of and the longest reaches a length of . Solifluction landforms and other surfaces generated by periglacial processes are common on the southern and northern-northwestern flanks of the massif.
Hydrography.
Erosion has cut steep valleys into the massif; these include clockwise the Rio Blanco southeast, Ricon Tacurma south, Quebrada Mina Chucha southwest, Quebrada Seca northwest and Quebrada Quisimachiri north-northwest of the volcano. These valleys reach up to the summit plateau and contain perennial rivers; additional valleys contain ephemeral streams, and they are often linked to alluvial fans down where eroded material has been deposited. Sulfurous springs are active on the massif.
The valleys descending the volcano have steep slopes, the Rio Blanco valley for example has a drop over . All the drainages from Sillajhuay eventually flow eastward towards the Salar de Coipasa. On the southern flank of Sillajhuay, the Rio Blanco and the Ricon Tacurma drain into the Rio Ocacucho; there was formerly a lake known as the Cancosa paleolake south of Sillajhuay. There is evidence that during the middle Pleistocene, a landslide from Sillajhuay dammed the Rio Cancosa and generated a body of water, into which the Cancosa Strata formation was deposited. Farther west, away from Sillajhuay, drainages conversely descend to the Pampa del Tamarugal.
Geology.
The Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate subduct beneath the South America Plate in the Peru-Chile Trench at a pace of and , respectively, resulting in volcanic activity and geothermal manifestations in the Andes. Present-day volcanism occurs within four discrete belts: the NVZ (between 2°N–5°S), the CVZ (16°S–28°S), the SVZ (33°S–46°S) and the Austral Volcanic Zone (AVZ) (49°S-55°S). Between them they contain about 60 active volcanoes and 118 volcanoes which appear to have been active during the Holocene, not including potentially active very large silicic volcanic systems or very small monogenetic ones. These belts of active volcanism occur where the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South America Plate at a steep angle, while in the volcanically inactive gaps between them the subduction is much shallower; thus there is no asthenosphere between the slab of the subducting plate and the overriding plate in the gaps.
Among the oldest volcanics in the region are Eocene effusive andesitic volcanics known as the Icanche Formation and associated subvolcanic bodies, such as the Alantaya intrusive complex. These also include granodioritic to tonalitic plutons. During the Eocene-Oligocene Incaic deformation phase this basement was uplifted and eroded and subsequently covered by rhyolitic ignimbrites called the Utayane Formation. Along with the Utayane, andesitic volcanism led to the emplacement of additional andesitic lava formations such as the Puchuldiza and Chojña Chaya Formations. Rhyolitic ignimbritic volcanism however continued and was accompanied during the Miocene by the uplift of mountain ranges. Eventually large central volcanoes developed during the Miocene and Pliocene and are mostly uneroded and not affected by tectonic deformation. Sillajhuay developed during this time period. Finally, the mountains were altered by at least two cycles of glaciation.
Local.
The regional geography is characterized by north-south trending mountain chains which are separated by relatively flat plains covered by Quaternary sediments. Sillajhuay lies on top of older ignimbrites, which in turn were emplaced on top of granitic, sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Paleozoic to Mesozoic age. Some of these ignimbrites have been identified as the 19.38 million years old Oxaya Ignimbrite, the much younger Ujina Tsu ignimbrite and finally the Pastillos Ignimbrite.
Tectonic stress during the subduction process has led to the development of a horst that Sillajhuay is part of, perpendicular to the main strike of the Andes where magma formation was increased. The mountain is also part of the Serranía Intersalar mountain chain which separates the Salar de Coipasa from the Salar de Uyuni and lacks recent volcanic activity. Another isolated volcano Cerro Cariquima rises north of Sillajhuay, the volcanic centres of Churullo northwest and the volcanic chain Pumiri northeast of Sillajhuay form the rest of the neighbouring centres.
The volcano is formed by dacite and porphyry, including sulfur-containing porphyry which has a yellow colour and solfataric deposits; the volcanic rocks define a potassium-rich calc alkaline suite. Phenocrysts include plagioclase, with less common biotite, hornblende and quartz. Isotope ratios of volcanic rocks indicate a strong crustal influence on the magmas that were erupted at Sillajhuay.
Climate and vegetation.
The mountain lies in an arid region and features a montane climate; estimated precipitation rises from at to at elevation mostly during summer, although rainfall might exceed . During the night the temperatures can fall to under . Grasses and shrubs with rare trees form the vegetation, mostly on the eastern flank and sometimes reaching high elevations. Among the plant species that grow in the area are yareta plants.
The dry climate is caused by the South East Pacific High and compounded by the Humboldt Current off the coast, which cools the atmosphere and reduces evaporation. Only during the summer months does convection on the Bolivian Altiplano lead to the arrival of moisture, leading to a predominant summer precipitation. The climate becomes even drier farther south. Cut-off lows can sometimes reach Sillajhuay in winter but are uncommon. In the past, such as 28,000, 8,000 and 3,700 - 1,500 years ago the climate was more humid and this led frequently to glacier advances when it was also cold enough. In return, glaciers on Sillajhuay may have enhanced the moisture supply to other mountains in the area such as Chuquiananta, allowing them to develop glaciers as well.
The strong insolation leads to a strongly diurnal temperature cycle on the mountain with a day-night temperature gradient of about that in some environments can increase to over ; there are thus active freeze-thaw cycles. The warming also leads to the development of mountain breeze and valley breeze, convective clouds as well as occasional landspouts.
Human activity.
The summit of Sillajhuay can be climbed and features Inca ruins on the summit; there are a number of such high altitude ruins in the Andes such as at Llullaillaco. This site was discovered in 2013. Mining takes place east of Sillajhuay, including sulfur mines; estimated deposits are of ore with 47% sulfur. The area has also been prospected for the possibility of obtaining geothermal power.
Eruptive history.
The whole volcano is considered to be of Pliocene-Pleistocene age, although the lack of detailed study precludes a precise dating of volcanic activity. The strong glacial modification implies that volcanism at Sillajhuay took place during the older Pleistocene. The maximum age of 730,000 ± 160,000 years is set by the age of the underlying ignimbrites although dates obtained directly on the volcanic rocks from Sillajhuay imply ages of as much as 2.47 ± 0.06 million years ago. Most volcanic activity probably took place around 600,000 - 400,000 years ago with potassium-argon dating yielding an age of 890,000 ± 500,000 years ago. Very young activity may have formed some gravel plains in the river valleys, when the heat from the eruption melted the permafrost of the summit region.
However, between 2007 and 2010 a ground uplift of about was observed as Sillajhuay over an area wide. In addition seismic activity was recorded at the volcano, and hot springs can be observed close to Sillajhuay, including the Pampa Lirima field southwest of Sillajhuay. These patterns indicate that magma may still exist below the volcano and that it should be classified as a potentially active volcano.


Dianops

Dianops is a genus of phacopid trilobite in the order Phacopida, that existed during the upper Devonian in what is now Germany. It was described by Richter and Richter in 1923, and the type species is "Dianops limbatus", which was originally described under the genus "Phacops" by Richter in 1848. The type locality was in Saalfeld, Thuringia.


Jules de Christol

Jules de Christol (25 August 1802 – 25 June 1861) was a French paleontologist and geologist who identified the fossil horse ancestor "Hipparion". He was among the first French zoologists to suggest the existence of human remains that were "antediluvian", older than the supposed Biblical flood, contrary to the dominant view of earth history at the time.
De Christol was born in Montepellier and became a student of Marcel de Serres, a professor at Montpellier. In 1828 he discovered human remains and pottery in Souvignargues alongside remains of rhino, bear, and hyena bones. He then suggested the existence of humans alongside animals that were traditionally supposed to have gone extinct after the Biblical flood, a view supported by the dominant French zoologists of the time like Georges Cuvier. His idea was however supported by William Buckland who visited him during the digs in Lunel-Viel. He saw similar remains in 1829 in a cave in Pondres digging along with Dumas Emilien. In 1832 he described the fossil equid "Hipparion". He received a doctorate in 1834 and became a professor of geology and mineralogy in the faculty of science in Dijon in 1837. He was made a Legion of Honour in 1847.
The plant genus "Christolea" was named in his honour.


Lago Agrio oil field

The Lago Agrio oil field is an oil-rich area near the city of Nueva Loja in the province of Sucumbíos, Ecuador. It is located in the Western Oriente Basin. The site's hydrocarbon-bearing formations are the Cretaceous Napo and Hollin formations. Oil was discovered in the area in 1960s. The Lago Agrio field is known internationally for the serious ecological problems that oil development has created there, including water pollution, soil contamination, deforestation and cultural upheaval. Located in Cofan territory near the Colombian border, it is one of twelve production areas that developed when Ecuador began to export petroleum.
In 1993, local residents started a class action lawsuit to force former well operator Texaco (acquired by Chevron Corporation in 2001) to clean up the area and provide for the care of the 30,000 inhabitants affected by oil contamination. In February 2011, an Ecuadorian court ordered Chevron to pay $8 billion in compensation. The verdict was later confirmed by the Ecuador Supreme Court in 2013, with the amount fixed to $9.5 billion. Despite having previously insisted to move the process from the New York Court to Ecuadorian tribunals and having accepted jurisdiction there, Chevron Corporation has refused to pay the judgement claiming that the decision was “illegitimate and inapplicable”. A ruling deeming the Ecuadorian verdict as unenforceable was issued by a United States court in 2014 and by an appeals court two years later. In 2018 the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of Chevron and said the 2013 Ecuador Supreme Court case was obtained "through fraud, bribery and corruption."
Development and ownership.
In 1964, Texaco Petroleum Company (TexPet) began exploring for oil in northeast Ecuador, in an area which was inhabited by indigenous people. The following year, it started operating a consortium owned equally by itself and Gulf Oil to develop a tract in the area. Nueva Loja was founded as a base camp of Texaco. The consortium struck oil in 1967 and began full-scale production in 1972. The Ecuadorian government, through its national oil company CEPE, now Petroecuador, obtained a 25 percent interest in the consortium in 1974. Gulf subsequently sold its interest to CEPE. By 1976, the consortium was majority-owned by the Ecuadorian government. TexPet, however, was still the company responsible for drilling technical operations. TexPet transferred management of the consortium to Petroecuador in 1990. TexPet's concession expired in 1992, leaving Petroecuador as the sole owner. Petroecuador continues drilling in the area.
Over a period of 20 years, the Lago Agrio field produced of oil, with a profit of $25 billion. According to Chevron, 95 percent of the profit from the consortium went to the government. This figure has been harshly contested by the government itself.
Produced oil is transported by the "Sistema de Oleoducto Transecuatoriano" (SOTE) and "Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados" (OCP) pipelines to the marine terminal at Balao. Lago Agrio is also connected by the San Miguel–Lago Agrio pipeline. The multiproduct Poliducto pipeline runs from Lago Agrio to Quito.
Pollution, remediation, impact.
Pollution.
One of the most cited reports on environmental damage to Lago Agrio is "Amazon Crude" written by Judith Kimerling for the Natural Resources Defence Council. This report, which covers the Oriente region more broadly, includes a prediction that Ecuador's entire oil reserves would have been depleted by 2005 if the 1991 rate of 100 million barrels per year had continued. According to Kimerling's interviews with technical staff, approximately 19.3 billion gallons of produced water, with a petroleum content of 500-5,000 parts per million, were diverted into 880 unlined open pits where the water could reach streams and rivers relied on by local inhabitants for their drinking water, bathing and fishing. The produced water contained polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at levels many times higher than permitted in the US, where produced water was typically re-injected underground since at least the 1970s. An additional byproduct of the crude oil extraction was natural gas. Although Texaco had agreed to preserve the supply of natural gas, the Ministry of Energy and Mines estimated that 85%-88% of it was burned into the atmosphere. For each well that was dug, on average, an estimated 4,165 cubic metres of toxic drilling fluid accumulated in an open pit. The majority of the wells were dug in the first few years when Texaco and Gulf had the largest number of shares. Paul C. Lambert quoted a Petroecuador manager as saying "at some points, the rivers are like the sea" referring to the salinity of the water.
Crude oil itself also entered the environment when it was used to clean roads that Texaco had built. Such deliberate spills into jungles and pathways accounted for 650,000 barrels. Texaco's largest pipeline in Lago Agrio, the trans-Ecuadorian pipeline, ejected 16.8 million gallons of crude due to accidents. These include a March 1987 earthquake spilling several million gallons which was considered unnecessarily damaging due to the small number of valves on the pipeline. A May 1989 landslide spilled 210,000 gallons and led to reports of black water in the Napo River as far away as Peru. This occurred in the same month as a 294,000 gallon spill outside of Lago Agrio. Kimerling described a November 1989 leak in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve as the first spill which was met with a Petroecuador-led cleanup even though five other spills had contaminated the same area since 1984. 1,415 oil spills in Ecuador were recorded during the 2000-2008 period when Texaco was no longer involved.
In 1992, Agra began an environmental audit whose findings required consensus from Texaco and Petroecuador representatives. A leaked draft showed that investigators observed contaminants, including chromium 6, cadmium and barium, in all soil samples that were tested and spills near 158 of the 163 visited well sites. In 1993, photojournalist Lou Dematteis travelled to sites that were still being used after Texaco's departure. He recalled that some of the open pits had been set on fire. In 1994, Agra's investigation concluded without releasing a report. Subsequent audits took place in 2003 and 2009 which found that 58 waste pits had been left uncovered. In the majority of covered pits, total petroleum hydrocarbon concentration was several times higher than Ecuador's legal limit which is itself 10 times as high as the limit in the US. Louis Berger Group, which had been recommended to the Ecuadorian government by Winston and Strawn, analyzed sites in 2013 which had only ever been operated by Texaco. Their study, which drew approval from Nathalie Cely, found that more petroleum had leaked into the wider environment than was present in the pits themselves. It also found previously undisclosed pits prompting Chevron to state that there was no master list.
Remediation.
A full reinjection of produced water into the ground would have cost $5 billion according to environmental advocates. In 1980, Texaco rejected a $4 million proposal to build pits with a concrete barrier and transfer existing waste into them. In 1990, the Petroecuador-Texaco consortium committed to spending $8-$13 million on an environmental cleanup. In 1995, amid litigation, Texaco signed an agreement with the Ecuadorian government to clean 161 waste pits in proportion to its interest in the consortium, at a cost of $40 million. It hired engineering firm Woodward Clyde to oversee the cleaning which in turn contracted a predominantly Ecuadorian workforce. The release certifying that Texaco had met its obligations was issued by the government in 1998. Evidence has been found that the cleanup was incomplete, as the largest part of the area was not restored and the pits Texaco supposedly cleaned up were simply filled with ground on top to hide the toxic wastes. Plastic coverings have also been reported. Activists who criticized the pits for being easily permeable also stated that pipes connecting them to waterways were left in place.
Though having admitted to the dumping of the 19 billion gallons of run-off while drilling for oil in the rainforest, Chevron has maintained that it did so legally and according to industry standards, and has used the 1995 agreement as its primary defense against the ongoing legal claims. However, while the Ecuadorian government released Texaco from further liability, the agreement explicitly applied "without prejudice to the rights possibly held by third parties tor the impact caused as a consequence of the operations of the former PETROECUADOR-TEXACO Consortium."
According to William Langewiesche, the 31 trees planted in the dirt that covered the first remediated pit had mostly died within ten years. The government began relocating affected citizens in 2008. Chevron's public relations staff have accused Pablo Fajardo of initially opposing these efforts so as to strengthen the lawsuit he was leading. Steps undertaken in the 2000s by Petroecuador to "at least meet those [standards] of the 1970s" include the practice of reinjecting produced water at all of its well sites and banning horizontal flares. Four wells intended for reinjection were built for Petroecuador by Texaco. Most cleanup projects by the Ecuadorian government, such as a $10 million cleaning in 2019, have taken place long after Texaco's withdrawal and have been done at a lower budget. There have also been community-led efforts to introduce microbes into contaminated soil for bioremediation.
Impact.
Lago Agrio is most often described as an "outpost" with buildings that "look thrown together". Its roads and airport are the result of industrialization efforts by Texaco. The oil boom correlated with a rise in crime including contract killings which are rarely investigated. These have claimed the lives of Pablo Fajardo's brother and one of his friends. Some of the earliest reports of damage to the community concern the practice of Texaco using its oil to clean the roads, causing rashes for some of the locals who walk on them barefoot. Accidents including crashes of oil tanker trucks and fatal collisions with pedestrians have all been attributed to the slippery roads. In 2003, it was estimated that 2.4 million acres of rainforest had been destroyed by oil operations across Ecuador.
An excess rate of cancer is one of the most commonly alleged health effects of the oil waste. Attempts to quantify this have varied widely with "130% higher" and "30 times higher" being among the quoted findings. Pablo Fajardo stated that by 2019, the pollution had caused 2,000 cancer deaths. Luis Yanza pointed out that Lago Agrio residents are uniquely vulnerable to cancer as the nearest treatment facility is a full day's drive away in Quito. Apart from maintaining its lack of responsibility for the bulk of the pollution, Chevron has maintained that there is no causal link between the produced water and cancer. Critics have pointed to an American study from 1987 which found increased cancer incidence from much lower volumes of produced water that were poured into streams. A 2017 study from Ecuador has been used to dispute this as well. Since the pits that were left uncovered were also left unfenced, local farmers have reported casualties among their livestock. Fishing tribes have described sick or dead fish in rivers close to the covered and uncovered pits. Chevron has instead blamed the water contamination on improperly routed sewers. As the vast majority of Ecuadorians in Lago Agrio do not have a centralized water supply, some of them have described rainwater as their cleanest alternative to the local rivers. In March 2020, James North wrote in "The Nation" that "[f]ive peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown an increased incidence of cancer and other health risks in the area. (Chevron funded its own peer-reviewed study, which claimed to find no such cancer risk)".
Others have described the oil consortium's impact from an anti-imperialist perspective. Some members of small indigenous tribes developed alcoholism or turned to prostitution when their ability to live off the land was disrupted. The Association of Health Promoters of Sucumbios has reported increased rates of malnutrition in Lago Agrio. This has been linked to people changing their diet abruptly when they can no longer hunt for food. Some of the earliest contact between the indigenous people and Texaco was mediated by the Summer Institute of Linguistics which was expelled from Ecuador in 1980 over alleged human rights abuses. Government officials have stated that the extinction of the Tetete people was partly caused by the encroachment of Texaco onto their land. A similar fate was declared for the Tagaeri in 2003.
Litigation.
Lawyers for the indigenous residents of the Lago Agrio field sued Texaco in New York in 1993. The 30,000 member class-action lawsuit accused TexPet of discharging produced water into open pits, contaminating the water that was used by the locals for fishing, bathing, and drinking. The case was dismissed for improper venue in 2001.
Chevron claims that the company is being unfairly targeted as a deep pocket. It maintains that responsibility for damage and cleanup now lies with Petroecuador and the government, and contends that much of the present damage comes from Petroecuador's activities since 1990, including spills from a pipeline system built by the consortium that Petroecuador has not maintained.
Litigation in Ecuador.
Blocked from suing Texaco in US courts, in 2003 the plaintiffs filed their case in Ecuador.
In 2008, a court-appointed expert issued a report accusing Texaco employees of not only widespread pollution, but deforestation and cultural destruction as well. The report estimated the damages by TexPet between $8 billion and $16 billion, which the expert later increased by $11 billion. A U.S. district court later ruled in support of Chevron's allegations that the report had been ghostwritten by Mr. Donziger and his associates and an environmental consulting firm hired by the plaintiffs in addition to participating in the bribing of the deciding judge.
Cristóbal Bonifaz, the lawyer who had filed the initial action in New York in 1993, was dismissed from the litigation in 2006. He went on to file a case against Chevron in 2007 on behalf of new clients who claimed that pollution had given them cancer. The court found that three of the plaintiffs did not have cancer. After dismissing their claims (leaving two claims active), the court imposed a $45,000 fine against Bonifaz for making frivolous claims.
Attorney Pablo Fajardo, who represents the plaintiffs, and activist Luis Yanza received the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2008 for their work in this case.
Plaintiffs in the Ecuadorian court case had initially demanded compensation payments of $27 billion. When the court ordered Chevron to pay $18 billion in February 2011 (later reduced to $9.5 billion), the company vowed to appeal, calling the ruling "illegitimate" and "unenforceable in any court that observes the rule of law", and said that "the United States and international tribunals had already taken steps to bar enforcement of the ruling." Plaintiffs were also planning to appeal, seeking damages of $113 billion.
Environmental consultants.
In 2004, the plaintiffs hired biologist Dr. Charles Calmbacher to study and report on environmental conditions in the field. In 2005, the plaintiffs submitted to the court reports bearing Calmbacher's signature which said that there were high pollutant concentrations at two sites. Calmbacher, however, disavowed the reports, and said that his signature had been attached to reports which he did not write, and which misrepresented his findings. He actually found that the contaminant levels at the two sites were too low to pose a risk to human health or the environment.
In 2007, the Ecuadorean plaintiffs hired consultants Stratus Consulting, of Boulder, Colorado, to study environmental conditions and operational history at the Lago Agrio oilfields. At the direction of the plaintiffs’ lead US attorney Steven Donziger, Stratus conducted detailed technical analyses and prepared documents that Donziger and other Ecuadorian plaintiff attorneys provided to an expert appointed by the Ecuadorian court, Richard Cabrera, for him to adopt into his report on environmental damages caused by oil exploration and production in the oilfields. In December 2008, Stratus issued a review of the Cabrera Report endorsing its methods and conclusions, without disclosing that Cabrera had used material written by Stratus and provided to him by the Ecuadorian plaintiffs' attorneys. Stratus was instructed by Donziger to keep their work strictly confidential, and was also told that the process of the Ecuadorian attorneys providing Stratus's work product to Cabrera, who was appointed at the request of the Ecuadorian plaintiff attorneys, was legitimate under Ecuadorian court procedure.
Chevron named Stratus in its 2011 RICO lawsuit against various parties that worked on the Ecuadorian plaintiffs' case against Chevron. Chevron also contacted Stratus' clients in an attempt to pressure the clients to drop Stratus, and vigorously attacked Stratus in the public media. Stratus defended the scientific integrity of its work and maintained that during the course of its work for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs it was not aware that any of the activities of the plaintiffs' attorneys was fraudulent. In April 2013, after revelations during the RICO case about the conduct of the Ecuadorian plaintiffs' attorneys and under intense financial pressure, the company disavowed its involvement in the case, citing the taint introduced by those revelations. Chevron's lawsuit against Stratus was then dismissed with prejudice, meaning that Chevron cannot re-file the claim. After settling the lawsuit, Stratus posted a statement on its website denying that the company "falsified its findings" on the Ecuador project, and noted, "We have taken steps to ensure that a situation such as this will never be repeated." The firm reports that it has engaged a legal consultant specializing in business ethics, and trained staff in appropriate practices.
In 2015, a New Jersey-based environmental engineering firm, the Louis Berger Group released a new scientific report on the contamination. The report found that:
The report concludes: "It is our opinion that information developed (in the past), while substantial, just scratches the surface of identifying the environmental condition of the (former Chevron Texaco sites…". LBG prepared the report for the Government of Ecuador to defend against a Chevron arbitration claim to avoid paying a $9.5 billion Ecuador judgment.
Attempts to collect the judgment.
Since Chevron Corporation has no substantive assets in Ecuador, plaintiffs filed actions to enforce the judgment against Chevron Corporation subsidiaries in Brazil, Argentina and Canada.
In 2009, Chevron had filed a complaint against Ecuador at the international Permanent Court of Arbitration under the 1997 bilateral investment treaty between the United States and Ecuador, charging that Ecuador had failed to ensure a fair trial and had reneged on a 1998 contract absolving Texaco of any compensation claims. The three-person tribunal, acting under The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration, ruled in 2011 that Ecuador should halt all enforcement efforts of the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron, both within and without Ecuador.
In February 2013, the tribunal said the Ecuador government should have stopped plaintiffs in the case from going to courts in Brazil, Argentina and Canada to try to collect the judgment handed down by an Ecuadorean court in 2011. A spokesperson for the plaintiffs said the "courts hearing enforcement actions would likely pay little attention to the tribunal since it was not binding on the rain-forest communities".
Argentina: In June 2013, Argentina's Supreme Court revoked an embargo on the assets and future income of Chevron's Argentina subsidiary.
Netherlands: In September 2013, The Hague arbitration panel ruled in favor of Chevron, finding that an agreement signed in 1995 by the government of Ecuador released Texaco Corporation from financial responsibility from any claims of "collective damage." However, the panel left open the possibility that Chevron could still be liable for damages incurred by individuals.
Brazil: In November 2017, the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil rejected enforcement of the 2013 Ecuadorian Supreme Court award, with the prosecutor concluding that the verdict was “issued in an irregular manner, especially under deplorable acts of corruption.”
Canada: In May 2013, Justice David Brown of the Ontario Superior Court stayed the action, but ruled that the Canadian courts have no jurisdiction to enforce the award ruled by an Ecuadorian court. However, the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that Justice Brown's stay was premature and held that the "issues deserve to be addressed and determined." After a long procedural history, the appeals court ultimately declined to recognize and enforce the foreign judgment. On May 23, 2018, it determined that Chevron Canada's assets were not exigible by Chevron's judgment debtors, because of the principle of corporate separateness. The plaintiffs sought leave to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. Leave to appeal was denied on April 4, 2019, thus ending the enforcement proceedings in Canada.
United States: Chevron obtained an injunction by a U.S. federal judge, preventing the plaintiffs from collecting on the Ecuadorean judgment anywhere in the world. This injunction was overturned by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2011.
U.S. civil judgment against Donziger and Ecuadorian plaintiffs.
Chevron acquired outtakes of the 2009 documentary "Crude," which covered part of the case. The outtakes suggest that Donziger considered the Ecuadorian system of justice to be corrupt, and had urged Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to issue criminal indictments against two Chevron lawyers involved in the settlement negotiations of the late 1990s; the two lawyers were subsequently indicted. When Donziger was ordered to testify about this in the U.S. federal case, he claimed attorney–client privilege but was rebuked by the judge. Donziger subsequently was forced to hand over all his case files, his computers, his tax returns and bank account information to Chevron, and he was deposed under oath. Donziger's diary, which had been stored on one of his computers, became a matter of public record. The deposition revealed that the 2009 environmental report signed by a court-appointed expert had largely been written by an environmental consultancy company hired by the plaintiffs.
In 2009, Chevron released videos that it said showed evidence that the Ecuadorian judicial proceedings were corrupted by bribery and political influence. Chevron stated that it had been given secretly recorded videos of three meetings, in one of which the presiding judge appears to state that he will rule against Chevron and that the company's appeals would be denied in spite of the fact that the trial was still in progress. In a second video, Patricio Garcia, who claims to be a political coordinator for the presidency and an official of the ruling political party, suggests that government lawyers would help write the judge's final ruling. Garcia also demands a bribe of $3 million from contractors seeking cleanup contracts, and states that the money will be divided between the judge, the presidency, and the plaintiffs. The judge was forced to resign. Chevron claims it had no involvement in the videotaping; however, in April 2010 it was found that one of the men involved in the filming was a long-time Chevron contractor, who in turn was later caught on hidden camera saying he "has enough evidence to ensure a victory by the Amazon communities if Chevron failed to pay him what he was promised." This man was later relocated to the United States with his family at Chevron's expense, where he is also receiving an undisclosed amount of living expenses. The other man involved in filming the video is a convicted drug smuggler.
In February 2011, Chevron filed suit in New York against Donziger and several other people involved in the plaintiff's case, invoking the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act) and alleging extortion and fraud in that they made up evidence and tried to manipulate the legal system of Ecuador.
In 2010, the plaintiffs engaged the Washington D.C. law firm of Patton Boggs to oversee the legal strategy of suing Chevron in various countries around the world, to collect the Ecuadorean judgment. Patton Boggs is one of the top three lobbying firms in the US in terms of revenue, and was seen as having the international legal experience needed to enforce the award against Chevron; in return, Patton Boggs was to have received 5% of moneys collected. Chevron sued Patton Boggs, alleging that by participating in the case, the law firm knowingly abetted fraud on the part of the plaintiff's lead attorney, Steven Donziger. In May 2014 Patton Boggs agreed to withdraw from the Lago Agrio case, pay Chevron $15 million in damages, assign to Chevron its percentage of claims collected, and assist Chevron in discovery in Chevron's lawsuits against Donziger and others. In return, Chevron dropped all claims against Patton Boggs. Patton Boggs released a statement that, in view of a US court finding of fraud on the part of Donziger, it regretted its involvement in the case.
In March 2014, a United States district court judge ruled that the Ecuadorian plaintiff's lead US attorney, Steven Donziger, had used "corrupt means," including payment of almost US$300,000 in bribes, to obtain the 2011 court verdict in Ecuador. The judge did not rule on the underlying issue of environmental damages. While the US ruling does not affect the decision of the court in Ecuador, it has blocked efforts to collect damages from Chevron in US courts. Donziger and the two Ecuadorian defendants appealed, and on August 8, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment against them in all respects.
In September 2018, the District of Columbia Court of Appeal suspended plaintiff's attorney Steven Donziger from practicing law in DC, joining the New York State Supreme Court in doing so. Having no law license elsewhere, Donziger can no longer practice law in the United States.
Public perceptions, paid advocacy.
Chevron hired former US trade representative Mickey Kantor and former Bill Clinton chief of staff Mack McLarty to lobby the Obama administration to pressure Ecuador to make a deal via a proposed threat to end trade preferences for Ecuador.
The plaintiffs, seeking to put public pressure on Chevron to settle, have successfully enlisted public support from environmental groups, and since 2013 the Ecuador government has spent over $500,000 dollars to recruit celebrity advocates for their position.
In 2013, forty-three environmental and human rights organizations including The Sierra Club and Greenpeace USA signed an open letter condemning Chevron's legal actions as a threat to free speech and an open society. In May 2014 simultaneous protests were held in at least sixteen countries against Chevron. Also in 2014, thirteen organizations including Amnesty International filed an amicus brief in opposition to Chevron's RICO attack, again on the grounds of its threat to free speech.
Actors, musicians, and other celebrities have long campaigned against Chevron, blaming it for pollution in the rainforest in Ecuador. Celebrities such as Mia Farrow, Danny Glover, Sting, and Cher have visited Ecuador to bring attention to advocate the Ecuador government's position. Payments of $188,391 and $330,000 were made to agencies representing Mia Farrow and Danny Glover, respectively.
The plaintiffs hired human rights activist Kerry Kennedy to conduct public relations for their cause. Kennedy traveled to Ecuador in 2009, after which she blasted Chevron in an article for the Huffington Post, invoking the term "genocide." Kennedy was paid for the effort by the plaintiffs, a fact made public in 2012. Shortly after her Huffington Post pieces, the plaintiffs' lead American lawyer reportedly paid Kennedy $50,000 in February 2010, and the law firm budgeted $10,000 per month for her services, plus $40,000 in expenses in June 2010. Kennedy was also reportedly given a 0.25 percent share of any money collected from Chevron, worth US$40 million if the full amount were to be collected. Kennedy responded that she was "paid a modest fee for the time I spent on the case," but denied that she had any financial interest in the outcome.
A protest against Chevron's refusal to pay the Ecuador judgment, held outside the Chevron annual meeting in Midland, Texas in May 2014, turned controversial when reporters determined that some of the several dozen protesters had been hired to participate, at $85 per person. The plaintiffs and their American public relations firm, MCSquared, both denied responsibility for hiring protesters, and the Los Angeles-based film company that recruited the paid protesters declined to identify who ordered and paid for their presence. In turn, Chevron has hired several public relations firms and what Pablo Fajardo estimates as 60 law firms to advocate on its behalf and launch countersuits against the plaintiffs' legal team. Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Fiore collaborated with Amazon Watch to release a series of animated videos portraying the extent of Chevron's retaliatory actions and the use of the RICO statute to "suppress free speech."
Ecuador is supported in the dispute with Chevron by a Venezuelan group, The Ecuador Solidarity Committee, and the ex-Minister of Environment of France, Corinne Lepage, and Delphine Batho, a Socialist deputy in France.
Plaintiff financing.
Neither the plaintiffs nor their legal counsel have the resources to fight a drawn-out legal battle of attrition with Chevron. To finance the litigation, New York lawyer Steven R. Donziger, who acts as a spokesman and lobbyist for the plaintiffs, sold a percentage of the final settlement to a hedge fund.
Early on, the plaintiffs obtained funding from the Philadelphia legal firm of Kohn, Swift & Graf, PC. After investing $6 million in the case, Kohn, Swift & Graf withdrew from the case in November 2009, citing differences with lead attorney Donziger.
The plaintiffs next turned to Burford Capital, which agreed to finance the litigation in exchange for a share of any award to the plaintiffs. Burford invested US$4 million in 2009 and intended to supply another $11 million over time in exchange for 5.5% of damages. It announced in April 2013 that the plaintiffs’ lawyers had misled Burford, and it was quitting the case. This financing was directed to Patton Boggs.
International arbitration.
On September 7, 2018 the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague unanimously issued an award in favor of Chevron and Texaco Petroleum Company. The decision concluded that the judgment in Ecuador was fraudulent, corrupt and “should not be recognised or enforced by the courts of other States.” The amount Ecuador must pay to Chevron to compensate for damages is yet to be determined. The award found that Ecuador violated its obligations under international treaties, investment agreements and international law.
The Court of Arbitration's findings of fraudulent activities included:


Paranguilla

Paranguilla tigrina is an extinct prehistoric eel that lived during the Lutetian epoch of the Eocene, in what is now Monte Bolca.
Some of the better preserved fossils show that the living animals had complex patterns of spots. "P. tigrina" and "Dalpiazella brevicauda" constitute the extinct family Paranguillidae.


Murgon fossil site

The Murgon fossil site is a paleontological site of early Eocene age in south-eastern Queensland, Australia. It lies near the town of Murgon, some 270 km north-west of Brisbane. The Murgon site is important as the only site on the continent with a diverse range of vertebrate fossils dating from the early Paleogene Period (55 million years ago, only 10 million years after the extinction of the dinosaurs), making it a crucial period in mammal evolution. It is also important in demonstrating Australia's Gondwanan links with South America in the form of similar fossils from the two continents.
Geology.
Volcanic rock which has been estimated to be 40 million years old overlays the site. Therefore, the Murgon fossils must be older than this.
The site is mostly clay which was laid down in a lake which formed in a volcanic crater.
Fossil fauna.
The fossil fauna reported from Murgon is referred to as the Tingamarra fauna. The most common fossil at the site are of crocodiles and giant trionychidae turtles which have become extinct in Australia. Fossils from Murgon include the world's oldest songbirds, the oldest Australian marsupials, the only fossils of leiopelmatid frogs outside of the Saint Bathans Fauna, and the only Australian fossil salamanders. Evidence of the Gondwanan connection comes with the appearance of a madstoiid snake in the genus "Alamitophis", also found in Argentina, and of microbiotheriid marsupials, otherwise only known from South America. The earliest Australian frog fossil was found there.
Other notable examples of the Tingamarra fauna from Murgon are:
Because of closer links between current South American species than ancient Australian families, it has been hypothesised that there must have been large exchanges of species between continents when they were once linked by Antarctica.
After the discoveries at this site, no mammalian fossils have been identified in the following 30 million years.


Michinmahuida

Michinmahuida () (alternate spellings Minchinmávida or Michimahuida) is a glaciated stratovolcano located in Los Lagos Region of Chile. It lies about 15 km east of Chaitén volcano, and was extensively covered in ash during the 2008 eruption of Chaitén. The stratovolcano lies above the regional Liquine-Ofqui Fault zone, and the ice-covered massif towers over the south portion of Pumalín Park. It has a summit elevation of 2,450 meters above sea level.


Rhinonicteris tedfordi

Rhinonicteris tedfordi is an extinct species of microbat, of the order Chiroptera, known from fossil material found in Australia.
Taxonomy.
The description of the fossil specimens as an extinct species was published by Suzanne J. Hand in 1997. The nearest relative is regarded as the only living species of the family, "Rhinonicteris aurantia", which occurs in two isolated populations across the north of Australia. The genus name is derived from ancient Greek, combining terms for nose, "rhis", and bat, "nycteris". The specific epithet "tedfordi" honours the work of Richard Tedford at Riversleigh, on behalf on thee American Museum of Natural History, in identifying tertiary mammals in the fossil beds.
The author Suzanne J. Hand compared material from a microsite with an earlier description of a hipposiderid species "Brachipposideros nooraleebus" and the extant "Rhinonicteris aurantia", the revision of related material resulted in the publication of this species. The type material was obtained at the Bitesantennary Site in early Miocene deposits composed of fossilised bat skulls and bones and snails. The holotype and syntypes are incomplete skulls selected from the large amount of fragmentary material stratigraphically dated to the Miocene. The systematic treatment was as family Hipposideridae Miller 1907, placed with superfamily Rhinolophoidea Weber, 1928 of the suborder Microchiroptera.
Description.
A species of the family Rhinonycteridae Gray, 1866. The remains of the species have been found at several locations of the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh).
Ecology.
The species "Rhinonicteris tedfordi" existed in the early Miocene period. The fossil records are the earliest example of an endemic lineage of Australian "Rhinonicteris", which includes later material of the genus which is yet to be formally described; the fossil "Rhinonicteris" material at Riversleigh dates from the Miocene through to the present period.
The site was a cave, open to the nearby environment, and contains the remains of probably over ten other microchiropteran species and shells of freshwater snails. The preservation state of a large amount of the type material indicates the fossilisation process began shortly after their deposit. The presence of snails suggests the site was submerged at some period. The travertine floor of site contains a large stalagmite.


List of volcanoes in Italy

This is a list of active and extinct volcanoes in Italy.


Manemergus

Manemergus is a genus of polycotylid plesiosaur from the Late Cretaceous (Turonian) of Morocco. "Manemergus" was described in 2005 and contains only one species, "M. anguirostris". The type specimen was discovered close to the town of Goulmima (Tizi-n-Imnayen) in Morocco's High Atlas mountains, in the same locality as another polycotylid, "Thililua", was discovered.


Cairanoolithus

Cairanoolithus is an oogenus of dinosaur egg which is found in Southwestern Europe. The eggs are large ( in diameter) and spherical. Their outer surface is either smooth, or covered with a subdued pattern of ridges interspersed with pits and grooves. Multiple fossil egg clutches are known but the nest structure is unclear.
The parent of "Cairanoolithus" is probably some kind of non-ornithopod ornithischian, possibly the nodosaurid "Struthiosaurus".
The eggs were first named in 1994, when the two oospecies were classified in distinct oogenera as "Cairanoolithus dughii" and "Dughioolithus roussetensis". They are now considered to belong in a single oogenus, possibly even a single oospecies. Though it has been classified as a megaloolithid, "Cairanoolithus" is now placed in its own oofamily, Cairanoolithidae.
Description.
"Cairanoolithus" eggs are spherical and fairly large, measuring in diameter. The outer surface is smooth or covered with a subdued netlike pattern of ridges, interspersed with pits and grooves (sagenotuberculate ornamentation). The eggshells are made up of partially interlocking column-shaped shell units and range from thick.
Several egg clutches of "C. dughii" are known, containing as many as 25 fossilized eggs. Unfortunately, taphonomical alterations (changes during the fossilization process) make it difficult to determine the original structure of the nest. Cousin (2002) hypothesized that "Cairanoolithus" eggs were laid on the surface of the ground, possibly buried beneath a mound of plant matter. Tanaka "et al." (2015) noted that the shell had a high rate of water vapor conductance. Therefore, they concluded that "Cairanoolithus" nests were covered by organic or inorganic material, similar to modern eggs with high vapor conductance.
Oospecies.
Two oospecies of "Cairanoolithus" have been described:
Some authors consider the two oospecies to be synonymous. Cousin (2002) argued that the differences between them were due to intraspecific variation or due to taphonomy. He also described several eggshell fragments that possibly belong to an additional distinct oospecies of "Cairanoolithus"; however these specimens were referred to "C. roussetensis" by Selles and Galobart (2015).
Classification.
While it was formerly considered a megaloolithid, "Cairanoolithus" is now considered to belong its own monotypic oofamily, Cairanoolithidae. It belongs to the dinosauroid-spherulitic basic type, a group including sauropod eggs and ornithischian eggs, but paraphyletically excluding theropod eggs.
The cladistic analysis done by Selles and Galobart in 2015 recovered "Cairanoolithus" as a sister taxon to the clade of ornithopod eggs "Guegoolithus", "Spheroolithus", and "Ovaloolithus". Therefore, they considered it likely that "Cairanoolithus" belongs to a non-ornithopod ornithischian dinosaur.
Parentage.
Since embryos are unknown in cairanoolithid eggs, the identity of their parent is uncertain. They have long been considered to be eggs of titanosaurs or ornithopods (like "Rhabdodon"). However, numerous characteristics distinguish "Cairanoolithus" from sauropod eggs (oofamilies Megaloolithidae and Faveoloolithidae), even though they bear superficial similarities in size and shape. "Cairanoolithus"'s columnar eggshell units are quite unlike the fan-shaped ones seen in "Megaloolithus", "Faveoloolithus", or "Fusioolithus". Also, its subdued ornamentation contrasts strongly with the heavily sculpted eggshells of sauropod eggs, and it has a different pore system. Eggs of ornithopods (Spheroolithidae and Ovaloolithidae), on the other hand, show much closer similarity to cairanoolithids in ornamentation and pore system. However, ornithopod eggs are typically much smaller, and the crystal structure of their eggshell units is distinct.
The cladistic analysis by Sellés and Galobart in 2015 supported an ornithischian parentage. Late Campanian to early Maastrichtian ornithischians from Southwestern Europe are restricted to rhabdodontids and the nodosaurid "Struthiosaurus". When Sellés and Galobart analyzed the pelvises of "Rhabdodon" (the largest known rhabdodontid) and "Struthiosaurus", they found that "Rhabdodon" could not have laid eggs as big as "Cairanoolithus". On the other hand, even though "Struthiosaurus" was relatively small, the unique orientation of its ischia would have easily allowed it to lay eggs as large as a cairanoolithid egg. However, interpreting "Cairanoolithus" as the eggs of a nodosaur does raise the question of why "Cairanoolithus" or similar eggs have not been found in areas with a greater nodosaur abundance.
Distribution.
"Cairanoolithus" is native to Southwestern Europe, including southern France and northern Iberia. Its fossils date to the late Campanian to early Maastrichtian. They are usually found in the Aix-en-Provence Basin below the Rognac Limestone. "C. dughii" is from the La Cairanne site in Bouches du Rhône, France, from Roquehautes-Grand Creux and from the Villeveyrac Basin. "C. roussetensis" is found in the northern part of Iberia (Tremp Group of Spain), and from southern France (in Rousset Village, Roquehautes-Crete du Marbre, the Villeveyrac Basin, and Argelliers-Montamaud).
Paleoecology.
The Late Cretaceous ecosystems of Europe (which was then an island archipelago) show complex mixing of taxa originating from Africa, Asia, and North America. In Southwestern Europe, "Cairanoolithus" co-occurs with numerous other types of fossil eggs; "Megaloolithus" is particularly common, but theropod eggs such as "Prismatoolithus" and the ornithopod egg "Guegoolithus" are also present. Dinosaur body fossils are also common, including nodosaurids, rhabdodontids, titanosaurs, dromaeosaurids, basal iguanodontians, hadrosaurids, neoceratosaurians, and coelurosaurs. Other vertebrates include bony fish, squamates, cryptodiran turtles, alligatorids, and mammals.
History.
The Aix Basin was first excavated for fossils in 1869 by French paleontologist Philippe Matheron. In the 1950s, Raymond Dughi and Francois Sirugue, a pair of French paleontologists working for the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle Aix-en-Provence, extensively studied the basin's fossil eggshells. They divided the eggs they had found into ten different types, but they did not describe them in detail. In the 1970s and 1980s, further work was done by the French paleontologist P. Kerourio and the German paleontologist H. K. Erben.
In his 1983 doctoral thesis, M. M. Penner devised one of the early classification schemes for egg fossils. He was the first to recognize the eggs now named "Cairanoolithus" as a distinct type; under his classification scheme, they were called "Group 2". In 1994, French paleontologists M. Vianey-Liaud, P. Mallan, O. Buscail and C. Montgelard described them under the modern parataxonomic system as "Cairanoolithus dughii" and ""Dughioolithus" roussetensis". They did not assign either of them to any oofamily, but both oogenera were classified in the oofamily Megaloolithidae by the Russian paleontologist Konstantin Mikhailov in 1996. Following further discoveries in 2001, Géraldine Garcia and Monique Vianey-Liaud synomized the two oogenera. In 2002, French paleontologist R. Cousin took a step further and synonymized the two oospecies.
In 2012, the first "Cairanoolithus" fossils discovered outside of France were first reported by Albert G. Selles in his PhD thesis at Universitat de Barcelona, in which he also proposed that "Cairanoolithus" be moved into its own oofamily. Three years later, Selles and Angel Galobart published a comprehensive reanalysis of "Cairanoolithus", in which they formally named the new oofamily, Cairanoolithidae, to contain "Cairanaoolithus". Contrary to Cousin's conclusions, Selles and Galobart separated the oospecies "C. dughii" and "C. roussetensis". Also, they demonstrated that "Cairanoolithus" was not the eggs of an ornithopod or sauropod and conjectured that it could be the eggs of a nodosaur.


Volcanism of Iceland

The volcanoes of Iceland include a high concentration of active ones due to Iceland's location on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary, and its location over a hot spot.
Volcanic systems and volcanic zones of Iceland.
Holocene volcanism in Iceland is mostly to be found in the "Neovolcanic Zone", comprising the Reykjanes Volcanic Belt (RVB), the West Volcanic Zone (WVZ), the Mid-Iceland Belt (MIB), the East Volcanic Zone (EVZ) and the North Volcanic Zone (NVZ). Two lateral volcanic zones play a minor role: Öræfi Volcanic Belt (ÖVB) and Snæfellsnes Volcanic Belt (SVB). Outside of the main island are the Reykjanes Ridge (RR), as part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the southwest and the Kolbeinsey Ridge (KR) to the north. Two transform zones are connecting these volcano-tectonic zones: the South Iceland Seismic Zone (SISZ) in the south of Iceland and the Tjörnes Transform Zone (TFZ) in the north.
The island has around 30 active volcanic systems, comprising each volcano-tectonic fissure systems and many of them also a central volcano (mostly in the form of a stratovolcano, sometimes of a shield volcano with a magma chamber underneath). Thirteen volcanic systems have hosted eruptions since the settlement of Iceland in AD 874.
Of these 30 active volcanic systems, the most active is Grímsvötn. Over the past 500 years, Iceland's volcanoes have produced a third of the total global lava output.
Important eruptions.
"See also : List of volcanic eruptions on Iceland"
Laki/Skaftáreldar 1783-84.
The most fatal volcanic eruption of Iceland's history was the so-called Skaftáreldar (fires of Skaftá) in 1783–84. The eruption was in the crater row "Lakagígar" (craters of Laki) southwest of Vatnajökull glacier. The craters are a part of a larger volcanic system with the subglacial Grímsvötn as a central volcano. Roughly a quarter of the Icelandic nation died because of the eruption. Most died not because of the lava flow or other direct effects of the eruption, but from indirect effects, including changes in climate and illnesses in livestock in the following years caused by the ash and poisonous gases from the eruption. The 1783 eruption in Lakagígar is thought to have erupted the largest quantity of lava from a single eruption in historic times.
Eldfell 1973.
Eldfell is a volcanic cone on the east side of Heimaey which formed during an eruption in January 1973. The eruption happened without warning, causing the island's population of about 5,300 people to evacuate on fishing boats within a few hours. Importantly, the progress of lava into the harbour was slowed by manual spraying of seawater. One person died, and the eruption resulted in the destruction of homes and property on the island.
Eyjafjallajökull 2010.
The eruption under Eyjafjallajökull ("glacier of Eyjafjöll") in April 2010 was notable for causing enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over a period of six days in April 2010. About 20 countries closed their airspace to commercial jet traffic and it affected approximately 10 million travellers.
However this volcano is minor in Icelandic terms (VEI4) In the past, eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull have been followed by eruption of the larger volcano Katla, but after the 2010 eruption no signs of an imminent eruption of Katla were seen.
Grímsvötn 2011.
The eruption in May 2011 at Grímsvötn under the Vatnajökull glacier sent thousands of tonnes of ash into the sky in a few days, raising concerns of a repeat of the travel chaos seen across northern Europe.
Bárðarbunga 2014–2015.
Bárðarbunga is a stratovolcano and is roughly 2,000 metres (roughly 6,560 feet) above sea level in central Iceland (64.63°N / -17.53°W). This makes it the second highest mountain in Iceland.
The eruption series, Iceland's largest eruptions in 230 years that started on August 17, 2014 and lasted for 180 days, under the Bárðarbunga system started with an extremely heavy earthquake swarm followed by clusters of volcanic activity that went on for an extended period. This resulted in multiple lava fountain eruptions in Holuhraun. Lava flow was between 250 and 350 cubic metres per second and came from a dyke over 40 km long. An ice-filled subsidence bowl over 100 square kilometres in area and up to 65 metres deep formed as well. There was very limited ash output from this eruption unlike numerous glacial eruptions which are common in Iceland. The primary concern with this eruption was the large plumes of sulphur dioxide (SO2) in the atmosphere which adversely affected breathing conditions across Iceland, depending on wind direction. The volcanic cloud was also transported toward Western Europe in September 2014.
Fagradalsfjall 2021.
Following a three-week period of increased seismic activity, an eruption fissure developed near Fagradalsfjall, a mountain on the Reykjanes Peninsula. Lava flow from a 200-meter fissure was first discovered by an Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter on March 19, 2021 in the Geldingadalur area near Grindavík, and within hours the fissure had grown to 500 meters in length. This eruption suggests that more eruptions might start in different fissures once this eruption is over.
Structure of lava fields.
The smooth flowing basaltic lava pāhoehoe is in Iceland called "helluhraun". It forms rather flat surfaces that are quite easy to pass.
On the other hand, there is less flowing lava, ʻaʻā, on Iceland called "apalhraun". The loose, broken, sharp, spiny surface of an ʻaʻā flow makes hiking difficult and slow.


Chontacollo

Chontacollo (possibly from Aymara "chunta" prolonged, lengthened, "qullu" mountain, "prolonged mountain") is a mountain in the north of the Barroso mountain range in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is situated in the Tacna Region, Tarata Province, Tarata District. Chontacollo lies northwest of the mountain Iñuma.


Eurysternum

Eurysternum is an extinct genus of sea turtle. Its type species is "Eurysternum wagleri", the holotype of which has since been lost and only survives in illustrations.
Misassigned species.
"Eurysternum ignoratum" Bram, 1965 is a junior synonym of "Thalassemys hughii". The Late Jurassic species "Eurysternum neuquinum" Fernandez and de la Fuente, 1988, described from marine deposits in Argentina, is now placed in its own genus "Neusticemys".


Allincapac

Allincapac, Allin Ccapac or Allin Japac (possibly from Quechua: "allin" good, "qhapaq" the mighty one) is a mountain in the Andes of Peru. It is the highest peak of the Carabaya mountain range, rising up to . Allincapac is located in the Puno Region, Carabaya Province, Macusani District, south of Huaynaccapac, northeast of Chichicapac and north of Lake Chaupicocha.


Winchester, Queensland

Winchester is a locality in the Isaac Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Winchester had a population of 5 people.
Geography.
Winchester sits on a major coal deposit in the Bowen Basin. There are a number of coal mines operating there (and beyond into adjacent localities), including Peak Downs Mine, Peak Downs East Mine, Eagle Downs Mine, and Winchester Mine. The Goonyella railway line provides transport from the mines to the ports.
History.
The locality was named and bounded on 16 June 2000.


Plicatodus

Plicatodus is a prehistoric shark in the family Xenacanthidae that lived in Europe during the late Carboniferous and Early Permian Periods. It was described by Oliver Hampe in 1995, and the type species is "Plicatodus jordani". The type locality for this genus is the Saar-Nahe basin.
Description.
"Plicatodus" fossils generally only consist of scattered, isolated teeth, with one exception: a partial skeleton that includes the head, dorsal spine, and pectoral girdle.
Species.
The type species for this genus, "P. jordani" was described in 1995 from Permian-aged material (the Asselian part of the Cisuralian to be specific) found in the upper Odernheim Formation of the Saar–Nahe Basin: a molasse of freshwater and shallow marine deposits from late Carboniferous to the early Permian Periods.
"P. plicatus" was originally described as a member of the genus "Orthacanthus" by Karl von Fritsch in 1879. It came from the Kasimovian (Carboniferous) aged Slany Formation in the Rakovnik Basin of Bohemia.
"P. sp.", found in the Gzhelian (Carboniferous) of Lower Austria is undetermined. While it may represent an undescribed third species, it may just as well come from "P. jordani" or "P. plicatus".


Dissacus

Dissacus is a genus of extinct carnivorous jackal to coyote-sized mammals within the family Mesonychidae, an early group of hoofed mammals that evolved into hunters and omnivores. Their fossils are found in Paleocene to Early Eocene aged strata in France, Asia and southwest North America, from 66–50.3 mya, existing for approximately .
Orientation patch analysis of the molar teeth of the North American "D. praenuntius" suggests it was an omnivore that ate a lot of meat, not an exclusive meat-eater like a cat or weasel. It shared its environment with more omnivorous mammals of a similar body size. Though they are not ancestral to Carnivora, "Dissacus" species may have had similar roles in Paleocene-early Eocene environments as the foxes and other small canids that evolved later: generalized hunters who also ate fruit or other foods, and caught small animals that lived on the ground.
The bear-sized "Ankalagon" is closely related to "Dissacus". Some paleontologists consider it a sister or daughter genus, while others suggest "Ankalagon" is just larger species of "Dissacus," and that "Dissacus" is paraphyletic.
"Dissacus" species lived across the Northern hemisphere, a Holarctic distribution. "Dissacus europaeus" may have evolved in North America and migrated to Europe, and first appears in European strata in the Thanetian (circa 57-58 MYA). A phylogenetic analysis of European mesonychids suggests that "Dissacus" was part of an early diversification of species in the Paleocene, and other genera diversified in a later episode in the early Eocene. "D. europaeus" survived the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a period of severe global warming, which suggests it had flexible habits. Its distribution in Europe over time suggests it may have been unable to expand into areas occupied by "Pachyaena," which may mean it filled a similar ecological role. However, fossil records are still too incomplete for any conclusion. The fossil record of "D. europaeus" is fragmentary; remains in Cernay, France, include a mandible, a complete radius, and fragments of a humerus. A morphological study of these bones suggests this animal was digitigrade and more cursorial than is usually assumed for the genus.
 Analysis of the elbow joint shows it was specialized for extra flexion and extension, an adaptation usually found in running species; the amount of specialization is unusual for a Paleocene mammal. This does not mean "Dissacus" species were swift runners by modern standards, but that "D. europaeus" was more adapted for running than other mammals of its time. It may be part of a trend among early Cenozoic mammals toward developing more specialized bodies to fill different ecological niches.


Anqasi (Ayacucho)

Anqasi (Quechua for cobalt salt used for dyeing, hispanicized spelling "Angasi") is a mountain in the Andes of Peru, about high. It is situated in the Ayacucho Region, Lucanas Province, Cabana District. It lies north of a mountain named Inka Wasi.