Untitled (free/still) 1992/1995/2007/2011 is a series of artworks by Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. Trained in Canada, the New York-based artist's installations often take the form of stages or rooms for sharing meals, cooking, reading or playing music; architecture or structures for living and socialising are a core element in his work.
In this conceptual piece, Tiravanija invites the visitor to interact, in a sociable manner, with this contemporary art. The artist aims to bridge the distance between the viewer and the artist. The viewer is part of the art, and is constantly creating the art as they eat curry and talk with friends or new acquaintances. (Full article...)
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Copacetic is the debut studio album by American pop punk band Knuckle Puck. Following the release of several EPs and the addition of bassist Ryan Rumchaks, the band began writing material for their debut album. In late December, it was announced the band had signed to Rise Records. The band recorded at Always Be Genius Recording Studio between February and April 2015 with producer Seth Henderson.
Copacetic was released through Rise on July 31. The album sold over 8,000 copies in the first week, charting at number 61 on the Billboard 200. It also charted in the top 20 on several Billboard charts and in the top 50 on several UK charts. (Full article...)
The painting is one of many in a series that Gallagher produced consisting of large scale, black paintings that she used to explore her African-American heritage and early stereotypes of African Americans, including minstrel shows. To create Untitled, Gallagher glued paper to a canvas. She used black oil paint on the paper and on top of that, silver paint to create small, human lips in rows.
Orbital (also known as Orbital 1 or the Green Album) is the debut studio album by English electronic music duo Orbital, released on 30 September 1991 by FFRR Records. Orbital self-titled their first two albums so the "Green Album" is an unofficial name to distinguish it from the second album. The Mutations EP refers to the album as L.P. C.D. M.C., thus titling the album after the "LP" / "CD" / "MC" on the front cover of the respective format. (Full article...)
FrontmanEd Roland has considered Collective Soul the band's true debut album; Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid was intended more as a promotional demo and a means of acquiring a publishing contract for Roland who in 1995 noted, "It's so funny for people to compare the two. It's like comparing one band to another band. This record is our first record, flat out." (Full article...)
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Untitled is the ninth studio album by American R&B recording artist R. Kelly. It was released in the UK on November 30, 2009, and in the US by Jive Records on December 1, 2009. It was entirely produced by R. Kelly and a team of younger producers. (Full article...)
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The untitled fourth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV, was released on 8 November 1971, by Atlantic Records. Produced by the band's guitarist, Jimmy Page, it was recorded between December 1970 and February 1971, mostly in the country house Headley Grange. The album contains one of the band's most well-known recordings, the eight-minute-long "Stairway to Heaven".
The informal recording environment inspired the band, allowing them to try different arrangements of material and create songs in various styles. After the band's previous album Led Zeppelin III (1970) received lukewarm reviews from critics, they decided their fourth album would officially be untitled and represented instead by four symbols – one chosen by each band member – without featuring the name or any other details on the cover. Unlike the prior two albums, the band was joined by guest musicians: the singer Sandy Denny on "The Battle of Evermore", and the pianist Ian Stewart on "Rock and Roll". As with prior albums, most of the material was written by the band, though there was one cover song, a hard rock re-interpretation of the Memphis Minnieblues song "When the Levee Breaks".
Led Zeppelin IV was an immediate critical and commercial success and is Led Zeppelin's best-selling album, having sold over 37 million copies worldwide. It is one of the best-selling albums in the United States and of all time, while critics have regularly placed it high on lists of the greatest albums of all time. (Full article...)
Untitled (Urban Wall) is an outdoor mural by Austrian artist Roland Hobart located at 32 North Delaware Street in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The mural originally occupied two exterior walls of two four-story commercial buildings at this site. The mural was commissioned by the City of Indianapolis for the Indianapolis Urban Walls Project in 1973. Fabrication of the mural began in September 1973 and finished by the end of the year. (Full article...)
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Soul's Aflame is the second album released by O.A.R. in 1999, recorded at Gizmo Recording Company in Silver Spring, Maryland with engineer and producer Gantt Kushner. (Full article...)
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Untitled, also known as Figure Group, is a 1960 sculpture by artist Joe Falsetti and architect David Schackne Jr., installed outside the east entrance of the Columbus Public Schools' Administration Office (270 East State Street) in Columbus, Ohio, United States. (Full article...)
Untitled (Pope) is a circa 1954 oil-on-canvas panel painting by the Irish-born, English artist Francis Bacon, one in a series of many representations of popes he painted after Diego Velázquez's 1650 Portrait of Innocent X. Bacon was a harsh self-critic and destroyed a great many of his own paintings, many of which were created under the influence of drink. This work was long thought lost until it reemerged on the art market in 2016. It is closely related to another one of Bacon's works, the Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X in the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa.
When asked why he was compelled to revisit Velázquez's Portrait so often, Bacon said that he had nothing against popes, but merely sought "an excuse to use these colours, and you can't give ordinary clothes that purple colour without getting into a sort of false fauve manner". Bacon was in the 1950s coming to terms with the death of a cold, disciplinarian father, his early, illicit sexual encounters, and a very destructive sadomasochistic approach to sex, all of which informed this series of paintings.
Commenting on the freedom with brushwork in this example, Bacon biographer Michael Peppiatt said that Bacon was a gambler by nature and habit, and would often return to paintings late at night, to attack them with a brush to see what would happen. If he disliked the results he would simply have them destroyed. A number of people around Bacon were aware of these traits, and instead hid away the paintings, which have been reemerging since the mid-1990s. (Full article...)
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One was the debut and sole album released by the supergroupThe Panic Channel, who formed in 2004, released via Capitol Records in the US on August 15, 2006, and to the rest of the world on September 4, 2006. There were two singles released: "Why Cry" and "Teahouse of the Spirits." (Full article...)
Untitled (Rape Scene) is a color photograph documentation created from a 35mm slide by Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta. She made it during an April 1973 performance while still a student at the University of Iowa. It is one of three photographs she created in reaction to the rape and murder of a woman on campus. The Tate Gallery in London, which owns the work, describes it this way:
Mendieta invited her fellow students to her apartment where, through a door left purposefully ajar, they found her in the position recorded in this photograph, which recreated the scene as reported in the press. Some time later, Mendieta recalled that her audience "all sat down, and started talking about it. I didn’t move. I stayed in position about an hour. It really jolted them." In 1980, she commented that the rape had "moved and frightened" her, elaborating: "I think all my work has been like that – a personal response to a situation ... I can’t see being theoretical about an issue like that." On another occasion she explained that she had created this work "as a reaction against the idea of violence against women."
Art writer Megan Heuer describes the work as capturing the artist's interest in violence. Influenced by the work of the Viennese Actionists, Untitled (Rape Scene) also expresses Mendieta's desire to evoke a visceral reaction from her audience. (Full article...)
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Untitled (2004) is a work by graffiti artist Banksy. In February 2007 it was sold at Sothebys London for £33,600 during a two-day action that included three other works by Banksy, all of which sold for unprecedented amounts: Bomb Middle England (sold for £102,000), Ballerina with Action Man Parts (£96,000) and Glory (£72,000). To coincide with the second day of auctions, Banksy updated his website with a new image of an auction house scene showing people bidding on a picture that said: “I Can’t Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit.”
In October 2007, a separate untitled work by Banksy, featuring a classically dressed painter poised with his brushes before an easel in the midst of artistic endeavour, was set to be auctioned at London's Lazarides Soho House for an estimated £50,000. (Full article...)
Unashamed was a Christian hardcore punk band that became one of the founding bands in the Spirit-Filled HardCore movement. Their bold faith-based lyrics center around ideas directly lifted from the Bible and conservative morality. They released two albums on Tooth & Nail Records. After signing with Tooth & Nail, the band toured until their "final" show at Cornerstone Festival in 1998. In 2009, the band announced that they were reforming with many of their original line-up, and would begin touring hard into 2010. (Full article...)
Six Feet Under received widespread acclaim, particularly for its writing and acting, and consistently drew high ratings for the HBO network. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest television series of all time. The show's series finale has also been described as one of the greatest television series finales. The series won numerous awards, including nine Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Peabody Award. (Full article...)
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(Untitled) is the ninth album by the American rock band the Byrds and was released in September 1970 on Columbia Records. It is a double album, with the first LP featuring live concert recordings from early 1970, and a second disc consisting of new studio recordings. The album represented the first official release of any live recordings by the band, as well as the first appearance on a Byrds' record of new recruit Skip Battin, who had replaced the band's previous bass player, John York, in late 1969.
The studio album mostly consists of newly written, self-penned material, including a number of songs that had been composed by band leader Roger McGuinn and Broadwaytheatre directorJacques Levy for a planned country rockmusical that the pair were developing. The production was to have been based on Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt and staged under the title of Gene Tryp (an anagram of Ibsen's play), but plans for the musical fell through. Five of the songs that had been intended for Gene Tryp were instead recorded by the Byrds for (Untitled)—although only four appear in the album's final running order.
The album peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and reached number 11 on the UK Albums Chart. A single taken from the album, "Chestnut Mare" b/w "Just a Season", was released in the U.S. in October 1970, but missed the Billboard Hot 100 chart, bubbling under at number 121. The single was later released in the UK in January 1971, where it did considerably better, reaching number 19 on the UK Singles Chart. Upon release, (Untitled) was met with positive reviews and strong sales, with many critics and fans regarding the album as a return to form for the band. Likewise, the album is today generally regarded by critics as being the best that the latter-day line-up of the Byrds produced. (Full article...)
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"Untitled (How Does It Feel)" is a song by American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist D'Angelo. It was released on January 1, 2000, by Virgin Records as a radio single in promotion of his second studio album, Voodoo (2000). Written and produced by D'Angelo and Raphael Saadiq, the song was originally composed as a tribute to musician Prince. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" contains a vintage style and sound similar to that of Prince's early musical work. The song's lyrics concern a man's plea to his lover for sex.
The song received generally favorable reviews from music critics and it earned D'Angelo a number of awards. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" also earned notice for its controversial music video. Directed by Paul Hunter and Dominique Trenier, the video appears as one shot of a muscular D'Angelo in the nude and lip-synching to the track. While initial reaction from viewers was divided with praise for its sexuality and accusations of sexual objectification, the video received considerable airplay on music video networks such as MTV and BET, and it helped increase mainstream notice of D'Angelo and Voodoo. Some male viewers were reportedly uncomfortable with the video's imagery.
The music video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" had a considerable impact on D'Angelo's recording career, as it helped engender an image of him as a sex icon to a younger generation of fans. However, his discontent with this image led to his period of absence from the music scene following the conclusion of the supporting tour for Voodoo. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001. Rolling Stone magazine named "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" the fourth best single of 2000. The magazine later named it the fifty-first best song of the 2000s. The song's music video inspired later videos by Panic! at the Disco and Jason Derulo. (Full article...)
Two singles from the album were released – "Sowing Season" on November 21, 2006, and "Jesus Christ" on April 30, 2007. The album peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard 200, becoming the band's highest-charting record at the time of its release. In 2022, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA, denoting sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States alone.
The album saw Brand New fully leave behind their pop punk origins in favor of an indie rock direction. Lyrically, it was praised for the band's continued progression and maturity as songwriters by delving into darker subject matters such as existentialism, death, depression and religion.
The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me received positive reviews from critics. Publications including Pitchfork, Spin and Alternative Press compared the album to the work of Radiohead, and several pronounced it as one of the best albums of the decade. Its legacy grew in the years since its release, and it is now credited as one of the most important emo albums of all time by critics and fellow musicians. The band performed the album in full on a 2016 tour to commemorate the album's tenth anniversary. (Full article...)
On August 13, 2018, mewithoutYou released the first single off of the not-yet-announced [Untitled], "Julia (or, 'Holy to the LORD' on the Bells of Horses)." At the same time of the single's release, the band tweeted a link to a page on their website containing only a countdown timer. The timer finished at 12:00 am Eastern time (05:00 UTC) on August 17, 2018 and the band announced they would be releasing their seventh studio album, [Untitled], on October 5, 2018. In addition to the full length album announcement, mewithoutYou digitally released a "partner" EP named [untitled]. (Full article...)
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Untitled (L's), a public sculpture by American artist David Von Schlegell, is located on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The sculpture is located just north of Joseph Taylor Hall in a grassy courtyard adjacent to Michigan Street. Cavanaugh hall frames the courtyard to the west, the library and Business building are east of the courtyard. This sculpture was created in 1978, and installed at IUPUI in 1980. The sculpture is a Minimalist composition of three identical steel L's. The L structures have a vertical beam that is 55 feet (17 m) tall and a horizontal beam of 45 feet (14 m). The beams themselves are 16 inches (410 mm) high and 12 inches (300 mm) wide. (Full article...)
White Lotus is the fourth full-length album by American post-hardcore band Eyes Set to Kill. The album was released on August 9, 2011. This is the first album to feature the screamer, Cisko Miranda. It is also the first full length not to feature ex-guitarist, Greg Kerwin. Furthermore, it's their first album to be released under Maphia Records, Pre-orders for the album went up at 12 P.M. PST on July 7, 2011. Polly was given as a free download with the pre-orders and Harsh was streamed on sound cloud on July 8. Track 6, "Erasing Everything" is a remake of their song "Pure White Lace", which was originally released on their 2006 EP When Silence is Broken, the Night is Torn. (Full article...)
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Untitled #96 is a color photograph made by American visual artist Cindy Sherman in 1981. It is known as part of her Centerfold series of 12 pictures. On 11 May 2011, a print was auctioned for US$3.89 million, the highest price paid for a photographic print at that time, though the price has since been surpassed. Another print was sold by $2,882,500 at Christie's New York, at 8 May 2012. (Full article...)
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R.A.P. Music is the fifth studio album by American rapper Killer Mike. It was released through Williams Street Records on May 15, 2012. The "R.A.P." in the album's title is a backronym for "Rebellious African People". Production was handled by rapper and producer Jaime "El-P" Meline; the album was the first collaboration between Killer Mike and El-P, who would later form the critically acclaimed duo Run the Jewels. (Full article...)
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God Shuffled His Feet is the second album by Canadian band Crash Test Dummies, released in 1993. It features their most popular single, "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm". The cover art superimposes the band members' faces over the figures of Titian's painting Bacchus and Ariadne. It was their most successful album commercially, as it sold over eight million copies worldwide. (Full article...)
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Untitled (Rape Scene) is a color photograph documentation created from a 35mm slide by Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta. She made it during an April 1973 performance while still a student at the University of Iowa. It is one of three photographs she created in reaction to the rape and murder of a woman on campus. The Tate Gallery in London, which owns the work, describes it this way:
Mendieta invited her fellow students to her apartment where, through a door left purposefully ajar, they found her in the position recorded in this photograph, which recreated the scene as reported in the press. Some time later, Mendieta recalled that her audience "all sat down, and started talking about it. I didn’t move. I stayed in position about an hour. It really jolted them." In 1980, she commented that the rape had "moved and frightened" her, elaborating: "I think all my work has been like that – a personal response to a situation ... I can’t see being theoretical about an issue like that." On another occasion she explained that she had created this work "as a reaction against the idea of violence against women."
Art writer Megan Heuer describes the work as capturing the artist's interest in violence. Influenced by the work of the Viennese Actionists, Untitled (Rape Scene) also expresses Mendieta's desire to evoke a visceral reaction from her audience. (Full article...)
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London After Midnight is an American rock band from California. Formed in 1990 by songwriter and instrumentalist Sean Brennan, London After Midnight has a following worldwide, with a large fan base in the goth subculture. However, in interviews Brennan has shunned the use of this label and others to describe his music, calling it "artistically limiting". (Full article...)
The name Alan Laddie was the nom de plume for the show's writing staff.
Two unaired pilots were created, the first released as a special feature on the Volume Two DVD set. The series premiered on April 15, 1994, and ended on May 31, 2008, with a total of 109 episodes over the course of 11 seasons. (Full article...)
FrontmanEd Roland has considered Collective Soul the band's true debut album; Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid was intended more as a promotional demo and a means of acquiring a publishing contract for Roland who in 1995 noted, "It's so funny for people to compare the two. It's like comparing one band to another band. This record is our first record, flat out." (Full article...)
The album was released on the band's own label, Unorthodox Records, in Australia and on Second Motion Records in North America. Praised for its moody yet strong songwriting, it has yielded some of The Church's best reviews of their career, including a 5 star review from Australia's Rolling Stone. (Full article...)
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Untitled is a painting created by Haitian American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982. The artwork, which depicts a skull, is among the most expensive paintings ever. In May 2017, it sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby's, the highest price ever paid at auction for artwork by an American artist in a public sale. That record was surpassed by Shot Marilyns by Andy Warhol, which sold for $195 million in May 2022. (Full article...)
Law & Order aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on September 13, 1990, and completing its 20th season on May 24, 2010. On September 28, 2021, after an 11-year hiatus, NBC announced that the series would be revived for a 21st season, which premiered on February 24, 2022. The revival saw the debut of new regular cast members, and the reprise of two roles by series veterans: District Attorney Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston), and Detective Kevin Bernard (Anthony Anderson). Afterwards, the series was renewed for three additional seasons.
Set and filmed in New York City, the series follows a two-part approach: the first half-hour is the investigation of a crime (usually murder) and apprehension of a suspect by New York City Police Department homicide detectives, while the second half is the prosecution of the defendant by the Manhattan district attorney's office. Plots are based on real cases that recently made headlines, although the motivation for the crime and the perpetrator may be much different.
The show started using revolving door casting in season two. Among the longest running main cast members are Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe (seasons 3–14), S. Epatha Merkerson as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren (seasons 4–20), and Sam Waterston as District Attorney Jack McCoy (seasons 5–23; formerly Executive Assistant District Attorney).
Law & Order's 24 seasons are second only to its spin off Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present) for the longest-running live action scripted American primetime series. The success of the series has led to the creation of additional shows, making Law & Order a franchise, with a television film, several video games, and international adaptations of the series. It has won and has been nominated for numerous awards over the years, including a number of Emmy Awards. (Full article...)
The untitled sixth studio album by the Canadianrock band Trooper (informally known as Trooper 1980) was released on October 4, 1980. It remains the only Trooper album not to chart a hit single on Canada's RPM 100 Singles chart. (Full article...)
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Untitled was a serial publication published by the Friends of Photography from 1972 to 1994. A total of 58 numbered publications were issued, first as a small magazine format and later as a series of booklets and full-size books. Numbers 1–10 displayed the series name and issue number on the cover, but as the publications became more specialized each number was titled independently in addition to the series name. The smallest publication in the series was Number 1, with 10 pages, and the largest was Number 43, with 156 pages.
Toxic is the fifth studio album by Japaneserock band the Gazette. It was released on October 5, 2011 in Japan and includes four singles: "Shiver", "Red", "Pledge", and "Vortex". The album scored number 3 on the Oricon Daily Charts and number 6 on the Oricon Weekly Charts, selling 25,412 copies in its first week. (Full article...)
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Untitled (Pope) is a circa 1954 oil-on-canvas panel painting by the Irish-born, English artist Francis Bacon, one in a series of many representations of popes he painted after Diego Velázquez's 1650 Portrait of Innocent X. Bacon was a harsh self-critic and destroyed a great many of his own paintings, many of which were created under the influence of drink. This work was long thought lost until it reemerged on the art market in 2016. It is closely related to another one of Bacon's works, the Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X in the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa.
When asked why he was compelled to revisit Velázquez's Portrait so often, Bacon said that he had nothing against popes, but merely sought "an excuse to use these colours, and you can't give ordinary clothes that purple colour without getting into a sort of false fauve manner". Bacon was in the 1950s coming to terms with the death of a cold, disciplinarian father, his early, illicit sexual encounters, and a very destructive sadomasochistic approach to sex, all of which informed this series of paintings.
Commenting on the freedom with brushwork in this example, Bacon biographer Michael Peppiatt said that Bacon was a gambler by nature and habit, and would often return to paintings late at night, to attack them with a brush to see what would happen. If he disliked the results he would simply have them destroyed. A number of people around Bacon were aware of these traits, and instead hid away the paintings, which have been reemerging since the mid-1990s. (Full article...)
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Green is the sixth studio album by American rock band R.E.M., released in the United States on November 8, 1988, by Warner Bros. Records and the following day in the UK and Europe. The second album to be produced by the band and Scott Litt, it continued to explore political issues both in its lyrics and packaging. The band experimented on the album, writing major-key rock songs and incorporating new instruments into their sound including the mandolin, as well as switching their original instruments on other songs.
The main branches of soil science are pedology ― the study of formation, chemistry, morphology, and classification of soil ― and edaphology ― the study of how soils interact with living things, especially plants. Sometimes terms which refer to those branches are used as if synonymous with soil science. The diversity of names associated with this discipline is related to the various associations concerned. Indeed, engineers, agronomists, chemists, geologists, physical geographers, ecologists, biologists, microbiologists, silviculturists, sanitarians, archaeologists, and specialists in regional planning, all contribute to further knowledge of soils and the advancement of the soil sciences.
A log boom (sometimes called a log fence or log bag) is a barrier placed in a river, designed to collect and or contain floating logs timbered from nearby forests. The term is also used as a place where logs were collected into booms, as at the mouth of a river. With several firms driving on the same stream, it was necessary to direct the logs to their owner's respective booms, with each log identified by its own patented timber mark. One of the most well known logbooms was in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, along the Susquehanna River. The development and completion of that specific log boom in 1851 made Williamsport the "Lumber Capital of the World".
As the logs proceeded downstream, they encountered these booms in a manner that allowed log drivers to control their progress, eventually guiding them to the river mouth or sawmills. Most importantly, the booms could be towed across lakes, like rafts, or anchored while individual logs awaited their turn to go through the mill. Booms prevented the escape into open waters of these valuable assets.
Log boom foundations were commonly constructed of piles or large stones placed into cribs in a river to form small islands. The booms were themselves large floating logs linked together end to end, like a large floating chain connecting the foundations while strategically guiding the transported logs along their path.
Large blocks of ice commonly threaten booms, pushing free-flowing logs over the structures. Significantly large chunks of ice can even gain enough power so as to break through the boom altogether, freeing the logs and endangering unsuspecting people and wildlife located downstream. Moreover, flooding and the changing of the seasons fluctuate water levels, occasionally causing jams that can extend for miles on end.
Log booms were used in the United States and British North America throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. During the largely bloodless Aroostook War that centred on the disputed border between Maine and New Brunswick, hastily built booms proved pricy for local governments. The 1,300-foot-long Aroostook Boom, made of confiscated timber and containing seven piers, cost the state of Maine more than $15,000 to construct. Licensed loggers commonly sent their wood in easily manageable raft units, but illegal lumbermen cunningly sent loose timber, complicating the sorting process and angering officials. Booms often caused friction between the disputing governments; when political tensions intensified, loggers and soldiers targeted enemy booms with arms and explosives. (Full article...)
A timber slide is a device for moving timber past rapids and waterfalls. Their use in Canada was widespread in the 18th and 19th century timber trade. At this time, cut timber would be floated down rivers in large timber rafts from logging camps to ports such as Montreal and Saint John, New Brunswick. Rapids and waterfalls would, however, damage the wood and could potentially cause log jams. Thus at these locations timber slides were constructed. These were thin water filled chutes that would run parallel to the river. They would usually only be wide enough for a single log and one at a time the logs would be directed down it. The idea is attributed to Ruggles Wright who introduced the first one in 1829 not far from what is today down-town Hull, Quebec, Canada. Later, the slides could often be up to a kilometre in length. They were most commonly found on the Ottawa River system. The Bonnechere River in Eastern Ontario had five chutes along the waterway before emptying into the Ottawa River.
In some areas the timber slide became a tourist attraction, the most notable being the 1.2 km chute bypassing the Chaudière Falls on the Ottawa River in Ottawa. Its most notable visitors are the Duke of York, who later became King George V, and his wife, the Duchess of YorkMary of Teck.
Timber slides disappeared after the construction of canal networks and the decline of the timber trade. They were almost all out of service by the First World War. (Full article...)
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Rural sociology is a field of sociology traditionally associated with the study of social structure and conflict in rural areas. It is an active academic field in much of the world, originating in the United States in the 1910s with close ties to the national Department of Agriculture and land-grant university colleges of agriculture.
Sparsely populated and landlocked, the Central African Republic is overwhelmingly agrarian. The vast bulk of the population engages in subsistence farming and 55% of the country's GDP derives from agriculture. Subsistence agriculture, together with forestry, remains the backbone of the economy of the Central African Republic (CAR), with more than 70% of the population living in outlying areas.
Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled using hand tools and dragged by oxen to rivers.
The work was difficult, dangerous, intermittent, low-paying, and involved living in primitive conditions. However, the men built a traditional culture that celebrated strength, masculinity, confrontation with danger, and resistance to modernization. (Full article...)
This is the first law to have the five major uses of national forests contained in one law equally, with no use greater than any other.
By the 1950s, the national forests no longer held enough resources to meet the growing needs of an increasing population and expanding economy. The U.S. Forest Service had operated within broad authorities since Gifford Pinchot's time as Chief Forester. Now, for the first time the agency had a specific congressional directive which stipulated that timber sales were not in all cases to be the limiting factor.
MUSYA defines the terms "multiple use" and "sustained yield" as follows:
Multiple use - the "management of all the various renewable surface resources of the national forests so that they are utilized in the combination that will best meet the needs of the American people ...."
Sustained yield - "the achievement and maintenance in perpetuity of a high-level annual or regular periodic output of the various renewable resources of the national forests without impairment of the productivity of the land."
The 1960 law was amended by the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996. (Full article...)
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The stere or stère (st) is a unit of volume in the original metric system equal to one cubic metre. The stere is typically used for measuring large quantities of firewood or other cut wood, while the cubic meter is used for uncut wood. The name was coined from the Greek στερεός stereós, "solid", in 1795 in France as a metric analogue to the cord. The unit was introduced to remove regional disparities of this former unit, for which the length could vary greatly from 6 to 13.5 m. It is not part of the modern metric system (SI) and is no longer a legal unit in France, but remains used in the commerce of firewood. (Full article...)
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Forests cover about 50% of the territory of Estonia, or around 2 million hectares, and so make out an important and dominating landscape type in the country. National law and policies recognize that forests are a natural and ecological resource, and the importance of forests is to be considered from an economic, social, ecological and cultural aspect. (Full article...)
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Selection cutting, also known as selection system, is the silvicultural practice of harvesting trees in a way that moves a forest stand towards an uneven-aged or all-aged condition, or 'structure'. Using stocking models derived from the study of old growth forests, selection cutting, also known as 'selection system', or 'selection silviculture', manages the establishment, continued growth and final harvest of multiple age classes (usually three, but 5 or even 10 are possible) of trees within a stand. A closely related approach to forest management is Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF), which makes use of selection systems to achieve a permanently irregular stand structure.
Selection cutting or systems are generally considered to be more challenging to implement and maintain than even-aged management, due to the difficulty of managing multiple age classes in a shared space, but there are significant ecological benefits associated with it. Uneven-aged stands generally exhibit higher levels of vertical structure (key for many species of birds and mammals), have higher levels of carbon sequestration, and produce a more constant flow of market and non-market forest resources than even-aged stands. Although a forest composed of many stands with varied maturity ages maybe comparable, this would be at the forest rather than the stand level. This silvicultural method also protects forest soils from the adverse effects of many types of even-aged silviculture, including nutrient loss, erosion and soil compaction and the rapid loss of organic material from a forested system. Selection silviculture is especially adept at regenerating shade-tolerant species of trees (those able to function under conditions of low solar energy, both cooler and less light), but can also be modified to suit the regeneration and growth of intolerant and mid-tolerant species. This is one of many different ways of harvesting trees. Selection cutting as a silvicultural system can be modified in many ways and would be so done be a forester to take into account varied ownership goals, local site conditions and the species mix found from past forest conditions. (Full article...)
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A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable handheld powersaw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar.
Modern chainsaws are typically gasoline or electric and are used in activities such as tree felling, limbing, bucking, pruning, cutting firebreaks in wildland fire suppression, harvesting of firewood, for use in chainsaw art and chainsaw mills, for cutting concrete, and cutting ice. Precursors to modern chainsaws were first used in surgery, with patents for wood chainsaws beginning in the late 19th century.
A chainsaw comprises an engine, a drive mechanism, a guide bar, a cutting chain, a tensioning mechanism, and safety features. Various safety practices and working techniques are used with chainsaws. (Full article...)
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A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation, or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term tree farm also is used to refer to tree nurseries and Christmas tree farms. Plantation forestry can produce a high volume of wood in a short period of time. Plantations are grown by state forestry authorities (for example, the Forestry Commission in Britain) and/or the paper and wood industries and other private landowners (such as Weyerhaeuser, Rayonier, and Sierra Pacific Industries in the United States or Asia Pulp & Paper in Indonesia). Christmas trees are often grown on plantations, and in southern and southeastern Asia, teak plantations have replaced the natural forest.Industrial plantations are actively managed for the commercial production of forest products. Industrial plantations are usually large-scale. Individual blocks are usually even-aged and often consist of just one or two species. These species can be exotic or indigenous. The plants used for the plantation are often genetically altered for desired traits such as growth and resistance to pests and diseases in general and specific traits, for example in the case of timber species, volumic wood production and stem straightness. Forest genetic resources are the basis for genetic alteration. Selected individuals grown in seed orchards are a good source for seeds to develop adequate planting material.
Wood production on a tree plantation is generally higher than that of natural forests. While forests managed for wood production commonly yield between 1 and 3 cubic meters per hectare per year, plantations of fast-growing species commonly yield between 20 and 30 cubic meters or more per hectare annually; a Grand Fir plantation in Scotland has a growth rate of 34 cubic meters per hectare per year, and Monterey Pine plantations in southern Australia can yield up to 40 cubic meters per hectare per year. In 2000, while plantations accounted for 5% of global forest, it is estimated that they supplied about 35% of the world's roundwood.
The highest share of plantation forest is in South America, where this forest type represents 99 percent of the total planted-forest area and 2 percent of the total forest area. The lowest share of plantation forest is in Europe, where it represents 6 percent of the planted forest estate and 0.4 percent of the total forest area. Globally, 44 percent of plantation forests are composed mainly of introduced species. There are large differences between regions: for example, plantation forests in North and Central America mostly comprise native species and those in South America consist almost entirely of introduced species. (Full article...)
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Interception refers to precipitation that does not reach the soil, but is instead intercepted by the leaves, branches of plants and the forest floor. It occurs in the canopy (i.e. canopy interception), and in the forest floor or litter layer (i.e. forest floor interception ). Because of evaporation, interception of liquid water generally leads to loss of that precipitation for the drainage basin, except for cases such as fog interception, but increase flood protection dramatically, Alila et al., (2009). Intercepted snowfall does not result in any notable amount of evaporation, and most of the snow falls off the tree by wind or melts. However, intercepted snow can more easily drift with the wind, out of the watershed. Conifers have a greater interception capacity than hardwoods. Their needles gives them more surface area for droplets to adhere to, and they have foliage in spring and fall, therefore interception also depends on the type of vegetation in a wooded area.
Mitscherlich in 1971 calculated the water storage potential as interception values for different species and stand densities. A storm event might produce 50 – 100 mm of rainfall and 4 mm might be the maximum intercepted in this way. Grah and Wilson in 1944 did sprinkling experiments where they watered plants to see how much of the intercepted is kept after watering stops.
Trees like Norway maple and a small-leaved lime have an interception of approximately 38% of the gross precipitation in temperate climate.
The interception depends on the leaf area index and what kind of leaves they are.
Although the total number of species is relatively small, conifers are ecologically important. They are the dominant plants over large areas of land, most notably the taiga of the Northern Hemisphere, but also in similar cool climates in mountains further south. Boreal conifers have many wintertime adaptations. The narrow conical shape of northern conifers, and their downward-drooping limbs, help them shed snow. Many of them seasonally alter their biochemistry to make them more resistant to freezing. While tropical rainforests have more biodiversity and turnover, the immense conifer forests of the world represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink. Conifers are of great economic value for softwoodlumber and paper production. (Full article...)
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Weed control is a type of pest control, which attempts to stop or reduce growth of weeds, especially noxious weeds, with the aim of reducing their competition with desired flora and fauna including domesticatedplants and livestock, and in natural settings preventing non native species competing with native species.
Selective logging or partial forest removal is the practice of cutting down a few species of trees while leaving the rest intact and unharmed. Selective logging is often considered a better alternative to clear cutting. Selective logging in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest was recently shown in analyses of Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus data at high spatial resolution to be occurring at rates of about 12,000–20,000 km2 per year, thus indicating the central role of selective logging in tropical forest disturbance. Although selective logging has far less impact on forest processes than deforestation, selectively logged sites have higher rates of forest fires, tree fall, changes in microclimate, soil compaction and erosion, among other ecological impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Selective logging is a dominant form of land use in the Brazilian Amazon. Canopy gap fractions patterns are found to result from selective logging caused tree falls, roads, skid trails, and log decks, which are areas where logs are staged for transport. These gaps can vary between logging operations. Logging activities has now increased from initially low volume harvests of floodplains to much higher rates that remove around 25 million cubic metres (880×10^6 cu ft) of wood from the forest each year. The ecological, social, and economic impacts drive a better understanding of efficient forest management techniques and deforestation. (Full article...)
The practice entails the targeted removal of diseased, damaged, dead, non-productive, structurally unsound, or otherwise unwanted plant material from crop and landscape plants. In general, the smaller the branch that is cut, the easier it is for a woody plant to compartmentalize the wound and thus limit the potential for pathogen intrusion and decay. It is therefore preferable to make any necessary formative structural pruning cuts to young plants, rather than removing large, poorly placed branches from mature plants.
Woody plants may undergo a process referred to as "self-pruning", where they will drop twigs or branches which are no longer producing more energy than they require. It is theorized that this process can also occur in response to lack of water, in order to reduce the surface area where water can be lost. This natural shedding of branches is called cladoptosis.
Specialized pruning practices may be applied to certain plants, such as roses, fruit trees, and grapevines. Different pruning techniques may be used on herbaceous plants than those used on perennial woody plants.
Reasons to prune plants include deadwood removal, shaping (by controlling or redirecting growth), improving or sustaining health, reducing risk from falling branches, preparing nursery specimens for transplanting, and both harvesting and increasing the yield or quality of flowers and fruits. (Full article...)
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Ecoforestry has been defined as selection forestry or restoration forestry. The main idea of ecoforestry is to maintain or restore the forest to standards where the forest may still be harvested for products on a sustainable basis. Ecoforestry is forestry that emphasizes holistic practices which strive to protect and restore ecosystems rather than maximize economic productivity. Sustainability of the forest also comes with uncertainties. There are other factors that may affect the forest furthermore than that of the harvesting. There are internal conditions such as effects of soil compaction, tree damage, disease, fire, and blow down that also directly affect the ecosystem. These factors have to be taken into account when determining the sustainability of a forest. If these factors are added to the harvesting and production that comes out of the forest, then the forest will become less likely to survive, and will then become less sustainable.
Since the forest is considered an ecosystem, it is dependent on all of the living and non-living factors within itself. This is a major part of why the forest needs to be sustainable before it is harvested. For example, a tree, by way of photosynthesis, converts sunlight to sugars for respiration to keep the tree alive. The remains of the converted sugars is left in roots for consumption by the organisms surrounding the tree in the habitat. This shows the productivity of an ecosystem with its inhabitants. Productivity within the ecosystem cannot come to fruition unless the forest is sustainable enough to be harvested. If most individual organisms of the ecosystem vanish, the ecosystem itself is at risk. Once that happens, there is no longer any forest to harvest from. The overall productivity of a system can be found in an equation where the Net Primary Production, or NPP, is equal to the Gross Primary Production, or GPP, minus the Respiration, or R. The formula is the NPP = GPP - R. The NPP is the overall efficiency of the plants in the ecosystem. Through having a constant efficiency in NPP, the ecosystem is then more sustainable. The GPP refers to the rate of energy stored by photosynthesis in plants. The R refers to the maintenance and reproduction of plants from the energy expended.
Ecoforestry has many principles within the existence of itself. It covers sustainable development and the fair harvesting of the organisms living within the forest ecosystem. There have been many proposals of principles outlined for ecoforestry. They are covered over books, articles, and environmental agencies. All of the principles relate to the idea that in ecoforestry, less should be harvested, and diversity must be managed. Through harvesting less, there is enough biomass left in the forest, so that the forest may stay healthy and still stay maintained. It will grow at a sustainable level annually, and thus it will be able to still be harvested the following year. Through management of the diversity, species may cohabitate in an ecosystem where the forest may feed off of other species in its growth and production. The Principles of Ecoforestry may be found below. (Full article...)
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Shifting cultivation is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned while post-disturbance fallow vegetation is allowed to freely grow while the cultivator moves on to another plot. The period of cultivation is usually terminated when the soil shows signs of exhaustion or, more commonly, when the field is overrun by weeds. The period of time during which the field is cultivated is usually shorter than the period over which the land is allowed to regenerate by lying fallow.
This technique is often used in LEDCs (Less Economically Developed Countries) or LICs (Low Income Countries). In some areas, cultivators use a practice of slash-and-burn as one element of their farming cycle. Others employ land clearing without any burning, and some cultivators are purely migratory and do not use any cyclical method on a given plot. Sometimes no slashing at all is needed where regrowth is purely of grasses, an outcome not uncommon when soils are near exhaustion and need to lie fallow.
In shifting agriculture, after two or three years of producing vegetable and grain crops on cleared land, the migrants abandon it for another plot. Land is often cleared by slash-and-burn methods—trees, bushes and forests are cleared by slashing, and the remaining vegetation is burnt. The ashes add potash to the soil. Then the seeds are sown after the rains. (Full article...)
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Urban forestry is the care and management of single trees and tree populations in urban settings for the purpose of improving the urban environment. Urban forestry involves both planning and management, including the programming of care and maintenance operations of the urban forest. Urban forestry advocates the role of trees as a critical part of the urban infrastructure. Urban foresters plant and maintain trees, support appropriate tree and forest preservation, conduct research and promote the many benefits trees provide. Urban forestry is practiced by municipal and commercial arborists, municipal and utility foresters, environmental policymakers, city planners, consultants, educators, researchers and community activists. (Full article...)
Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and much of its impetus still stems from present-day global environmental concerns. The field was founded on conservation issues but has broadened in scope to include more general social and scientific history and may deal with cities, population or sustainable development. As all history occurs in the natural world, environmental history tends to focus on particular time-scales, geographic regions, or key themes. It is also a strongly multidisciplinary subject that draws widely on both the humanities and natural science.
The subject matter of environmental history can be divided into three main components. The first, nature itself and its change over time, includes the physical impact of humans on the Earth's land, water, atmosphere and biosphere. The second category, how humans use nature, includes the environmental consequences of increasing population, more effective technology and changing patterns of production and consumption. Other key themes are the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer communities to settled agriculture in the Neolithic Revolution, the effects of colonial expansion and settlements, and the environmental and human consequences of the Industrial and technological revolutions. Finally, environmental historians study how people think about nature – the way attitudes, beliefs and values influence interaction with nature, especially in the form of myths, religion and science. (Full article...)
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The climate and ecology of different locations on the globe naturally separate into life zones, depending on elevation, latitude, and location. The generally strong dependency on elevation is known as altitudinal zonation: the average temperature of a location decreases as the elevation increases.
The general effect of elevation depends on atmospheric physics. However, the specific climate and ecology of any particular location depends on specific features of that location. This article provides a list of life zones by region, in order to illustrate the features of life zones for regions around the globe. (Full article...)
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The Canadian Forest Service (CFS; French: Service canadien des forêts) is a sector of the Canadian government department of Natural Resources Canada. Part of the federal government since 1899, the CFS is a science-based policy organization responsible for promoting the sustainable development of Canada's forests and competitiveness of the forest sector to benefit present and future Canadians. Some of the research areas that the CFS is involved in include; forest fire, climate change, silviculture, soils, insects and disease, remote sensing and forest management. Since 1991 the sector has produced an annual report, The State of the Forest in Canada[1], which describes the status of the nation's forests and the forest industry. (Full article...)
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Rural sociology is a field of sociology traditionally associated with the study of social structure and conflict in rural areas. It is an active academic field in much of the world, originating in the United States in the 1910s with close ties to the national Department of Agriculture and land-grant university colleges of agriculture.
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially their anatomy, taxonomy, and ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field. "Plant" and "botany" may be defined more narrowly to include only land plants and their study, which is also known as phytology. Nowadays, phytologists or botanists (in the strict sense) study approximately 410,000 species of land plants, including some 391,000 species of vascular plants (of which approximately 369,000 are flowering plants) and approximately 20,000 bryophytes.
Botany originated in prehistory as herbalism with the efforts of early humans to identify – and later cultivate – plants that were edible, poisonous, and possibly medicinal, making it one of the first endeavours of human investigation. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants possibly having medicinal benefit. They were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden. These gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy and led in 1753 to the binomial system of nomenclature of Carl Linnaeus that remains in use to this day for the naming of all biological species.
where is the diameter at breast height of the ith tree. Compared to the arithmetic mean, QMD assigns greater weight to larger trees – QMD is always greater than or equal to arithmetic mean for a given set of trees. QMD can be used in timber cruises to estimate the standing volume of timber in a forest, because it has the practical advantage of being directly related to basal area, which in turn is directly related to volume. QMD can also be calculated as:
where BA is stand basal area, n is the number of trees, and k is a constant based on measurement units - for BA in ft2 and DBH in inches, k=0.005454; for BA in m2 and DBH in cm, k=0.00007854. (Full article...)
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A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 found that forests covered 4.06 billion hectares (10.0 billion acres; 40.6 million square kilometres; 15.7 million square miles), or approximately 31 percent of the world's land area in 2020.
Forests form distinctly different biomes at different latitudes and elevations, and with different precipitation and evapotranspiration rates. These biomes include boreal forests in subarctic climates, tropical moist forests and tropical dry forests around the Equator, and temperate forests at the middle latitudes. Forests form in areas of the Earth with high rainfall, while drier conditions produce a transition to savanna. However, in areas with intermediate rainfall levels, forest transitions to savanna rapidly when the percentage of land that is covered by trees drops below 40 to 45 percent. Research conducted in the Amazon rainforest shows that trees can alter rainfall rates across a region, releasing water from their leaves in anticipation of seasonal rains to trigger the wet season early. Because of this, seasonal rainfall in the Amazon begins two to three months earlier than the climate would otherwise allow. Deforestation in the Amazon and anthropogenic climate change hold the potential to interfere with this process, causing the forest to pass a threshold where it transitions into savanna.
Deforestation threatens many forest ecosystems. Deforestation occurs when humans remove trees from a forested area by cutting or burning, either to harvest timber or to make way for farming. Most deforestation today occurs in tropical forests. The vast majority of this deforestation is because of the production of four commodities: wood, beef, soy, and palm oil. Over the past 2,000 years, the area of land covered by forest in Europe has been reduced from 80% to 34%. Large areas of forest have also been cleared in China and in the eastern United States, in which only 0.1% of land was left undisturbed. Almost half of Earth's forest area (49 percent) is relatively intact, while 9 percent is found in fragments with little or no connectivity. Tropical rainforests and boreal coniferous forests are the least fragmented, whereas subtropical dry forests and temperate oceanic forests are among the most fragmented. Roughly 80 percent of the world's forest area is found in patches larger than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres). The remaining 20 percent is located in more than 34 million patches around the world – the vast majority less than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) in size.
Human society and forests can affect one another positively or negatively. Forests provide ecosystem services to humans and serve as tourist attractions. Forests can also affect people's health. Human activities, including unsustainable use of forest resources, can negatively affect forest ecosystems. (Full article...)
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A feller buncher is a type of harvester used in logging. It is a motorized vehicle with an attachment that can rapidly gather and cut a tree before felling it.
Feller is a traditional name for someone who cuts down trees, and bunching is the skidding and assembly of two or more trees. A feller buncher performs both of these harvesting functions and consists of a standard heavy equipment base with a tree-grabbing device furnished with a chain-saw, circular saw or a shear—a pinching device designed to cut small trees off at the base. The machine then places the cut tree on a stack suitable for a skidder, forwarder, or yarder for transport to further processing such as delimbing, bucking, loading, or chipping.
Some wheeled feller bunchers lack an articulated arm, and must drive close to a tree to grasp it.
The French National School of Forestry or National School of Water Resources and Forestry (French: École nationale des eaux et forêts, pronounced[ekɔlnɑsjɔnaldez‿oefɔʁɛ]; abbr. ENEF), established in Nancy, France, in 1824, was the first national training institute for foresters in France, and a premier early school of forestry in Europe and globally.
In 1964, it was merged into the National School of Rural Engineering, Water Resources and Forestry (École nationale du génie rural, des eaux et des forêts, or ENGREF), which in turn became part of AgroParisTech (Institut des sciences et industries du vivant et de l’environnement, or Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences) in 2006. (Full article...)
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Bucking is the process of cutting a felled and delimbed tree into logs. Significant value can be lost by sub-optimal bucking because logs destined for plywood, lumber, and pulp each have their own value and specifications for length, diameter, and defects. Cutting from the top down is overbucking and from the bottom up is underbucking.
The International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), 1983) is an agreement to provide an effective framework for cooperation between tropical timber producers and consumers and to encourage the development of national policies aimed at sustainable utilization and conservation of tropical forests and their genetic resources. The International Tropical Timber Organization was established under this agreement, which first opened for signature on 18 November 1983, then Entered into force on 1 April 1985. There were subsequent treaties, with an increasing number of signatories, in 1994 (ITTA2) and 2006 (ITTA3).
ITTA2 (1994) was drafted to ensure that by the year 2000 exports of tropical timber originated from sustainably managed sources and to establish a fund to assist tropical timber producers in obtaining the resources necessary to reach this objective. It further defined the mandate of the International Tropical Timber Organization. The agreement was opened for signature on 26 January 1994, and entered into force on 1 January 1997.
ITTA3 (2006) aimed to "promote the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests and to promote the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forests". It entered into force on 7 December 2011. (Full article...)
precision seeding, where seed is placed at a precise spacing and depth;
hydroseeding, where a slurry of seed, mulch and water is sprayed over prepared ground in a uniform layer.
Broadcast seeding is of particular use in establishing dense plant spacing, as for cover crops and lawns. In comparison to traditional drill planting, broadcast seeding will require 10–20% more seed. It is simpler, faster, and easier than traditional row sowing. Broadcast seeding works best for plants that do not require singular spacing or that are more easily thinned later. After broadcasting, seed is often lightly buried with some type of raking action, often done using vertical tillage tools. Utilizing these tools increases the success rate of germination by increasing seed-to-soil contact.
Seeds sown in this manner are distributed unevenly, which may result in overcrowding. This method may not ensure that all seeds are sown at the correct depth. Incorrect depth, if too deep, would result in germination that would not allow the young plant to break the surface of the soil and prevent sprouting. If they are not sown evenly then there would be a lack of various nutrients from sunlight, oxygen, et cetera, in many crops or plants.
Not all seeds are good candidates for broadcast seeding. Often, only smaller seeds will sprout and continue to grow successfully when planted by way of broadcasting. In general, the larger the seed, the deeper it can be planted.[citation needed] Broadcasting is used in areas of low rainfall and low soil fertility. It is a seeding method often used in areas that are too heavily sloped or wet to use mechanical seeding methods. Broadcast seeding may be suited for seeding smaller plots that are less than 1 acre (0.4047 hectares) in area. It has the potential for loss of seeds and the yield can be low, so it is typically recommended to double the seeding rate when broadcasting to ensure a viable stand. It is a prevalent method of seeding in areas where labor is costly and expensive. (Full article...)
Tree planting is the process of transplanting tree seedlings, generally for forestry, land reclamation, or landscaping purposes. It differs from the transplantation of larger trees in arboriculture and from the lower-cost but slower and less reliable distribution of tree seeds. Trees contribute to their environment over long periods of time by improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife. During the process of photosynthesis, trees take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.
In silviculture, the activity is known as "reforestation", or "afforestation," depending on whether the area being planted has recently been forested or not. It involves planting seedlings over an area of land where the forest has been harvested or damaged by fire, disease, or human activity. Trees are planted in many different parts of the world, and strategies may differ widely across nations and regions and among individual reforestation companies. Tree planting is grounded in forest science and, if performed properly, can result in the successful regeneration of a deforested area. However a planted forest rarely replicates the biodiversity and complexity of a natural forest.
Because trees remove carbon dioxide from the air as they grow, tree planting can be used to help limit climate change. Desert greening projects are also motivated by improved biodiversity and reclamation of natural water systems, as well as improved economic and social welfare due to an increased number of jobs in farming and forestry. (Full article...)
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A list of tree species, grouped generally by biogeographic realm and specifically by bioregions, and shade tolerance. Shade-tolerant species are species that are able to thrive in the shade, and in the presence of natural competition by other plants. Shade-intolerant species require full sunlight and little or no competition. Intermediate shade-tolerant trees fall somewhere in between the two. (Full article...)
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Forestry is one of the main economic sectors of Chile, representing 14% of the value of the country's total exports. This places the forestry sector in Chile as the second largest export sector behind copper mining. From 1970 to 2005 planted forest surface in Chile grew from 300,000 ha to more than 2.07 million ha. In 2019 Chile had slightly more than 2,3 million ha of forest plantations of which 1,3 million ha were Pinus radiata and 0,9 million ha were of Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus nitens. In 2006 70% of Chile's forestry production went to export, and the industry employed more than 150,000 workers. By 2020 people employed in the sector were down to 112,200.
The wave of forest plantations that begun in the 1970s was initially a response to severe soil erosion that affected much of the country. There was a broad support for plantations when these were first implemented but by the 1980s a conservationist critique had grown exposing the adverse effects of plantations on certain plant and animal species, on biodiversity and on water resources. In many cases the establishment of plantations meant not reforestation but the replacement of existing forests with plantations.
The growth of the forestry sector since the 1980s is the consequence of growth of the export-oriented economy in Chile. Critics argue it has created an enclave economy. In the area of Cañete and Tirúa forestry companies have been accused of contributing to the displacement of indigenous Mapuche communities. In the last decades the communities of Temucuicui have had a conflict, at times physically violent, with the forestry company Forestal Mininco, leading to the detention and imprisonment of community members in the prisons of Angol and Cañete. (Full article...)
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John EvelynFRS (31 October 1620 – 27 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's diary, or memoir, spanned the period of his adult life from 1640, when he was a student, to 1706, the year he died. He did not write daily at all times. The many volumes provide insight into life and events at a time before regular magazines or newspapers were published, making diaries of greater interest to modern historians than such works might have been at later periods. Evelyn's work covers art, culture and politics, including the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell's rise and eventual natural death, the last Great Plague of London, and the Great Fire of London in 1666.
John Evelyn's Diary was first published posthumously in 1818, but over the years was overshadowed by that of Samuel Pepys. Pepys wrote a different kind of diary, in the same era but covering a much shorter period, 1660–1669, and in much greater depth.
Among the many subjects Evelyn wrote about, gardening was an increasing obsession, and he left a huge manuscript on the subject that was not printed until 2001. He published several translations of French gardening books, and his Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees (1664) was highly influential in its plea to landowners to plant trees, of which he believed the country to be dangerously short. Sections from his main manuscript were added to editions of this, and also published separately. (Full article...)
The Pinocchio catshark (Apristurus australis) is a species of catshark in the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. This species is found in Australia and possibly New Zealand. Its natural habitat is the open seas. It belongs to a genus of poorly known deep-water sharks. Very little is known of its biology. Possibly a widely distributed deep-water catshark found along the Australian continental slope at depths of 590 to 1,000 m, it consists of several distinct populations which may be separate species. Although part of the distribution includes heavily fished areas, particularly off southeastern Australia, much of its range is in unfished areas. Given the taxonomic uncertainty of the separate populations, it is not possible to assess the conservation status of this species at this time. However, deep-water demersal trawl fisheries are expanding in the region, and the situation should be reassessed following taxonomic clarification. (Full article...)
The velvet belly lanternshark (or simply velvet belly) (Etmopterus spinax) is a species of dogfish shark in the familyEtmopteridae. One of the most common deepwater sharks in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the velvet belly is found from Iceland and Norway to Gabon and South Africa at a depth of 20–2,490 m (66–8,169 ft). A small shark generally no more than 45 cm (18 in) long, the velvet belly is so named because its black underside is abruptly distinct from the brown coloration on the rest of its body. The body of this species is fairly stout, with a moderately long snout and tail, and very small gill slits. Like other lanternsharks, the velvet belly is bioluminescent, with light-emitting photophores forming a species-specific pattern over its flanks and abdomen. The ventral photophores are thought to function in counter-illumination, which camouflages the shark against predators and prey. The bioluminescent flank markings may play a role in intraspecific communication.
Young velvet bellies feed mainly on krill and small bony fish, transitioning to squid and shrimp as they grow larger. There is evidence that individuals also move into deeper water as they age. This species exhibits a number of adaptations to living in the deep sea, such as specialized T-cells and liverproteins for dealing with the higher concentrations of heavy metals found there. Velvet bellies often carry a heavy parasite load. It is ovoviviparous, giving birth to litters of six to 20 young every two to three years. This species has virtually no commercial value, but large numbers are caught as bycatch in deepwater commercial fisheries. It has been assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the heavy fishing pressure throughout its range and its slow reproductive rate are raising conservation concerns. (Full article...)
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The pigeye shark or Java shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) is an uncommon species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, found in the warm coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic and western Indo-Pacific. It prefers shallow, murky environments with soft bottoms, and tends to roam within a fairly localised area. With its bulky grey body, small eyes, and short, blunt snout, the pigeye shark looks almost identical to (and is often confused with) the better-known bull shark (C. leucas). The two species differ in vertebral count, the relative sizes of the dorsal fins, and other subtle traits. This shark typically reaches lengths of 1.9–2.5 m (6.2–8.2 ft).
The pigeye shark is an apex predator that mostly hunts low in the water column. It has a varied diet, consisting mainly of bony and cartilaginous fishes and also including crustaceans, molluscs, sea snakes, and cetaceans. This species gives birth to live young, with the developing embryos sustained to term via a placental connection to their mother. Litters of three to thirteen pups are born after a gestation period of nine or twelve months. Young sharks spend their first few years of life in sheltered inshore habitats such as bays, where their movements follow tidal and seasonal patterns. The pigeye shark's size and dentition make it potentially dangerous, though it has not been known to attack humans. The shark is infrequently caught in shark nets protecting beaches and by fisheries, which use it for meat and fins. The IUCN presently assesses this species as vulnerable. (Full article...)
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The false catshark or sofa shark (Pseudotriakis microdon) is a species of ground shark in the familyPseudotriakidae, and the sole member of its genus. It has a worldwide distribution, and has most commonly been recorded close to the bottom over continental and insular slopes, at depths of 500–1,400 m (1,600–4,600 ft). Reaching 3.0 m (9.8 ft) in length, this heavy-bodied shark can be readily identified by its elongated, keel-like first dorsal fin. It has long, narrow eyes and a large mouth filled with numerous tiny teeth. It is usually dark brown in color, though a few are light gray.
With flabby muscles and a large oilyliver, the false catshark is a slow-moving predator and scavenger of a variety of fishes and invertebrates. It has a viviparous mode of reproduction, featuring an unusual form of oophagy in which the developing embryos consume ova or egg fragments released by the mother and use the yolk material to replenish their external yolk sacs for later use. This species typically gives birth to two pups at a time. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the conservation status of the false catshark as Least-concern. While neither targeted by fisheries nor commercially valuable, it is caught incidentally by longlines and bottom trawls, and its low reproductive rate may render it susceptible to population depletion. (Full article...)
The whitenose shark (Nasolamia velox) is a species of shark of the familyCarcharhinidae. The only member of the genusNasolamia, it is found in the tropical waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean between latitudes 31° N and 18° S, between depths of 15 to 200 m. It can grow up to a length of 1.5 m. The whitenose shark is viviparous, with five young in a litter, and a birth size around 53 cm. (Full article...)
The whitetip reef shark (Triaenodon obesus) is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, and the only member of its genus. A small shark that does not usually exceed 1.6 m (5.2 ft) in length, this species is easily recognizable by its slender body and short but broad head, as well as tubular skin flaps beside the nostrils, oval eyes with vertical pupils, and white-tipped dorsal and caudal fins. One of the most common sharks found on Indo-Pacificcoral reefs, the whitetip reef shark occurs as far west as South Africa and as far east as Central America. It is typically found on or near the bottom in clear water, at a depth of 8–40 m (26–131 ft).
During the day, whitetip reef sharks spend much of their time resting inside caves. Unlike other requiem sharks, which rely on ram ventilation and must constantly swim to breathe, this shark can pump water over its gills and lie still on the bottom. At night, whitetip reef sharks emerge to hunt bony fishes, crustaceans, and octopus in groups, their elongate bodies allowing them to force their way into crevices and holes to extract hidden prey. Individuals may stay within a particular area of the reef for months or years, frequently returning to the same shelter. This species is viviparous, in which the developing embryos are sustained by a placental connection to their mother.
Whitetip reef sharks are rarely aggressive towards humans, though they may investigate swimmers closely. However, spear fishers are at risk of being bitten by one attempting to steal their catch. This species is caught for food, though ciguatera poisoning resulting from its consumption has been reported. The IUCN has assessed the whitetip reef shark as Vulnerable, noting its numbers are dwindling due to increasing levels of unregulated fishing activity across its range. The slow reproductive rate and limited habitat preferences of this species renders its populations vulnerable to overfishing. (Full article...)
The blackspot shark (Carcharhinus sealei) is a small species of requiem shark in the family Carcharhinidae found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean between latitudes 24°N and 30°S, from the surface to a depth around 40 m (130 ft). Its length is a little under one meter (yard) and it is not considered to be dangerous to humans. It feeds mainly on fish, crustaceans, and squid. This shark is also caught in small-scale fisheries for human consumption. (Full article...)
The dusky smooth-hound (Mustelus canis), also called the smooth dogfish or the dog shark, is a species of houndshark in the family Triakidae. This shark is an olive grey or brown in color, and may have shades of yellow or grayish white. Females live to 16 years and males have a lifespan of 10 years. M. canis was the first shark recognised to have viral infections. (Full article...)
The rough longnose dogfish (Deania hystricosa) is a little-known deepwater dogfish. This species was described by Samuel Garman in 1906 and originally named Acanthidium hystricosa.
The rough longnose dogfish has an extremely long snout, no anal fin, small grooved dorsal spines, and rough, pitchfork-shaped dermal denticles. The first dorsal fin is long and narrow.
Maximum length is 109 cm. Found in the Eastern Atlantic around Madeira and in the western Pacific around southern Japan, this shark is rarely seen, but lives between 600 and 1,000 m. It is ovoviviparous with probably around 12 pups per litter.
The flapnose houndshark (Scylliogaleus quecketti) is a houndshark of the family Triakidae, and the only member of the genus Scylliogaleus. It is found in the waters off subtropicalSouth Africa, in the western Indian Ocean between latitudes27 and 33°S. This shark is estimated to be 2 to 3 feet in length. They are gray with a white underside, and they have a blunt nose with large fused nasal flaps. They have small pebble like teeth and their first and second dorsal fin are the same size. They feed primarily on crustaceans such as crabs, shrimps, lobsters and some molluscs like squid. Flapnose houndsharks are viviparous and have low fecundity having just two to four pups in a litter. After gestating for nine to ten months, females give birth to pups that are about 34 cm long. Newborn flapnose houndsharks have white coloured edges on their dorsal, anal and caudal fin. There have only been 30 recorded specimens. Not seen by biologists since 1902, one was captured in 2020 on the show Extinct or Alive. It was tagged with a pop-up tracking sensor and released. (Full article...)
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The smalleye hammerhead (Sphyrna tudes), also called the golden hammerhead or curry shark, is a small species of hammerhead shark in the familySphyrnidae. This species was historically common in the shallow coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean, from Venezuela to Uruguay. It favors muddy habitats with poor visibility, reflected by its relatively small eyes. Adult males and juveniles are schooling and generally found apart from the solitary adult females. Typically reaching 1.2–1.3 m (3.9–4.3 ft) in length, this shark has a unique, bright golden color on its head, sides, and fins, which was only scientifically documented in the 1980s. As in all hammerheads, its head is flattened and laterally expanded into a hammer-shaped structure called the cephalofoil, which in this species is wide and long with an arched front margin bearing central and lateral indentations.
The yellow-orange pigments of the smalleye hammerhead seem to have been acquired from the penaeid shrimpXiphopenaeus kroyeri, the main food of juvenile sharks, and from sea catfish and their eggs, the main food of adults. The golden color may serve to conceal it from predators such as larger sharks. This species is viviparous, with the developing embryos sustained by a placental connection formed from the depleted yolk sac. Females bear litters of five to 19 pups every year following a gestation period of 10 months. Reproductive seasonality, litter size, and size at maturity vary between geographical regions. Because of its abundance, the smalleye hammerhead is an economically important bycatch of artisanalgillnetfisheries throughout its range, and is used as food. In recent years, overfishing has caused marked declines in its numbers off Trinidad, northern Brazil, and probably elsewhere. Coupled with the smalleye hammerhead's low reproductive rate, this led the International Union for Conservation of Nature to list the smalleye hammerhead as critically endangered in 2020. (Full article...)
The Carolina hammerhead (Sphyrna gilberti) is a species of hammerhead shark, and part of the familySphyrnidae, found in the western Atlantic Ocean. Their pupping grounds are in nearshore waters off the southeastern U.S. with the highest concentrations found in Bulls Bay, South Carolina. The Carolina hammerhead has also been found in nearshore waters off of Brazil. It was formally described in 2013. It is currently classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List due to overfishing and habitat degradation.
Little is known about the habits of the species. It is a sister species to S. lewini. As of 2013 This species has been a relatively new addition to the hammerhead shark genus. The species possesses a major genetic difference from their cousins, most notable differences is the lower vertebral number and a lighter outer tone. The Carolina hammerhead is named in honor of Carter Gilbert, who unknowingly recorded the first known specimen of the shark off Charleston, South Carolina, in 1967. Dr. Gilbert, who was the curator of the Florida Museum of Natural History from 1961 to 1998, caught what he believed was an anomalous scalloped hammerhead shark with 10 fewer vertebrae than a typical scalloped hammerhead. It was not confirmed to be a different species altogether until Quattro's discovery in 2013. The general diet of the Carolina hammerheads consists of bony fishes and cephalopods such as squids, octopuses, and cuttlefishes. They also feed on shrimps, lobsters, crabs, and other smaller sharks and rays. (Full article...)
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George Albert BoulengerFRS (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botanist during the last 30 years of his life, especially in the study of roses. (Full article...)
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The broadfin shark (Lamiopsis temminckii) is a tropical whaler shark, characterized by the broad shape of its pectoral fins. They are classified as requiem sharks of the family Carcharhinidae. This is one of two species in the genus Lamiopsis, the other being the Borneo broadfin shark (Lamiopsis tephrodes). The broadfin shark is native to the northern Indian Ocean, and is found close to shore. Its current status according to the IUCN is endangered. (Full article...)
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The fringefin lanternshark (Etmopterus schultzi) is a shark of the familyEtmopteridae found in the western central Atlantic from Texas to Florida, northern Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico. It is endemic to this area. It is a deep water shark and is found about 220 to 915 meters below the surface, on the upper continental slopes of the Gulf. E. schultzi is a small shark, about 27–30 cm long and feeds on squid. It is also bioluminescent, which counter-illuminates it and helps with intraspecific interaction. Due to its limited range and the difficulty of collecting deep water species, it has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List, but due to recent oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, it is likely that fringefin lanternsharks have decreased in population. (Full article...)
The blackmouth catshark (Galeus melastomus) is a species of deepwater catshark, belonging to the familyPentanchidae, common in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from Iceland to Senegal, including the Mediterranean Sea. It is typically found over the continental slope at depths of 150–1,400 m (490–4,590 ft), on or near muddy bottoms. The youngest sharks generally inhabit shallower water than the older juveniles and adults. This slim-bodied species is characterized by the black interior of its mouth, a marbled pattern of pale-edged brownish saddles or blotches along its back and tail, and a prominent saw-toothed crest of enlarged dermal denticles along the upper edge of its caudal fin. It reaches lengths of 50–79 cm (20–31 in), with sharks in the Atlantic growing larger than those in the Mediterranean.
Slow-swimming but active, the blackmouth catshark is a generalist that preys on a wide variety of crustaceans, cephalopods, and fishes. Its visual and electroreceptive systems are adept at tracking moving, bioluminescent prey. This species is oviparous, with females producing batches of up to 13 egg cases throughout the year. Because of its abundance, the blackmouth catshark forms a substantial part of the bycatch of deepwater commercial fisheries across much of its range. It has low economic value and is usually discarded, though the largest sharks may be marketed for meat and leather. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed this species under Least Concern, as there is no indication that its numbers have declined despite fishing pressure. (Full article...)
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The swell shark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) is a catshark in the familyScyliorhinidae. It is found in the tropical and subtropical eastern Pacific Ocean from between central California to southern Mexico, with an additional population off the coast of Chile. They are known to have brown and white spots along with broad heads. As a defense, the swell shark is able to expand to approximately double its regular size by swallowing water. They depend on electrical signals to find prey, camouflaging in rocky crevices. (Full article...)
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The magnificent catshark or clown catshark (Proscyllium magnificum) is a species of finback catshark, belonging to the familyProscylliidae, known only from five specimens collected in the northern Andaman Sea near the edge of the Myanmarcontinental shelf. Its common names refer to its distinctive, elaborate color pattern of small and large dark spots, which include "clown faces" beneath each dorsal fin. Reaching 49 cm (19 in) in length, this species has a very slender body with a short, flattened head and a large lobe of skin in front of each nostril. The first dorsal fin is placed behind the pectoral fins but ahead of the pelvic fins. (Full article...)
The gray smooth-hound (also spelled as smoothhound) (Mustelus californicus) is a houndshark of the familyTriakidae. It is spotless and smooth with a narrow head and long blunted snout. This shark is found on continental shelves of the subtropical eastern Pacific. Its range extends from northern California to the Gulf of California (between latitudes40° N and 23° N), usually residing in waters less than 80 meters (262 ft 6 in) deep. Adults are between 0.5 and 1.6 meters (1 ft 8 in to 5 ft 3 in) long. Furthermore, this shark is viviparous with an egg yolk placenta. Reproduction occurs annually and inland estuaries are common nursery grounds. Although there is little data on the shark’s population trends and catch quantities, the gray smooth-hound is not considered as vulnerable to overfishing. Additionally, there have been three reported sightings of albinism in this species, which is rare for elasmobranchs (rays and sharks). (Full article...)
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The cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis), also called the cigar shark, is a species of small squaliform shark in the familyDalatiidae. This shark lives in warm, oceanic waters worldwide, particularly near islands, and has been recorded as deep as 3.7 km (2.3 mi). It migrates vertically up to 3 km (1.9 mi) every day, approaching the surface at dusk and descending with the dawn. Reaching only 42–56 cm (16.5–22 in) in length, the cookiecutter shark has a long, cylindrical body with a short, blunt snout, large eyes, two tiny spineless dorsal fins, and a large caudal fin. It is dark brown, with light-emitting photophores covering its underside except for a dark "collar" around its throat and gill slits.
The name "cookiecutter shark" refers to its feeding method of gouging round plugs, as if cut out with a cookie cutter, out of larger animals. Marks made by cookiecutter sharks have been found on a wide variety of marine mammals and fishes, and on submarines, undersea cables, and human bodies. It also consumes whole smaller prey, such as squid. Cookiecutter sharks have adaptations for hovering in the water column, and likely rely on stealth and subterfuge to capture more active prey. Its dark collar seems to mimic the silhouette of a small fish, while the rest of its body blends into the downwelling light via its ventral photophores. When a would-be predator approaches the lure, the shark attaches itself using its suctorial lips and specialized pharynx and neatly excises a chunk of the flesh using its bandsaw-like set of lower teeth. This species has been known to travel in schools.
Though rarely encountered because of its oceanic habitat, a handful of documented attacks on humans were apparently caused by cookiecutter sharks. Nevertheless, this diminutive shark is not regarded as dangerous to humans. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the cookiecutter shark under least concern, as it is widely distributed, has no commercial value, and is not particularly susceptible to fisheries. (Full article...)
Family members have the usual carcharhiniform characteristics. Their eyes are round, and one or two gill slits fall over the pectoral fin base. Most species are viviparous, the young being born fully developed. They vary widely in size, from as small as 69 cm (2.26 ft) adult length in the Australian sharpnose shark, up to 4 m (13 ft) adult length in the oceanic whitetip shark. Scientists assume that the size and shape of their pectoral fins have the right dimensions to minimize transport cost. Requiem sharks tend to live in more tropical areas, but tend to migrate. Females release a chemical in the ocean in order to let the males know they are ready to mate. Typical mating time for these sharks is around spring to autumn.
According to the ISAF, requiem sharks are among the top five species involved in shark attacks on humans; however, "requiem shark" is not a single species, but refers, in this case, to an order of similar sharks that are often involved in incidents. ISAF prefers to use "requiem sharks" due to the difficulty in identifying individual species. (Full article...)
The tasselled wobbegong (Eucrossorhinus dasypogon) is a species of carpet shark in the familyOrectolobidae and the only extant member of the genusEucrossorhinus. It inhabits shallow coral reefs off northern Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands. Reaching 1.8 m (5.9 ft) in length, this species has a broad and flattened body and head. Its most distinctive trait is a fringe of branching dermal flaps around its head, which extends onto its chin. The fringe, along with its complex color pattern of small blotches and reticulations, enable it to camouflage itself against the reef environment.
During the day, the solitary tasselled wobbegong can generally be found lying inside caves or under ledges with its tail curled. Individual sharks tend to remain within a local area and have favored resting spots. While resting, it opportunistically ambushes nearby fish and invertebrates, and also lures in prey by waving its tail to mimic the appearance of a small fish. At night, it emerges and actively forages for food. This species is aplacental viviparous, though little is known of its life history. The tasselled wobbegong has been reported to bite and kill humans unprovoked, although such has only been reported once in 1940. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed this species as Near Threatened in 2003, as outside of Australia it is threatened by fisheries and habitat degradation. As of 2015, its IUCN status is Least Concern. (Full article...)
Catsharks of this genus have a slim body and variegated colour pattern, narrow snout, long labial furrows, equal-size dorsal fins, and small anal fin (smaller than the dorsal fins). (Full article...)
The smalltooth sand tiger or bumpytail ragged-tooth (Odontaspis ferox) is a species of mackerel shark in the familyOdontaspididae, with a patchy but worldwide distribution in tropical and warm temperate waters. They usually inhabit deepwater rocky habitats, though they are occasionally encountered in shallow water, and have been known to return to the same location year after year. This rare species is often mistaken for the much more common sand tiger shark (Carcharias taurus), from which it can be distinguished by its first dorsal fin, which is larger than the second and placed further forward. It grows to at least 4.1 m (13 ft) in length. They have also been recently sighted in Irish and English waters.
Very little is known of the biology and behavior of the smalltooth sand tiger. It is an active predator of benthicbony fishes, invertebrates, and cartilaginous fishes. This species is thought to be ovoviviparous with oophagousembryos like other mackerel sharks. In contrast to its formidable size and appearance, this shark is harmless, having never been known to behave aggressively towards humans. Concern exists that its numbers are declining due to human activities in the Mediterranean and elsewhere, though existing data are inadequate for a full assessment of its conservation status. (Full article...)
The southern dogfish (Centrophorus zeehaani) is a species of shark in the family Centrophoridae. It was described in 2008 along with the western gulper shark, and belongs to genus Centrophorus. It is mainly found in the Indian and Pacific ocean, but they are distributed in other oceans as well. As a result, it is one of the more recent and elusive types of shark to date. (Full article...)
The dam gathers the flow of a 980 square kilometres (380 sq mi) catchment basin. Its wall is 60 metres (200 ft) high and 240 metres (790 ft)long. The reservoir has a surface area of 24.5 square kilometres (9.5 sq mi) and a volume of 399 million cubic metres (323,000 acre⋅ft); the maximum depth of the water is 57 metres (187 ft).
The dam was built between 1948 and 1953, and its primary goals are the regulation of the flow of the river and the production of hydroelectricity. The power station generates 52 megawatts (70,000 hp) for the Center Region of the Argentine Interconnection System.
The Cambodian Government sees the dam as an important potential source of income and if the dam is constructed, expects to sell 70% of the power generated to Vietnam and 10% to Thailand. The balance would be directed to domestic energy markets. The dam's construction is opposed by several non-governmental organizations and civil society groups. (Full article...)
Lake Caliraya was later connected with another man-made lake, Lumot Lake, to provide more water through a 2.3 km (1.4 mi) underground penstock. Later still the dam and lake were used as the upper reservoir for the Kalayaan Pumped-Storage Hydroelectric plant located west of Lake Caliraya, with Laguna de Bay as the lower reservoir. (Full article...)
The concrete gravity dam has a height of 90 m (300 ft) and a length of 800 m (2,600 ft). The dam's reservoir has a surface area of 135 km2 (52 sq mi) and a capacity of 2,180,000 cubic metres (77,000,000 cu ft).
The hydroelectric power plant was fitted with 2 x 67.5 MWeFrancis turbines with a total capacity of 135 Mwe. Major maintenance work carried out between 2003 and 2007 included replacing the turbines with 2 x 85 MWe units with a total capacity of 170 MWe, which generate 488 GWh per year. (Full article...)
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Moglicë Hydro Power Plant is a large hydroelectricity plant on the river Devoll situated near the village Moglicë, Albania. The project consists of a large power plant with an installed capacity of 197 MW and an average annual production of 475 GWh. It was built by Devoll Hydropower, an Albanian company owned by Norwegian power company Statkraft. The asphalt-core rock-fill dam is 320 m long, 150 m high and 460 m wide. The dam is anticipated to be the world's highest of its kind upon completion. The reservoir has a surface area of 7.2 km2, and a storage capacity of about 380 million m3. The power plant is part of the Devoll Hydropower Project and construction on it began in June 2013. Main structures of dam were completed in June 2019. Commercial operations were started in June 2020. (Full article...)
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The Misicuni Multiplepurpose Project, better known as the Misicuni Dam, is a concrete-face rock-fill dam constructed on the Misicuni River about 35 km (22 mi) northwest of the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. The dam will divert water from the Misicuni River to the Cochabamba Valley for several purposes to include providing water for irrigation and municipal water uses. In addition, the dam has an associated 120 MW hydroelectric power station, powered by 3 turbines 40 MW each. Construction on the dam began in June 2009 but was halted in November 2013 due to contract disputes. The company finished the construction and is started the operations in September 2017. (Full article...)
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The Hòa Bình Dam on the Black River (Vietnamese: Sông Đà) is the largest hydroelectric dam in Vietnam from 1994 to 2012 (this record was broken by Sơn La Dam), and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, with a generating capacity of 1,920 MW. The Sông Đà Reservoir, with a capacity of 9 billion m3 was formed as the river was dammed.
The dam is located in Hòa Bình City of the Hòa Bình Province in the north of Vietnam. It measures 128 m (420 ft) in height, and 970 m (3,182 ft) in length. It is owned by Vietnam Electricity and operated by the Hoa Binh Hydro Power Company. (Full article...)
The Song Loulou Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant of the Sanaga River in Cameroon. It has a power generating capacity of 384 megawatts (515,000 hp), enough to power over 257,100 homes. The Song Loulou power station is built upstream of another power station; the Edea power station. Unlike the Edea power station that mainly powers the aluminum smelter located next to it, the Song Loulou power station mainly powers homes and other industrial plants in the south of the country. (Full article...)
Løkjelsvatnet or Lykilsvatnet is a regulated lake in the municipality of Etne in Vestland county, Norway. The 4.51-square-kilometre (1.74 sq mi) lake lies about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the village of Etnesjøen. Water from the lake falls 400 metres (1,300 ft) vertically in tunnels and pipelines to the Hardeland hydroelectric power station. The site is operated by Haugaland Kraft.
The Haugesund section of the Norwegian Mountain Touring Association operates the Løkjelsvatn cabin on the west shore of the lake, and there are marked maintain paths connecting the area to the rest of a nationwide network of paths. The lake has a rich population of brown trout which is popular among fishermen.
A group of eleven domesticatedreindeer were introduced to the Etnefjellet mountain area in 1990, and the herd has adopted the Løkjelsvatnet lake area as its main habitat. This herd is now viewed and administered as if it were a wild herd. (Full article...)
The Gojak Hydroelectric Power Plant is a high pressure diversion plant which harnesses the river power of the Ogulinska Dobra and Zagorska Mrežnica rivers. It is operated by the Croatian state-owned electrical company, Hrvatska elektroprivreda. Another lake is formed by the river Dobra just before it plunges into Đula's abyss. Namely, somewhere around one kilometer away from the center of Ogulin, a dam was built on the river Dobra, and in this way another artificial lake, Bukovnik, was created. From that lake, water is drained through channels up to 30 kilometers long to the Gojak Hydroelectric Power Station, where we use it to obtain electricity. (Full article...)
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The Trängslet Dam is a rock-filled embankment dam on the Dal River near the town of Trängslet in Dalarna, Sweden. At 125 m (410 ft) in height, it is the tallest dam in the country. Its reservoir, with a capacity of 880,000,000 m3 (710,000 acre⋅ft), is also the largest artificial lake in Sweden. The dam was constructed between 1955 and 1960. Its hydroelectric power station has an installed capacity of 330 MW. It is owned by Fortum. (Full article...)
The Ipo Dam is a gravity concrete dam located about 7.5 kilometres downstream of the Angat Dam near its confluence with the Ipo River in Bulacan. It was completed in January 1984 with a maximum storage capacity of 7.5 million cubic metres, an increase of about 2,500 million litres per day (MLD) from the old Ipo Dam, which was completed in December 1938 and used to be located 200 metres upstream of the new dam.
The spill level of the dam is at an elevation of 101 metres and it has seven radial floodgates. The watershed topography is characterised by mountainous terrain similar to the Angat Reservoir Watershed with moderate forest cover. The watershed has an area of about 70 square kilometers and receives an average annual rainfall of 3,500 millimeters. Tributaries to the Angat River at this section include the Ipo, Sapa Pako and Sapa Anginon Rivers. These tributaries drain into the Angat River from the eastern section of the watershed.
Water from the dam is diverted to the Novaliches Portal and the La Mesa Dam through three intake structures going down to three connecting tunnels into five connecting aqueducts. (Full article...)
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Elektrėnai Reservoir (Lithuanian: Elektrėnų marios), located south of the city of Elektrėnai, Lithuania, is the third-largest artificial lake in Lithuania. It was created in 1961 by damming the Strėva River. It supplies cooling water to the 1,800 MWElektrėnai Power Plant. A number of villages drowned when the reservoir was created; over 140 households were relocated. The reservoir also covered eight other lakes.
The Achelous (Greek: Αχελώος, Ancient Greek: ἈχελῷοςAkhelôios), also Acheloos, is a river in Epirus, western Greece. It is 220 km (137 mi) long. It formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia of antiquity. It empties into the Ionian Sea. In ancient times its spirit was venerated as the river god Achelous.
Herodotus, taking notice of the shoreline-transforming power of the Acheloos River, even compared it to the Nile in this respect: :'There are other rivers as well which, though not as large as the Nile, have had substantial results. In particular (although I could name others), there is the Achelous, which flows through Acarnania into the sea and has already turned half the Echinades islands into mainland.' (2.10, trans. Waterfield)
It is said to have been called more anciently Thoas, Axenus and Thestius. (Full article...)
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Weija Dam is a dam on the Densu River which supports the main water treatment plant for Accra. It is operated by the Ghana Water Company. The dam supplies about 80 percent of the potable water for the entire city of Accra and its surrounding environs. Its construction began in 1974 and was completed in 1978 by Messrs Tahi, an Italian Company. (Full article...)
The Hòa Bình Dam on the Black River (Vietnamese: Sông Đà) is the largest hydroelectric dam in Vietnam from 1994 to 2012 (this record was broken by Sơn La Dam), and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, with a generating capacity of 1,920 MW. The Sông Đà Reservoir, with a capacity of 9 billion m3 was formed as the river was dammed.
The dam is located in Hòa Bình City of the Hòa Bình Province in the north of Vietnam. It measures 128 m (420 ft) in height, and 970 m (3,182 ft) in length. It is owned by Vietnam Electricity and operated by the Hoa Binh Hydro Power Company. (Full article...)
The main dam (THC Main Dam) is located on the Amu Darya, straddling the border of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It is the center-piece of the complex. The main dam is a 141 m (463 ft) long and 25 m (82 ft) high gravity dam. It creates the Channel Reservoir which has a storage capacity of about 2,300,000,000 m3 (1,900,000 acre⋅ft) and length of 102 km (63 mi). Water from the Channel Reservoir can be fed into the adjacent Kaparas and Sultansanjar Reservoirs for later use. The Sultansanjar Reservoir is connected via a canal to the Koshbulak Reservoir which lies just east. When first completed, all four reservoirs had a capacity of about 7,800,000,000 m3 (6,300,000 acre⋅ft) but due to silt build-up, this had been reduced to about 6,700,000,000 m3 (5,400,000 acre⋅ft) by 2001.
A system of canals off the main dam supply a network of irrigation canals to the various regions for irrigation. Diversion of river water into these canals, along with similar diversions of water from the nearby Syr Darya River, has greatly contributed to the desiccation of most of the Aral Sea, an endorrheic lake basin. Prior to damming and diversion, the two rivers were the main sources of surface water that replenished the lake. (Full article...)
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Huai Kum Dam (Thai: เขื่อนห้วยกุ่ม, RTGS: Khuean Huai Kum, pronounced[kʰɯ̀a̯nhûa̯jkùm]), is on the Nam Phrom River in Kaset Sombun District, Chaiyaphum Province, Thailand. It consists of a rockfill dam with clay core (35.5 metres high and 282 metres long) and a 1.2 MW semi-underground powerhouse which rises four metres high from the ground and 11 metres beneath the surface. The dam forms a reservoir with a storage capacity of 22 million cubic metres to supply water for the downstream irrigation areas of Chulabhorn Dam in Chaiyaphum Province whereas the power plant provides two million kWh of electric energy per year. The king and the queen accompanied by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Princess Chulabhorn presided over the inauguration ceremony on 19 December 1980. (Full article...)
{{ Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of mountain ranges | section=Mountain ranges on Earth }} Select from Earth section, avoiding Moon
The Uwharries were once a coastal mountain range; isostasy has slowly raised the eastern seabed until today they lie in the Piedmont of North Carolina over 150 miles (240 km) from the coast. Formed approximately 500 million years ago by accretion along the Gondwanan tectonic plate, they are thought to have once peaked at some 20,000 feet (6,100 m), before eroding to a maximum of just over 1,100 feet (340 m). The range's high point is High Rock Mountain (1,188 feet (362 m) as measured by the NC Geodetic Survey), in southwestern Davidson County.
The Himalayas were uplifted after the collision of the Indian tectonic plate with the Eurasian plate, specifically, by the folding, or nappe-formation of the uppermost Indian crust, even as a lower layer continued to push on into Tibet and add thickness to its plateau; the still lower crust, along with the mantle, however, subducted under Eurasia. The Himalayan mountain range runs west-northwest to east-southeast in an arc 2,400 km (1,500 mi) long. Its western anchor, Nanga Parbat, lies just south of the northernmost bend of the Indus river. Its eastern anchor, Namcha Barwa, lies immediately west of the great bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. The Indus-Yarlung suture zone, along which the headwaters of these two rivers flow, separates the Himalayas from the Tibetan plateau; the rivers also separate the Himalayas from the Karakorams, the Hindu Kush, and the Transhimalaya. The range varies in width from 350 km (220 mi) in the west to 150 km (93 mi) in the east. (Full article...)
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The Presidential Range is a mountain range located in the White Mountains of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It contains the highest peaks of the Whites, its most notable summits are named for American presidents, followed by prominent public figures of the 18th and 19th centuries. The Presidential Range is notorious for having some of the worst weather on Earth, mainly because of the unpredictability of high wind speeds and whiteout conditions on the higher summits. Due to its extreme weather, the Presidential Range is often used for mountaineering training for those who go on to climb some of the world's highest mountains, including K2 and Everest.
Mount Washington, long home of the highest winds recorded on the surface of the Earth at 231 mph (372 km/h), is the tallest at 6,288 ft (1,917 m), followed by neighboring peaks Mount Adams at 5,793 ft (1,766 m) and Mount Jefferson at 5,712 ft (1,741 m). The range is almost entirely in Coos County. (Full article...)
Iron Mountain near the western end of the Soldier Mountains has an old Forest Service fire lookout on its summit. Several road and trails are located in the mountains, which provide for a variety of activities including hiking, off-road vehicle riding, fishing, and hunting. Most of the peaks can be accessed relatively easily via class one or two routes. (Full article...)
Sierra Baguales or Sierra de los Baguales is a mountain range in the southernmost Andes. Sierra Baguales is a 60 kilometres (37 mi) long east–west chain, secondary to the main chain of the Andes that lie further west. It lies along the border between Chile and Argentina near the localities of Puerto Natales and Río Turbio. (Full article...)
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The Cederberg mountains are located near Clanwilliam, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town, South Africa at about . The mountain range is named after the endangered Clanwilliam cedar (Widdringtonia cedarbergensis), which is a tree endemic to the area. The mountains are noted for dramatic rock formations and Sanrock art. The Cederberg Wilderness Area is administered by CapeNature.
Cederberg is now the generally accepted spelling for the area, which combines the English (Cedarberg) and Afrikaans (Sederberg) variants. (Full article...)
The Ben Ohau range is dominated at the southern end by Ben Ohau (1522m). Other mountains in the range include Backbone Peak (2263m), MacKenzies Peak (2200m), Glentanner Peak (2551m), Dun Fiunary (2550m), Ferintosh Peak (2497m), Mauka Atua (2557m), Kai Tarau (2542m), and Mt Dark (2496m). At the northern end Mt Cran stands at 2444m, Jamieson Saddle at 2183m and Mt Edgar Thomson at 2379m. (Full article...)
The Alborz (listen Persian: البرز) range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs northeast and merges into the smaller Aladagh Mountains and borders in the northeast on the parallel mountain ridge Kopet Dag in the northern parts of Khorasan. All these mountains are part of the much larger Alpide belt. The Alborz range is divided into the Western, Central, and Eastern Alborz Mountains. The Western Alborz Range (usually called the Talysh) runs south-southeastward almost along the western coast of the Caspian Sea. The Central Alborz (the Alborz Mountains in the strictest sense) runs from west to east along the entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea, while the Eastern Alborz Range runs in a northeasterly direction, toward the northern parts of the Khorasan region, southeast of the Caspian Sea. Mount Damavand, the highest mountain in Iran measuring 5,610.0 m (18,405.5 ft), is located in the Central Alborz Mountains. Mount Damavand is the 12th most prominent peak in the world and the second most prominent in Asia after Mount Everest. (Full article...)
The range is approximately 3,500 km2 (1,400 sq mi) in area and about 35 km in length. Its highest Peak, Dickson Peak (a.k.a. Mount Dickson) is a stunning pyramidal peak towards the eastern end of the range, overlooking the middle Bridge River Valley to the east and also visible on the canyon road between Gold Bridge and Bralorne. The drop from Dickson's summit to Downton Lake is c.2075m (6775') in only 5 km (3.1 mi).
Just southeast of Dickson Peak is Mount Penrose 2,634 m (8,642 ft), which a cockscomb-like summit which stands immediately above Gun Lake and its resort community. Penrose was named for Republican Senator Boies Penrose (November 1, 1860 – December 31, 1921) who climbed it in the 1920s while hunting with famed local big-game outfitter W.G. (Bill) Manson. Penrose was an avid outdoorsman and another mountain in the Flathead area of Montana also bears his name.
Penrose is the best-known summit in the Dickson after Dickson Peak, but farther east along the range are Scherle Peak 2,677 m (8,783 ft) and Tillworth Mountain 2,631 m (8,632 ft). A peak named Sorcerer 2,602 m (8,537 ft) occupies a separate ridge on the northwest end of the range, adjacent to the Leckie Range just north across Slim Creek.
The Beartooth Mountains are located in south central Montana and northwest Wyoming, U.S. and are part of the 944,000 acres (382,000 ha) Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, within Custer, Gallatin and Shoshone National Forests. The Beartooths are the location of Granite Peak, which at 12,807 feet (3,904 m) is the highest point in the state of Montana. The mountains are just northeast of Yellowstone National Park and are part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The mountains are traversed by road via the Beartooth Highway (U.S. 212) with the highest elevation at Beartooth Pass 10,947 ft (3,337 m)). The name of the mountain range has been attributed by the U.S. Forest Service to a rugged peak found in the range, Beartooth Peak, that has the appearance of a bear's tooth. Originally, the Beartooth Mountains were named after Beartooth Butte, a large block of paleozoic sedimentary rock on the Beartooth Plateau, and Beartooth Butte was named for a tooth-like structure that projects from the front of the butte.
The Beartooth Mountains sit upon the larger Beartooth Plateau. (Full article...)
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Alagalla (Sinhala: අලගල්ල, literal translation: Tuber rock) Mountain Range is situated at the boundaries of the Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces in Sri Lanka. Along with the surrounding Bathalegala (බතලේගල) also known as Bible Rock, Uthuwankanda (උතුවන්කන්ද), Devanagala (දෙවනගල), Ambuluwawa (අම්බුළුවාව), Knuckles Mountain Range and Hanthana (හන්තාන) Mountain Range, Alagalla mountain has served as a natural defense location for nearly five centuries (1505–1948) against the Portuguese, Dutch and English invasions aimed at the Kandyan Kingdom. (Full article...)
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The Hida Mountains (飛騨山脈, Hida Sanmyaku), or Northern Alps (北アルプス, Kita Arupusu), is a Japanese mountain range which stretches through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. William Gowland coined the phrase "Japanese Alps" during his time in Japan, but he was only referring to the Hida Mountains when he used that name. The Kiso and Akaishi mountains received the name in the ensuing years. (Full article...)
Vitosha (Bulgarian: Витоша[ˈvitoʃɐ]), the ancient Scomius or Scombrus, is a mountain massif, on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vitosha is one of the symbols of Sofia and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. Convenient bus lines and rope ways render the mountain easily accessible. Vitosha has the outlines of an enormous dome.
The territory of the mountain includes Vitosha nature park that encompasses the best known and most frequently visited parts. The foothills of Vitosha shelter resort quarters of Sofia; Knyazhevo quarter has mineralsprings. Vitosha is the oldest nature park in the Balkans.
The mountain emerged as a result of volcanic activity and has been subsequently shaped by the slow folding of the granite rock layers and a series of gradual uplifts of the area. It appears dome shaped at first sight, but the mountain, 19 km long by 17 km wide, actually consists of concentric denudational plateaus rising in tiers one above the other. Vitosha is separated into four main parts whose main ridges gather at a crown known as Cherni Vrah ('Black Peak', Bulgarian: черни връх). This is the highest point of the mountain at 2290 m and is one of 12 peaks of Vitosha over 2000 m in height. It is the highest massif of the Srednogorie mountain chain system, together with Sredna gora, Plana (mountain), Lyulin Mountain, Greben (mountain), Viskyar Mountain, etc. They all are a result of the folding of the earth layers through the Mesozoic, causing also magma sheet-like intrusion (or concordant pluton) that has been injected between layers of sedimentary rock. The laccolithic domed form of Vitosha is a typical example.
Since the ancient times of the Thracians a large population has always existed at the base of Vitosha. For the last four thousand years the economy of this large settlement has always been connected, in one way or another, with the neighboring mountain. The name Vitosha comes from the two-peaked, twin ridge mountain, which rises above the Sofia field and has acquired its present shape in stages over many millennia.
A meteorological station was built at the top in 1935, and is still operating. The station also serves as a rest shelter for hikers and is the headquarters for the mountain rescue team. Historical documents show that several centuries ago Vitosha mountain was still covered by the remains of the inaccessible "Great Bulgarian Forest" (Magna Silva Bulgarica). Today, the natural coniferous forests of Vitosha remain only in the reserve Bistrishko Branishte and around Zlatnite Mostove (The Golden Bridges). The Golden Bridges is a stone river consisting of a ribbon of huge boulders running down the mountainside. This scenic spot is located along the Vladayska River in an area of mixed deciduous and evergreen forest. However, this is only one of the stone rivers found in Vitosha and they were once the moraines of ancient glaciers. Their further formation occurred due to the spherical erosion of the sienite rocks and their gradual movement to down stream valleys by the forces of gravity and moving water.
At a time when nature conservation ideas were a long way from the present understanding, some enlightened noblemen took the first step in 1934 by declaring 66 km² of Vitosha a nature park, hence Vitosha became the first park of this kind in the Balkans. During the following year, some of the early Bulgarian reserves, Bistrishko Branishte (subsequently expanded to 10.61 km²) and Torfeno Branishte (7.84 km² respectively), were designated within its boundaries. The park boundaries fluctuated over many years and today it encompasses the entire mountain; an area of 266.06 km². (Full article...)
The main crest of the Sierra the Chuacús is located along the El Quiché and Baja Verapáz border, and extends at an elevation above 2,100 m for more than 50 km. Its highest peak reaches up to 2504 m.
The Cantabrian Mountains offer a wide range of trails for hiking, as well as many challenging climbing routes. Skiing is possible in the ski resorts of Alto Campoo, Valgrande-Pajares, Fuentes de Invierno, San Isidro, Leitariegos and Manzaneda. (Full article...)
The terms for 'mountain' are Adrar and adras in some Berber languages, and these terms are believed to be cognates of the toponymAtlas. The mountains are home to a number of animals and plants which are mostly found within Africa but some of which can be found in Europe. Many of these species are endangered and a few are already extinct. The weather is generally cool but summers are sunny, and the average temperature there is 25 °C. The Atlas Mountains have earned a reputation as a trekkers’ den, attracting adventurers year-round. (Full article...)
In the United States, these mountains are considered a subrange of the Rocky Mountains, whereas in Canada they are considered separate, as the northern border of the Rocky Mountains is considered to be the Liard River far to the south in the province of British Columbia.
Various historical records also referred to the range as the Arctic Mountains, Hooper Mountains, Meade Mountains and Meade River Mountains. The Canadian portion of the range is officially called the British Mountains. Ivvavik National Park is located in Canada's British Mountains. (Full article...)
The mountain is a popular destination, attracting an estimated 150,000 visitors a year, around three-quarters of which use the Mountain Track from Glen Nevis. The mountain has hosted a foot race since 1898. The 700-metre (2,300 ft) cliffs of the north face are among the highest in Scotland, providing classic scrambles and rock climbs of all difficulties for climbers and mountaineers. They are also the principal locations in Scotland for ice climbing. The cliffs of the north face can be viewed from the Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut, a private alpine hut.
The summit is 1,345 metres (4,413 ft) above sea level and is the highest land in any direction for 739 kilometres (459 miles). The summit is a stony plateau (a felsenmeer). It features a number of monuments and the ruins of an observatory which was continuously staffed between 1883 and 1904. The meteorological data collected during this period is still important for understanding Scottish mountain weather. C. T. R. Wilson was inspired to invent the cloud chamber after a period spent working at the observatory.
The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as many of those in the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades. The small part of the range in British Columbia is referred to as the Canadian Cascades or, locally, as the Cascade Mountains. The highest peak in the range is Mount Rainier in Washington at 14,411 feet (4,392 m). The Cascades are part of the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire, the ring of volcanoes and associated mountains around the Pacific Ocean. All of the eruptions in the contiguous United States over the last 200 years have been from the Cascade Volcanoes. The two most recent were Lassen Peak from 1914 to 1921 and a major eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. Minor eruptions of Mount St. Helens have also occurred since, most recently from 2004 to 2008. The Cascade Range is a part of the American Cordillera, a nearly continuous chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that form the western "backbone" of North, Central, and South America.
The Kaweka Range (also known as the Kaweka Ranges) of mountains is located in inland Hawke's Bay in the eastern North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) of New Zealand. It forms part of the mountainous spine of the North Island which extends from Wellington to East Cape, including the Tararua and Ruahine ranges.
The range lies between the city of Napier, 55 kilometres (34 mi) to the southeast, and Lake Taupō, 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the northwest. It is the source of many rivers which flow into Hawke Bay, including among them the Tutaekuri, Mohaka, and Ngaruroro Rivers.
The highest point in the range is Kaweka J (1,724 metres (5,656 ft)). The bush line varies from 1000 m to 1300 m.
A tramping track follows the ridge line of the entire range. The Kaweka challenge is a running race held annually in the range since 1990. (Full article...)
In Polish and Ukrainian terminology, the range is commonly called the "Eastern Beskids" (Ukrainian: Східні Бескиди; Polish: Beskidy Wschodnie), while in Slovakia, the term Meadowed Mountains (Slovak: Poloniny) is also used. The scope of those terms varies in accordance to different traditions and classifications.
The mountains are named for SergeantNathaniel Hale Pryor, a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who vainly pursued horses stolen from the expedition in the area. The Crow Tribe, a Native American tribe which lived nearby, called the mountains Baahpuuo Isawaxaawuua ("Hitting Rock Mountains") because of the abundance of flint there (which was chipped into arrowheads).
According to Crow Tribe folklore, Little People (a race of 18 in [46 cm]-high dwarf-like people with spiritual powers) lived in these mountains. (Full article...)
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The Tapuae-o-Uenuku / Hector Mountains are a mountain range in the New Zealand region of Otago, near the resort town of Queenstown and just south of the more famous Remarkables. For most of its length, the mountains run adjacent to the southern reaches of Lake Wakatipu, before extending approximately 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) further south, past the glacial moraine at Kingston on the southern end of the lake. On their eastern side, the mountains mark the edge of the Nevis valley, a largely tussocked area which saw significant activity during the Otago gold rush of the 1860s. Historically, the mountains were an important mahinga kai (food gathering-place) for Ngāi Tahu and other local Māoriiwi, who used the area to hunt for weka and gather tikumu while visiting the region.
Many of the peaks in the range remain unnamed, a group which – until 2013 – included its highest point. Following a joint process between Ngāi Tahu and the Central Otago District Council, four new names were added to the region in 2013, including the adoption of the range's current dual name. This included the name of Mount Tūwhakarōria for the highest point of the range, as well as Te Karearea Peak for another prominent point as seen from Cromwell and Lake Te Kōhua for the small lake between the two. (Full article...)
The geographic range is composed along the provinces of Labrador: including Eastern Baffin, Devon Island, Ellesmere, Bylot Island, the Torngat Mountains, and some parts of the Northeastern fringe. The landscape is dominated by massive polar icefields, alpine glaciers, inland fjords, and large bordering bodies of water, distinctive of many similar arctic regions in the world. Although the terrain is infamous for its unforgiving conditions, humans maintained an established population of 1000 people – 80% of which were Inuit. In addition, the landscape is 75% covered by ice or exposed bedrock, with a continuous permafrost that persists throughout the year, making plant and animal life somewhat scarce. The temperature of the Arctic Cordillera ranges from 6 °C in summer, down to −16 °C in winter. Vegetation is largely absent in this area due to permanent ice and snow. (Full article...)
{{ Transclude list item excerpts as random slideshow | List of dams and reservoirs | section=Africa | sectiononly=yes }} Should pick only the international dams
The Sidi El Barrak Dam is an embankment dam centred 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Tabarka and 2 km (1 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea on the Oued Zouara River in the Beja Governorate, Tunisia. Constructed between 1994 and 2000, the primary purpose of the dam is water supply. As part of the Sidi el Barrak Development Project, water stored in the dam is pumped to the Seyjame Dam, at a rate of 265,000,000 m3 (214,839 acre⋅ft) annually. This water is supplied to Tunis, Cap Bon and the Sahel including Sfax for municipal use as well as agricultural purposes. The entire project was completed in 2002. (Full article...)
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The Kandadji Dam, is a large multipurpose dam under construction on the Niger River. The site is situated near the small town of Kandadji, Tillabéri Department, Tillabéri Region, Niger, 180 km northwest of the capital Niamey. It is being built by the Haut Commissariat à l'Aménagement de la Vallée du Niger (High Commission for Niger Valley), a public body under the Primer Minister's Office.
The dam will generate hydropower and is control the flow of the Niger River, holding water during the dry season to maintain a minimum flow and making downstream irrigation possible. The project is formally named the Kandadji Programme for Ecosystem Regeneration and Niger River Development (Programme Kandadji de Régénération des Ecosystèmes et de Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Niger). (Full article...)
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Hombolo Dam is a dam in Tanzania. It is at Hombolo-Bwawani village, in Dodoma-rural District. The dam was constructed by the colonial government in 1957 for irrigation, domestic water supply, and water for livestock. (Full article...)
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Lamaum Dam is a privately owned hydroelectric dam located on the Catumbela River in the Benguela province of central Angola. Initially completed in 1965, the dam played a crucial role in supplying electricity to the towns of supplying electricity to the towns of Lobito, Benguela and Huambo, with an initial power output of 20 megawatts (27,000 hp).
Destruction and Rehabilitation (1983–1987): In 1983, Lamaum Dam suffered severe damage when it was destroyed by UNITA(National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) after Angola gained independence. This destructive act led to widespread flooding, resulting in the tragic loss of ten lives. Recognizing the importance of this infrastructure, Portugal stepped in to provide credit for the rehabilitation of the dam in 1987.
Rehabilitation and Expansion Plans (2008–2011): In 2008, plans were set in motion for the rehabilitation and enlargement of Lamaum Dam to increase its capacity to 60 megawatts (80,000 hp). The anticipated completion date was targeted for 2011. However, the actual progress and completion of the project may have been subject to various factors, including funding, technical challenges, and other logistical considerations. (Full article...)
The Akosombo Dam, also known as the Volta Dam, is a hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge and part of the Volta River Authority. The construction of the dam flooded part of the Volta River Basin and led to the subsequent creation of Lake Volta. Lake Volta is the largest man-made lake in the world by surface area. It covers 8,502 square kilometres (3,283 sq mi), which is 3.6% of Ghana's land area. With a volume of 148 cubic kilometers, Lake Volta is the world's third largest man-made lake by volume; the largest being Lake Kariba which contains 185 cubic kilometers of water.
The primary purpose of the Akosombo Dam was to provide electricity for the aluminium industry. The Akosombo Dam was called "the largest single investment in the economic development plans of Ghana." The dam is significant for providing the majority of both Togo and Benin's electricity, although the construction of the Adjarala Dam (on Togo's Mono River) hopes to reduce these countries' reliance on imported electricity. The dam's original electrical output was 912 megawatts (1,223,000 hp), which was upgraded to 1,020 megawatts (1,370,000 hp) in a retrofit project that was completed in 2006.
The flooding that created the Lake Volta reservoir displaced many people and had a significant impact on the local environment, including seismic activity that led to coastal erosion; a changed hydrology caused microclimatic changes with less rain and higher temperatures. The soil surrounding the lake is less fertile than the soil under it, and heavy agricultural use has required the use of fertilizers, which in turn has led to eutrophication, which caused, among others, the explosive growth of an invasive weed that renders water navigation and transportation difficult, and form a habitat for the vectors of water-borne illnesses such as bilharzia, river blindness and malaria. Resettlement of the displaced inhabitants proved complex and in some cases unsuccessful; traditional farming practices disappeared and poverty increased. (Full article...)
An assessment of the dam's stability, taken out in the year 2004, revealed 19 stability and safety issues, mainly due to deferred maintenance. However, the main dam structure was in a stable condition at that time. (Full article...)
The Kapichira Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant at the Kapachira Falls on the Shire River in Malawi. It has an installed capacity of 128 megawatts (172,000 hp), enough to power over 86,000 homes, with four 32 megawatts (43,000 hp) generating sets. The power station was developed in stages, with the first phase involving the installation of the first two 32 megawatts-generating turbines. Phase I of the power station was officially opened in September 2000.
In January 2014, in a ceremony attended by the president of Malawi at that time, Joyce Banda, the second phase of the Kapichira hydropower project was switched on, doubling the hitherto 64 megawatts to the maximum capacity of 128 megawatts. (Full article...)
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The Wadi Qattara Dam, also referred to as Gattara or Al-Qattarah, is a clay-fill embankment dam located on Wadi Al-Qattara, 33 km (21 mi) east of Benghazi in Libya. Together with a secondary dam located 10 km (6 mi) downstream at and seven drop structures, the scheme was constructed after floods damaged the Benghazi area in 1938 and 1954. They were also constructed for irrigation water supply. Construction of the dams began in 1968 and was completed in 1971. However, a flood in 1979 severely damaged the main dam and destroyed the secondary dam downstream. The main dam was rehabilitated and the secondary dam was replaced with a rock-fill dam between 2000 and 2004 at a cost of US$30 million. The main dam was heightened 7 m (23 ft) and its total discharge capacity was increased to 240 m3/s (8,476 cu ft/s). Both dams were designed by Coyne et Bellier. (Full article...)
The dam consisted of a core of earth and rubble faced with mortared blocks of cut stone. The upstream face is vertical, while the downstream side steps down through six courses and then continues vertically for 3.8 m. The thickness at the crest is 4.9 m, and at the base 7.3 m. (Full article...)
The Taabo Dam is a hydroelectric power plant of the Bandama River in Côte d'Ivoire with a power generating capacity of 210 megawatts (280,000 hp), enough to power over 141,000 homes. It was formed in 1975. This dam is located downstream from Kossou Dam. This is an "earth and rockfill dam with clay core 8100 m long and 43 m high." It has "five openings giving a maximum discharge capacity of 3,900 m3/sec through radial gates 11 x 11 m" with concrete spillway on the left bank that has a crest level of 113 m above sea level. (Full article...)
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The Sidi El Barrak Dam is an embankment dam centred 18 km (11 mi) northeast of Tabarka and 2 km (1 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea on the Oued Zouara River in the Beja Governorate, Tunisia. Constructed between 1994 and 2000, the primary purpose of the dam is water supply. As part of the Sidi el Barrak Development Project, water stored in the dam is pumped to the Seyjame Dam, at a rate of 265,000,000 m3 (214,839 acre⋅ft) annually. This water is supplied to Tunis, Cap Bon and the Sahel including Sfax for municipal use as well as agricultural purposes. The entire project was completed in 2002. (Full article...)
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Mare aux Vacoas is the largest reservoir in Mauritius. It is located in Plaines Wilhems, in the southwest of the island, to the south of the town of Curepipe. It has a capacity of 25,890,000 cubic metres (914,000,000 cu ft) and provides water to the upper Plaines Wilhems and to Moka. It was constructed in 1885. (Full article...)
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Manjirenji Dam, formerly known as Lake McDougal, lies in south eastern Zimbabwe, east of Masvingo. It was built to provide irrigation water to the farming estates on the lowveld to the southwest, around the town of Chiredzi, where the main crop has been sugar cane.
The Osborne Dam site on the Odzi River, Zimbabwe, was identified in the 1950s by the planning engineers of the Ministry of Water. Cored drilling investigations on the two possible alignments were completed in the 1960s. After the completion of Mazvikadei dam [1985–'88] with Italian financial aid, further funding became available for the project and when the 10 000 hectares of potential irrigable land was identified downstream the project was approved in 1989 by the multi-ministry irrigation committee of the Zimbabwe Government. (Full article...)
The Keddara Dam, or Barrage Keddara, is an embankment dam 6 km (4 mi) northwest of Keddara on the Boudouaou River in Boumerdès Province, Algeria. Constructed between 1982 and 1987 by Yugoslav company Hidrotehnika, the primary purpose of the dam is water supply for irrigation and municipal use in Algiers which is located 35 km (22 mi) to the west. The dam's reservoir has a capacity of 146,500,000 m3 (118,769 acre⋅ft) which is collected from drainage and the Hamiz Dam 7.6 km (5 mi) to the west and the Beni Amrane Dam 17 km (11 mi) to the east. (Full article...)
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Isimba Hydroelectric Power Station is a 183.2 megawatts (245,700 hp) hydroelectric power station commissioned on 21 March 2019 in Uganda. Construction of this dam began in April 2015 and was completed in January 2019. Commercial operations began on 21 March 2019. (Full article...)
Inga Falls on the Congo River is a group of rapids (or cataracts) downstream of the Livingstone Falls and the Pool Malebo. The Congo falls ~96 metres (315 ft) within this set of cataracts. The mean annual flow rate of the Congo River at Inga Falls is ~42,000 cubic metres per second (1,500,000 cu ft/s). Given this flow rate and the 96-metre fall, the Inga Falls alone has a potential to generate ~39.6 gigawatts (53,100,000 hp) of mechanical energy and nearly as much electrical energy.
Inga Falls is currently the site of two large hydropower plants and is being considered for a much larger hydro power generating station known as Grand Inga. The Grand Inga project, if completed, would be the largest hydro-electric power generating facility in the world. The current project scope calls for the use of a flow rate ~26,400 cubic metres per second at a net head of ~150 metres; this is equivalent to a generating capacity of ~38.9 GW. This hydro-electric generator would be more than double the current world record holder, which is the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China.
Grand Inga is a "run-of-the-river" hydroelectric project in which only a relatively small reservoir would be created to back up the power of the river's flow. This would be so that the net head for the hydroelectric turbines could approach 150 metres. (Full article...)
The Bongolo Dam is a dam on the Louetsi River in southwestern Gabon, near Bongolo. The dam was built in the early 1990s with Canadian investment. In 2020, it was announced that the dam was going to be refurbished by Société d’énergie et d’eau du Gabon, with five faulty turbines being replaced and the renewal of the safety and security equipment. (Full article...)
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Oanob Dam is a dam outside Rehoboth, Hardap Region, Namibia. Located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) outside Rehoboth, it dams the Oanob River and supplies the town with the majority of its water. It has a capacity of 34,505,000 cubic metres (1.2185×109 cu ft) and was completed in 1990, the year of Namibia's independence. (Full article...)
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The Katse Dam, a concretearch dam on the Malibamat'so River in Lesotho, is Africa's second largest double-curvature arch dam after the Tekezé Dam in Ethiopia. Located just below the confluence of the Bokong River, which forms the western arm of the Katse reservoir, the dam is part of a larger project which will eventually include five large dams in remote rural areas.
The potential of the project was identified by the South Africancivil engineer Ninham Shand in 1953 as a possible means to supplement the water supply of South Africa's industrial heartland in the Witwatersrand. The World Bank arranged a treaty between the governments of South Africa and Lesotho, allowing the project to proceed. (Full article...)
The Song Loulou Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant of the Sanaga River in Cameroon. It has a power generating capacity of 384 megawatts (515,000 hp), enough to power over 257,100 homes. The Song Loulou power station is built upstream of another power station; the Edea power station. Unlike the Edea power station that mainly powers the aluminum smelter located next to it, the Song Loulou power station mainly powers homes and other industrial plants in the south of the country. (Full article...)
The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam stands 128 metres (420 ft) tall and 579 metres (1,900 ft) long. The dam forms Lake Kariba, which extends for 280 kilometres (170 mi) and holds 185 cubic kilometres (150,000,000 acre⋅ft) of water. (Full article...)
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The Tsiazompaniry Dam is a buttress dam on the Varahina-South River, a tributary of the Ikopa River, near Tsiazompaniry in the Analamanga Region of Madagascar. The dam was constructed by a French firm in 1956. It creates Lake Tsiazompaniry, the largest reservoir in the country, which has a surface area of 31 km2 (12 sq mi) and a storage volume of 260,000,000 m3 (210,000 acre⋅ft). A second buttress dam, 1 km (0.62 mi) northwest of the main dam helps withhold the reservoir. Water released from the dam supplies a regulated flow to hydroelectric power station at the Antelomita Dam downstream. Efforts to install a 5.25 MW power station at the base of the dam began in 2011. (Full article...)
Bruce Lee's Fighting Method is a book of volumes covering Bruce Lee's martial arts abilities of the Jeet Kune Do movement. The book is available as a single hardcover volume or a series of four paperback volumes. The text describes Bruce Lee's Kung Fufighting techniques, philosophy and training methods. This book was originally written in 1966 by Bruce Lee. However, Lee decided not to publish this work as he feared that instructors would use the fighting knowledge in this text to promote themselves. In 1978, after Bruce Lee's death, his widow Linda Lee Cadwell decided to make available the information on her husband's work. Lee's death changed the perspective of releasing the information that Bruce Lee himself had vacillated about. The book was published with the help of Mitoshi Uyehara. Uyehara was the founder and owner of Black Belt Magazine. During the early years of the publication, Uyehara served as the publisher. Bruce Lee contributed many articles to the publication during the 1960s and a friendship ensued between the two men. Uyehara, a martial artist in his own right, was a key personage in arranging Lee's material for publication. (Full article...)
The Legend of Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍傳奇) is a 2008 Chinese biographical television series based on the life story of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee. The 50-episode series was produced and broadcast by CCTV and began airing on October 12, 2008. It was intended to promote Chinese culture alongside the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
It stars Hong Kong actor Danny Chan as Bruce Lee and American actress Michelle Lang as Lee's wife, Linda Lee Cadwell. The production period spanned nine months, with filming taking place in China, Hong Kong, Macau, the United States, Italy, and Thailand, and with a budget of 50 million yuan (US$7.3 million).
Game of Death (Chinese: 死亡的遊戲) is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film, of which portions were filmed between September and October 1972, and was planned and scheduled to be released by 1973, directed, written, produced by and starring Bruce Lee. The project was paused to film and produce Enter the Dragon. For Game of Death, over 120 minutes of footage was shot. The remaining footage has since been released with Lee's original Cantonese and English dialogue, with John Little dubbing Lee's Hai Tien character as part of the documentary titled Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey. Much of the footage that was shot is from what was to be the climax of the film.
During filming, Lee received an offer to star in Enter the Dragon, the first kung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio (Warner Bros.), and with a budget unprecedented for the genre ($850,000). Lee died of cerebral edema before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had made plans to resume the filming of The Game of Death. After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to finish the film using two stand-ins; it was released in 1978 as Game of Death, five years after Lee's death, by Golden Harvest.
The story of Lee's original 1972 film involves Lee's character who, in order to save his siblings, is forced into joining a group of martial artists who have been hired to retrieve a stolen Chinese national treasure[need quotation to verify] from the top floor of a five-story pagoda in South Korea, with each floor guarded by martial artists who must be defeated while ascending the tower.[additional citation(s) needed] The 1978 film's plot was altered to a revenge story, where the mafia attempts to kill Lee's character, who fakes his death and seeks vengeance against those who tried to kill him. The final part of the film uses some of Lee's original film footage, but with the pagoda setting changed to a restaurant building, where he fights martial artists hired by the mafia in an attempt to rescue his fiancée Ann Morris (played by Colleen Camp). This revised version received a mixed critical reception but was commercially successful, grossing an estimated US$50,000,000 (equivalent to $240,000,000 in 2024) worldwide. (Full article...)
Each issue had comics stories featuring these characters, both single-issue stories and multi-issue story arcs. Most issues also included a review of a recent martial arts film. Other issues had interviews with martial arts instructors, while others had interviews with movie or television celebrities related to martial arts.
Early issues had a martial arts instructional section which described some elementary fighting techniques. These were provided by comics illustrator/martial artist Frank McLaughlin. The magazine was in black-and-white except for the cover. The cost of the magazine was 75 cents for issues #1–14. Issue #15 was a Super Annual (all reprints) issue and cost $1.25. Issues #16–33 were $1.00, as well as the 1974 Kung Fu Special (summer 1974); cover-titled Special Album Edition: The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Issue #28 (Sept. 1976) was an all-Bruce Lee special, including a 35-page comic book format biography written by Martin Sands, and drawn by Joe Staton and Tony DeZuniga. (Full article...)
41 Cumberland Road in 2008, operating at that time as a love hotel. 41 Cumberland Road is the address of Bruce Lee's former home in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, where he spent his last year with his family. The place was affectionately known as "the Crane's Nest".
The straight blast is a martial arts technique popularized by Bruce Lee and associated with Wing Chun Kung Fu and Jeet Kune Do. It is one of Bruce Lee's most famous signature moves, and an international federation of gyms have been named after the technique.
The technique operates on the principle of using a sustained offense as a means of forcing an opponent to move on the defensive. The move consists of putting both fists perpendicularly above one another and moving them in a circular motion (starting forward and downward) in a tight formation with fists kept facing forward bent at the wrist outward and clenched vertically, compounded with running toward an opponent. This is intended to throw off the opponent while effectively dealing a barrage of centrifugally forced punches toward the center of the opponent's mass. A poorly executed or premature straight blast attack can usually be effectively countered by one or more kicks to the attacker's shin, knee, or groin.
In some of his books, Bruce Lee mentions how boxers would scoff at this 'funny' looking technique, but when they were not expecting it in sparring matches, they would take the brunt of the attack, be thrown off guard and defeated. (Full article...)
Jeet Kune Do[pronunciation?] (Chinese: 截拳道; Jyutping: zit6 kyun4 dou6; lit. 'stop fist way' or 'way of the intercepting fist'; abbreviated JKD) is a hybrid martial art conceived and practiced by martial artist Bruce Lee. It was formed from Lee's experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defence—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist, Confucianist and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought.
At the heart of Jeet Kune Do lies the principle of intercepting the opponent's attacks, crafting responses or counterattacks that effectively target the adversary's offensive moves. JKD also incorporates a set of principles to help practitioners make instant decisions and improve the physical and mental self, being intended to have practical applications in life without the traditional routines and metaphysics of conventional martial arts. As an eclectic martial art, it relies on a fighting style heavily influenced by Wing Chun, Tai Chi, taekwondo, boxing, fencing and jujutsu.
Bruce Lee himself never formalized Jeet Kune Do before he died. This forced later JKD practitioners to rely upon their own interpretation of the philosophy created by Bruce Lee. (Full article...)
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Dragon Lee, (born August 12, 1958) originally known in South Korea as Keo Ryong (거룡, literally "Giant Dragon") and born Moon Kyoung-seok, is an actor and practitioner of taekwondo and hapkido. He made a name for himself as a martial arts film star in the 1970s and 80s. (Full article...)
41 Cumberland Road in 2008, operating at that time as a love hotel. 41 Cumberland Road is the address of Bruce Lee's former home in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, where he spent his last year with his family. The place was affectionately known as "the Crane's Nest".
Surface-supplied diver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Open-circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver at ambient pressure through a diving regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas. Closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open-circuit, making longer dives feasible. Rebreathers extend the time spent underwater compared to open-circuit for the same metabolic gas consumption. They produce fewer bubbles and less noise than open-circuit scuba, which makes them attractive to covert military divers to avoid detection, scientific divers to avoid disturbing marine animals, and media divers to avoid bubble interference.
Scuba diving may be done recreationally or professionally in a number of applications, including scientific, military and public safety roles, but most commercial diving uses surface-supplied diving equipment for breathing gas security when this is practicable. Scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers.
Surface-supplied divers riding a stage to the underwater workplace
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. <Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
In ambient pressure diving, the diver is directly exposed to the pressure of the surrounding water. The ambient pressure diver may dive on breath-hold (freediving) or use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving, and the saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) after long-duration deep dives. Atmospheric diving suits (ADS) may be used to isolate the diver from high ambient pressure. Crewed submersibles can extend depth range to full ocean depth, and remotely controlled or robotic machines can reduce risk to humans.
The environment exposes the diver to a wide range of hazards, and though the risks are largely controlled by appropriate diving skills, training, types of equipment and breathing gases used depending on the mode, depth and purpose of diving, it remains a relatively dangerous activity. Professional diving is usually regulated by occupational health and safety legislation, while recreational diving may be entirely unregulated. Diving activities are restricted to maximum depths of about 40 metres (130 ft) for recreational scuba diving, 530 metres (1,740 ft) for commercial saturation diving, and 610 metres (2,000 ft) wearing atmospheric suits. Diving is also restricted to conditions which are not excessively hazardous, though the level of risk acceptable can vary, and fatal incidents may occur.
Recreational diving (sometimes called sport diving or subaquatics) is a popular leisure activity. Technical diving is a form of recreational diving under more challenging conditions. Professional diving (commercial diving, diving for research purposes, or for financial gain) involves working underwater. Public safety diving is the underwater work done by law enforcement, fire rescue, and underwater search and recovery dive teams. Military diving includes combat diving, clearance diving and ships husbandry. Deep sea diving is underwater diving, usually with surface-supplied equipment, and often refers to the use of standard diving dress with the traditional copper helmet. Hard hat diving is any form of diving with a helmet, including the standard copper helmet, and other forms of free-flow and lightweight demand helmets. The history of breath-hold diving goes back at least to classical times, and there is evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering of seafoods that may have involved underwater swimming. Technical advances allowing the provision of breathing gas to a diver underwater at ambient pressure are recent, and self-contained breathing systems developed at an accelerated rate following the Second World War. (Full article...)
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Surface-supplied diver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
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A freediver on the ocean floor Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath-hold, immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure also have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in freediving.
Surface-supplied diver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
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Surface-supplied diver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
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Surface-supplied divers riding a stage to the underwater workplace
Underwater diving, as a human activity, is the practice of descending below the water's surface to interact with the environment. It is also often referred to as diving, an ambiguous term with several possible meanings, depending on context. <Immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in ambient pressure diving. Humans are not physiologically and anatomically well-adapted to the environmental conditions of diving, and various equipment has been developed to extend the depth and duration of human dives, and allow different types of work to be done.
In ambient pressure diving, the diver is directly exposed to the pressure of the surrounding water. The ambient pressure diver may dive on breath-hold (freediving) or use breathing apparatus for scuba diving or surface-supplied diving, and the saturation diving technique reduces the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) after long-duration deep dives. Atmospheric diving suits (ADS) may be used to isolate the diver from high ambient pressure. Crewed submersibles can extend depth range to full ocean depth, and remotely controlled or robotic machines can reduce risk to humans.
The environment exposes the diver to a wide range of hazards, and though the risks are largely controlled by appropriate diving skills, training, types of equipment and breathing gases used depending on the mode, depth and purpose of diving, it remains a relatively dangerous activity. Professional diving is usually regulated by occupational health and safety legislation, while recreational diving may be entirely unregulated. Diving activities are restricted to maximum depths of about 40 metres (130 ft) for recreational scuba diving, 530 metres (1,740 ft) for commercial saturation diving, and 610 metres (2,000 ft) wearing atmospheric suits. Diving is also restricted to conditions which are not excessively hazardous, though the level of risk acceptable can vary, and fatal incidents may occur.
Recreational diving (sometimes called sport diving or subaquatics) is a popular leisure activity. Technical diving is a form of recreational diving under more challenging conditions. Professional diving (commercial diving, diving for research purposes, or for financial gain) involves working underwater. Public safety diving is the underwater work done by law enforcement, fire rescue, and underwater search and recovery dive teams. Military diving includes combat diving, clearance diving and ships husbandry. Deep sea diving is underwater diving, usually with surface-supplied equipment, and often refers to the use of standard diving dress with the traditional copper helmet. Hard hat diving is any form of diving with a helmet, including the standard copper helmet, and other forms of free-flow and lightweight demand helmets. The history of breath-hold diving goes back at least to classical times, and there is evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering of seafoods that may have involved underwater swimming. Technical advances allowing the provision of breathing gas to a diver underwater at ambient pressure are recent, and self-contained breathing systems developed at an accelerated rate following the Second World War. (Full article...)
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Surface-supplied diver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
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Saturation diver working on the USS Monitor wreck at 70 m (230 ft) depth Saturation diving is a technique used for ambient pressure deep-sea diving that allows divers to stay at great depths for extended periods. It works by bringing all body tissues into equilibrium with the partial pressures of inert gases in the breathing mixture and keeping them under constant pressure. This method significantly reduces the number of decompressions required, as divers only undergo decompression once—at the end of the operation—which can last from several days to weeks.
When a diver breathes pressurized gas, inert gases dissolve into the body's tissues. These gases are necessary to dilute oxygen to non-toxic levels, but if they come out of solution too quickly, they can cause decompression sickness ("the bends"), a potentially fatal condition. To prevent this, divers must follow a controlled decompression process, allowing inert gases to be safely eliminated through the lungs. However, once a diver’s tissues reach full saturation, no additional inert gas accumulates, meaning decompression time remains the same regardless of further exposure.
Saturation diving takes advantage of this by having divers remain in that saturated state. When not in the water, the divers live in a sealed environment which maintains their pressurised state; this can be an ambient pressure underwater habitat or a saturation system at the surface, with transfer to and from the pressurised living quarters to the equivalent depth underwater via a closed, pressurised diving bell. This may be maintained for up to several weeks, and divers are decompressed to surface pressure only once, at the end of their tour of duty. By limiting the number of decompressions in this way, and using a conservative decompression schedule the risk of decompression sickness is significantly reduced, and the total time spent decompressing is minimized. Saturation divers typically breathe a helium–oxygen mixture to prevent nitrogen narcosis, and limit work of breathing, but at shallow depths saturation diving has been done on nitrox mixtures. Most of the physiological and medical aspects of diving to the same depths are much the same in saturation and bell-bounce ambient pressure diving, or are less of a problem, but there are medical and psychological effects of living under saturation for extended periods.
Saturation diving is a specialized form of diving; of the 3,300 commercial divers employed in the United States in 2015, 336 were saturation divers. Special training and certification is required, as the activity is inherently hazardous, and a set of standard operating procedures, emergency procedures, and a range of specialised equipment is used to control the risk, that require consistently correct performance by all the members of an extended diving team. The combination of relatively large skilled personnel requirements, complex engineering, and bulky, heavy equipment required to support a saturation diving project make it an expensive diving mode, but it allows direct human intervention at places that would not otherwise be practical, and where it is applied, it is generally more economically viable than other options, if such exist. (Full article...)
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Surface-supplied diver at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, California Surface-supplied diving is a mode of underwater diving using equipment supplied with breathing gas through a diver's umbilical from the surface, either from the shore or from a diving support vessel, sometimes indirectly via a diving bell. This is different from scuba diving, where the diver's breathing equipment is completely self-contained and there is no essential link to the surface. The primary advantages of conventional surface supplied diving are lower risk of drowning and considerably larger breathing gas supply than scuba, allowing longer working periods and safer decompression. Disadvantages are the absolute limitation on diver mobility imposed by the length of the umbilical, encumbrance by the umbilical, and high logistical and equipment costs compared with scuba. The disadvantages restrict use of this mode of diving to applications where the diver operates within a small area, which is common in commercial diving work.
Airline, or hookah diving, and "compressor diving" are lower technology variants also using a breathing air supply from the surface. (Full article...)
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2nd Reconnaissance Battalion combat diver training with the Dräger LAR V rebreather
Rebreather diving is underwater diving using diving rebreathers, a class of underwater breathing apparatus which recirculate the breathing gas exhaled by the diver after replacing the oxygen used and removing the carbon dioxide metabolic product. Rebreather diving is practiced by recreational, military and scientific divers in applications where it has advantages over open circuit scuba, and surface supply of breathing gas is impracticable. The main advantages of rebreather diving are extended gas endurance, low noise levels, and lack of bubbles.
Rebreathers are generally used for scuba applications, but are also occasionally used for bailout systems for surface-supplied diving. Gas reclaim systems used for deep heliox diving use similar technology to rebreathers, as do saturation divinglife-support systems, but in these applications the gas recycling equipment is not carried by the diver. Atmospheric diving suits also carry rebreather technology to recycle breathing gas as part of the life-support system, but this article covers the procedures of ambient pressure diving using rebreathers carried by the diver.
Rebreathers are generally more complex to use than open circuit scuba, and have more potential points of failure, so acceptably safe use requires a greater level of skill, attention and situational awareness, which is usually derived from understanding the systems, diligent maintenance and overlearning the practical skills of operation and fault recovery. Fault tolerant design can make a rebreather less likely to fail in a way that immediately endangers the user, and reduces the task loading on the diver which in turn may lower the risk of operator error. (Full article...)
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Atmospheric diving suit
An atmospheric diving suit (ADS), or single atmosphere diving suit is a small one-person articulated submersible which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of one atmosphere. An ADS can enable diving at depths of up to 2,300 feet (700 m) for many hours by eliminating the majority of significant physiological dangers associated with deep diving. The occupant of an ADS does not need to decompress, and there is no need for special breathing gas mixtures, so there is little danger of decompression sickness or nitrogen narcosis when the ADS is functioning properly. An ADS can permit less skilled swimmers to complete deep dives, albeit at the expense of dexterity.
Atmospheric diving suits in current use include the Newtsuit, Exosuit, Hardsuit and the WASP, all of which are self-contained hard suits that incorporate propulsion units. The Hardsuit is constructed from cast aluminum (forged aluminum in a version constructed for the US Navy for submarine rescue); the upper hull is made from cast aluminum, while the bottom dome is machined aluminum. The WASP is of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) body tube construction. (Full article...)
Open-circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver at ambient pressure through a diving regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas. Closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open-circuit, making longer dives feasible. Rebreathers extend the time spent underwater compared to open-circuit for the same metabolic gas consumption. They produce fewer bubbles and less noise than open-circuit scuba, which makes them attractive to covert military divers to avoid detection, scientific divers to avoid disturbing marine animals, and media divers to avoid bubble interference.
Scuba diving may be done recreationally or professionally in a number of applications, including scientific, military and public safety roles, but most commercial diving uses surface-supplied diving equipment for breathing gas security when this is practicable. Scuba divers engaged in armed forces covert operations may be referred to as frogmen, combat divers or attack swimmers.
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