Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan the Republic of Kazakhstan, is the world's largest landlocked country, the ninth largest in the world, with an area of 2,724,900 square kilometres. It is a transcontinental country located in Asia. Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the region's GDP through its oil and gas industry, it has vast mineral resources. Kazakhstan is a democratic, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea; the terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, taiga, rock canyons, deltas, snow-capped mountains, deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18.3 million people as of 2018. Given its large land area, its population density is among the lowest, at less than 6 people per square kilometre; the capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from the country's largest city. The territory of Kazakhstan has been inhabited by groups included the nomadic groups and empires.
In antiquity, the nomadic Scythians have inhabited the land and the Persian Achaemenid Empire expanded towards the southern territory of the modern country. Turkic nomads who trace their ancestry to many Turkic states such as Turkic Khaganate etc have inhabited the country throughout the country's history. In the 13th century, the territory joined the Mongolian Empire under Genghis Khan. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, divided into three jüz; the Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times. In 1936, it was made part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Nursultan Nazarbayev, the first President of Kazakhstan, was characterized as an authoritarian, his government was accused of numerous human rights violations, including suppression of dissent and censorship of the media.
Nazarbayev resigned in March 2019, with Senate Chairman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev taking office as Interim President. Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy its dominant hydrocarbon industry. Human Rights Watch says that "Kazakhstan restricts freedom of assembly and religion", other human rights organisations describe Kazakhstan's human rights situation as poor. Kazakhstan's 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Germans and Uyghurs. Islam is the religion of about 70% of the population, with Christianity practised by 26%. Kazakhstan allows freedom of religion, but religious leaders who oppose the government are suppressed; the Kazakh language is the state language, Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes. Kazakhstan is a member of the United Nations, WTO, CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Eurasian Economic Union, CSTO, OSCE, OIC, TURKSOY; the name "Kazakh" comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, "to wander", reflecting the Kazakhs' nomadic culture.
The name "Cossack" is of the same origin. The Persian suffix -stan means "land" or "place of", so Kazakhstan can be translated as "land of the wanderers". Though traditionally referring only to ethnic Kazakhs, including those living in China, Turkey and other neighbouring countries, the term "Kazakh" is being used to refer to any inhabitant of Kazakhstan, including non-Kazakhs. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Paleolithic. Pastoralism developed during the Neolithic as the region's climate and terrain are best suited for a nomadic lifestyle; the Kazakh territory was a key constituent of the Eurasian Steppe route, the ancestor of the terrestrial Silk Roads. Archaeologists believe. During recent prehistoric times Central Asia was inhabited by groups like the Proto-Indo-European Afanasievo culture early Indo-Iranians cultures such as Andronovo, Indo-Iranians such as the Saka and Massagetae. Other groups included the nomadic Scythians and the Persian Achaemenid Empire in the southern territory of the modern country.
In 329 BC, Alexander the Great and his Macedonian army fought in the Battle of Jaxartes against the Scythians along the Jaxartes River, now known as the Syr Darya along the southern border of modern Kazakhstan. The Cuman entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. While ancient cities Taraz and Hazrat-e Turkestan had long served as important way-stations along the Silk Road connecting Asia and Europe, true political consolidation began only with the Mongol rule of the early 13th century. Under the Mongol Empire, the largest in world history, administrative districts were established; these came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate. Throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-
Sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of small particules and subsequent cementation of mineral or organic particles on the floor of oceans or other bodies of water at the Earth's surface. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes; the particles that form a sedimentary rock are called sediment, may be composed of geological detritus or biological detritus. Before being deposited, the geological detritus was formed by weathering and erosion from the source area, transported to the place of deposition by water, ice, mass movement or glaciers, which are called agents of denudation. Biological detritus was formed by bodies and parts of dead aquatic organisms, as well as their fecal mass, suspended in water and piling up on the floor of water bodies. Sedimentation may occur as dissolved minerals precipitate from water solution; the sedimentary rock cover of the continents of the Earth's crust is extensive, but the total contribution of sedimentary rocks is estimated to be only 8% of the total volume of the crust.
Sedimentary rocks are only a thin veneer over a crust consisting of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Sedimentary rocks are deposited in layers as strata; the study of sedimentary rocks and rock strata provides information about the subsurface, useful for civil engineering, for example in the construction of roads, tunnels, canals or other structures. Sedimentary rocks are important sources of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels, drinking water or ores; the study of the sequence of sedimentary rock strata is the main source for an understanding of the Earth's history, including palaeogeography and the history of life. The scientific discipline that studies the properties and origin of sedimentary rocks is called sedimentology. Sedimentology is part of both geology and physical geography and overlaps with other disciplines in the Earth sciences, such as pedology, geomorphology and structural geology. Sedimentary rocks have been found on Mars. Sedimentary rocks can be subdivided into four groups based on the processes responsible for their formation: clastic sedimentary rocks, biochemical sedimentary rocks, chemical sedimentary rocks, a fourth category for "other" sedimentary rocks formed by impacts and other minor processes.
Clastic sedimentary rocks are composed of other rock fragments that were cemented by silicate minerals. Clastic rocks are composed of quartz, rock fragments, clay minerals, mica. Clastic sedimentary rocks, are subdivided according to the dominant particle size. Most geologists use the Udden-Wentworth grain size scale and divide unconsolidated sediment into three fractions: gravel and mud; the classification of clastic sedimentary rocks parallels this scheme. This tripartite subdivision is mirrored by the broad categories of rudites and lutites in older literature; the subdivision of these three broad categories is based on differences in clast shape, grain size or texture. Conglomerates are dominantly composed of rounded gravel, while breccias are composed of dominantly angular gravel. Sandstone classification schemes vary but most geologists have adopted the Dott scheme, which uses the relative abundance of quartz and lithic framework grains and the abundance of a muddy matrix between the larger grains.
Composition of framework grains The relative abundance of sand-sized framework grains determines the first word in a sandstone name. Naming depends on the dominance of the three most abundant components quartz, feldspar, or the lithic fragments that originated from other rocks. All other minerals are considered accessories and not used in the naming of the rock, regardless of abundance. Quartz sandstones have >90% quartz grains Feldspathic sandstones have <90% quartz grains and more feldspar grains than lithic grains Lithic sandstones have <90% quartz grains and more lithic grains than feldspar grainsAbundance of muddy matrix material between sand grains When sand-sized particles are deposited, the space between the grains either remains open or is filled with mud. "Clean" sandstones with open pore space are called arenites. Muddy sandstones with abundant muddy matrix are called wackes. Six sandstone names are possible using the descriptors for grain composition and the amount of matrix. For example, a quartz arenite would be composed of quartz grains and have little or no clayey matrix between the grains, a lithic wacke would have abundant lithic grains and abundant muddy matrix, etc.
Although the Dott classification scheme is used by sedimentologists, common names like greywacke and quartz sandstone are still used by non-specialists and in popular literature. Mudrocks are sedimentary rocks composed of at least 50% silt- and clay-sized particles; these fine-grained particles are transported by turbulent flow in water or air, deposited as the flow calms and the particles settle out of suspension. Most authors presently
Biological pest control
Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests such as insects, mites and plant diseases using other organisms. It relies on predation, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but also involves an active human management role, it can be an important component of integrated pest management programs. There are three basic strategies for biological pest control: classical, where a natural enemy of a pest is introduced in the hope of achieving control. Natural enemies of insect pests known as biological control agents, include predators, parasitoids and competitors. Biological control agents of plant diseases are most referred to as antagonists. Biological control agents of weeds include seed predators and plant pathogens. Biological control can have side-effects on biodiversity through attacks on non-target species by any of the same mechanisms when a species is introduced without thorough understanding of the possible consequences; the term "biological control" was first used by Harry Scott Smith at the 1919 meeting of the Pacific Slope Branch of the American Association of Economic Entomologists, in Riverside, California.
It was brought into more widespread use by the entomologist Paul H. DeBach who worked on citrus crop pests throughout his life. However, the practice has been used for centuries; the first report of the use of an insect species to control an insect pest comes from "Nanfang Caomu Zhuang", attributed to Western Jin dynasty botanist Ji Han, in which it is mentioned that "Jiaozhi people sell ants and their nests attached to twigs looking like thin cotton envelopes, the reddish-yellow ant being larger than normal. Without such ants, southern citrus fruits will be insect-damaged"; the ants used are known as huang gan ants. The practice was reported by Ling Biao Lu Yi, in Ji Le Pian by Zhuang Jisu, in the Book of Tree Planting by Yu Zhen Mu, in the book Guangdong Xing Yu, Lingnan by Wu Zhen Fang, in Nanyue Miscellanies by Li Diao Yuan, others. Biological control techniques as we know them today started to emerge in the 1870s. During this decade, in the US, the Missouri State Entomologist C. V. Riley and the Illinois State Entomologist W. LeBaron began within-state redistribution of parasitoids to control crop pests.
The first international shipment of an insect as biological control agent was made by Charles V. Riley in 1873, shipping to France the predatory mites Tyroglyphus phylloxera to help fight the grapevine phylloxera, destroying grapevines in France; the United States Department of Agriculture initiated research in classical biological control following the establishment of the Division of Entomology in 1881, with C. V. Riley as Chief; the first importation of a parasitoidal wasp into the United States was that of the braconid Cotesia glomerata in 1883–1884, imported from Europe to control the invasive cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae. In 1888–1889 the vedalia beetle, Rodolia cardinalis, a lady beetle, was introduced from Australia to California to control the cottony cushion scale, Icerya purchasi; this had become a major problem for the newly developed citrus industry in California, but by the end of 1889 the cottony cushion scale population had declined. This great success led to further introductions of beneficial insects into the USA.
In 1905 the USDA initiated its first large-scale biological control program, sending entomologists to Europe and Japan to look for natural enemies of the gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar dispar, brown-tail moth, Euproctis chrysorrhoea, invasive pests of trees and shrubs. As a result, nine parasitoids of gypsy moth, seven of brown-tail moth, two predators of both moths became established in the USA. Although the gypsy moth was not controlled by these natural enemies, the frequency and severity of its outbreaks were reduced and the program was regarded as successful; this program led to the development of many concepts and procedures for the implementation of biological control programs. Prickly pear cacti were introduced into Queensland, Australia as ornamental plants, starting in 1788, they spread to cover over 25 million hectares of Australia by 1920, increasing by 1 million hectares per year. Digging and crushing all proved ineffective. Two control agents were introduced to help control the spread of the plant, the cactus moth Cactoblastis cactorum, the scale insect Dactylopius.
Between 1926 and 1931, tens of millions of cactus moth eggs were distributed around Queensland with great success, by 1932, most areas of prickly pear had been destroyed. The first reported case of a classical biological control attempt in Canada involves the parasitoidal wasp Trichogramma minutum. Individuals were caught in New York State and released in Ontario gardens in 1882 by William Saunders, trained chemist and first Director of the Dominion Experimental Farms, for controlling the invasive currantworm Nematus ribesii. Between 1884 and 1908, the first Dominion Entomologist, James Fletcher, continued introductions of other parasitoids and pathogens for the control of pests in Canada. There are three basic biological pest control strategies: importation and conser
Potash
Potash is some of various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing the product before the industrial era; the word potassium is derived from potash. Potash is produced worldwide at amounts exceeding 90 million tonnes per year for use in manufacturing. Various types of fertilizer-potash constitute the single largest industrial use of the element potassium in the world. Potassium was first derived in 1807 by electrolysis of caustic potash. Potash refers to potassium compounds and potassium-bearing materials, the most common being potassium chloride; the term potash comes from the Middle Dutch word potaschen. The old method of making potassium carbonate was by collecting or producing wood ash, leaching the ashes and evaporating the resulting solution in large iron pots, leaving a white residue called pot ash. 10% by weight of common wood ash can be recovered as pot ash.
Potash became the term applied to occurring potassium salts and the commercial product derived from them. The following table lists a number of potassium compounds which use the word potash in their traditional names: All commercial potash deposits come from evaporite deposits and are buried deep below the earth's surface. Potash ores are rich in potassium chloride, sodium chloride and other salts and clays, are obtained by conventional shaft mining with the extracted ore ground into a powder. Other methods include dissolution evaporation methods from brines. In the evaporation method, hot water is injected into the potash, dissolved and pumped to the surface where it is concentrated by solar induced evaporation. Amine reagents are added to either the mined or evaporated solutions; the amine coats the KCl but not NaCl. Air bubbles cling to the amine + KCl and float it to the surface while the NaCl and clay sink to the bottom; the surface is skimmed for the amine + KCl, dried and packaged for use as a K rich fertilizer—KCl dissolves in water and is available for plant nutrition.
Potash deposits can be found all over the world. At present, deposits are being mined in Canada, China, Israel, Chile, the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom and Brazil, with the most significant deposits present in Saskatchewan, Canada. Excessive respiratory disease has been a concern for potash miners throughout history due to environmental hazards, such as radon and asbestos. Potash miners are liable to develop silicosis. Based on a study done between 1977 and 1987 cardiovascular disease among potash workers, the overall mortality rates were low, but a noticeable difference in above ground workers was documented. Potash has been used in bleaching textiles, making glass, making soap, since about AD 500. Potash was principally obtained by leaching the ashes of sea plants. Beginning in the 14th century potash was mined in Ethiopia. One of the world's largest deposits, 140 to 150 million tons, is located in the Tigray's Dallol area. Potash was one of the most important industrial chemicals.
It was refined from the ashes of broadleaved trees and produced in the forested areas of Europe and North America. The first U. S. patent of any kind was issued in 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process". Pearl ash was a purer quality made by calcination of potash in kiln. Potash pits were once used in England to produce potash, used in making soap for the preparation of wool for yarn production; as early as 1767, potash from wood ashes was exported from Canada, exports of potash and pearl ash reached 43,958 barrels in 1865. There were 519 asheries in operation in 1871; the industry declined in the late 19th century when large-scale production of potash from mineral salts was established in Germany. In 1943, potash was discovered in Canada, in the process of drilling for oil. Active exploration began in 1951. In 1958, the Potash Company of America became the first potash producer in Canada with the commissioning of an underground potash mine at Patience Lake.
The underground mine was flooded in 1987 and was reactivated for commercial production as a solution mine in 1989. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, potash production provided settlers in North America a way to obtain badly needed cash and credit as they cleared wooded land for crops. To make full use of their land, settlers needed to dispose of excess wood; the easiest way to accomplish this was to burn any wood not needed for construction. Ashes from hardwood trees could be used to make lye, which could either be used to make soap or boiled down to produce valuable potash. Hardwood could generate ashes at the rate of 60 to 100 bushels per acre. In 1790, ashes could be sold for $3.25 to $6.25 per acre in rural New York State – nearly the same rate as hiring a laborer to clear the same area. Potash making became a major industry in British North America. Great Britain was always the most important market; the American potash industry followed the woodsman's ax across the country. After about 1820, New York replaced New England as the most important source.
Potash production was always
Overburden
In mining, overburden is the material that lies above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation, such as the rock and ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. Overburden is distinct from tailings, the material that remains after economically valuable components have been extracted from the finely milled ore. Overburden is removed during surface mining, but is not contaminated with toxic components. Overburden may be used to restore an exhausted mining site to a semblance of its appearance before mining began. Interburden is material that lies between two areas of economic interest, such as the material separating coal seams within strata. Overburden is used for all soil and ancillary material above the bedrock horizon in a given area. By analogy, overburden is used to describe the soil and other material that lies above a specific geologic feature, such as a buried astrobleme, or above an unexcavated site of archeological interest. In particle physics, the overburden of an underground laboratory may be important to shield the facility from cosmic radiation that can interfere with experiments.
In arboriculture, the word is used for the soil over the top of the roots of a tree collected from the wild. Gangue Spoil tip Bates, R. L. and Jackson, J. A. Glossary of geology American Geological Institute, Virginia. Haering, K. C.. "Changes in mine soil properties resulting from overburden weathering" Journal of environmental quality 22: pp. 194–200. McFee, W. W.. R. and Stockton, J. G. "Characteristics of coal mine overburden important to plant growth" Journal of environmental quality 10: pp. 300–308. The dictionary definition of overburden at Wiktionary
Fossil wood
Fossil wood is wood, preserved in the fossil record. Over time the wood will be the part of a plant, best preserved. Fossil wood may not be petrified; the study of fossil wood is sometimes called palaeoxylology, with a "palaeoxylologist" somebody who studies fossil wood. The fossil wood may be the only part of the plant, preserved, with the rest of the plant unknown: therefore such wood may get a special kind of botanical name; this will include "xylon" and a term indicating its presumed affinity, such as Araucarioxylon, Palmoxylon, or Castanoxylon. Petrified wood are fossils of wood that have turned to stone through the process of permineralization. All organic materials are replaced with minerals while maintaining the original structure of the wood; the most notable example is the petrified forest in Arizona. Mummified wood are fossils of wood, they are formed when trees are buried in dry cold or hot environments. They are valued in paleobotany because they retain original cells and tissues capable of being examined with the same techniques used with extant plants in dendrology.
Notable examples include the mummified forests in Axel Heiberg Island. Submerged forests are remains of trees submerged by marine transgression, they are important in determining sea level rise since the last glacial period. Dendrochronology Paleobotany Xyloid lignite
Hazelwood Power Station
The Hazelwood Power Station is a decommissioned brown coal-fuelled thermal power station located in the Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. Built between 1964 and 1971, the 1,600 megawatt capacity power station was made up of eight 200MW units, supplied up to 25% of Victoria's base load electricity and more than 5% of Australia's total electricity demand, it was a'subcritical' pulverized coal-fired boiler. The station was listed as the least carbon efficient power station in the OECD in a 2005 report by WWF Australia, making it one of the most polluting power stations in the world. At 1.56 tonnes of CO2 for each megawatt hour of electricity, it was 50% more polluting than the average black coal power station in New South Wales or Queensland. Hazelwood emitted 14% of Victoria's annual greenhouse gas emissions and 3% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. International Power plc purchased Hazelwood Power Station and the adjoining mine from the Victorian Government in 1996 with an expected 40-year life.
In 2005, the Bracks Labor Government approved an environmental effects statement that allowed Hazelwood to relocate a road and a section of the Morwell river to allow access to an additional 43 million tonnes of coal in addition to that allowed under the mining licence boundaries set at the time of privatisation. This was estimated to provide sufficient coal for the plant to operate to at least 2030; the EES capped its expected total greenhouse output at 445 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its life, after which Hazelwood may have been made to cease operation. Hazelwood was jointly owned with a 72 % share and Mitsui & Co. with a 28 % share. In 2014, Hazelwood employed 495 staff directly and on average 300 contractors. On 3 November 2016, Engie announced that the entire Hazelwood plant would be closed as of the end of March 2017, giving the workers and local communities only five months notice of the closure; the power station closed in March 2017. Development of the brown coal reserves at Morwell was started by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria in 1949 as the'Morwell Project', which included the Morwell open cut mine, the Morwell briquette works.
The Morwell Interconnecting Railway linked the power station and briquette works to the Yallourn open cut mine until 1993. Hazelwood Power Station was approved in 1959, was to consist of six 200-megawatt generating units, giving a total of 1,200 MW of generating capacity; the first unit was to enter service in 1964, the sixth in 1971. Growing electricity demand saw a review carried out by the SECV in 1963, with commissioning of the generating units moved forward to 1969. Additional capacity was provided when in 1965 two additional generating units at Hazelwood were approved, to be commissioned in 1970 and 1971 respectively. Hazelwood relied on brown coal deposits from the nearby Morwell open cut mine. In 2003, the plant used 17.2 million tonnes of coal, while a further 1.6 million tonnes of coal was supplied from the Morwell mine to Morwell Power Station Energy Brix Australia 2.5 km North East of Hazelwood Power Station. Hazelwood Power Station and associated mine were privatised by the Kennett government in 1996 after many years of downsizing under a'structural efficiency' model undertaken by the state Liberal government.
It was sold for A$2.35 billion, it operated as'IPR-GDF SUEZ Hazelwood', an Australian public company, owned by UK company, International Power plc - part of the GDF SUEZ group - and the Commonwealth Bank Group. The business office was near Morwell, 150 kilometres east of Melbourne. Prior to January 2011, IPR-GDF SUEZ Hazelwood had been known as International Power Hazelwood and Hazelwood Power before that. After privatisation the new owners engaged in capital investment, with A$800 million invested in Hazelwood since 1996, such as replacement of boilers, rotors and the completion of an A$85 million project to reduce dust emissions by 80%. If Hazelwood had not been sold to private interests, activist groups say the SECV would have shut the station down in 2005. Before privatisation the power station was due to be decommissioned by the SECV by 2005, as had older plants at Newport and Yallourn; however Hazelwood had its mining licence realigned by the Victorian Government along with EES approvals to move a river and a road on 6 September 2005.
This agreement ensured security of coal supply to the plant until at least 2030 by allowing access to 43 million tonnes of brown coal deposits in a realignment of Hazelwood's mining licence boundaries that were set in 1996. Hazelwood returned over 160 million tonnes of coal to the State Government as part of that agreement; the agreement required Hazelwood to reduce its estimated emissions by 34 million tonnes and capped its total greenhouse output at 445 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over its life, after which point it may have been made to cease operation. However credits for investment in renewable energy and low emission technology was expected to allow the business to operate within the cap and extend its life. In spite of this, the station was still decommissioned. Hazelwood's West Field development involved completing a new 7.5-kilometre section of the Strzelecki Highway, replacing over 10 kilometres of the Morwell River from an old concrete pipe into a natural open channel riverine setting, acquiring owned land, earmarked for future coal supply.
Environment Victoria and Australian Conservation Foundation opposed the development approvals, whi
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