In this thesis, I constrain rupture scenarios of active crustal faults in the southern Strait of Georgia and Boundary Bay in order to assess their tsunamigenic potential. The NW-SE-trending Drayton Harbor, Birch Bay, and Sandy Point faults had been previously identified on the southern side of Boundary Bay from aeromagnetic, LiDAR, and paleoseismic data; all show evidence of abrupt vertical Holocene displacements. South of Boundary Bay, the E-W-trending Skipjack Island fault zone was recently mapped on the basis of multibeam sonar imagery and seismic reflection data, with evidence for Holocene offsets of the seafloor and subsurface sediments. In addition, the Fraser River Delta fault had been hypothesized on the basis of a line of pockmarks and fluid seeps. Since these faults have only been recently mapped and identified as active, there is little information available on their structure, rupture style, and past large earthquakes. This makes it difficult to constrain rupture models to predict how fault slip could displace the seafloor during a large earthquake, for input to tsunami models. I analyzed relocated earthquake hypocentres, earthquake mechanisms, bathymetry, topography, and aeromagnetic, seismic reflection, and magnetotelluric data, to constrain the location, strike, dip, and rupture width of each fault. Correlations between datasets enabled mapping of northwestward extensions of the Sandy Point and Birch Bay faults, as well as delineating the previously unmapped Fraser River Delta fault. These offshore faults appear to be associated with infilled basement valleys in the subsurface, perhaps due to differential glacial erosion of weakened fault zone material. The Drayton Harbor fault could not be definitively mapped across Boundary Bay, so was excluded from the rupture modelling. Rupture styles were constrained using a combination of earthquake mechanisms, stress orientations, other evidence of regional compression, and vertical paleoseismic offsets. Where possible, paleoseismic displacements in past earthquakes were used to constrain the amount of fault slip for scenario earthquakes; empirical relations between fault slip and fault length or area were used to estimate displacements for the Skipjack Island and Fraser River Delta faults. The Birch Bay, Sandy Point, Skipjack Island, and Fraser River Delta faults all pose a significant tsunami risk to communities surrounding the southern Strait of Georgia and Boundary Bay. Considering both the originally mapped and extended lengths, the Birch Bay and Sandy Point faults could rupture in reverse-faulting earthquakes up to Mw 6.7-7.4 and 6.8-7.5, respectively, with seafloor uplift up to 2-2.5 m triggering damaging tsunami waves (up to at least 2.5 m) that could arrive onshore with little to no warning after the shaking begins. Similarly, the Fraser River Delta fault could host reverse or dextral-reverse slip earthquakes up to Mw 7.0-7.6, with seafloor uplift of 0.6-3.5 m. Ruptures on the Skipjack Island fault would likely have a larger strike-slip component; earthquakes of Mw 6.9-7.3 produce modelled seafloor uplift of 0.5-1.9 m. These results suggest that large tsunamigenic earthquakes on crustal faults in the southern Strait of Georgia should be included in future seismic and tsunami hazard assessments on both sides of the international border. / Graduate

Les deltas fluviaux sont des écosystèmes riches et vulnérables. Les apports de sédiments fluviaux assurent leur développement face à la subsidence et l’érosion induite par les agents marins. Les deltas sont principalement exposés à des crues et des submersions marines. Pourtant, ils restent des lieux stratégiques de peuplement, de production économique et d’enjeux géopolitiques, les rendant d’autant plus vulnérables et exposés aux risques. Cette thèse a pour objectif de cerner le fonctionnement passé et actuel de ces systèmes à partir de l’analyse de soixante deltas et d’une approche holistique systémique, à l’aide de données spatiales, environnementales et sociétales. Après l’étude de l’évolution côtière récente montrant une tendance à la diminution de la progradation de nombreux deltas, une classification conceptuelle et qualitative de la morphologie des deltas axée sur les influences fluviomarines a été conduite. La mise à jour de cette classification et la proposition de nouvelles approches, en termes de morphologie, de dynamique et de vulnérabilité, ont nécessité une revue des acquis antérieurs, une quantification de l’influence du fleuve, de la houle et de la marée, et une approche quantitative qui a mis en évidence la complexité des interactions. Le travail débouche sur une nouvelle classification quantitative et objective. La thèse compare aussi les réponses deltaïques à des perturbations exceptionnelles, montrant les limites de la résilience deltaïque. Elle renseigne sur l'impact anthropique sur ces espaces fragiles fortement dépendants de l’apport sédimentaire. Cet équilibre est d’autant plus fragilisé aujourd’hui par les impacts du changement climatique. / River deltas are rich and fragile ecosystems. Deltas depend on fluvial sediment supply to balance natural subsidence and erosion caused by waves and currents. Deltas are mainly affected by river flooding, marine submersion. However, deltas are strategic sites of human settlement, economic hotspots, and geopolitical issues. This attraction increases the pressure, rendering these deltas more and more exposed to risks and vulnerable.The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the past and present functional dynamics of delta shorelines based on 60 of the world’s deltas and a holistic and systemic approach with spatial, environmental, and societal data. After the study of recent coastal evolution showing a tendency to decreasing progradation of many deltas, a conceptual and qualitative classification of deltaic morphology based on fluviomarine influences was conducted. Updating of this classification and the proposal of new approaches, in terms of morphology, dynamics, and vulnerability, have necessitated revisiting these older schemes, and the adoption of a methodological and interpretative approach aimed at quantification of the weight of each of these three parameters showing the complexity of the interactions. The thesis proposes a new quantitative and objective classificatory framework, including the human dimension. Finally, the thesis highlights the responses of deltaic shorelines to exceptional perturbations, and highlights the limits of resilience. The thesis advises over the impact of humans on these fragile coastal environments, the equilibrium of which strongly depends on sediment supply. This fragility is further exacerbated by the impacts of climate change.

Using a comparative spatial and temporal analysis on sediment cores from 8 lakes in the Mackenzie River Delta uplands region, NT, Canada, this study assessed how persistent organic pollutant (POP) deposition to lake sediments was affected by: (1) the presence of retrogressive thaw slumps on lake shores; and (2) changes occurring with increased autochthonous primary productivity. POPs examined included polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), penta- and hexachlorobenzenes (CBzs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and metabolites (DDTs). Surface sediments of slump-affected lakes contained higher total organic carbon (TOC)-normalized POP concentrations than nearby reference lakes unaffected by thaw slumps. Inorganic sedimentation rates were positively related to contaminant concentrations, suggesting that the influx of siliciclastic material reducing organic carbon in slump-affected lake water indirectly results in higher concentrations of POPs on sedimentary organic matter. This explanation was corroborated by an inverse relationship between sedimentary POP concentrations and TOC content of the lake water. Deposition proxies of autochthonous carbon were not significantly correlated to POP fluxes of surface sediments, and historical profile fluctuations did not coincide with variation in POP deposition. Thus this study does not support the contention that algal-derived organic carbon increases the delivery of organic pollutants to sediments (the algal-scavenging hypothesis), as previously proposed for mercury. Higher POP concentrations observed in surface sediments of slump-affected lakes are best explained by simple solvent switching processes of hydrophobic contaminants onto a lower pool of available organic carbon when compared to neighbouring lakes unaffected by thaw slump development.

Using a comparative spatial and temporal analysis on sediment cores from 8 lakes in the Mackenzie River Delta uplands region, NT, Canada, this study assessed how persistent organic pollutant (POP) deposition to lake sediments was affected by: (1) the presence of retrogressive thaw slumps on lake shores; and (2) changes occurring with increased autochthonous primary productivity. POPs examined included polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), penta- and hexachlorobenzenes (CBzs), and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane and metabolites (DDTs). Surface sediments of slump-affected lakes contained higher total organic carbon (TOC)-normalized POP concentrations than nearby reference lakes unaffected by thaw slumps. Inorganic sedimentation rates were positively related to contaminant concentrations, suggesting that the influx of siliciclastic material reducing organic carbon in slump-affected lake water indirectly results in higher concentrations of POPs on sedimentary organic matter. This explanation was corroborated by an inverse relationship between sedimentary POP concentrations and TOC content of the lake water. Deposition proxies of autochthonous carbon were not significantly correlated to POP fluxes of surface sediments, and historical profile fluctuations did not coincide with variation in POP deposition. Thus this study does not support the contention that algal-derived organic carbon increases the delivery of organic pollutants to sediments (the algal-scavenging hypothesis), as previously proposed for mercury. Higher POP concentrations observed in surface sediments of slump-affected lakes are best explained by simple solvent switching processes of hydrophobic contaminants onto a lower pool of available organic carbon when compared to neighbouring lakes unaffected by thaw slump development.

Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Water is life. Its availability and quality directly relates to what is possible in agriculture as well as human health. In Southern Africa, water issues have become an important political agenda as a result of the droughts that the region has been experiencing. The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), in its water protocol advises its member states to set up river basin organisations to manage transboundary rivers in Southern Africa. The aim is to encourage the sustainable use of international rivers. Sharing international rivers has proven to be a very difficult issue as shown by the voting patterns on the UN Convention on the Law of Non Navigational Uses of Transboundary Rivers and the subsequent failure of entry into force of this convention. While strategic interests on the global levels manifest themselves in voting patterns in forums like the UN Assembly, the situation is trickier at the regional level. These strategic interests are ever present as a result of states’ need for recognition of their sovereignty and the inability of states to accept any hierarchical enforcement. This study investigates the impact of these interests at the basin level on the structure of cooperation. With the use of a case study, namely the Okavango River Basin Commission, and guided by regime theory, the study looks at the process of regime formation and maintenance in the basin. It concludes that states use cooperative arrangements (international water cooperation regimes) as tools for the strategic protection of their sovereignty. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Water is lewe. Die beskikbaarheid en kwaliteit het direk te betrekking op wat moontlik toeneemed is in landbou so wel as menslike gesondheid. Water as ʼn noodsaaklike bron in suider-Afrika word meer en meer beskou as ʼn belangrike kwessie op die politieke agenda as gevolg van droogte wat in die streek ondervind word. ʼn Hoë vlak van belangrikheid word aan die bestuur van water binne die streek geheg. Die SAOG (Die Suider – Afrikaanse Ontwikkelings gemeenskap), het in sy water protokol aan sy lid state beveel om rivier kom organisasies te stig om beheer uit te oefen oor riviere in Suider- Afrika wat oor grense heen vloei. Die doel is om lidstate aan te moedig om die volhoubare gebruik van internasionale riviere te bevorder . Die vedeling van internasionale riviere is ‘n komplekse kwessie soos wat VN stempatrone aandui ten opsigte van die Wet op die Verbod teen Navigasie op Oorgrensende Riviere en die daaropvolgende versuim van die inwerkingtreding van die Konvensie aandui. As gevolg van state se behoefte vir erkenning van hul soewereiniteit en hul strategiese belange bly die deel van rivierkomme ‘n moeilike internasionale probleem. Hierdie studie ondersoek die impak van die bogenoemde belange op die kom vlak op die struktuur van samewerking. Met die gebruik van ʼn gevallestudie, naamlik die Okovango Rivier Kom Kommissie, en aan die hand van regime teorie, ondersoek die studie die proses van regime formasie asook die problematiek rondom die instandhouding van die Komissie. Die gevolgtrekking is dat state koöperatiewe reëlings (internasionale water samewerking regimes) as instrumente vir die beskerming van hul strategiese soewereiniteit en eie belange gebruik.

L'enjeu de cette recherche ethnologique consiste à saisir quelques traits et expressions de la socialité vietnamienne à travers l'étude de la circulation non marchande dans un village au Nord du Vietnam. La première partie vise à définir les manifestations concrètes, la nature et le fonctionnement de la circulation non marchande telle qu'elle se déploie dans le village. La deuxième partie s'attache à analyser les significations et les fonctions sociales de ce système de prestations symboliques. La description ethnographique de ce système montre qu'il s'affirme comme un dispositif de transferts ritualisés, selon lequel les agents sociaux donnent, lors d'occasions définies, à celui qui en a besoin au moment où il en a besoin. Ce système de dons cérémoniels est fondé sur l'entraide, la réciprocité des gestes et l'entretien de dettes morales. L'examen des rapports sociaux en jeu dans la circulation des dons permet de dresser une carte de l'organisation des relations sociales selon les degrés de proximité relationnelle. Cette étude se termine sur la fonction sociale de ces prestations réciproques, qui consiste à inaugurer et à perpétuer des relations tình cảm, c'est-à-dire des relations chargées d'affection spontanée et morale à la fois. En tant que dons d'alliance qui participent à réguler les relations personnelles, nous estimons que les transferts cérémoniels incarnent l'« instant fugitif où la société prend » (Mauss, 1999 : 275) en milieu rural au Nord du Vietnam. La conclusion tente une généralisation du propos à travers la description du giao lưu, qui consiste à se rencontrer et à échanger en vue d'actualiser, de sceller et de renforcer des relations sociales. / The following ethnological research aims at grasping a few characteristic features of the Vietnamese principles of sociality, through the study of non-commercial transactions taking place in a village located in the Northern Vietnam. The first part of the doctoral thesis lists the forms, the practices and the nature of non-commercial transactions occurring in the village. The second part analyses the social meanings and functions of those symbolics transactions. The ethnographic description of the system shows that most of the transactions occurring are ritualized : on defined occasions, villagers give a gift to someone else in need and at the moment when they need it. Those non-commercial transactions can be defined as a system of ceremonial gif-giving based on mutual aid, gesture reciprocity, and moral debt. The study of the connections between the gifts given and the social relations involved in the transactions allow us to map out the organization of the social relations according to the degrees of closeness. This study ends with the analysis of the social function entailed by mutual gifts. Their role is mainly to create and strengthen tình cảm, relationships, that is to say relationships filled with spontaneous and moral feelings. Because those « bonding gifts » participate to the regulation of the personnel relationship in the village, we can consider that they embody that «fleeting moment when society sets » (Mauss, 1999: 275) in rural area in Northern Vietnam.

林曉燕. / 論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 1998. / 參考文獻: leaves 89-96. / 中英文摘要. / Lin Xiaoyan. / Chapter 第一章 --- 硏究的問題 --- p.1 / Chapter (一) --- “關係´ح的歷史 --- p.3 / Chapter (二) --- “關係´ح的模式：主要形式“關係´ح 和伸展形式“關係´ح --- p.5 / Chapter (三) --- “關係´ح和國家的關係 --- p.7 / Chapter (四) --- “關係´ح文化和儒家思想 --- p.9 / 硏究的意義 --- p.11 / 硏究方法 --- p.14 / Chapter 第二章 --- “關係´ح的連續性：四九年以後的發展 --- p.19 / Chapter 第一： --- 「同志情結」 --- p.20 / Chapter 第二 ： --- 「政治“關係´ح」 --- p.23 / Chapter 第三： --- 「經濟“關係´ح」 --- p.27 / 總結：“關係´ح是連續體 --- p.31 / Chapter 第三章 --- “關係´ح資本的獲取 --- p.34 / 香港工業的北移 --- p.34 / 珠江三角洲受僱的經驗 --- p.35 / 志輝電器廠資金(資本)的來源 / Chapter (一) --- 向出口公司貸款：國家政策和個人信譽的結合 --- p.37 / 退稅政策 --- p.39 / 額度 --- p.42 / Chapter (二) --- 新會鎭政府的支持 --- p.44 / Chapter (三) --- 朋友之情 --- p.47 / 人情債 --- p.48 / 不收“回佣´ح --- p.49 / 先取貨，後附錢 --- p.50 / 總結: / Chapter (一) --- 城市的“關係´ح結合了主要形式“關係´ح 和伸展形式“關係´ح --- p.51 / Chapter (二) --- “關係´ح和國家政策的結合 --- p.53 / Chapter (三) --- 實踐的經濟：“關係´ح資本？ --- p.53 / Chapter 第四章 --- 世間遊戲 / Chapter (一) --- 官商之間：銅鈑(錢幣)原理 --- p.58 / 支持地方慈善活動 --- p.59 / 志輝廠的經濟實力(經濟資本） --- p.60 / “關係´ح？法律？ --- p.61 / Chapter (二) --- 生意的遊戲規則 --- p.64 / 個案一：公私混合 --- p.66 / 個案二 ：以牙還牙 --- p.68 / 個案三：一點義氣 --- p.69 / 個案四：“關係´ح的破烈 --- p.71 / 經濟活動：主要形式“關係´ح和 伸展形式“關係´ح的結合 --- p.72 / Chapter (三) --- 工廠管理：ISO 9002的啓示 --- p.74 / 工廠管理：「家庭式」和 「制度化」的結合 --- p.75 / 總結:徘徊 --- p.77 / Chapter 第五章 --- 總結：“關係´ح文化 / Chapter (一) --- “關係´ح是歷史的連續體 --- p.79 / Chapter (二) --- 城市的“關係´ح：主要形式“關係´ح和 伸展形式“關係´ح的結合 --- p.81 / Chapter (三) --- “關係´ح和國家結構的共生 --- p.84 / Chapter (四) --- “關係´ح文化不是儒家思想的產物 --- p.86 / 中文參考書 --- p.89 / English Bibliography --- p.91

Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) data are used to report the temporal and spatial patterns of subsidence as well as the potential contributors to subsidence within the Barataria and Terrebonne Bays. In recent decades, subsidence in southeast Louisiana has become a topic of substantial and growing concern to the scientific community, the local residents, and all those invested in the region. Lidar data were acquired from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the LSU Center for Geoinformatics. The data has been manipulated to map the differenced Lidar, complete an instantaneous slope analysis, and determine the thickness of the Holocene sediments. The goal was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subsidence patterns and the dynamic processes driving subsidence within the study area. These efforts provide a better ability to plan for the future of the Louisiana working coast and mitigate against relative sea level rise and coastal land loss.

There has been rapid change in the landcover/landuse in the Mekong delta, Viet Nam. The landcover/landuse has changed very fast due to intense population pressure, agriculture/aquaculture farming and timber collection in the coastal areas of the delta. The changing landuse pattern in the coastal areas of the delta is threatened to be flooded by sea level rise; sea level is expected to rise 33 cm until 2050; 45 cm until 2070 and 1 m until 2100. The coastline along the eastern Mekong delta has never been static, but the loss of mangrove forests along the coast has intensified coastline change. The objective of the present study is to map the changes in landcover/landuse along the eastern coast of the Mekong delta; and to detect the changes in position of the eastern coastline over the time period from 1989 to 2002.To detect changes in landuse, two satellite images of the same season, acquired by the TM sensor of Landsat 5 and the ETM+ sensor of Landsat 7 were used. The TM image was acquired on January 16, 1989 and ETM+ image was acquired on February 13, 2002. The landcover/landuse classes selected for the study are water, forest, open vegetation, soil and shrimp farms. Image differencing and post classification comparison are used to detect the changes between two time periods. Image to image correction technique is used to align satellite images. Maximum likelihood supervised classification technique is used to classify images. The result of the classification consists of five classes for 1989 and 2002, respectively. Overall accuracies of 87.5% and 86.8%, with kappa values of 0.85 and 0.84 are obtained for landuse 1989 and landuse 2002, respectively. The overall accuracy for the change map is 82% with kappa value 0.80. Post classification comparison is carried out in this study based on the supervised classification results. According to the results obtained from the post classification comparison, a significant decrease of 48% in forest and a significant increase of 74% in open vegetation and 21% in shrimp farms area observed over the entire study area. The coastline obtained by the combination of histogram thresholding and band ratio showed an overall advancement towards the South China Sea. The results showed that new land patches emerged along the eastern coast. The amount of new land patches appeared along the coast of the Mekong delta is approximately 2% of the entire study area.