No description available.

Many forested catchments in northern Pakistan have undergone land cover change during the last few decades. Extreme floods and extended droughts observed in these areas have lead to the question: How do human influences affect the water balance of a montane catchment. The underlying socio-political factors that have lead to the changes in forest cover and catchment hydrology are well documented, but there have been very few efforts to spatially correlate the cover changes with the catchment water balance. A deterministic model based on high resolution spatial and temporal data offers the ability to simulate the hydrological impacts of changes in land cover in a spatial context. In an attempt to assess the impacts of changing forest covers on individual hydrological processes, a GIS-based model Siran_HYDMAPS has been developed for the Siran Basin, Pakistan. This model integrates the spatial databases with the well-known hydrological process algorithms (e.g. Penman-Monteith evpotranspiration and Green-Ampt infiltration models). Spatially distributed static (topographic and soil) parameters for this model are extracted from a regional GIS developed specifically for the project. The dynamic (vegetation-related) parameters are estimated from the land cover maps, derived by digital processing of multi-resolution, multi-temporal Landsat MSS (5.3.1979) and TM (10.7.1989). Relative relief and shadowing in rugged terrain of the Himalayan foothills, that cause major problems in image processing, have been given particular attention. A rule-based approach was adopted to refine land cover maps with the integration of GIS for mapping the level II forest classes. Mapping of forest cover changes was carried out by post-classification change detection techniques. The Siran_HYDMAPS predicts a decrease in radiation balance and interception capacity, and an increase in evapotranspiration and catchment response of the Siran Basin, as a result of land cover changes. It was concluded that the water imbalances in this catchment, observed during the last two decades, were caused by the integrated effects of land cover changes and climatic factors.

This thesis sets out to explore the experiences of young people living in a new settlement in rural Northamptonshire, which was constructed in part under New Labour’s Sustainable Communities Plan. Contextually, this project has been developed and carried out at a time of change in the UK. Economic downturn eventually led to recession, which slowed development on many new places. A change in UK government from Labour to a Conservative dominated coalition in 2010, also impacted on policy surrounding new developments. The young people who took part in my study were also in a unique position in the history of their development with their relationships set against the backdrop of this change but also against the changing and evolving environment in which they lived. My research focuses on young people’s intergenerational relationships, understandings and experiences of community and friendships. Over the course of approximately a year, I used ethnography and in depth interviews in order to collect data from eighteen young people and seven adults. Building on literatures of children and young people, community, intergenerational relationships and friendship, I make an original contribution to knowledge in the often-overlooked area of young people’s friendship. Exploring friendships through a wider examination of young people’s intergenerational relationships and connections to community, I focus explicitly on how friendships are shaped and what they mean to young people living in a new community, for example, the way these friendships were affected by transition, transport and lack of other young people living in the immediate locality and also the way that these friendships were developed, maintained and dissolved as a result of these issues. I also examine young people’s relationships to other people around them and to notions of community.

This thesis is concerned with the characteristics and development of scree slopes; theoretically from a range of climatic environments, and practically from the Western Desert in Egypt. The account is in two parts, each comprising three Chapters. The first part is an integrated review of the theory of the major gecmorphic processes and variables which influence scree development and is based on available published material. The second part involved detailed field measurement in the New Valley Province of Egypt. This part presents the results of surveying the characteristics of thirty screes situated within the El Kharga and El Dakhla depressions. At present this is an area of extreme aridity, although during late Pleistocene times there were several significant pluvial phases. From the survey of thirty profiles, three classes of scree form were identified. A basal concavity was present on all screes varying in degree and length of curvature from site to site due to the form of the accumulation surface and the evolutionary stage. Dpper straight segments of the profiles ranged between 30 and 37 with the greatest frequency between 31 and 33 . The steepest measured angle was 39.5 . Sampling of debris size and shape revealed two types of distribution; on seme screes an identifiable downslope sorting is attributed to rockfall processes, whilst on others a lack of well defined sorting patterns is ascribed to localized avalanching. Potential mechanisms of particle movemeit were examinei by studies of scree fabric and by field experiments. Late Pleistocene processes induced landslides, rockfalls and the undermining of cliffs. At present, insolation is significant in its effect on both bedrock and scree surfaces. Rockfall still occurs at all rates but at a much slower rate than during the wetter Pleistocene periods. Other processes currently active include dry avalanching, aeolian action and wild animal movement.

No description available.

No description available.

This study has aimed to make a broad examination of the explaration of industrial location patterns and employment change. The first section argues that the classical approach based on considerations of cost variations over space is inapplicable for most industries at the British scale. Available information is analysed to show that extreme variations in costs of production and distribution are likely to amount to only two or three per cent of total income. This degree of variability is strongly dependent on labour productivity which, at least in part, depends on the firm itself rather than on the location. Moreover, this variability is less than the average level of profits in most inqustries, and it, is consequently asserted that, except in a few heavy industries, margins to viable production do not exist at the British scale. The bulk of the study examines alternative explanations of industrial location. Since a lack of economic pressure on location implies the increased importance of entrepreneurial and managerial decisions, the latter become the focus of attention. Location behaviour is examined within five categories, or processes, i.e. the initial location of new firms, the growth of firms, closure, the establishment of branch plants and the relocation of firms. It is shown that new firms are located in the founder's home area and in a trade in which he is experienced. This process provides a major mechanism for the preserving of spatial structure of manufacturing. Growth is shown to be very variable between firms and surprisingly little influenced by industrial structure. Both entry rates and closure show significant spatial variation in contrast to growth rates. The final part of the study applies the knowledge of location processes to the explantion of industrial change in the postwar East Midlands. It is shown that a considerable turnover of firms and establishments occurs, with about half the initial population closing over a twenty year period, and being replaced by a similar number of new establishments. Existing firms and new local firms generate over eighty per cent of new employment, and only a small proportion results from the movement of establishments from other areas.

A combination of fieldwork and numerical modelling is used to examine the hydrology of a floodplain wetland, Narborough Bog in Leicestershire. The hydrogeological conditions which maintain floodplain wetlands are considered by describing floodplain hydrostratigraphies and deriving a simplified model of wetland hydrology. The hydrological processes which provide water inflow and outflow to a wetland system are reviewed. The mathematics of subsurface water flow are described to provide the background for application of a full groundwater model to the site. The processes are considered by reviewing studies on wetland hydrology. Regular monitoring of field water tables was undertaken, from November 1990 to June 1993; and the spatial and temporal relationship of these records to rainfall, evapotranspiration and river stage are described. Regression models and a response function are used to quantify the relationship of water tables to meteorological parameters, and also to examine the extent of temporal variations in model explanation. Experiments investigating water flow through in-situ peat deposits and alluvial sediments are described. These included an artificial flood experiment and the study of infiltration through an isolated peat column. The results enable approximate values for hydraulic parameters to be estimated for organic and alluvial deposits. The groundwater model MODFLOW was used to develop a calibrated transient model, the ability of which to replicate water table responses to isolated recharge and evapotranspiration events was examined. The results enable an assessment of the significance of influent and effluent water flows, and the contribution of overbank water flow to Narborough Bog. Suggestions for further refinement to the model are advanced. The model is used to derive approximate water budgets for 1991 and 1992 to demonstrate the sensitivity of Narborough Bog to periods of drought, and examine the current significance of the river to site hydrology.

Coarse grained, late-Devensian, fluvial deposits underlie river terraces along the lower River Severn and in tributary valleys. Borehole evidence indicates that individual terrace features may be correlated downstream, supporting previous stratigraphic interpretations. Examinations of the terrace sediments were carried out at 10 major sections enabling comparisons to be made between 'paraglacial' and 'periglacial' deposits. Interpretations of the depositional environments are based upon detailed descriptions of the sediments and considerations of genetic relationships between lithofacies types, determined through Markov chain and architectural element analyses. Five depositional sub-environments may be identified; channel zone units, overbank deposits, unitary channel forms, slope and alluvial fan deposits. The occurrence of the latter two sub-environments depends on the pre-existing valley topography, whilst the characteristics of the channel-zone and overbank deposits vary in relation to the local aggradation rate, discharge regime, proximal to distal controls on the sediment size distribution and channel slope. The fluvial sequences were predominantly deposited by low sinuosity gravel bed rivers, often with braided planforms. However, the Worcester Terrace aggraded partly under sandy braided conditions. Channel zone lithofacies in a modern braided river are shown to develop through the formation and agglomeration of complex lateral and medial bar forms. These comprise bar-platform units representing primary, in-channel (unit-bar), sedimentation, and supra-platform sediments which are superimposed on, and modify, the bar-platform deposition. Mean annual flood discharges in the basin, and possible error limits, are estimated using palaeohydraulic and morphometric techniques. Palaeodischarges in the Severn and Avon are shown to have been similar, with maxima occurring during deglaciation. Avon discharges may have been up to 25 times present values, although in the lower Severn mean annual floods may only have reached 4 times present. The development and preservation of Pleistocene terrace deposits is considered within a model emphasizing differences apparent in the sedimentary sequences. A similar model explains the development of channel zone depositional features, and the origins of gravel stratification types are discussed in relation to observations of terrace and modern sediments.

This study reports a new ecohydrological approach to modelling moorland hillslopes, which extends previous work on moorland hillslopes and has wider relevance to the study of ecohydrological systems. A new conceptual and numerical model, MEMory is presented which considers soil memory and the effects of plants on soil structure as important features of moorland hillslopes. Representation of surface and subsurface patterns and how these may vary spatially and over time was considered essential to exploring the role of memory and an iterative process of model development and testing with field data was adopted. A numerical model was developed to demonstrate the effects of the rules and assumptions of the conceptual model on the behaviour of a modelled moorland hillslope. The numerical model successfully reproduced surface plant-age distributions of Calluna vulgaris L. (Hull) observed in the field. Field campaigns and laboratory-based investigation indicated variability in subsurface properties in relation to different Calluna plant age distributions, which provided some evidence to support the model’s predictions on subsurface variability. The numerical model was used to explore how patterns imposed by vegetation management practices may affect the ecohydrological behaviours of ecosystems. The model predicts that burning can have large effects on the hydrological conditions of moorland hillslopes. Use of a spatial model proved very important because the simulations highlighted model sensitivity to the size of management event and the location on the slope, in addition to the frequency of management events. The model simulations have provided useful predictions which could be tested in the field as part of future studies of the ecohydrology behaviours of moorland hillslopes. The study demonstrates the power of a conceptual model as a tool for understanding how a system works and suggests that numerical models could play a much greater role in the study of subsurface patterns and processes.