Act 60, known as "The Equal Educational Opportunity Act", was a Vermont law enacted in June 1997 by the Vermont legislature intended to achieve a fair balance of educational spending across school districts, independent of the degree of prosperity within each district. The law was in response to a Vermont Supreme Court decision in the Brigham vs. State of Vermont case, wherein the court ruled that Vermont's then existing educational funding system was unconstitutional, because it allowed students in towns with higher total property values to receive a higher level of education funding per pupil than students in towns with lower property values. Act 60 was followed by Acts 68 and 130, which addressed some imbalances caused by Act 60.

State-wide education funding
In most local jurisdictions outside of Vermont, public school funding is determined within a school district by the following steps:
1. The school expenditure budget is set and non-tax income from grants and other sources is identified.
2. The difference between expected expenditures and non-tax income determines the amount to be raised by taxes.
3. Where taxes are raised by property tax, property values across a jurisdiction are assessed and each qualified property contributes to the total funds to be raised in property taxes in proportion to that property's fraction of the total property value of the jurisdiction.
In jurisdictions where the total value of property is large, compared with the funding to be raised, both the total taxes and the tax rate per unit of value are small compared to jurisdictions with a high level of funding to be raised and a small property value base. This is the basis for the education funding inequity addressed by the Vermont Supreme Court in Brigham vs. State of Vermont.

Determination of funding required
To address the funding inequities among school districts, Act 60 and its amendments, Acts 68 and 130, established a system to pool the state's educational budgetary requirements from across jurisdictions and pay for them, in part, with pooled property taxes from across those same jurisdictions.

The provisions of Act 68 determine an individual district's education spending as that part of an expenditure budget without a specific funding source. It includes:
Special education costs not covered by federal aid and the state categorical grant
Transportation costs not covered by the state categorical aid
Tuition owed by the district
General payroll and operation costs that do not have specific funding sources.

Education spending is that part of an expenditure budget without a specific funding source. Pre-Kindergarten through twelfth-grade education funding may be calculated for school districts according to:
Budget adopted by school district (town, city, union, incorporated) + Deficit from prior year (if any) = Total District Budgeted Expenditures
Then:
Total District Budgeted Expenditures – (State categorical grants, federal revenues, tuition revenues, interest income, etc.) = Education Spending

Raising the required funds
According to a handbook example explaining the matter, the amount needed in the education fund in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 to pay for grants and education spending was about $1.353 billion, which required revenues for the education fund from the following sources:

These sources left a $364-million gap in school funding for FY 2012 to be raised through property taxes on homesteads in Vermont.

Homestead property tax
Each year, the Vermont legislature sets a base amount that a school district will be expected to spend per pupil. Homestead property tax calculations are based on the amount per pupil that the district must raise over the base amount to fund its budget. In each school district, the property tax liability is established by the following method:
The district's school board determines its educational spending level, described above.
The educational spending level, divided by the "equalized pupil count" determines the district's education spending per equalized pupil. The "equalized pupil" count, which assigns weights for different types of pupils, is designed to reflect the per capita spending in the district.
The percentage increase of the district's per pupil spending over the state's base education spending per pupil determines the percentage increase in property taxes over the level that would be required to fund the base homestead tax rate.

In principle, this method assures that all districts that have the same education spending per equalized pupil will have the same homestead tax rate. In order to achieve this principle, all properties in the state would have to be assessed in an equivalent manner.

Common Level of Appraisal
Because property tax rates are determined by the ratio of (total taxes to be raised to fund an expenditure budget) to (the total value of the properties subject to taxation), it is important to have all properties be assessed to an equivalent value across the state. Absent that, properties in school districts where the values lagged behind their fair market value would not contribute their fair share to statewide educational spending. In practice, each jurisdiction is responsible for assessing property values according to its own methods and on its own schedule. To establish an equivalent basis for property taxation, Act 60 establishes a common level of appraisal (CLA) for each school district.

The CLA helps to equalize how much towns pay, essentially by adjusting the appraised value of a homestead by looking at recent sale prices in town in comparison to the appraised values.  If the appraised values are below the sale prices, the CLA raises the tax rate, and if the prices are below the appraised values, the CLA lowers the tax rate.  This is done so that properties that have not been reappraised in several years are not able to pay lower taxes than a similarly valued homestead that was more recently reappraised.

Excess spending
The statute resulting from Act 68's revision of Act 60 has a disincentive for rich school districts to spend excessively. It penalizes districts with education spending per equalized pupil that exceed the threshold by 25%, will be subject to an additional tax rate. For each dollar spent above that threshold, the district must send an extra dollar to the state. The spending threshold for a school district excludes capital construction debt service spending.

Income sensitivity
As of 2011, Act 60 provided for taxpayers with lower incomes by adjusting property tax owed, according to a threshold income, as follows, according to the Vermont pamphlet. The homestead tax for eligible payers was to be reduced by an amount equal to the following:
If household income is $90,000 or more, the property tax on the first $200,000 of housesite market value (house and up to two surrounding acres) minus the applicable percentage of the household income.
If household income is less than $90,000 the homestead property tax on the first $500,000 of housesite market value minus the applicable percentage of the household income.
The mechanism to achieve this is to reduce tax bills by the adjustment amount.

Acts 68 and 130

For most towns the "equalized yield" for any local taxes above the statewide level decreased property taxes and increased the funds available for their schools. However, certain ski towns, which had been spending much more per pupil than most districts, experienced the opposite result. These "Gold Towns" objected, but were generally satisfied with the 2003 resolution contained in Act 68, which continued "equalized yield" but gave those towns latitude to spend more at home. Act 68 also recognized that union districts require special recognition to determine an education spending per equalized pupil amount and a corresponding homestead tax rate in the district as whole, rather than assessing costs to member districts in order to receive money from the state's education fund directly.

Act 130 clarified the distinction between governing entities (towns and cities) that raise taxes and educating entities that expend the funds raised. It based the homestead tax rate levied by a town on the average education spending per equalized pupil of all the pupils living in the taxing entity.

Commentary
Proponents of the laws can cite success in increasing both spending in previously underfunded districts and student performance at the same time. Critics question whether the burden is unfairly shifted to property rich towns.

Favorable
The Vermont legislature hired Lawrence O Picus And Associates LLC of California to conduct a study to assess whether the laws had the effect of equalizing spending among towns by factoring out property wealth. Their report indicates that the Vermont school funding system "is working well and meeting the goals established in Acts 60 and 68. Using a series of objective measures," it found that some towns that have seen a marked increase in spending have also seen an increase in student performance.

Unfavorable
Some critics of Act 60/68 have expressed concern about the disparity of contributions that wealthier towns sometimes make compared to the benefits that they receive through the funding formula. For example, Dover, Vermont reportedly contributed $11 million to state education funding, while only receiving $2 million in 2000. In response, the town embarked on a study characterize the laws' impact on the local economy and study whether the laws had achieved an equal educational opportunity for town students, as the state legislation was intended. Killington, Vermont was considering the net effects of the laws on its economy, when in 2012 it established a committee to study tax reform. As part of its charge, the committee was to study how significantly the state property tax burden has increased since Act 60 was passed in 1997.

On December 24, 2019 a Pupil Weighting Factors Report, commissioned by the Generally Assembly, was released. On January 29, 2020, Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French testified to the Vermont legislature that the mechanics of the educational funding system consistent with the Report needed to be addressed to ensure equal tax effort and to establish the necessary financial preconditions for equal educational opportunity.

References

External links
Vermont Department of Education guide to Act 60/68
Complete text of Act 60
Compete text of Act 68

Vermont culture
Public education in Vermont

Act 60 (Vermont law)


Obersturmmann was a paramilitary rank of the NSDAP which existed from 1931 to 1945.  Translated as "Senior Storm Trooper", the rank of Obersturmmann was considered the equivalent of a Private First Class.  The rank of Obersturmmann can trace its origins to World War I where the position was held by low level non-commissioned officers who served as fire team leaders in Stormtrooper companies.

Very few Nazi Party groups maintained the rank of Obersturmmann and the title typically appeared in organizations (such as the National Socialist Motor Corps) which did not maintain the rank of Mann.  The rank ceased to exist in 1945 and has never again appeared in the German military, primarily due to its connection with Nazi Germany.

Nazi paramilitary ranks

Obersturmmann


Heated shot is the heating of round shot before firing from muzzle-loading cannons.  The purpose is for setting fire to enemy warships, buildings, or equipment.

The use of hot shot dates back centuries.  It was stopped when vessels armored with iron replaced wooden warships in the world's navies. It was a powerful weapon against wooden warships, where fire was always a hazard. It was mainly used on shore batteries and forts, due to the need for a special furnace to heat the shot.

The use of heated shot from a ship was so dangerous, that it was against Royal Navy regulations. The American ship USS Constitution had a shot furnace installed, for hot shot to be fired.

References

Ballistics

Heated shot


Jacinto Esteva Grewe (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, 1936 - Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, September 9, 1985) was a Spanish film director one of the founders of the Barcelona School of Film.

Biography
He studied Philosophy and Letters in Barcelona and four courses of Architecture in Geneva (Switzerland), specializing in urban planning at the Sorbonne in Paris (France).

In 1960, he directed a short film by Paolo Brunatto, Notes sur l'émigration. Espagne 1960. In 1962, he filmed two additional shorts: Alrededor de las salinas and Picasso. 1966 marked his debut feature release with the film Far from the trees. The film, which wasn't released for seven years after its production, was considered by some critics as an update of Luis Buñuel's Land Without Bread.

In 1965, he began his work in the film industry with the founding of the company Filmscontacto, based on the so-called Barcelona School of Film. His last film was Después del diluvio (After the Flood). At the time of his death, he had prepared a script with Luis Azcona, Icarus, which was not carried out.

Filmography
 Far from the Trees (Lejos de los árboles) (1972)
 After the Flood (film) (Después del diluvio) (1970)
 Metamorfosis (film) (Metamorphosis) (1970)
 Dante is Not Only Severe (Dante no es únicamente severo) (1967)

References

External links

Far from the Trees at Pragda'
 Mapping Catalonia in 1967

Spanish film directors
1936 births
1985 deaths
University of Paris alumni
University of Geneva alumni
Spanish expatriates in France
Spanish expatriates in Switzerland

Jacinto Esteva Grewe


The inland taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus), also commonly known as the western taipan, small-scaled snake, or fierce snake, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to semiarid regions of central east Australia. Aboriginal Australians living in those regions named the snake dandarabilla. It was formally described by Frederick McCoy in 1879 and then by William John Macleay in 1882, but for the next 90 years, it was a mystery to the scientific community; no further specimens were found, and virtually nothing was added to the knowledge of this species until its rediscovery in 1972.

Based on the median lethal dose value in mice, the venom of the inland taipan is by far the most toxic of any snake – much more so than even that of sea snakes – and it has the most toxic venom of any reptile when tested on human heart cell culture. The inland taipan is a specialist hunter of mammals, so its venom is specially adapted to kill warm-blooded species. One bite possesses enough lethality to kill more than an estimated 100 fully grown humans. It is an extremely fast and agile snake that can strike instantly with extreme accuracy,  often striking multiple times in the same attack, and it envenomates in almost every case.

Although the most venomous and a capable striker, in contrast to the coastal taipan, which many experts cite as an extremely dangerous snake due to its behaviour when it encounters humans, the inland taipan is usually a quite shy and reclusive snake, with a placid disposition, and prefers to escape from trouble. However, it will defend itself and strike if provoked, mishandled, or prevented from escaping. Because it lives in such remote locations, the inland taipan seldom comes in contact with people; therefore it is not considered the deadliest snake in the world overall, especially in terms of disposition and human deaths per year. The word "fierce" from its alternative name describes its venom, not its temperament.

Taxonomy

To the Aboriginal people from the place now called Goyder Lagoon in north-east South Australia, the inland taipan was called dandarabilla.

The inland taipan was first described scientifically in 1879. Two specimens of the fierce snake were discovered at the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers in northwestern Victoria and described by Frederick McCoy, who called the species Diemenia microlepidota, or small-scaled brown snake. In 1882, a third specimen was found near Bourke, New South Wales, and William John Macleay described the same snake under the name Diemenia ferox (thinking it was a different species). No more specimens were collected until 1972. In 1896, George Albert Boulenger classified both as belonging to the same genus, Pseudechis (black snakes), referring to them as Pseudechis microlepidotus and P. ferox.

In 1956, relying only on published descriptions and notes, James Roy Kinghorn regarded ferox as a synonym for microlepidotus and proposed the genus Parademansia. In 1963, Eric Worrell considered Parademansia microlepidotus and Oxyuranus scutellatus (coastal taipan, named simply "taipan" in those days) to be the same species.

In September 1972, after receiving an unclassified snake head sample from a grazier from one of the Channel Country stations west of Windorah of the far southwest Queensland, herpetologists Jeanette Covacevich (then working for the Queensland Museum) and Charles Tanner travelled to the site and found 13 living specimens, and rediscovered the lost snake Parademansia microlepidotus. In 1976, Covacevich and Wombey argued that Parademansia microlepidotus belongs to a distinct genus, and this was also the opinion of Harold Cogger.

Covacevich, McDowell, Tanner & Mengden (1981) successfully argued, by comparing anatomical features, chromosomes, and behaviours of the two species then known as Oxyuranus scutellatus (taipan) and Parademansia microlepidota, that they belonged in a single genus.  Oxyuranus (1923), the more senior name, was adopted for the combined genus.

Oxyuranus microlepidotus has been the fierce snake's binomial name since the early 1980s. The generic name Oxyuranus is from Greek oxys "sharp, needle-like", and ouranos "an arch" (specifically the arch of the heavens) and refers to the needle-like anterior process on the arch of the palate. The specific name microlepidotus means "small-scaled" (Latin). Hence the common name, "small-scaled snake". Since Covacevich et al., 1981, determined that the fierce snake (formerly: Parademansia microlepidota) is actually part of the genus Oxyuranus (taipan), another species, Oxyuranus scutellatus, which was previously known simply as the "taipan" (coined from the aboriginal snake's name dhayban), was renamed the "coastal taipan" (or "eastern taipan"), while the now newly classified Oxyuranus microlepidotus became commonly known as the "inland taipan" (or "western taipan").

Distribution and habitat
The inland taipan inhabits the black soil plains in the semiarid regions where the Queensland and South Australia borders converge.

In Queensland, the snake has been observed in Channel Country region (e.g., Diamantina National Park, Durrie Station, Morney Plains Station and Astrebla Downs National Park) and in South Australia it has been observed in the Marree-Innamincka NRM District (e.g., Goyder Lagoon Tirari Desert, Sturt Stony Desert, Coongie Lakes, Innamincka Regional Reserve and Oodnadatta).  An isolated population also occurs near Coober Pedy, South Australia.

Two old records exist for localities further south-east, i.e., the junction of the Murray and Darling Rivers in northwestern Victoria (1879) and Bourke, New South Wales (1882), but the species has not been observed in either state since then.

Conservation status
Like every Australian snake, the inland taipan is protected by law.

Conservation status for the snake was assessed for the IUCN Red List for the first time in July 2017, and in 2018, was designated as least concern, stating, "This species is listed as least concern, as it is widespread and overall, it is not considered to be declining. Although the impact of potential threats requires further research, these are likely to be localized within the snake's range."

The inland taipan's conservation status has also been designated by Australian official sources:
 South Australia: (Outback regional status)  - least concern
 Queensland: Rare (before 2010), near threatened (May 2010-December 2014), least concern (December 2014 – present)
 New South Wales: Presumed extinct, because it "hasn't been recorded in its habitat...despite surveys in a time frame appropriate to their life cycle and type"
 Victoria: Regionally extinct, based on the criterion: "As for Extinct but within a  defined region  (in this case the state of Victoria)  that does not encompass the entire geographic range of the taxon. A taxon is presumed Regionally Extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate ), throughout the region have failed to record an individual.  Surveys should be over a time frame appropriate to the taxon's life cycle and life form." The Australian Museum lists it as presumed extinct.

In captivity
According to the International Species Information System (retrieved 2004), inland taipans are held in three zoo collections:  Adelaide Zoo and Sydney Taronga Zoo in Australia and Moscow Zoo in Russia. In the Moscow Zoo they are kept in the "House of Reptiles" which is not usually open to the general public.

The inland taipan is also on public display in Australia at the Australia Zoo, Australian Reptile Park, Billabong Sanctuary, Cairns Tropical Zoo, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Shoalhaven Zoo.

The snake is also on display at several locations outside of Australia:

In the United States, inland taipans are held at the Reptile Gardens in South Dakota, at Kentucky Reptile Zoo and at Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo in Texas.

In Europe, inland taipans are held in Sweden at the Stockholm Skansen Zoo and Gothenburg Universeum and in the UK at the London Zoo. Amateur zoo listings also report the snake in tropicarium park Jesolo Italy, in Gifttierhaus Eimsheim, Welt der Gifte Greifswald,  and TerraZoo Rheinberg Germany, in Lausanne vivarium Lausanne Switzerland, in Randers Tropical Zoo Denmark, in Plzeň Zoo Czech Republic and in Reptilienzoo Nockalm Patergassen Austria.

In Asia, inland taipans are held in the Singapore Zoo.

Private ownership law
In New South Wales, private ownership of an inland taipan is legal only with the highest class of venomous reptile licence.

Description

The inland taipan is dark tan, ranging from a rich, dark hue to a brownish light green, depending on the season. Its back, sides, and tail may be different shades of brown and grey, with many scales having a wide, blackish edge. These dark-marked scales occur in diagonal rows so that the marks align to form broken chevrons of variable length that are inclined backward and downward. The lowermost lateral scales often have an anterior yellow edge. The dorsal scales are smooth and without keels. The round-snouted head and neck are usually noticeably darker than the body (glossy black in winter; dark brown in summer), the darker colour allowing the snake to heat itself while exposing only a smaller portion of the body at the burrow entrance. The eyes are of average size with blackish-brown irises and without a noticeable coloured rim around the pupils.

It has 23 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, between 55 and 70 divided subcaudal scales, and one anal scale.

The inland taipan averages about  in total length, although larger specimens can reach total lengths of . Its fangs are between 3.5 and 6.2 mm long (shorter than those of the coastal taipan).

Seasonal adaptation
Inland taipans adapt to their environments by changing the colour of their skin during seasonal changes. They tend to become lighter during the summer and darker during the winter. This seasonal colour change facilitates thermoregulation, allowing the snake to absorb more radiant heat in the colder months.

Breeding
Inland taipans produce clutches of one to two dozen eggs. The eggs hatch in about two months. They are usually laid in abandoned animal burrows and deep crevices. Reproduction rate depend in part on their diet: if not enough food is available, then the snake reproduces less.

Captive snakes generally live for 10 to 15 years. An inland taipan at the Australia Zoo lived to be over 20 years old.

Feeding
In the wild, the inland taipan consumes only mammals, mostly rodents, such as the long-haired rat (Rattus villosissimus), the plains rat (Pseudomys australis), the introduced house mouse (Mus musculus), and other dasyurids. In captivity, it may also eat day-old chicks. Unlike other venomous snakes that strike with a single, accurate bite then retreat while waiting for the prey to die, the fierce snake subdues the prey with a series of rapid, accurate strikes. It is known to deliver up to eight venomous bites in a single attack, often snapping its jaws fiercely several times to inflict multiple punctures in the same attack. Its more risky attack strategy entails holding its prey with its body and biting it repeatedly. This injects the extremely toxic venom deep into the prey. The venom acts so rapidly that its prey does not have time to fight back.

Natural threats
The mulga snake (Pseudechis australis) is immune to most Australian snake venom, and is known to also eat young inland taipans. The perentie (Varanus giganteus), a large monitor lizard, shares the same habitat. As it grows large enough, it readily tackles large venomous snakes as prey.

Interaction with humans
Many reptile keepers consider it a placid snake to handle.

Inland taipans are rarely encountered in the wild by the average person because of their remoteness and brief above-ground appearance during the day. So long as a person is not creating much vibration and noise, the inland taipan may not feel alarmed or bothered by a human presence. However, caution should be exercised and a safe distance maintained as it can inflict a potentially fatal bite. The inland taipan will defend itself and strike if provoked, mishandled, or prevented from escaping. Firstly, but not always, it makes a threat display by raising its forebody in a tight low S-shaped curve with its head facing the threat. Should the person choose to ignore the warning, the inland taipan will strike. It is an extremely fast and agile snake that can strike instantly with extreme accuracy, and it envenoms in almost every case.

Clinical toxicologist, venom researcher, herpetologist, and family physician Scott A. Weinstein et al. have stated in Toxicon journal (October 2017) "There have been 11 previously well-documented envenomings by O. microlepidotus, but only 2 were inflicted by wild snakes. When clinically indicated, prompt provision of adequate antivenom is the cornerstone of managing O. microlepidotus envenoming. Rapid application of pressure-bandage immobilization and efficient retrieval of victims envenomed in remote locales, preferably by medically well-equipped aircraft, probably improves the likelihood of a positive outcome."

Snakebite victims
A case of survival without antivenom was recorded in 1967; on 15 September, a tour guide was bitten while trying to capture a snake for a tour group in the Channel Country. He was conveyed to Broken Hill Hospital and then to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, but was not given antivenom, as he reported he was severely allergic to horse serum and believed he had been bitten by a brown snake. He spent four weeks in the hospital overall; his condition was likened to severe myasthenia gravis. Meanwhile, the snake had been sent to Eric Worrell, who confirmed it had been a coastal taipan. After its rediscovery in 1972, it was identified as an inland taipan.

In 1984, Australian toxicologist Peter Mirtschin was bitten by a 3-week-old inland taipan. He was the first to be treated with Taipan antivenom.

In September 2012, in the small city of Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, north of Sydney, more than 1000 km away from the snake's natural environment, a teenaged boy was bitten on the finger by an inland taipan. The teenager's rapid self-application of a compression bandage above the wound and the availability and administration of a polyvalent (broad-spectrum) antivenom in the local hospital saved his life. The police worked to find out how the inland taipan got to this part of Australia. The snake was most likely a stolen or illegal pet and the boy had tried to feed it.

In December 2013, reptile handler Scott Grant (age 40+), who was conducting a demonstration in front of 300 people at the annual building union's picnic in Portland, Victoria, had just finished showing the crowd an inland taipan and was trying to put it into a bag when it struck him. He got into his utility and tied a bandage around his arm. A few minutes later, however, he was lying on the ground and convulsing. He was flown in a serious condition to Essendon Airport and driven to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where his condition was stabilised, and over time, he recovered. Only a tiny amount of venom from the inland taipan had entered his body, and the adverse reaction he felt shortly after was an allergic one, presumably due to his past snake bites.

In October 2017, Weinstein et al. published a case report in Toxicon, writing, "The victim was seeking to observe members of an isolated population of this species and was envenomed while attempting to photograph an approximately 1.5 m specimen. He reported feeling "drowsiness" and blurred vision that progressed to ptosis; he later developed dysphagia and dysarthria. The patient was treated with one vial of polyvalent antivenom, which was later followed by an additional two vials of taipan monovalent. He was intubated during retrieval, and recovered after 3 days of intensive care. He had a right ophthalmoplegia that persisted for approximately 1 week post-envenoming.".

According to Rob Bredl, "the Barefoot Bushman", in an isolated area of South Australia, his father, Joe Bredl, was bitten while catching an inland taipan and barely survived. A more recent victim was his friend John Robinson, bitten while cleaning an inland taipan's cage at his reptile display on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. He weathered the bite without antivenom, but sustained considerable muscle damage, as well as heart damage.

Almost all positively identified inland taipan bite victims have been herpetologists handling the snakes for study or snake handlers, such as people who catch snakes to extract their venom, or keepers in wildlife parks. All were treated successfully with antivenom. No recorded incidents have been fatal since the advent of monovalent (specific) antivenom therapy, though weeks are needed to recover from such a severe bite.

Venom
The average quantity of venom delivered by this species is 44 mg, and the maximum dose recorded is 110 mg, compared to the Indian cobra (Naja naja) 169 mg/max 610 mg, and the North American eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) 410 mg/max 848 mg.

The median lethal dose (LD50), subcutaneous (the most applicable to actual bites) for mice is 0.025 mg/kg (0.01 mg/kg subcutaneous, in bovine serum albumin). Compared to the beaked sea snake (Enhydrina schistosa) 0.164 mg/kg, Indian cobra 0.565 mg/kg, North American eastern diamondback rattlesnake 11.4 mg/kg, the inland taipan has a smaller venom yield than its cousin the coastal taipan yet its venom is almost four times as toxic. One bite's worth of venom is enough to kill 100 fully grown men.

Intravenous, intraperitoneal, and intramuscular LD50s for the inland taipan venom have not been tested.

Belcher's sea snake (Hydrophis belcheri), which many times is mistakenly called the hook-nosed sea snake (Enhydrina schistosa), has been erroneously popularized as the most venomous snake in the world, due to Ernst and Zug's published book Snakes in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book from 1996. Bryan Grieg Fry, a prominent venom expert, has clarified the error: "The hook-nosed myth was due to a fundamental error in a book called Snakes in Question. In there, all the toxicity testing results were lumped in together, regardless of the mode of testing (e.g. subcutaneous vs. intramuscular vs. intravenous vs. intraperitoneal). As the mode can influence the relative number, venoms can only be compared within a mode. Otherwise, it's apples and rocks." Belcher's sea snake's actual LD50 (recorded only intramuscularly) is 0.24 mg/kg and 0.155 mg/kg, less lethal than other sea snakes such as the olive sea snake (Aipysurus laevis) 0.09 mg/kg and the most toxic intramuscularly,  recorded of the sea snakes – the black-banded robust sea snake (Hydrophis melanosoma) 0.082 mg/kg. The black-banded robust sea snake has also been tested subcutaneously registering at 0.111 mg/kg, which is in line with the coastal taipan and thus more than four times less toxic than the inland taipan's venom. In the LD50 subcutaneous test, it is actually Dubois' sea snake (Aipysurus duboisii) which has the most toxic venom of any of the sea snakes tested, registering at 0.044 mg/kg. This is still nearly half as lethal as the inland taipan's venom.

The biological properties and toxicity of a baby inland taipan's venom are not significantly different from or weaker than those of an adult's.

The inland taipan's venom consists of:
 Neurotoxins: Presynaptic neurotoxins; paradoxin (PDX), and postsynaptic neurotoxins; Oxylepitoxin-1, alpha-oxytoxin 1, alpha-scutoxin 1  – affecting the nervous system.
 Hemotoxins (procoagulants) – affecting the blood
 Myotoxins – affecting the muscles
 Possibly nephrotoxins – affecting the kidneys
 Possibly haemorrhagins – affecting the blood vessels (endothelium)
Hyaluronidase enzyme – increases the rate of absorption of venom

Paradoxin (PDX) appears to be one of the most potent, if not the most potent, beta-neurotoxins yet discovered. Beta-neurotoxins keep nerve endings from liberating the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

According to researcher Ronelle Welton of James Cook University, most of the contents in the venom have not been characterized and little molecular research has been undertaken on taipan (Oxyuranus) species at large. As of 2005, the amino acid sequences of only seven proteins from inland taipan have been submitted to SWISS-PROT databases.

Clinical effects
The mortality rate is high in untreated cases:

 Dangerousness of bite - severe envenomation likely, high lethality potential
 Rate of envenoming - >80%
 Untreated lethality rate - >80%

Clinically, envenomation may represent a complex scenario of multiple organ-system poisoning, with neurotoxic symptoms typically dominating. Acute kidney injury, rhabdomyolysis, and disseminated coagulopathy may also complicate the setting.

The first local and general symptoms of a bite are local pain and variable nonspecific effects, which may include headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhoea, dizziness, collapse, or convulsions leading to major organ effects - neurotoxicity, coagulopathy, rhabdomyolysis or kidney failure/damage, and finally death.

Inland taipan snake venom contains potent presynaptic neurotoxins (toxins in venom that cause paralysis or muscle weakness). Also present are postsynaptic neurotoxins, which are less potent, but more rapidly acting than the presynaptic neurotoxins. Presynaptic neurotoxins disrupt neurotransmitter release from the axon terminal. This takes days to resolve and does not respond to antivenom. Postsynaptic neurotoxins competitively block acetylcholine receptors, but the effect can be reversed by antivenom. Envenoming causes a progressive descending flaccid paralysis; ptosis is usually the first sign, then facial (dysarthria) and bulbar involvement occur, progressing to dyspnea and respiratory paralysis leading to suffocation and peripheral weakness. Because it can act so fast, it can kill a person within about 45 minutes. People experiencing effects of the venom within half an hour have been reported. The development of general or respiratory paralysis is of paramount concern in that these are often difficult to reverse once established, even with large amounts of antivenom. Prolonged intubation and ventilatory support (perhaps up to a week or longer) may be required. Early diagnosis of neurotoxic symptoms and prompt and adequate dosages of antivenom are critical to avoid these complications.

The venom also contains a potent hemotoxin (procoagulants), a prothrombin activator that leads to the consumption of major coagulation factors, including fibrinogen, leading to interference with blood clotting. This causes defibrination, with nonclottable blood, putting victims at risk of major bleeding from the bite site and can lead to more serious, sometimes fatal, internal haemorrhaging, especially in the brain. Recovering from this takes many hours after venom neutralisation has been achieved with antivenom. Taipan snake procoagulants are among the most powerful snake venom procoagulants known, though mild coagulopathy has also been reported for inland taipan envenomation (Sutherland and Tibballs, 2001).

No nephrotoxins (kidney toxins) have so far been isolated from inland taipan snake venoms, but renal (kidney) impairment or acute kidney failure can occur secondary to severe rhabdomyolysis.

Taipan snake venom does contain myotoxins that cause myolysis (rhabdomyolysis, muscle damage); the urine of bite victims often turns reddish-brown as their muscles release myoglobin, which is passed through the kidneys (myoglobinuria). The kidneys are often badly damaged by filtering so much tissue debris out of the blood, and kidney failure is a common complication in serious cases of significant envenoming.

Causes of death:
 Paralysis – primary, e.g., respiratory failure; secondary, e.g., pneumonia
 Coagulopathy – primary, e.g., cerebral haemorrhage; secondary, e.g., kidney failure
 Kidney failure – includes secondary complications such as infections
 Anaphylaxis  – acute allergic reaction to venom in a patient previously exposed to taipan snake venom (e.g., reptile keeper)
 Cardiac complications – likely to be secondary

Antivenom
Until 1955, the only antivenom available for general distribution for Australian snakes was the monovalent (specific) tiger snake (Notechis) antivenom, which gave varying degrees of cross-protection against the bites of most other dangerous Australian snakes. Thereafter followed specific antivenom for other common snakes, among them the coastal taipan, and finally, a polyvalent (broad-spectrum) antivenom for the bites of any unidentified snake from Australia.

The coastal taipan antivenom, known as "taipan antivenom", is effective against the inland taipan venom, as well, but it is not as effective in bite victims of the inland taipan as in those of the coastal taipan.

Taipan antivenom is produced and manufactured by the Australian Reptile Park and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne.

References

Further reading
Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ),... London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Pseudechis microlepidotus and P. ferox, p. 332).
McCoy F(1879). Natural History of Victoria. Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria; or, Figures and Descriptions of the Living Species of All Classes of the Victorian Indigenous Animals. Decade III. London: G. Robertson. (J. Ferres, government printer, Melbourne). 50 pp. + Plates 21–30. (Diemenia microlepidota, new species, pp. 12–13 + Plate 23, Figures 2–3).

External links

 International Programme on Chemical Safety, Oxyuranus microlepidotus: Extended Review
 James Cook University, Proteomic and genomic characterisation of venom proteins from Oxyuranus species (Extended Review)
 Australian Reptile Park, Fierce Snake Fact File
 Australia Zoo Fierce Snake Fact File
  ContentMint (Source:Absolutely Wild Visuals, stock footage library )

Oxyuranus
Reptiles of Queensland
Reptiles described in 1879
Citation overkill
Reptiles of South Australia
Snakes of Australia

Inland taipan


Harold Eugene "Gene" Clark (November 17, 1944 – May 24, 1991) was an American singer and songwriter. He started the folk rock band The Byrds in 1964. He wrote lots of The Byrds' most well known songs. They were very popular. In 1967 he released his first solo album, Gene Clark with the Gosdin Brothers. It was not successful. However he went on to make several more solo albums.

Early life
Gene Clark was born in Tipton, Missouri. He was the third of thirteen children. He started writing songs when he was 11.,

Career
In 1964 Clark started The Byrds with Jim McGuinn and David Crosby. Clark was the singer. Clark released his first album with The Byrds, Mr Tambourine Man, in 1965. In 1966 Clark left the band. He joined the band again in 1967. He left after three weeks. In 1968 Clark released his first album with Doug Dillard, The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark. Dillard & Clark released their second album, Through the Morning, Through the Night in 1969. In 1974 Clark's fourth album No Other was released. It got bad reviews. Clark released an album with Carla Onson in 1987 called So Rebellious a Lover. It was his last studio album.

Death
Clark died on May 24, 1991. He was 46. He died because of a bleeding ulcer that he had.

References

1944 births
1991 deaths
American singer-songwriters

Gene Clark


General Charles Lee was a man from England who moved to Virginia in 1773.  Lee became a soldier in the American Revolution and tried to become the leader even though George Washington got that job instead.  General Lee won his early fights but then lost the Battle of Monmouth and was fired from the army. Lee died of tuberculosis in 1782.

In the 1850s, some historians started to think that Lee had committed treason by secretly helping the British against the Revolution.

In Popular Culture

In the television show Turn, Lee is a spy for the British Empire and in Hamilton, Lee fights a duel against John Laurens.

Charles Lee (general)


The MLB London Series is an arrangement for Major League Baseball (MLB) to play select regular season games at London Stadium in London, England. The arrangement was initially for two years, 2019 and 2020, which was sponsored by Mitel and branded as Mitel & MLB Present London Series. The 2019 games were the first MLB contests ever played in Europe, and featured the Boston Red Sox hosting two games against the New York Yankees. Two games planned for 2020 between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the arrangement between MLB and Greater London was renewed for games in 2023, 2024 and 2026. Beginning with the 2023 season, the series is branded as the MLB World Tour: London Series, reflecting the new "MLB World Tour" name applied to games played outside the U.S. and Canada.

Background

On May 8, 2018, MLB announced a two-year agreement to hold baseball games at London Stadium during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The inaugural series was played between the Red Sox and Yankees, longtime divisional rivals.

Outside of the contiguous United States and Canada, MLB has previously held regular season games in Australia, Japan, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, and has held spring training games in China, but has never held any games in Europe. The National Football League (NFL) has similarly held regular-season games in London—primarily at Wembley Stadium—under the banner of the NFL London Games. The NFL has developed a large fanbase in the United Kingdom, and as of 2018, the games at Wembley had attracted an average attendance of 85,031. The NBA has similarly held games in London as part of its Global Games series.

Kelhem Salter, MLB's director of growth and strategy in the EMEA region, noted that Europe was a "key growth market" for the league, and that Londoners were "big event-goers" and frequently sell-out events held there. Unlike the other countries where MLB has held international games, baseball is not as popular and established in the United Kingdom. Salter explained that the league wanted to differentiate its efforts in London from those of other leagues, by emphasizing a "connection to culture and the culture of the specific cities that our teams represent" to engage with new fans. In May 2018, the league began a year-long cultural program entitled "The 108" (referring to the number of stitches on a standard baseball) to promote the London games, encompassing a series of zines profiling MLB teams, as well as "The 108 Sessions" — a series of live concert events at local venues featuring acts representing the teams' cities. The campaign is designed to "build a genuine dialogue and relationship with cultural scenes that reflect those of the MLB home cities."

On May 9, 2022, commissioner Manfred and London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a long-term partnership between the league and the city that includes regular-season games in 2023, 2024 and 2026, along with other major events over the next five years.

Series history

2019

In June 2019, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox played a two-game series, with the Red Sox the designated "home" team. The Yankees won the first game by a score of 17–13, and the second game by a score of 12–8.

2020
The 2020 series was scheduled to take place June 13–14, at London Stadium, with the St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Chicago Cubs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games were cancelled. Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that "it was unlikely the events would go forward, and timely cancellation allowed us to preserve important financial resources". The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the pandemic, and MLB cancelled other planned games in Puerto Rico and Mexico for similar reasons.

2023
On August 4, 2022, the first matchup of the extended partnership between MLB and the City of London was announced, with the Cardinals and Cubs scheduled for a two-game series in London on June 24–25, 2023.

In June 2023, the Cardinals and Cubs played a two-game series, with the Cardinals the designated "home" team. The Cubs won the first game by a score of 9–1, and the Cardinals won the second game by a score of 7–5.

2024
On June 23, 2023, it was announced that the 2024 series would involve the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies, scheduled for June 8–9, 2024.

2026
Teams for the 2026 edition have not yet been announced.

Venue
Locating a venue with the correct dimensions required for a baseball field was difficult, especially as the majority of stadiums in the London region are primarily designed for soccer. MLB officials had evaluated multiple options (including cricket fields such as The Oval), before finalizing London Stadium as the site.  The facility was originally constructed for the 2012 Summer Olympics; in late-2015, it was reported that MLB officials had measured the stadium's dimensions and considered it potentially suitable for baseball, and had negotiated the possibility of holding games there.

MLB developed a plan to adapt London Stadium for the games to make it resemble an MLB ballpark, via installation of a new baseball field as an overlay on top of the stadium's existing running track and pitch, with a seating configuration to emulate the more "intimate" layout and fan experiences of MLB ballparks. Materials to construct the playing surface include approximately  of FieldTurf, and clay for the pitcher's mound and home plate area sourced from Pennsylvania. As the facility's locker rooms are smaller and suited towards soccer, larger, MLB-style clubhouses were built within the stadium. As done at the Toronto Blue Jays' Rogers Centre, dimensions from home plate were posted in both feet and meters:  to the foul poles and 385 feet (117.4 m) to center field, with a  fence. The dimensions were described as being potentially hitter-friendly. The two points in left center and right center where the temporary fences join the wall in center field area are slightly closer than center, marked as . As the roof overhangs the home plate area, there is a ground rule that balls hitting the roof are considered dead.

For the 2023 series, the dimensions were extended by a few feet, to  in the power alleys and  to center field.

Broadcasting
In the United States, television rights for both series were split between Fox and ESPN. Fox would broadcast the Saturday afternoon game, and ESPN the Sunday afternoon game, with ESPN's broadcast typically produced as a special afternoon presentation of Sunday Night Baseball.

In the United Kingdom, the series will be shown by the BBC until 2026 and also on TNT Sports.

Series summary

See also

MLB China Series
MLB Japan All-Star Series
MLB Japan Opening Series 2008
MLB Mexico Series
MLB Puerto Rico Series
MLB Taiwan All-Star Series

References

External links
 London Series at MLB.com

Baseball competitions in the United Kingdom
MLB
London Series
Major League Baseball international baseball competitions
MLB

MLB London Series


The Battle of Point 175 was a military engagement of the Western Desert Campaign that took place during Operation Crusader from 29 November – 1 December 1941, during the Second World War. Point 175 is a small rise just south of the Trigh Capuzzo, a desert track east of Sidi Rezegh and south of Zaafran, with a good view of the vicinity. In early November 1941, the feature was held by German infantry of Division z.b.V. Afrika (later named the 90th Light Afrika Division). Troops of the 2nd New Zealand Division and Infantry tanks of the 1st Army Tank Brigade attacked and captured Point 175 on 23 November, during the Battle of Sidi Rezegh, at the start of Operation Crusader. The New Zealand troops then attacked westwards and made contact with the Tobruk garrison, which had broken out to meet them. From  the New Zealanders defended the point and the area to the west against Axis attempts to sever the link with the Tobruk garrison and regain control of the local roads. The new 132nd Armoured Division Ariete re-captured Point 175 late on 29 November.

The defenders mistook Italian tanks heading towards them for South African reinforcements led by armoured cars and let them approach unchallenged;  of the 21st New Zealand Battalion were taken prisoner (the Italians apparently being just as surprised to find the area not occupied by Axis troops). The 6th New Zealand Brigade was almost destroyed in the fighting around Point 175 and eventually its remnants retreated to Zaafran. The division then returned to Egypt to refit, having suffered  When the division reassembled, it was sent to Syria to recuperate and was almost returned to Asia to participate in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater after the Japanese invasion of Malaya on  1941.

Background

Terrain

The Western Desert, is about  wide, from Mersa Matruh in Egypt to Gazala on the Libyan coast, along the Via Balbia, the only paved road. The Great Sand Sea  inland marks the southern limit of the desert at its widest points at Jaghbub (Giarabub) and Siwa Oasis; in British parlance, Western Desert came to include eastern Cyrenaica in Libya. From the coast, extending   inland, there is a flat plain of stony desert, about  above sea level, until it meets the Sand Sea. Scorpions, vipers and flies populate the region, which is sparsely inhabited by Bedouin nomads. Bedouin tracks linked wells and the easier traversed ground; navigation was by sun, star, compass and "desert sense" (good perception of the environment gained by experience). In the spring and summer, the days are miserably hot and the nights are very cold. The Sirocco (Gibleh or Ghibli), a hot desert wind, blows clouds of fine sand, which reduces visibility to a few yards and coats eyes, lungs, machinery, food and equipment; motor vehicles and aircraft need special oil filters and the barren ground means that water and food as well as military stores have to be transported from outside.

The area between Sollum, Maddalena, Bir el Gubi and Tobruk is larger than East Anglia and except near the coast, has a hard, flat and open surface, easy for desert-worthy vehicles to cross, except after rain. From Bardia west to El Adem the ground undulates with several east–west ridges, the north-facing sides usually being escarpments only passable by vehicles in a few places. Further north is the Via Balbia along the coast and then a jumble of wadis to the sea shore. One ridge is north of the Trigh Capuzzo track, which runs along either side of the southern escarpment. Near El Adem the Trigh Capuzzo lies between the ridges as does the Tobruk by-pass, built during the Siege of Tobruk. About  east of El Adem, opposite Sidi Rezegh the by-pass turns north between Ed Duda, a small hill on the west side and Belhamed to the east. The area of Sidi Rezegh, Ed Duda and Belhamed was an Axis transport bottleneck which gave it great tactical importance to both sides. Point 175 was a rise on the escarpment just east of Sidi Rezegh, with a cairn and a nearby blockhouse.

Eighth Army plan
The Eighth Army planned to engage and destroy the tanks of the Afrika Korps with the tanks of XXX Corps (Lieutenant-General Willoughby Norrie) in the 7th Armoured Division (Major-General William Gott), while the 1st South African Division (Major-General George Brink) covered their left flank. On the right flank, XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Alfred Reade Godwin-Austen), supported by the 4th Armoured Brigade Group (Brigadier Alexander Gatehouse), would make a clockwise flanking advance west of Sidi Omar with the 2nd New Zealand Division (Major-General Bernard Freyberg), while the 4th Indian Division contained the Axis frontier posts. The New Zealanders were to hold a position threatening the rear of the line of Axis defensive strong points, east from Sidi Omar to the coast at Halfaya. When the Axis tanks had been defeated, XXX Corps was to continue north-west to Tobruk and rendezvous with a break-out by the 70th Infantry Division garrison.

If the Axis garrisons at the frontier tried to retreat, the New Zealanders and the rest of XIII Corps were to cut them off or closely pursue them if they escaped. To protect the western flank of XIII Corps, the 4th Armoured Brigade Group had been detached from XXX Corps but remained under command, ready to intervene in support of either corps. At a conference on 6 October, Freyberg insisted that the New Zealand Division should not engage Axis armoured units without British tanks under command, unless the opposing tanks forces had already been defeated. If the brigade group was called on by both corps, Freyberg wanted priority but this was refused, although the brigade group was still ordered to stay close to XIII Corps on the frontier, a compromise much to the dismay of Godwin-Austen and Freyberg in XIII Corps and the armoured commanders in XXX Corps, who wanted to keep their tanks concentrated.

Prelude

On 23 November, the 6th New Zealand Brigade of the 2nd New Zealand Division advanced westwards along the Trigh Capuzzo to Point 175, preparatory to descending the valley to Sidi Rezegh. Minefields delayed the move and the last leg began at  on 24 November. As dawn broke the New Zealanders realised that they had arrived at Bir el Chleta by mistake; the headquarters staff of the Afrika Korps discovered that they had been surrounded by the New Zealanders by mistake and were taken prisoner. Point 175 was held by I and II battalions of the 361st Afrika Regiment of the Division z.b.V. Afrika, which had an unusually large number of machine-guns and mortars. The New Zealanders and the attached Infantry tanks from the 1st Army Tank Brigade overran the German defenders and took

By 25 November the 6th and 4th New Zealand brigades had advanced westwards from Point 175 along the Trigh Capuzzo, the valleys either side and along the Sidi Rezegh ridge. The 4th Brigade reached Zaafran to the north by dawn and the 6th Brigade arrived, via the blockhouse  west of Point 175, at Sidi Rezegh airfield. After a night attack on Sidi Rezegh ridge on 25 November, Belhamed was captured. The 6th Brigade was partly pinned down on the airfield and partly forced down the escarpment near the Sidi Rezegh tomb. The Tobruk garrison broke out and captured Ed Duda on 26 November as the New Zealanders repulsed a German counter-attack. During the night the 6th New Zealand Brigade attacked again and annihilated the 9th Bersaglieri Battalion, during the capture of all of the Sidi Rezegh ridge. The 19th Battalion made a flank march to Ed Duda and linked with the Tobruk garrison.

Battle

29 November

On the morning of 29 November, the 15th Panzer Division set off west, travelling south of Sidi Rezegh. The remnants of the 21st Panzer Division ( Johann von Ravenstein) were supposed to be moving up on the right to form a pincer but were in disarray after Ravenstein failed to return from a morning reconnaissance. Ravenstein had been captured at Point 175 to the east of Sidi Rezegh, by the 21st New Zealand Battalion. Just after  the 21st Battalion was overrun by elements of the 132nd Armoured Division Ariete (General Mario Balotta). Having defeated several half-hearted armoured attacks from the 4th and 22nd Armoured brigades, which added to the confusion south of Point 175, Balotta had ordered the division to keep moving north to the escarpment and the Ariete Division had then turned west at a speed of  towards Point 175. The Italians were in khaki uniforms, had hatches open and waved black berets, which looked like Tank Corps attire, at the occupants of Point 175. The New Zealanders, having received a  supply convoy earlier in the day and expecting the arrival of the 1st South African Brigade from the south-west, mistook the Italian tanks for South African Marmon-Herrington armoured cars and were wrong-footed. The New Zealanders emerged from cover to wave them in, only to find that they had been overrun by Italian tanks and Bersaglieri, who took about  the 21st Battalion prisoner. Howard Kippenberger wrote after the war,

The 24th and 26th battalions met a similar fate at Sidi Rezegh on 30 November and on 1 December, a German armoured attack on Belhamed, practically destroyed the 20th Battalion. In the attacks, the New Zealanders suffered   and  The leading elements of the 15th Panzer Division reached Ed Duda but before nightfall, made little progress against determined resistance. A counter-attack by 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4th RTR) and Australian infantry, recaptured the lost positions and the German units fell back  to form a new position. During 29 November, the two British armoured brigades were passive, with the 1st South African Brigade tied to the armoured brigades and unable to move in open ground without them, because of the threat from the panzer divisions. In the evening, the 1st South African Brigade was placed under command of the 2nd New Zealand Division and ordered to advance north to recapture Point 175. Wireless intercepts had led the Eighth Army Headquarters to believe that the 21st Panzer Division and the Ariete Division were in trouble and Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie ordered the 7th Armoured Division to "stick to them like hell".

30 November
Following the rebuff at Ed Duda, Rommel withdrew the 15th Panzer Division to Bir Bu Creimisa,  to the south, for an attack north-eastwards on 30 November, aiming between Sidi Rezegh and Belhamed, leaving Ed Duda outside the encirclement. In the mid-afternoon, the 6th New Zealand Brigade, whose four battalions were down to about  each, was attacked at the western end of the Sidi Rezegh position. The 24th Battalion was overrun as were two companies of 26th Battalion, losing  and several guns. On the eastern flank, the 25th Battalion repulsed an attack from the Ariete Division from Point 175. Freyberg requested permission to withdraw the remnants of the brigade into the Tobruk perimeter but this was refused, because the 1st South African Brigade was due to recapture Point 175 with a night attack from the east, covered by the 4th Armoured Brigade. By dawn the South Africans were  short, having knocked out about  of the Ariete Division.

1 December

At  on 1 December, the 15th Panzer Division attacked again towards Belhamed, supported by a massed artillery bombardment, to drive the New Zealanders back from the Tobruk perimeter. The 4th New Zealand Brigade was eventually forced back and the 20th Battalion was overrun, cutting the division in two. During the morning, the 7th Armoured Division had been ordered to advance and "counter-attack the enemy's tanks at all costs" and the 4th Armoured Brigade Group arrived north of Sidi Rezegh and at the positions of the 6th New Zealand Brigade at around  outnumbering the  German tanks attacking the position. New orders were received from Gott to cover the withdrawal of the remains of the New Zealanders to the south, which the tank regiments prepared to cover. During the morning, Freyberg had seen a signal from the Eighth Army HQ, indicating that the South African Brigade were now to be under command of the 7th Armoured Division.

At about  Freyberg signalled that without the South Africans, his position would be untenable and that he intended to withdraw. The New Zealanders were only in touch with Norrie the corps commander, who approved the decision. The weather was poor but the Desert Air Force had concentrated on the El Adem area in support of the New Zealanders and the Tobruk garrison. The 15th Panzer Division renewed its attack at  after replenishing and the New Zealanders became involved in a desperate fighting withdrawal from their western positions. The division was formed up by  and having paused an hour for the tanks and artillery to join them from the west, set off for Zaafran at  The New Zealanders, under bombardment from both flanks, retired north-east along the divisional axis towards Zaafran, which was  east of Belhamed and slightly further north-east of Sidi Rezegh.

Aftermath

Analysis

At Maaten Baggush, Freyberg wrote a report on recent operations, in which he described how the Afrika Korps had been trapped but that the breaking up of British divisions into battle groups had led to them being defeated piecemeal and the Afrika Korps had managed to escape, a conclusion rejected by Auchinleck. Mindful of his obligations to the New Zealand government and the right of appeal if he thought that the division was being imperilled, Freyberg then revived a suggestion that the division be sent to Syria, which was accepted on 13 December. After the outbreak of war in the Far East, with Japanese landings in Malaya on the night of  the New Zealand Division was one of the divisions in the Middle East intended to return to Asia along with Australian divisions. The offer of an American division to the New Zealand government, persuaded it to consent to the New Zealand Division remaining in Syria.

Casualties

The 2nd New Zealand Division began Operation Crusader with  of whom  killed or died of wounds,  were wounded,  taken prisoner ( died from all causes), total casualties for the division being  The Ariete Division had an establishment of  and had  losses (76 percent) during Operation Crusader.

Subsequent operations

The division reached the XXX Corps lines with little further interruption, where Freyberg concluded that the division must withdraw from the battle and refit, which was agreed to by Norrie. In the early hours the  and  which had escaped, drove east then cut south across the Trigh Capuzzo and retired to the Egyptian border; the 19th Battalion and part of the 20th Battalion joined the Tobruk garrison. On the frontier, the 2nd South African Division was ordered to prevent Axis supplies being sent west from Bardia and to mop up Axis positions as soon as an opportunity appeared. The 5th New Zealand Brigade remained under South African command and the rest of the New Zealanders were ordered back to the Baggush Box to refit. The retreat from Zaafran left more than  Zealanders of 18 Battalion, half of 19 Battalion and many gunners in the Tobruk corridor,  from wounded) in Tobruk, more than  the 5th New Zealand Brigade outside Bardia and hundreds of patients and staff in the New Zealand Medical Dressing Station (MDS) which had been captured. A lull occurred on 3 December and next day, the cost of the fighting to the Germans was established by German staff officers and a German attack near Ed Duda was repulsed. A report that Bir el Gubi was under attack arrived in the afternoon and Rommel ordered the Afrika Korps to concentrate against the threat of attacks from the south. Amidst much confusion and indecision from  both sides skirmished and during the night Rommel ordered the Axis forces to abandon the besieged forces on the Egyptian frontier and retreat to Gazala.

See also

 List of British military equipment of World War II(New Zealand equipment mostly British and no list yet for WWII New Zealand equipment)
 List of Italian military equipment in World War II

Notes

Footnotes

References

Further reading

External links
 Crusader Project, Setting the Record Straight – The First Night Attack By Tanks
 Crusader Project, New Zealand Division on Zaafran, 1 Dec 1941
 German map

Point 175
1941 in Libya
North African campaign
Western Desert campaign
Point 175
Point 175
Point 175
Point 175
November 1941 events
December 1941 events

Battle of Point 175


Exile in Guyville is the debut album by American singer-songwriter Liz Phair, released on June 22, 1993, by Matador Records. It was recorded at Idful Music Corporation in Chicago between 1992 and 1993 and produced by Phair and Brad Wood. The album received critical acclaim and in 2020, it was ranked  56 by Rolling Stone in its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. It was certified gold in 1998 and as of July 2010 it had sold 491,000 copies.

Background

In the summer of 1991, Phair wrote and recorded songs on audio cassette tapes, which she circulated in Chicago using the moniker Girly-Sound. Initially, she sent out only two tapes, one to Tae Won Yu from the band Kicking Giant, and the other to Chris Brokaw. The recipients of the Girly-Sound tapes circulated copies with other early fans.

John Henderson, owner of the Chicago indie label Feel Good All Over, heard the tapes and contacted Phair. Soon she moved into his apartment and started playing her songs to him. Henderson brought in producer Brad Wood to help develop the 4-track demos into full songs. Originally, Phair's recordings were supposed to come out on Henderson's label. However, the whole process was made difficult by the fact that he and Phair had opposite ideas regarding what direction to take in terms of sound. Henderson preferred a stripped-down but precise sound, possibly with outside musicians, while Phair wanted a fuller sound. Phair has stated, "We both wanted something for me. He was projecting onto me what he wanted my music to come out like, which was wrong. So I blew him off." Eventually, Henderson stopped showing up at the studio, which made Phair move out of his apartment and start working exclusively with Brad Wood on what would become Exile in Guyville.

Eventually, a Girly-Sound tape had made it to the head of Matador Records. Despite the outcome of the recording sessions, Henderson tipped off Brad Wood that Matador was interested in Phair. As a consequence, Phair contacted Matador in 1992, and they signed her. Gerard Cosloy, co-president of Matador, stated that "We usually don't sign people we haven't met, or heard other records by, or seen as performers. But I had a hunch, and I called her back and said okay."

Packaging
Phair was also responsible for a great part of the artwork design. Originally, the album cover was largely collage based and involved "a fat lady in a pool". In 2008, Phair stated it was originally "an orgy of Barbies floating in a pool", a concept that Matador rejected, stating that such artwork would not sell. The final cover design is a photo of Phair topless in a photo booth, taken and cropped by Nash Kato of Urge Overkill. The interior artwork is based on that of Lopez Tejera's 1952 album The Joys and Sorrows of Andalusia. The booklet also features a collage of several Polaroid photos of Phair, Wood, Rice (and various other people), with a paraphrase from lines from the movie Dirty Harry.

Meaning
The term Guyville comes from a song of the same name by Urge Overkill. Liz Phair explained the concept of the album in a Billboard article, stating that "For me, Guyville is a concept that combines the smalltown mentality of a 500-person Knawbone, KY.-type town with the Wicker Park indie music scene in Chicago, plus the isolation of every place I've lived in, from Cincinnati to Winnetka". When asked during an interview with Noah Adams on his radio show All Things Considered about the concept, she elaborated: "It was a state of mind and / or neighborhood that I was living in. Guyville, because it was definitely their sensibilities that held the aesthetic, you know what I mean? It was sort of guy things - comic books with really disfigured, screwed-up people in them, this sort of like constant love of social aberration. You know what I mean? This kind of guy mentality, you know, where men are men and women are learning." Asked about what she sees in Guyville, Phair said that "All the guys have short, cropped hair, John Lennon glasses, flannel shirts, unpretentiously worn, not as a grunge statement. Work boots."

Phair has also stated that most songs on the album were not about her. She commented, "That stuff didn't happen to me, and that's what made writing it interesting. I wasn't connecting with my friends. I wasn't connecting with relationships. I was in love with people who couldn't care less about me. I was yearning to be part of a scene. I was in a posing kind of mode, yearning to have things happen for me that weren't happening. So I wanted to make it seem real and convincing. I wrote the whole album for a couple people to see and know me."

Phair commented in interviews that the album was a song-by-song reply to the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile on Main St. Some critics contend that the album is not a clear or obvious song-by-song response, although Phair sequenced her compositions in an attempt to match the songlist and pacing of the Rolling Stones album.

Reception

Exile in Guyville received critical acclaim. It was the No. 1 album in the year-end critics poll in Spin and the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics poll.

It was also a moderate commercial success. The videos for "Never Said" and "Stratford-On-Guy" received airplay on MTV. By the spring of 1994, it had sold over 200,000 units, peaking at No. 196 on the Billboard 200 and was Matador's most successful release at the time. In 1998, it was certified gold by the RIAA.

Phair reacted to the reception of Guyville, saying "I don't really get what happened with Guyville. It was so normal, from my side of things. It was nothing remarkable, other than the fact that I'd completed a big project, but I'd done that before... Being emotionally forthright was the most radical thing I did. And that was taken to mean something bigger in terms of women's roles in society and women's roles in music... I just wanted people who thought I was not worth talking to, to listen to me." The sudden success of the album also generated a somewhat negative response from Chicago's indie music scene. Phair commented, "It's odd... Guyville was such a part of indie. But at the same time... I was kind of at war with indie when I made that record." Another problem that arose from her success was also dealing with her stage fright.

Despite this, the album inspired a number of imitators, and the lo-fi sound and emotional honesty of Phair's lyrics were frequently cited by critics as outstanding qualities. It frequently appears on many critics' best-of lists. It was ranked 15 in Spins "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005". VH1 named Exile in Guyville the 96th Greatest Album Of All-Time. The album was ranked number 56 on Rolling Stones 2020 reboot of their The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list (it was ranked number 328 in the original 2003 list and number 327 in the 2012 revision). In 1999, Pitchfork rated Exile in Guyville as the fifth best album of the 1990s. However, in its 2003 revision of the list, it moved to No. 30. Robert Christgau named it among his 10 best albums from the 1990s.

In 2013, The New Yorkers Bill Wyman dubbed it "patently one of the strongest rock albums ever made", feeling that each song "reverberates powerfully". He described it as "arguably the quintessential example" of indie rock. PopMatters David Chiu wrote that Exile lay bedroom pop music's groundwork. He noted that several indie bands and musicians had gained their "musical DNA" from the record, such as Frankie Cosmos, Jay Som, and more.

Accolades

Reissues

15th Anniversary Edition (2008)
In 2008, Phair signed to ATO Records and released a 15th-anniversary reissue of Exile in Guyville on June 14. It includes three previously unreleased tracks ("Ant in Alaska", a cover of Lynn Taitt's "Say You" and an instrumental listed on the disc as "Standing") and a DVD documentary.

Girly-Sound to Guyville (2018)
On May 4, 2018, Matador reissued Exile in Guyville for its 25th anniversary. The reissue consists of the original album remastered and Phair's three Girly-Sound demo tapes, marking the first time that the full set of demo tapes had been officially released. The reissue was released in four formats: the physical LP box set, the digital deluxe edition, as well as cassette and CD pressings. Absent from the reissue are the two Girly-Sound demos "Shatter" and "Fuck or Die", as Phair was unable to get clearance for samples used in the songs.

Track listing

Personnel
As per the liner notes of the 2008 reissue:

Liz Phair – guitar, piano , vocals, hand claps
Casey Rice – lead guitar , cymbal , background vocals, hand clapping
Brad Wood – bass and drums , organ , synthesizer, , percussion, bongos , tambourine and shaker , maracas and hand claps , background vocals, vocals , drones and feedback , "sick guitar" , guitar
Tony Marlotti – bass , vocals
John Casey – harmonica
Tutti Jackson – backing vocals

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links
Exile in Guyville: The Oral History
Liz Phair Reissues Exile in Guyville, Signs to ATO
October 6, 2008 NPR Live Performance in Los Angeles of 'Exile in Guyville'

Liz Phair albums
1993 debut albums
Matador Records albums
Albums produced by Brad Wood

Exile in Guyville


Ooty is a town and hill station in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The name "Ooty" is short for Ootacamund (officially Udhagamandalam). Ooty is located in the Nilgiris district, or Blue Mountains, a mountain district. Ooty stands at about 7,500 feet above sea level.

Towns in Tamil Nadu
Nilgiris district

Ooty


Acacia cavealis is a shrub of the genus Acacia and the subgenus Plurinerves that is endemic to an area along the west coast of Australia.

Description
The open spreading shrub typically grows to a height of . It has branchlets that are covered in matted hair or with hairs embedded in resin giving them a cobweb-like appearance. The branchlets also have persistent stipules with a narrowly triangular shape and a length of up to . Like most species of Acacia it has phyllodes rather than true leaves. The patent to ascending pungent Phyllodes mostly patent to ascending phyllodes are clustered together in groups of two to four on each node, linear. The rigid evergreen phyllodes are straight and flat with a length of  with eight nerves in all with three distant raised nerves on each face. It blooms from November to February and produces yellow flowers.

Distribution
It is native to an area in the Wheatbelt and Mid West regions of Western Australia where it is commonly situated on low rises and sandplains growing in sandy soils. It is found in coastal areas from around the Zuytdorp Cliffs in the north down to around Watheroo in the south extending to about  inland as a part of low open woodland where it is usually associated with Banksia prionotes or in shrubland and heath communities.

See also
 List of Acacia species

References

cavealis
Acacias of Western Australia
Taxa named by Bruce Maslin
Plants described in 1999

Acacia cavealis


X2 (known as X-Men 2: X-Men United in advertising) is a 2003 superhero movie. It was directed by Bryan Singer. It is a sequel to X-Men (2000) movie and was followed by X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).

Plot

The movie opens with a mutant named Nightcrawler. He is at the White House and attempts to kill the president. At the last moment, a security guard shoots Nightcrawler, forcing him to run away. Meanwhile, Wolverine reaches a location called Alkali Lake, and does not find anything. He returns to Charles Xavier's school for gifted students.

William Stryker, who hates mutants, uses this attack. He talks to the President, who then allows him to raid Charles Xavier's school for gifted mutants. Before he does this, he visits Magneto. Magneto was the bad guy in the first movie and now is in jail. Stryker uses a fluid to make him talk about the school.

Xavier attempts to find Nightcrawler. He uses a machine called Cerebo, which makes his power stronger and allows him to connect to every person's mind. He gives Jean Grey and Storm the last location where he could see Nightcrawler. They leave in the Blackbird. Then, he and Cyclops go to the prison to pay a visit to Magneto.

Stryker raids the mansion. A mutant named Siryn, whose power is a very loud scream, alerts everyone. A series of passageways and escape tunnels allow all but six of the mutants to escape. Wolverine, who has returned, takes Rogue, Iceman, and Pyro with him into a car. They drive to Boston. Meanwhile, Storm and Jean have located Nightcrawler and have him on their ship. Stryker also takes Cerebro with them. At the prison, Stryker has captured Xavier and Cyclops.

At Alkali Lake, Stryker reveals his plan. He has rebuilt Cerebro. He uses his son Jason, a mutant, to create a fantasy world for Xavier. In Xavier's mind, he sees a little girl who thinks that everyone is gone. Xavier goes to his Cerebro, locates everyone, and then starts to focus, which will kill all mutants.

In Boston, Wolverine and his friends go to Iceman's house, where Iceman reveals that he is a mutant. Iceman's brother does not like this and calls the cops. One cop shoots Wolverine in the head. Pyro uses his power – he can control fire – and pushes the police away. Wolverine, whose power is to heal very fast, wakes up. Jean and Storm come in and pick them up.

Mystique has found out where Magneto was staying. She seduces the security guard and injects him with iron. When the security guard comes in, Magneto senses the iron. Magneto can control all metal. Magneto rips it out of the guard and escapes.

The United States Air Force sends two jets to intercept the Blackbird, the plane where all the X-Men are on. Storm, whose power is to control the weather, whips up a tornado that sends both pilots down, but one manages to fire two missiles. Jean Grey, whose power is psychic, manages to destroy one, but the other one hits the jet. They start to go down. Magneto is in the area and saves them.

The X-Men and Magneto make some peace and come together to beat Stryker. The dam is built so that Stryker can flood the tunnel if someone comes in. 15 years ago, Wolverine volunteered for an experiment and was given claws and suffered a lot of pain. Stryker is very interested in Wolverine. So Mystique, whose power is to make herself look like other people, pretends to be Wolverine. She gets in and takes over the control room.

Cyclops appears and attacks Magneto, Mystique, and Jean Grey. Jean uses her psychic power to stop Cyclops, but Cyclops' beam power damages the dam very badly. Wolverine leaves to find Stryker. Stryker shows him Lady Deathstrike, who also has an adamantium skeleton and claws on the tips of her fingers. They fight. Wolverine pumps her full of adamantium and kills her. Storm and Nightcrawler find the six mutants and rescue them.

All mutants suddenly go into pain when Xavier starts focusing. Magneto forces himself into Cerebro and stops it. He then tells Mystique to transform into Stryker and change the rules so that Xavier will kill all the humans instead. The X-Men find out what is happening. Storm and Nightcrawler teleport in there. Storm creates a storm that breaks the spell, and Xavier returns to normal.

All of the X-Men escape the dam. Rogue and Iceman, who were in the Blackbird, land it in front of them. The plane is badly damaged. The dam explodes and a ton of water comes down. At the last second, Jean Grey rushes out of the ship, gets it into the air, and drowns when she can no longer hold back the water. Xavier and his crew go to the White House to inform the President of what has happened. Xavier tells the president that humans and mutants must work together or else they will destroy each other in war.

Cast

 Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier
 Hugh Jackman as Logan / Wolverine
 Ian McKellen as Erik Lehnsherr / Magento
 Halle Berry as Ororo Munroe / Storm
 Famke Janssen as Dr. Jean Grey
 James Marsden as Scott Summers / Cyclops
 Anna Paquin as Marie D'Ancanto / Rogue
 Rebecca Romijin-Stamos as Mystique
 Brian Cox as William Stryker
 Alan Cumming as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler
 Bruce Davison as Senator Kelly
 Aaron Stanford as John Allerdyce / Pyro
 Shawn Ashmore as Bobby Drake / Iceman
 Kelly Hu as Yuriko Oyama / Deathstrike
 Daniel Cudmore as Peter Raputin / Colossus

Release Dates

Other websites
 X-Men on Marvel.com

2003 movies
2000s superhero movies
X-Men movies
English-language movies
Movies composed by John Ottman
Movies produced by Lauren Shuler Donner
Movies directed by Bryan Singer
20th Century Fox movies

X2 (movie)


The geology of Chile is a characterized by processes linked to subduction, such as volcanism, earthquakes, and orogeny. The building blocks of Chile's geology were assembled during the Paleozoic Era when Chile was the southwestern margin of the supercontinent Gondwana. In the Jurassic, Gondwana began to split, and the ongoing period of crustal deformation and mountain building known as the Andean orogeny began. In the Late Cenozoic, Chile definitely separated from Antarctica, and the Andes experienced a significant rise accompanied by a cooling climate and the onset of glaciations.

The subduction interactions shaped four main morphostructures of Chile: the Andes, the Intermediate Depression, the Coast Range, and the Peru–Chile Trench off the coast. Since Chile is on an active continental margin, it has many volcanoes. Almost the entire country is subject to earthquakes arising from strains in the Nazca and Antarctic Plates or shallow strike-slip faults. Northern Chilean mineral resources are a major economic resource, and the country is the leading producer of copper, lithium and molybdenum. Most of these mineral deposits were created from magmatic hydrothermal activity, and the water required to form those deposits derived from the subducted slab of the oceanic crust beneath the Andes.

The Chilean Easter Island and Juan Fernández Archipelago are volcanic hotspot islands in the eastward-moving Nazca plate. The geology of the Chilean Antarctic Territory has various commonalities with that of mainland Chile.

General characteristics

The three primary morphological features derived from the Andes are the Andes Mountains proper, the Chilean Coast Range and the Chilean Central Valley, also known as the Intermediate Depression and the Longitudinal Valley. The mountains run parallel in a north-south direction from Morro de Arica to Taitao Peninsula, making up most of Chile's land surface. South of Taitao, only the Andes Mountains are present.

North of the Taitao Peninsula, the Peru–Chile Trench subduction zone is the boundary between the South American and Nazca Plates. At Taitao, the Chile Triple Junction and the Nazca Plate subduct the South American Plate.

The Andes

In Norte Grande the mountains form a series of plateaus, such as Puna de Atacama and the Altiplano. At a south latitude of 27 degrees, Chile's highest mountain (Ojos del Salado) reaches a height of . Below 42 degrees south, the Andes split into a fjord landscape and the highest mountain is Monte San Valentin at  at north of Northern Patagonian Ice Field. As the mountains ebb, the snow line lowers; in the Llanquihue it is at , and  in the Magallanes.

Intermediate Depression

The Intermediate Depression, a series of faults running north to south, separates the Andes from the Coast Range with a steady decrease in altitude as the latitude increases. In Norte Grande the Intermediate Depression is partially covered by a series of salt flats, and has the world's largest potassium nitrate deposits. In Norte Chico, the depression disappears briefly before reappearing in a narrow valley at Santiago. From the narrows southward the valley widens until it is interrupted near Loncoche by the Bahía Mansa Metamorphic Complex (part of the Coast Range), then widening at Los Llanos (near Paillaco). In central and southern Chile (33°–42° south), the landscape is partially covered with glacial sediments from the Andes. In Zona Austral (south of 42° south) the depression dips below sea level, appearing occasionally in islands such as Chiloé. Its southern end is the Isthmus of Ofqui.

Chilean Coast Range

The Chilean Coast Range runs southward along the coast (parallel to the Andes) from Morro de Arica to Taitao Peninsula, ending at the Chile Triple Junction. The range, a combined horst, forearc high and accretionary wedge, was separated from the Andes during the Tertiary rise due to the subsidence of the Intermediate Depression.

Geologic history

Paleozoic Era
The oldest rocks in Chile are micaceous schists, phyllites, gneisses and quartzites, many examples of which are found in the Coast Range of south-central Chile. The schists of southern Chile were initially formed by sediment in the proto-Pacific Ocean, and later metamorphosed in the forearc wedge of the Peru–Chile Trench.

Mesozoic Era

During the Triassic Period about 250 million years ago Chile was part of the supercontinent Pangaea, which concentrated the world's major land masses. Africa, Antarctica, Australia and India were near Chile. When Pangaea began to split apart during the Jurassic period, South America and the adjacent land masses formed Gondwana. Floral affinities among these now-distant landmasses date from the Gondwanaland period. South America separated from Antarctica and Australia 27 million years ago with the development of the Drake Passage. Across the -wide Drake Passage lie the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula, south of the Scotia Plate, which appear to be a continuation of the Andes. In the extreme south, the Magallanes–Fagnano Fault separates Tierra del Fuego from the small Scotia Plate.

The formation of the Andes began during the Jurassic. During the Cretaceous, the Andes began to assume their present form by the uplifting, faulting and folding of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of ancient cratons. Tectonic forces along the subduction zone along the west coast of South America continue to their orogenesis, resulting in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to this day.

Cenozoic Era
The Altiplano plateau was formed during the Tertiary, with several mechanisms  proposed; all attempt to explain why the topography of the Andes incorporates a large area of low relief at high altitude (high plateau):
 Existence of weaknesses in the Earth's crust prior to tectonic shortening. Such weaknesses would cause the partition of tectonic deformation and uplift into eastern and western cordillera, leaving the necessary space for the formation of the Altiplano basin.
 Magmatic processes rooted in the asthenosphere might have contributed to uplift the plateau.
 Climate controlled the spatial distribution of erosion and sediment deposition, creating the lubrication along the Nazca Plate subduction and hence influencing the transmission of tectonic forces into South America.
 Climate also determined the formation of internal drainage (endorheism) and sediment trapping within the Andes, potentially blocking tectonic deformation in the area between the two cordilleras.

Quaternary
The Quaternary glaciations left visible marks in most parts of Chile, particularly  Zona Sur and Zona Austral. These include ice fields, fjords, glacial lakes and u-shaped valleys. During the Santa María glaciation glaciers extended into the Pacific Ocean at 42° south, dividing the Chilean Coast Range and creating what is now Chacao Channel. Chiloé, part of the Chilean Coast Range, became an island. South of Chacao Channel, Chile's coast is split by fjords, islands and channels; these glaciers created moraines at the edges of the Patagonian lakes, changing their outlets to the Pacific and shifting the continental divide. The remnants of the Patagonian Ice Sheet which covered large parts of Chile and Argentina are the Northern and the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields.

It has been suggested that from 1675 to 1850 the San Rafael Glacier advanced during the Little Ice Age. The first documented visit to the area was made in 1675 by the Spanish explorer Antonio de Vea, who entered San Rafael Lagoon through Río Témpanos ("Ice Floe River") without mentioning the many ice floes for which the river is named. De Vea also wrote that the San Rafael Glacier did not reach far into the lagoon. In 1766 another expedition noticed that the glacier did reach the lagoon and had calved into icebergs. Hans Steffen visited the area in 1898, noting that the glacier now penetrated far into the lagoon. As of 2001, the glacier has retreated behind its 1675 border due to climate change.

Pacific islands

Easter Island is a volcanic island consisting of three extinct volcanoes: Terevaka, at an altitude of , forms the bulk of the island. Two other volcanoes (Poike and Rano Kau) form the eastern and southern headlands, giving the island its triangular shape. There are numerous lesser cones and other volcanic features: the crater Rano Raraku, the cinder cone Puna Pau and many volcanic caves (including lava tubes).

Easter Island and its surrounding islets, including Motu Nui and Motu Iti, form the comminuted apex of a large volcanic mountain rising over  from the seabed. It is part of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, a mostly-submarine mountain range with dozens of seamounts. Pukao and Moai are two seamounts west of Easter Island, extending  east to the Nazca Seamount. Pukao, Moai and Easter Island were formed during the last 750,000 years, with the last eruption a little over 100,000 years ago. These are the youngest mountains of the Sala y Gómez Ridge, which was formed by the Nazca Plate floating over the Easter hotspot. Only on Easter Island is the Sala y Gómez Ridge dry land.

The volcanic Juan Fernández Islands were created by a hotspot in the Earth's mantle penetrating the Nazca Plate. The islands were carried eastward as the plate subducted the South American continent. Radiometric dating indicates that Santa Clara is the oldest of the islands (at 5.8 million years), followed by Robinson Crusoe (3.8–4.2 million years) and Alexander Selkirk (1.0–2.4 million years). Robinson Crusoe is the largest of the islands at , and its highest peak (El Yunque) is  high. Alexander Selkirk covers , and its highest peak is Los Innocentes at . Santa Clara covers , reaching an elevation of .

Economic geology

Mining

Chile has the world's largest copper reserves, and is the largest producer and exporter of the metal. Notable copper mines include Chuquicamata and Escondida. Chile accounts for five percent of the Western Hemisphere's gold production, of which 41 percent is a by-product of copper extraction. The country holds the largest world reserves of rhenium  and potassium nitrate, and its reserves of molybdenum are estimated to be the third-largest in the world. Most of Chile's mineral resources are in the north; gas, coal and oil reserves, in the southern Magallanes Region, are sufficient for local needs. Guarello Island, in the Magallanes Region, has the world's southernmost limestone mine.

Geothermal energy

Since 2000, geothermal exploration and concessions have been regulated by the Law of Geothermal Concessions (). The Chilean company Geotermia del Pacífico, with support from CORFO, is exploring a location in Curacautín as a site for a geothermal power plant. Geotermia del Paícifco's studies indicated that two geothermal fields near Curacautín could be used for energy production, with a combined capacity to supply 36,000 homes in 2010. One area to be developed is located near the Tolhuaca hot springs, and the other is in Río Blanco Springs. Another area under consideration for geothermal production is Cordón Caulle.

Tourism
Although geology-focused tourism is rare, there are some sites in which the local geology is a major attraction (for example, the copper mine at Chuquicamata).

Geological hazards

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and mass ground movements are frequent occurrences. The subduction zone along Chile's coast has produced the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. Earthquakes are notorious for triggering volcanic eruptions, such as the 1960 Cordón Caulle eruption. Chilean earthquakes have produced tsunamis.

Landslides occur frequently in the Andes, most following earthquakes. The 2007 Aysén Fjord earthquakes produced several landslides along the Fjords Mountains, spawning a tsunami. Lahars are among the most lethal volcanic hazards in Chile; a lahar destroyed the original site of Coñaripe.

Earthquakes

Major earthquakes in Chile occur in a small number of source areas. Those affecting coastal regions are generally aligned offshore from Concepción southward, with the major epicenters producing a predictable pattern of seismic and tsunami effects. The first systematic seismological recordings in Chile began after an earthquake and fire devastated Valparaiso in 1906.

Earthquakes in northern Chile are known to have caused both uplift and subsidence of the continent. Large earthquakes of Magnitude 8 or more are associated with subsidence and drowning of the Chilean coast, except peninsulas and offshore islands. Magnitude 7 to 8 earthquakes with a source area near an internal boundary of the Earth known as the Moho are known to result in uplift of the coast. Earthquakes near the Moho may account for permanent deformation of the western edge of South American plate that accumulates into a long-term net uplift of the continent.

Quake clusters
Although the most powerful six quakes recorded were clustered in two time periods (a 12-year span from 1952 to 1964 and a seven-year span from 2004 to 2011), this is considered a statistical anomaly. The phenomenon of comparably-large quakes on the same (or neighboring) faults within months of each other may be explained by geological mechanisms, but this does not fully demonstrate a relationship between events separated by longer periods and greater distances

See also
Climate of Chile
Geography of Chile
List of glaciers of Chile
List of volcanoes in Chile

Notes

References
Brüggen, Juan (1950). Fundamentos de la geología de Chile, Instituto Geográfico Militar.
Duhart, Paul et al. El Complejo Metamórfico Bahía Mansa en la cordillera de la Costa del centro-sur de Chile (39°30'-42°00'S): geocronología K-Ar, 40Ar/39Ar y U-Pb e implicancias en la evolución del margen sur-occidental de Gondwana
 Moreno, Teresa and Wes Gibbons. (2006). The Geology of Chile. London: Geological Society of London. ; OCLC 505173111
Zeil, W. (1964). Geologie von Chile.

External links

Geologic map of Chile
Tectonical development of Chile and the southern Andes

Earthquakes in Chile
Coasts of the Pacific Ocean
Seismic zones

Geology of Chile