Iron(III) oxide-hydroxide or ferric oxyhydroxide is the chemical compound of iron, oxygen, and hydrogen with formula FeO(OH).
The compound is often encountered as one of its hydrates, FeO(OH)·nH 2O [rust]. The monohydrate FeO(OH)·H 2O is often referred to as iron(III) hydroxideFe(OH) 3, hydrated iron oxide, yellow iron oxide, or Pigment Yellow 42.
Natural occurrences
Minerals
Anhydrous ferric hydroxide occurs in the nature as the exceedingly rare mineral bernalite, Fe(OH)3·nH2O (n = 0.0–0.25). Iron oxyhydroxides, FeOOH, are much more common and occur naturally as structurally different minerals (polymorphs) denoted by the Greek letters α, β, γ and δ.
Goethite, α-FeO(OH), has been used as an ochre pigment since prehistoric times.
Akaganeite is the β polymorph,
formed by weathering and noted for its presence in some meteorites and
the lunar surface. However, recently it has been determined that it must
contain some chloride ions to stabilize its structure, so that its more accurate formula is FeO 0.833(OH) 1.167Cl 0.167 or Fe 6O 5(OH) 7Cl.
Lepidocrocite, the γ polymorph, is commonly encountered as rust on the inside of steel water pipes and tanks.
Feroxyhyte
(δ) is formed under the high pressure conditions of sea and ocean
floors, being thermodynamically unstable with respect to the α polymorph
(goethite) at surface conditions.
Non-mineral
Siderogel is a naturally occurring colloidal form of iron(III) oxide-hydroxide.
Goethite and lepidocrocite, both crystallizing in orthorhombic
system, are the most common forms of iron(III) oxyhydroxide and the most
important mineral carriers of iron in soils.
Mineraloids
Iron(III) oxyhydroxide is the main component of other minerals and mineraloids:
Ferrihydrite is an amorphous or nanocrystalline hydrated mineral, officially FeOOH·1.8H 2O but with widely variable hydration.
Properties
The
color of iron(III) oxyhydroxide ranges from yellow through dark-brown
to black, depending on the degree of hydration, particle size and shape,
and crystal structure.
Structure
The crystal structure of β-FeOOH (akaganeite) is that of hollandite or BaMn 8O 16. The unit cell is tetragonal with a=1.048 and c=0.3023 nm, and contains eight formula units of FeOOH. Its dimensions are about 500 × 50 × 50 nm. Twinning often produces particles with the shape of hexagonal stars.
Chemistry
On heating, β-FeOOH decomposes and recrystallizes as α-Fe 2O 3 (hematite).
Uses
Limonite, a mixture of various hydrates and polymorphs of ferric oxyhydroxide, is one of the three major iron ores, having been used since at least 2500 BC.
Iron(III) oxyhydroxide precipitates from solutions of iron(III) salts at pH between 6.5 and 8.
Thus the oxyhydroxide can be obtained in the lab by reacting an iron(III) salt, such as ferric chloride or ferric nitrate, with sodium hydroxide:
FeCl 3 + 3 NaOH → Fe(OH) 3 + 3 NaCl
Fe(NO 3) 3 + 3 NaOH → Fe(OH) 3 + 3 NaNO 3
In fact, when dissolved in water, pure FeCl 3 will hydrolyze to some extent, yielding the oxyhydroxide and making the solution acidic:
FeCl 3 + 2 H 2O ↔ FeOOH + 3 HCl
Therefore, the compound can also be obtained by the decomposition of
acidic solutions of iron(III) chloride held near the boiling point for
days or weeks:
FeCl 3 + 2 H 2O → FeOOH(s) + 3 HCl(g)
(The same process applied to iron(III) nitrateFe(NO 3) 3 or perchlorate Fe(ClO 4) 3 solutions yields instead particles of α-Fe 2O 3.)
Another similar route is the decomposition of iron(III) nitrate dissolved in stearic acid at about 120 °C.
The oxyhydroxide prepared from ferric chloride is usually the β polymorph (akaganeite), often in the form of thin needles.
The oxyhydroxide can also be produced by a solid-state transformation from iron(II) chloride tetrahydrate FeCl 2·4H 2O.
The compound also readily forms when iron(II) hydroxide is exposed to air:
4Fe(OH) 2 + O 2 → 4 FeOOH + 2 H 2O
The iron(II) hydroxide can also be oxidized by hydrogen peroxide in the presence of an acid:
Hoi polloi (/ˌhɔɪpəˈlɔɪ/; from Ancient Greekοἱπολλοί (hoi polloí) 'the many') is an expression from Greek that means "the many" or, in the strictest sense, "the people". In English, it has been given a negative connotation to signify the masses. Synonyms for hoi polloi include "the plebs" (plebeians), "the rabble", "the masses", "the great unwashed", "riffraff", and "the proles" (proletarians).
Its current English usage originated in the early 19th century, a time when it was generally accepted that one must be familiar with Greek and Latin in order to be considered well educated. The phrase was originally written in Greek letters. Knowledge of these languages served to set apart the speaker from hoi polloi in question, who were not similarly educated.
Ancient Greek had phonemic consonant length, or gemination. Speakers would have pronounced it [hoipolloi˨˦] with the double-λ being geminated.
Modern Greek speakers pronounce it [ipoˈli] since in Modern Greek there is no voiceless glottal /h/ phoneme and οι is pronounced [i] (all Ancient Greek diphthongs are now pronounced as monophthongs). Greek Cypriots still pronounce the double-λ ([ipolˈli]).
Usage
Some linguists argue that, given that hoi is a definite article,
the phrase "the hoi polloi" is redundant, akin to saying "the the
masses". Others argue that this is inconsistent with other English
loanwords. The word "alcohol", for instance, derives from the Arabical-kuhl, al being an article, yet "the alcohol" is universally accepted as good grammar.
There have been numerous uses of the term in English literature. James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans, is often credited with making the first recorded usage of the term in English. The first recorded use by Cooper occurs in his 1837 work Gleanings in Europe where he writes "After which the oi polloi are enrolled as they can find interest."
Diagram of Lord Byron's view of the hoi polloi, as arranged in his journals, ranked as "the many" beneath a handful of his personal contacts
Lord Byron had, in fact, previously used the term in his letters and journal. In one journal entry, dated 24 November 1813, Byron writes:
I have not answered W. Scott's
last letter,—but I will. I regret to hear from others, that he has
lately been unfortunate in pecuniary involvements. He is undoubtedly the
Monarch of Parnassus, and the most English of bards. I should place Rogers next in the living list (I value him more as the last of the best school) —Moore and Campbell both third—Southey and Wordsworth and Coleridge—the rest, οι πολλοί [hoi polloi in Greek].
Byron also wrote an 1821 entry in his journal "... one or two others,
with myself, put on masks, and went on the stage with the 'oi polloi."
In Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, Thomas De Quincey uses the term during a passage discussing which of the English classes
is most proud, noting "... the children of bishops carry about with
them an austere and repulsive air, indicative of claims not generally
acknowledged, a sort of noli me tangere
manner, nervously apprehensive of too familiar approach, and shrinking
with the sensitiveness of a gouty man from all contact with the οι
πολλοι."
While Charles Darwin was at the University of Cambridge from 1828 to 1831, undergraduates used the term "hoi polloi" or "Poll" for those reading for an ordinary degree, the "pass degree". At that time only capable mathematicians would take the Tripos
or honours degree. In his autobiography written in the 1870s, Darwin
recalled that "By answering well the examination questions in Paley, by
doing Euclid well, and by not failing miserably in Classics, I gained a
good place among the οἱ πολλοί, or crowd of men who do not go in for
honours."
W. S. Gilbert used the term in 1882 when he wrote the libretto of the comic operaIolanthe. In Act I, the following exchange occurs between a group of disgruntled fairies who are arranging to elevate a lowly shepherd to the peerage, and members of the House of Lords who will not hear of such a thing:
PEERS: Our lordly style
You shall not quench
With base canaille!
FAIRIES: (That word is French.)
PEERS: Distinction ebbs
Before a herd
Of vulgar plebs!
FAIRIES: (A Latin word.)
PEERS: 'Twould fill with joy,
And madness stark
The hoi polloi!
FAIRIES: (A Greek remark.)
Gilbert's parallel use of canaille, plebs (plebeians), and hoi polloi makes it clear that the term is derogatory of the lower classes.
In many versions of the vocal score, it is written as "οἱ πολλοί",
likely confusing generations of amateur choristers who had not had the
advantages of learning the Greek at some point of their lives.
John Dryden used the phrase in his Essay of Dramatick Poesie,
published in 1668. Dryden spells the phrase with Greek letters, but the
rest of the sentence is in English (and he does precede it with "the").
Appearances in the twentieth century
The term has appeared in several films and radio programs. For example, one of the earliest short films from the Three Stooges, Hoi Polloi (1935), opens in an exclusive restaurant where two wealthy gentlemen are arguing whether heredity or environment is more important in shaping character. They make a bet and pick on nearby trashmen
(the Stooges) to prove their theory. At the conclusion of three months
in training, the Stooges attend a dinner party, where they thoroughly
embarrass the professors.
The University of Dayton's
Don Morlan says, "The theme in these shorts of the Stooges against the
rich is bringing the rich down to their level and shaking their heads." A
typical Stooges joke from the film is when someone addresses them as
"gentlemen", and they look over their shoulders to see who is being
addressed. The Three Stooges turn the tables on their hosts by calling them "hoi polloi" at the end.
At the English public school (i.e., private school) Haileybury and Imperial Service College,
in the 1950s and '60s, grammar schoolboys from nearby Hertford were
referred to as "oips", from "hoi polloi", to distinguish them from
comprehensive and secondary modern schoolboys, the lowest of the low,
who were called "oiks".
Carole King's TV special Really Rosie (based on Maurice Sendak's
works) contains a song called "My Simple Humble Neighborhood", in which
Rosie remembers those whom she's met over the years. In the process,
she mentions the hoi polloi as well as the grand elite.
The term continues to be used in contemporary writing. In his 1983 introduction to Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising, Israel Regardie
writes, "Once I was even so presumptuous as to warn (Wilson) in a
letter that his humor was much too good to waste on hoi polloi who
generally speaking would not understand it and might even resent it."
The term "hoi polloi" was used in a dramatic scene in the film Dead Poets Society (1989). In this scene, Professor Keating speaks negatively about the use of the article "the" in front of the phrase:
Keating: This is battle, boys. War!
Your souls are at a critical juncture. Either you will succumb to the
hoi polloi and the fruit will die on the vine—or you will triumph as
individuals. It may be a coincidence that part of my duties are to teach
you about Romanticism,
but let me assure you that I take the task quite seriously. You will
learn what this school wants you to learn in my class, but if I do my
job properly, you will also learn a great deal more. You will learn to
savor language and words because they are the stepping stones to
everything you might endeavor to do in life and do well. A moment ago I
used the term 'hoi polloi.' Who knows what it means? Come on,
Overstreet, you twirp. (laughter) Anderson, are you a man or a boil?
Anderson shakes his head "no", but Meeks raises his hands and speaks: "The hoi polloi. Doesn't it mean the herd?"
Keating: Precisely, Meeks. Greek for the herd. However, be warned that,
when you say "the hoi polloi" you are actually saying "the the herd."
Indicating that you too are "hoi polloi".
Keating's tone makes clear that he considers this statement to be an
insult. He used the phrase "the hoi polloi", to demonstrate the mistake
he warned against.
The term was also used in the comedy film Caddyshack
(1980). In a rare moment of cleverness, Spaulding Smails greets Danny
Noonan as he arrives for the christening of The Flying Wasp, the boat
belonging to Judge Elihu Smails (Spaulding's grandfather), with "Ahoy,
polloi! Where did you come from, a scotch ad?" This is particularly
ironic, because Danny has just finished mowing the Judge's lawn, and
arrives overdressed, wearing a sailboat captain's outfit (as the girl
seated next to him points out, Danny "looks like Dick Cavett").
Todd Rundgren's band Utopia recorded a song titled "Hoi Polloi" on their album Deface the Music (1980), in which all of the songs are written and performed in the style of the Beatles.
The Lovin' Spoonful's song "Jug Band Music" includes the line: "He tried to mooch a towel from the hoi polloi."
In the song "Risingson" on Massive Attack's Mezzanine album, the singer apparently appeals to his company to leave the club they're in, deriding the common persons' infatuation with them, and implying that he's about to slide into antisocial behaviour:
Toy-like people make me boy-like (...)
And everything you got, hoi polloi like
Now you're lost and you're lethal
And now's about the time you gotta leave all
These good people...dream on.
In an episode of This American Life, radio host Ira Glass
uses the term hoi polloi while relaying a story about a woman who
believes the letter 'q' should occur later in the alphabet. He goes on
to say that "Q does not belong in the middle of the alphabet where it
is, with the hoi polloi of the alphabet, with your 'm' 'n' and 'p'.
Letters that will just join any word for the asking."
The term was used in a first-series episode (The New Vicar, aired 5 November 1990) of the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. The main character, Hyacinth Bucket,
gets into a telephone argument with a bakery employee. When the
employee abruptly hangs up in frustration, Hyacinth disparagingly refers
to him as "hoi polloi". This is in keeping with her character; she
looks down upon those she considers to be of lesser social standing,
including working-class people.
In the first scene of The PlayStation ad "Double Life," a British man says, "In the day, I do my job, I ride the bus, Roll up my sleeves with the Hoi polloi".
Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole writes a poem called "The Hoi Polloi Reception" and later works as a cook "offal chef" in a Soho restaurant called Hoi Polloi.
The Scottish punk rock band Oi Polloi got their name as a pun of the Greek phrase.
Appearances in the twenty-first century
The August 14, 2001 episode of CNN's Larry King Live program included a discussion about whether the sport of polo was an appropriate part of the image of the British Royal Family. Joining King on the program were "best-selling biographer and veteran royal watcher Robert Lacey" and Kitty Kelley, author of the book The Royals. Their discussions focused on Prince Charles and his son Prince William:
Lacey said, "There is another risk that I see in polo. Polo is a very nouveau riche,
I think, rather vulgar game. I can say that having played it myself,
and I don't think it does Prince Charles's image, or, I dare say, this
is probably arrogant of me, his spirit any good. I don't think it is a
good thing for him to be involved in. I also, I'm afraid, don't think
[polo] is a good thing for [Charles] to be encouraging his sons to get
involved in. It is a very "playboy" set. We saw Harry recently all night
clubbing, and why not, some might say, playing polo down in the south
of Spain. I think the whole polo syndrome is something that the royal family would do very well to get uninvolved with as soon as possible.
King turned the question to Kelley, saying, "Kitty, it is kind of
hoi polloi, although it is an incredible sport in which, I have been
told, that the horse is 80 percent of the game, the rider 20 percent.
But it is a great sport to watch. But it is hoi polloi isn't it?"
To which Kelley replied, "Yes, I do agree with Robert. The time is come
and gone for the royals to be involved with polo. I mean it is – it just
increases that dissipated aristo-image that they have, and it is too
bad to encourage someone like Prince William to get involved."
The term appears in the 2003 BroadwaymusicalWicked, where it is used by the characters Elphaba and Glinda to refer to the many inhabitants of the Emerald City: "... I wanna be in this hoi polloi ..."
The term also appears in the 2007 film Hairspray, where it is used by the character Edna saying: "You see me hobnobbing and drinking Rum and Cokes with all those hoi polloi?"
Jack Cafferty, a CNNanchorman,
was caught misusing the term. On 9 December 2004 he retracted his
statement, saying "And hoi-polloi refers to common people, not those
rich morons that are evicting those two red-tail hawks (ph) from that
fifth Avenue co-op. I misused the word hoi-polloi. And for that I humbly apologize."
New media and new inventions have also been described as being by or for the hoi polloi. Bob Garfield, co-host of NPR's On the Media program, 8 November 2005, used the phrase in reference to changing practices in the media, especially Wikipedia, "The people in the encyclopedia business, I understand, tend to sniff at the wiki process as being the product of the mere hoi polloi."
In "Sunk Costs" (season 3 episode 3) of Better Call Saul, Jimmy has been arrested and the DDA (Oakley) teases him "getting fingerprinted with the hoi polloi".
In "Hooray! Todd Episode!" (season 4 episode 3) of BoJack Horseman,
Princess Carolyn (in the hopes of making a celebrity actress more
relatable to the public) orders a press release to be prepared, stating
"Portnoy finds joy in hoi polloi boy toy", referring to Todd as a
"down-to-earth boring nobody".
The phrase "hoi polloi" has been used to promote products and businesses. As described by the Pittsburgh Dish, the name "Hoi Polloi" may be chosen to indicate that the brand or service will appeal to the "common people".
China dust soars in the arid regions of mainland China and rides on the wind to descend to regions such as Japan.
Asian Dust (also yellow dust, yellow sand, yellow wind or China dust storms)
is a meteorological phenomenon that affects much of East Asia
year-round and especially during the spring months. The dust originates
in the deserts of China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, where high-speed surface winds and intense dust storms
kick up dense clouds of fine, dry soil particles. These clouds are then
carried eastward by prevailing winds and pass over China, North and South Korea, and Japan, as well as parts of the Russian Far East.
Sometimes, the airborne particulates are carried much further, in
significant concentrations which affect air quality as far east as the
United States.
Since the turn of the 21st century, coinciding with the rapid
industrialization of China, yellow dust has become a serious health
problem due to the increase of industrial pollutants contained in the dust. Intensified desertification due to deforestation has been causing longer and more frequent occurrences. The issue has been exacerbated as the Aral Sea of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan has largely dried up. This started in the 1960s with the diversion of the Amu River and Syr River, as part of a Soviet agricultural program to irrigate Central Asian deserts, mainly for cotton plantations.
Ancient reports
Some of the earliest written records of dust storm activity are recorded in ancient Chinese literature.
It is believed that the earliest Chinese dust storm record was found in
the Zhu Shu Ji Nian (Chinese: 竹书纪年; English: the Bamboo Annals). The record said: in the fifth year of Di Xin (1150 BC, Di Xin was the Era Name of the King Di Xin of Shang Dynasty), it rained dust at Bo (Bo is a place in Henan Province in China; in Classical Chinese: 帝辛五年，雨土于亳).
The first known record of an Asian Dust event in Korea was in 174 AD during the Silla Dynasty.
The dust was known as "Uto (우토, 雨土)", meaning 'Raining Dirt/Earth',
and was believed at the time to be the result of an angry god sending
down dust instead of rain or snow. Specific records referring to Asian
Dust events in Korea also exist from the Baekje, Goguryeo, and Joseon periods.
Composition
An analysis of Asian Dust clouds conducted in China in 2001 found that they contain high concentrations of silicon (24–32%), aluminium (5.9–7.4%), calcium (6.2–12%), and iron. Numerous toxic substances were also found, including mercury and cadmium from coal burning.
People further from the source of the dust are more often exposed
to nearly invisible, fine dust particles that they can unknowingly
inhale deep into their lungs, as coarse dust is too big to be deeply
inhaled. After inhalation, these particles can cause long term scarring of lung tissue and induce cancer and lung disease.
Sulfur (an acid rain component), soot, ash, carbon monoxide, and other toxic pollutants including heavy metals (such as mercury, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, lead, zinc, copper) and other carcinogens, often accompany the dust storms, along with viruses, bacteria, fungi, pesticides, antibiotics, asbestos, herbicides, plastic ingredients, combustion products and hormone-mimicking phthalates.
Though scientists had known that intercontinental dust plumes can
ferry bacteria and viruses, "most people had assumed that the [sun's]
ultraviolet light would sterilize these clouds," says microbiologist
Dale W. Griffin, "We now find that isn't true."
Research done in 2014 found that China dust consists of fine dust and ultrafine dust particles. Fine dust consists of fine particular matter (PM). Particles smaller than 10 µm in diameter are classified as fine PM (PM10), while particles smaller than 2.5 µm in diameter are classified as ultrafine PM (PM2.5).
Both fine and ultrafine dust particles impose dangers to health. Fine
dust particles are small enough to penetrate deep into the lung alveoli.
Ultrafine dust particles are so small that they also penetrate into the
blood or lymphatic system through the lungs. Once in the bloodstream,
ultrafine particles can even reach the brain or fetal organs.
Cause
The main cause of China dust is desertification of northern China,
Mongolia, and Central Asia. Desertification in these regions owe to
extensive logging in the forests and extensive harvesting of arable
land. The origins of Asian dust are mostly located in developing
countries; thus, most of these countries are undergoing rapid population
growth. A study pointed to China's deforestation and soil erosion as
indirect effects of the nation's booming population.
High population growth in China has led to increasing demand for wood
for housing and furniture as well as for firewood for cooking and
heating. This increase in demand for wood (and firewood) has led to
over-cutting of timber. At the same time, there has been an increase in
demand for food, which has led to soil erosion due to overgrazing of arable land. For example, the northern part of Shaanxi Province and the Haixi area of Gansu Province
was once a deep forest region, but the region now only has treeless
mountains. Historically “because peasant farmers continue[d] to rely on
low-technology agricultural techniques, they [had] to exploit virgin
land to sustain a continually growing population.
This led to a vicious cycle. Since traditional agricultural techniques
rely heavily on human labor, people continued to have more children,
which in turn led to more overgrazing.
Effects
Dust deposition in Beijing during the 2006 season.
Dangers to health
Perhaps
the most important negative effect is on health. Many studies have
found Asian dust to have negative effect on respiratory function and
increase the occurrence of respiratory disease. Several research studies
conducted in Korea and Japan focused on respiratory function
performance by measuring peak expiratory flow. These studies found that individuals with respiratory diseases such as asthma suffer from the most adverse effects.There is also evidence that days with Asian Dust coupled with smog lead
to increased mortality due to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases
among inhabitants in affected regions. A recent study has also found PM2.5 to have an association with Parkinson's disease and other neurological diseases. The OECD predicted 1,069 premature deaths per million directly attributable to worsening air pollution in South Korea by 2060.
Areas affected by the dust experience decreased visibility and
the dust is known to cause a variety of health problems, including sore
throat and asthma
in otherwise healthy people. Often, people are advised to avoid or
minimize outdoor activities, depending on severity of storms. For those
already with asthma or respiratory infections, it can be fatal. The
dust has been shown to increase the daily mortality rate in one affected
region by 1.7%.
Restrictions on outdoor activities
Due
to the concerning health effects, residents of affected regions have
reduced their exposure to Asian dust by refraining from outdoor
activities. Despite the temperature rise to warm levels during spring
season, popular outdoor destinations are empty on days with yellow dust
advisory or warning.
According to a survey in 2019, 97% of Koreans reported that they
suffered from physical or mental distress due to Asian dust including
fine dust during the time of the survey.
Since children are among the most vulnerable to fine dust
particles, affected countries have come up with measures to minimize the
detrimental effects on children; in 2017, South Korea's Ministry of Education have required all primary to high schools to create indoor spaces for sports and outdoor activities. Similar efforts are arising in professional sports. In 2019, the Korea Baseball Organization changed its regulations to cancel or suspend professional games during a severe fine dust warning.
Effects on industries
In
addition to costs incurred by individuals, the rise of Asian dust has
led to mixed pecuniary effects in different industries. First, the
airline industry have been experiencing external costs due to the
increasing severity of Asian dust. Dust collected on the plane surface
can decrease the lift of the wings and react with moisture to corrode
the aircraft's surface and decolorize the paint.
As a result, during spring, when Asian dust levels are at the highest,
airlines with aircraft in the affected region spend time and money to
wash dust off their aircraft. Washing dust off a single B747 jumbo jet typically takes 6000 liters of water and eight hours with nine people working.
Although cancellations stemming from yellow dust are rare, flights are
cancelled due to poor visibility on the most severe days.
On the other hand, Asian dust also has led to some positive
effects in certain industries. The demand for products to combat Asian
dust has increased significantly. During a period of high fine dust
levels in 2019, face mask and air purifier sales surged 458% and 414%,
respectively, compared to the same period in 2018. The sale of dryers also surged 67% during the same period as outdoor air drying no longer became an option.
Socio-economic cost
Calculating
the socioeconomic cost of yellow dust is a difficult endeavor. It
requires estimating the negative effects on health, opportunity cost
of outdoor activities, the cost of preventive measures, as well as the
psychological distress. However, a research study estimated the total
socio-economic cost of yellow dust using techniques including
input-output analysis, integration of environmental-economic evaluation
technique, contingent valuation method, etc. According to this study,
the total socio-economic cost of yellow dust damage in South Korea in
2002 estimates between US$3.9 billion and $7.3 billion. This accounts for between 0.6% and 1.0% of the nation's GDP and US$81.48 and $152.52 per nation's resident.
Another study that focused on the total economic impacts of the
yellow dust storms in Beijing concluded that it accounted for greater
than 2.9% of the city's GDP in the year 2000.
Nutrient distribution
Asian dust is a historically significant contributor of soil nutrients for some North Pacific islands, including Hawaii.
Public economics
Negative externality
Asian dust is an example of a negative externality
on society. Policy choices that favor rapid industrialization and
deforestation in China, Mongolia, and other Central Asian regions impose
social costs on Eastern countries, such as Korea, Japan, and Russia in
the Far East.
The main cause of deforestation is extensive logging.
Although the production of firewood and other wooden products induce
deforestation, which leads to yellow dust as well as other ecological
dangers, the social cost of yellow dust is not accounted for in the cost
of production. This results in a market failure in which individual
producers make decisions based on their private marginal cost - not
accounting for the dust - rather than the social marginal cost, which
includes the harms from the dust. Under a free market, the quantity of
logs and other wooden goods produced exceeds the socially optimal
outcome.
International conflict
China dust has been a source of international conflict between the Chinese and Korean governments.
Although the major components of yellow dust are sand and materials
from the earth's crust, various industrial pollutants and their
by-products, including mercury, sulfuric acid,
nitric acid and cadmium, have made the dust more harmful. Approximately
30% of sulfuric acid and 40% of nitric acid in ambient air in Korea may
have migrated from China. To reduce the transboundary pollution from
China, scientists have advocated for collaborative actions between Korea
and China, including scientific, administrative, and political aspects.
In an effort to combat the worsening yellow dust levels, the
Korean government has been working with the Chinese government. In
January 2018, the two countries met at its 22nd meeting of the Republic
of Korea-China Joint Committee on Environmental Cooperation, during
which the two countries discussed increasing the cooperative efforts to
fight air pollution, including yellow dust and fine dust, and marine
pollution.
Severity
Asian Dust obscures the sun over Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, on April 2, 2007
Asian dust is not a new phenomenon. Historically, there have been
records of Asian dust occurrences as early as 1150 B.C. in China and 174
A.D. in Korea. However, official weather data show a stark increase in its severity and frequency.
In the last half century, the number of days with reports of Asian dust has increased five-fold. According to an analysis on data from Korea Meteorological Administration
(KMA), the average number of days with Asian dust in a given year was
about two in the 1960s. However, this number has increased to 11 in
2000s. In 1960s and 1970s, each decade had 3 years that were Asian-dust
free. However, starting from 2000s, there has not been a single year
without Asian dust. In just four months of 2018, Gyeonggi Province of South Korea issued 42 dust warnings and advisories, which has increased from 36 in the same period in 2017.
This reflects the increase in average dust concentration level from
132.88 ppm (parts per million) in 2017 to 149 ppm in 2018. The situation
is worsening since the dust particles are staying in the air longer.
The average duration has increased from 16.3 hours to 19.8 hours in the
last two years.
Number of days of Yellow Dust Observations in Korea from 1960 to 2016
Asian dust, in combination with smog and general air pollution, has
become so severe that it became a political issue in the South Korean
presidential election in 2017. All three main candidates of the
election—Moon Jae-in, Ahn Cheol-soo, and Hong Joon-pyo—promised to take measures to alleviate these growing national air pollution problems.
In the first few months of 2017, Seoul had twice the number of
ultrafine dust warnings, during which people were advised to limit
outdoor activities and stay indoors when compared to 2016.
Shanghai on April 3, 2007, recorded an air quality index of 500. In the US, an index of 300 is considered "hazardous" and anything over 200 is "unhealthy".
Desertification has intensified in China, as 1,740,000 km2
of land is "dry", which disrupts the lives of 400 million people and
causes direct economic losses of 54 billion yuan (US$7 billion) per
year, SFA figures show.
These figures are probably vastly underestimated, as they only take
into account direct effects, without including medical, pollution, and
other secondary effects, as well as effects to neighboring nations.
El Niño also plays a role in Asian dust storms, because winter ice can keep dust from sweeping off the land.
The Gobi Desert (Mongolian: Говь, ᠭᠣᠪᠢ, /ˈɡoʊbi/; Chinese: 戈壁; pinyin: gēbì) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in northern China and southern Mongolia
and is the sixth largest desert in the world. The name of the desert
comes from the Mongolian word Gobi, used to refer to all of the
waterless regions in the Mongolian Plateau, while in Chinese Gobi is used to refer to rocky, semi-deserts such as the Gobi itself rather than sandy deserts.
Geography
The
Gobi measures 1,600 km (1,000 mi) from southwest to northeast and
800 km (500 mi) from north to south. The desert is widest in the west,
along the line joining the Lake Bosten and the Lop Nor (87°–89° east). In 2007, it occupied an arc of land in area.
In its broadest definition, the Gobi includes the long stretch of desert extending from the foot of the Pamirs (77° east) to the Greater Khingan Mountains, 116–118° east, on the border of Manchuria; and from the foothills of the Altay, Sayan, and Yablonoi mountain ranges on the north to the Kunlun, Altyn-Tagh, and Qilian mountain ranges, which form the northern edges of the Tibetan Plateau, on the south.
A relatively large area on the east side of the Greater Khingan range, between the upper waters of the Songhua (Sungari) and the upper waters of the Liao-ho, is reckoned to belong to the Gobi by conventional usage. Some geographers and ecologists prefer to regard the western area of the Gobi region (as defined above): the basin of the Tarim in Xinjiang and the desert basin of Lop Nor and Hami (Kumul), as forming a separate and independent desert, called the Taklamakan Desert.
Much of the Gobi is not sandy, instead resembling exposed bare rock.
The Gobi is overall a cold desert, with frost and occasionally snow occurring on its dunes.
Besides being quite far north, it is also located on a plateau roughly
910–1,520 m (2,990–4,990 ft) above sea level, which contributes to its
low temperatures. An average of about 194 mm (7.6 in) of rain falls
annually in the Gobi. Additional moisture reaches parts of the Gobi in
winter as snow is blown by the wind from the Siberian Steppes. These winds may cause the Gobi to reach −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter to 45 °C (113 °F) in summer.
However, the climate of the Gobi is one of great extremes, with rapid changes of temperature of as much as 35 °C (63 °F) in 24-hour spans.
In southern Mongolia, the temperature has been recorded as low as −32.8 °C (−27.0 °F). In contrast, in Alxa, Inner Mongolia, it rises as high as 37 °C (99 °F) in July.
Average winter minimums are a frigid −21 °C (−6 °F), while summertime maximums are a warm 27 °C (81 °F). Most of the precipitation falls during the summer.
Although the southeast monsoons
reach the southeast parts of the Gobi, the area throughout this region
is generally characterized by extreme dryness, especially during the
winter, when the Siberian anticyclone is at its strongest. The southern and central parts of the Gobi Desert have variable plant growth due to this monsoon
activity. The more northern areas of the Gobi are very cold and dry,
making it unable to support much plant growth; this cold and dry weather
is attributed to Siberian-Mongolian high pressure cells. Hence, the icy dust and snowstorms of spring and early summer plus early January (winter).
Conservation, ecology, and economy
The Gobi Desert is the source of many important fossils finds, including the first dinosaur eggs, twenty-six of which, averaging 23 centimetres (9 in) in length, were uncovered in 1923.
Archeologists and paleontologists have done excavations in the Nemegt Basin in the northwestern part of the Gobi Desert (in Mongolia), which is noted for its fossil treasures, including early mammals, dinosaur eggs, and prehistoric stone implements, some 100,000 years old.
The area is vulnerable to trampling by livestock
and off-road vehicles (effects from human intervention are greater in
the eastern Gobi Desert, where rainfall is heavier and may sustain
livestock). In Mongolia, grasslands have been degraded by goats, which
are raised by nomadic herders as source of cashmere wool.
Large copper deposits are being mined by Rio Tinto Group.
The mine was and remains controversial. There was significant
opposition in Mongolia's parliament to the terms under which the mine
will proceed, and some are calling for the terms to be renegotiated.
Specifically, the contention revolves primarily around the question of
whether negotiations were fair (Rio Tinto is far better resourced) and
whether Rio Tinto will pay adequate taxes on the revenues it derives
from the mine (an agreement was reached whereby the operation will be
exempt from windfall tax).
Desertification
The Gobi Desert is expanding through desertification, most rapidly on the southern edge into China, which is seeing 3,600 km2
(1,390 sq mi) of grassland overtaken every year. Dust storms increased
in frequency between 1996 and 2016, causing further damage to China's
agriculture economy. However, in some areas desertification has been
slowed or reversed.
The northern and eastern boundaries between desert and grassland
are constantly changing. This is mostly due to the climate conditions
before the growing season, which influence the rate of evapotranspiration and subsequent plant growth.
The expansion of the Gobi is attributed mostly to human activities, locally driven by deforestation, overgrazing, and depletion of water resources, as well as to climate change.
China has tried various plans to slow the expansion of the desert, which have met with some success. The Three-North Shelter Forest Program (or "Green Great Wall") is a Chinese government tree-planting project begun in 1978 and set to continue through 2050. The goal of the program is to reverse desertification by planting aspen and other fast-growing trees on some 36.5 million hectares across some 551 counties in 12 provinces of northern China.
Ecoregions
The Gobi, broadly defined, can be divided into five distinct dry ecoregions, based on variations in climate and topography:
Eastern Gobi desert steppe, the easternmost of the Gobi ecoregions, covering an area of 281,800 km2 (108,804 sq mi). It extends from the Inner MongolianPlateau in China northward into Mongolia. It includes the Yin Mountains and many low-lying areas with salt pans and small ponds. It is bounded by the Mongolian-Manchurian grassland to the north, the Yellow River Plain to the southeast, and the Alashan Plateau semi-desert to the southeast and east.
Alashan Plateau semi-desert,
lies west and southwest of the Eastern Gobi desert steppe. It consists
of the desert basins and low mountains lying between the Gobi Altai
range on the north, the Helan Mountains to the southeast, and the Qilian Mountains and northeastern portion of the Tibetan Plateau on the southwest.
Dzungarian Basin semi-desert, includes the desert basin lying between the Altai mountains on the north and the Tian Shan
range on the south. It includes the northern portion of China's
Xinjiang province and extends into the southeastern corner of Mongolia.
The Alashan Plateau semi-desert lies to the east, and the Emin Valley steppe to the west, on the China-Kazakhstan border.
Tian Shan range, separates the Dzungarian Basin semi-desert from the Taklamakan Desert, which is a low, sandy desert basin surrounded by the high mountain ranges of the Tibetan Plateau to the south and the Pamirs to the west. The Taklamakan Desert ecoregion includes the Desert of Lop.
The surface is extremely diversified, although there are no great differences in vertical elevation. Between Ulaanbaatar (48°00′N107°00′E) and the small lake of Iren-dubasu-nor (43°45′N111°50′E),
the surface is greatly eroded. Broad flat depressions and basins are
separated by groups of flat-topped mountains of relatively low elevation
150 to 180 m (490 to 590 ft), through which archaic rocks crop out as
crags and isolated rugged masses. The floors of the depressions lie
mostly between 900 and 1,000 m (3,000 and 3,300 ft) above sea-level.
Further south, between Iren-dutiasu-nor and the Yellow River,
comes a region of broad tablelands alternating with flat plains, the
latter ranging at altitudes of 1000–1100 m and the former at 1,070 to
1,200 m (3,510 to 3,940 ft). The slopes of the plateaus are more or less
steep and are sometimes penetrated by "bays" of the lowlands.
As the border-range of the Hyangan is approached, the country
steadily rises up to 1,370 m (4,490 ft) and then to 1,630 m (5,350 ft).
Here small lakes frequently fill the depressions, though the water in
them is generally salty or brackish. Both here and for 320 km (199 mi)
south of Ulaanbaatar, streams are frequent and grass grows more or less
abundantly. Through all the central parts, until the bordering mountains
are reached, trees and shrubs are utterly absent. Clay and sand are the
predominant formations; the watercourses, especially in the north,
being frequently excavated 2 to 3 m (6 ft 7 in to 9 ft 10 in) deep. In
many places in the flat, dry valleys or depressions farther south, beds
of loess, 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft) thick, are exposed. West of the route from Ulaanbaatar to Kalgan,
the country presents approximately the same general features, except
that the mountains are not so irregularly scattered in groups but have
more strongly defined strikes, mostly east to west, west-north-west to
east-south-east, and west-south-west to east-north-east.
The altitudes are higher, those of the lowlands ranging from
1,000 to 1,700 m (3,300 to 5,600 ft), and those of the ranges from 200
to 500 m (660 to 1,640 ft) higher, though in a few cases they reach
altitudes of 2,400 m (7,900 ft). The elevations do not form continuous
chains, but make up a congeries of short ridges and groups rising from a
common base and intersected by a labyrinth of ravines, gullies, glens,
and basins. But the tablelands, built up of the horizontal red deposits of the Han-gai (Obruchev's
Gobi formation) which are characteristic of the southern parts of
eastern Mongolia, are absent here or occur only in one locality, near
the Shara-muren river. They are greatly intersected by gullies or dry
watercourses. Water is scarce, with no streams, no lakes, no wells, and
precipitation falls seldom. The prevailing winds blow from the west and
northwest, and the pall of dust overhangs the country as in the Taklamakan and the desert of Lop. Characteristic of the flora are wild garlic, Kalidium gracile, wormwood, saxaul, Nitraria schoberi, Caragana, Ephedra, saltwort and the grassLasiagrostis splendens. The taana wild onion Allium polyrrhizum is the main browse eaten by many herd animals, and Mongolians claim that this is essential in producing the proper, hazelnut-like notes of camel airag (fermented milk).
The vast desert is crisscrossed by several trade routes, some of
which have been in use for thousands of years. Among the most important
are those from Kalgan (at the Great Wall) to Ulaanbaatar (960 km (597 mi)); from Jiuquan (in Gansu) to Hami 670 km (416 mi); from Hami to Beijing (2,000 km (1,243 mi)); from Hohhot to Hami and Barkul; and from Lanzhou (in Gansu) to Hami.
The southwestern portion of the Gobi, known also as the Xitao and the Little Gobi, fills the space between the great north loop of the Yellow River on the east, the Ejin River on the west, and the Qilian Mountains and narrow rocky chain of Longshou, 3,200 to 3,500 m (10,500 to 11,500 ft) in altitude, on the southwest. The Ordos Desert,
which covers the northeastern portion of the Ordos Plateau, in the
great north loop of the Yellow River, is part of this ecoregion. It
belongs to the middle basin of the three great depressions into which
Potanin divides the Gobi as a whole.
"Topographically," says Nikolai Przhevalsky,
"it is a perfectly level plain, which in all probability once formed
the bed of a huge lake or inland sea." He concludes this based on the
level area of the region as a whole, the hard saline clay and the
sand-strewn surface and, lastly, the salt lakes which occupy its lowest
parts. For hundreds of kilometers, nothing can be seen but bare sands;
in some places, they continue so far without a break that the Mongols
call them Tengger (i.e. sky). These vast expanses are absolutely
waterless, nor do any oases relieve the unbroken stretches of yellow
sand, which alternate with equally vast areas of saline clay or, nearer
the foot of the mountains, with barren shingle. Although on the whole a
level country with a general altitude of 1,000 to 1,500 m (3,300 to
4,900 ft), this section, like most other parts of the Gobi, is crowned
by a network of hills and broken ranges of at least 300 m in elevation.
The vegetation is confined to a few varieties of bushes and a dozen
kinds of grasses and herbs, the most conspicuous being saxaul (Haloxylon ammondendron) and Agriophyllum gobicum. The others include prickly convolvulus, field wormwood (Artemisia campestris), acacia, Inula ammophila, Sophora flavescens, Convolvulus ammanii, Peganum and Astragalus
species, but all dwarfed, deformed and starved. The fauna consists of
little but antelope, wolf, fox, hare, hedgehog, marten, numerous lizards
and a few birds, e.g. the sandgrouse, lark, stonechat, sparrow, crane, Mongolian ground jay (Podoces hendersoni), horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), and crested lark (Galerida cristata).
Dzungarian Basin semi-desert
The structure here is that of the mighty T'ien Shan,
or Heavenly Mountains, running from west to east. It divides the
northern one-third of Sinkiang from the southern two-thirds. On the
northern side, rivers formed from the snow and glaciers of the high
mountains break through barren foothill ranges and flow out into an
immense, hollow plain. Here the rivers begin to straggle and fan out,
and form great marshes with dense reed-beds. Westerners call this
terrain the Dzungarian desert. The Chinese also call it a desert, but
the Mongols call it a 'gobi'—that is, a land of thin herbage, more
suitable for camels than for cows, but capable also, if herds are kept
small and moved frequently, of sustaining horses, sheep, and goats. The
herbage comprises a high proportion of woody, fragrant plants. Gobi
mutton is the most aromatic in the world.
The Yulduz valley or valley of the Haidag-gol (43°N83°E–43°N86°E)
is a mini desert enclosed by two prominent members of the Shanashen
Trahen Osh mountain range, namely the chucis and the kracenard pine
rallies, running perpendicular and far from one another. As they proceed
south, they transcend and transpose, sweeping back on east and west
respectively, with Lake Bosten
in between. These two ranges mark the northern and the southern edges
respectively of a great swelling, which extends eastward for nearly
twenty degrees of longitude. On its northern side, the Chol-tagh
descends steeply, and its foot is fringed by a string of deep
depressions, ranging from Lukchun (130 m (427 ft) below sea level) to Hami (850 m (2,789 ft) above sea-level). To the south of the Kuruk-tagh lie the desert of Lop Nur, the Kum-tagh desert, and the valley of the Bulunzir-gol. To this great swelling, which arches up between the two border-ranges of the Chol-tagh and Kuruk-tagh, the Mongols give the name of Ghashuun-Gobi
or "Salt Desert". It is some 130 to 160 km (81 to 99 mi) across from
north to south, and is traversed by a number of minor parallel ranges,
ridges and chains of hills. Down its middle runs a broad stony valley,
40 to 80 km (25 to 50 mi) wide, at an elevation of 900 to 1,370 m (2,950
to 4,490 ft). The Chol-tagh, which reaches an average altitude of
1,800 m (5,900 ft), is absolutely sterile, and its northern foot rests
upon a narrow belt of barren sand, which leads down to the depressions
mentioned above.[2]
The Kuruk-tagh is the greatly disintegrated, denuded and wasted
relic of a mountain range which used to be of incomparably greater
magnitude. In the west, between Lake Bosten and the Tarim,
it consists of two, possibly of three, principal ranges, which,
although broken in continuity, run generally parallel to one another,
and embrace between them numerous minor chains of heights. These minor
ranges, together with the principal ranges, divide the region into a
series of long; narrow valleys, mostly parallel to one another and to
the enclosing mountain chains, which descend like terraced steps, on the
one side towards the depression of Lukchun and on the other towards the
desert of Lop.
In many cases these latitudinal valleys are barred transversely
by ridges or spurs, generally elevations en masse of the bottom of the
valley. Where such elevations exist, there is generally found, on the
east side of the transverse ridge, a cauldron-shaped depression, which
some time or other has been the bottom of a former lake, but is now
nearly a dry salt-basin. The surface configuration is in fact markedly
similar to that which occurs in the inter-mount latitudinal valleys of
the Kunlun Mountains. The hydrography
of the Ghashiun-Gobi and the Kuruk-tagh is determined by the
aforementioned arrangements of the latitudinal valleys. Most of the
principal streams, instead of flowing straight down these valleys, cross
them diagonally and only turn west after they have cut their way
through one or more of the transverse barrier ranges.
To the highest range on the great swelling Grigory Grum-Grshimailo gives the name of Tuge-tau,
its altitude being 2,700 m (8,858 ft) above the level of the sea and
some 1,200 m (3,937 ft) above the crown of the swelling itself. This
range he considers to belong to the Choltagh system, whereas Sven Hedin would assign it to the Kuruk-tagh. This last, which is pretty certainly identical with the range of Kharateken-ula (also known as the Kyzyl-sanghir, Sinir, and Singher Mountains), that overlooks the southern shore of the Lake Bosten, though parted from it by the drift-sand desert of Ak-bel-kum
(White Pass Sands), has at first a west-northwest to east-southeast
strike, but it gradually curves round like a scimitar towards the
east-northeast and at the same time gradually decreases in elevation.
At 91° east, where the principal range of the Kuruk-tagh system
wheels to the east-northeast, four of its subsidiary ranges terminate,
or rather die away somewhat suddenly, on the brink of a long narrow
depression (in which Sven Hedin sees a northeast bay of the former great
Central Asian lake of Lop-nor), having over against them the écheloned
terminals of similar subordinate ranges of the Pe-shan
(Boy-san) system (see below). The Kuruk-tagh is throughout a relatively
low, but almost completely barren range, being entirely destitute of
animal life, save for hares, antelopes and wild camels, which frequent
its few small, widely scattered oases. The vegetation, which is confined
to these same areas, is of the scantiest and is mainly confined to
bushes of saxaul(Haloxylon), anabasis, reeds (kamish), tamarisks, poplars, and Ephedra.
History
Prehistory
There is little information about early habitation of the Gobi desert.
Lisa Janz has proposed a system of nomenclature for early Gobi desert habitation. They are Oasis I, Oasis II, Oasis III.
Oasis I is equivalent to the Mesolithic from 13500 cal BP to 8000 cal BP. During this time people began using oases. It is characterized by:
honeycomb imprinted, corded, string paddled, low and high fired pottery with a sand and gravel mixture.
Starting around 8000 cal BP there was a warm wet phase in the Gobi desert. By 7500 cal BP lake levels in the Western Gobi reached their peak. Around this time there was meadow steppe vegetation around lakes. In Ulaan Nuur there may have been shrubbyriparian woodlands.
Oasis III is equivalent to the Bronze Age from 5000 cal BP to 3000 cal BP. It is characterized by:
plain, string paddled, moulded rim, painted, geometrically incised, high and low fired pottery with mixture of sand, gravel, mica, shells, and fiber.
Bronze Age herder burials have been found in the Gobi desert, as well as Karasukbronze knives, and Mongolian deer stones. Between 5000 cal BP and 4500 cal BP there was a period of desertification. Due to the increasing aridity between 3500 cal BP and 3000 cal BP there was a decline in human habitation in the Gobi desert.
European and American exploration
The
Gobi had a long history of human habitation, mostly by nomadic peoples.
The name of Gobi means desert in Mongolian. The region was inhabited
mostly by Mongols, Uyghurs, and Kazakhs.
The Gobi Desert as a whole was known only very imperfectly to
outsiders, as information was confined to observations by individual
travelers engaging in their respective itineraries across the desert.
Among the European and American explorers who contributed to the
understanding of the Gobi, the most important were the following:
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