The flood that occurred in summer 1997 in Poland, affecting the drainage basins of the Odra and the Vistula, caused 54 fatalities and material losses of the order of billions of US$. The flood struck a large part of the country and caused inundation of 665 000 ha of land. The number of evacuees was 162 thousand. The rhetoric commonly used in Poland refers to the Great Flood of 1997 as an event whose scale exceeded all imagination about the possible size of the disaster. Indeed, historic maxima of river stage and flow rate were considerably exceeded. From the hydrological point of view, this flood was a very rare event, with a return period in some river cross-sections of the order of a thousand years and more. As this natural disaster, striking a dynamically developing country-in-transition, attracted much international interest, a holistic view of it is presented. Attempts to answer the questions: "Could the disaster have been avoided?" and "What lessons can be learnt from the flood?" are also made. La grande crue de 1997 en PologneRésumé La crue survenue pendant l'été 1997 en Pologne, qui a affecté les bassins de l'Oder et de la Vistule, a causé la mort de 54 personnes et des pertes matérielles de plusieurs milliards de dollars américains. La crue a paralysé une grande partie du pays et inondé 665 000 hectares. 162 000 personnes ont du être évacuées. On pense communément en Pologne que la crue de 1997 est un événement dont l'ampleur dépasse tout ce qui pouvait être imaginé. Les maximums historiques de hauteur d'eau et de débit ont en effet été largement dépassés. D'un point de vue hydrologique, la crue fut un événement très rare, dont la durée de retour estimée en quelques stations est au moins de l'ordre du millier d'années. Comme ce désastre naturel, frappant un pays dynamique en pleine phase de transition économique, a suscité un vaste intérêt au niveau international, nous en présentons une vue synthétique. Des tentatives de réponses aux questions "Le désastre aurait-il pu être évité ?" et "Quelles enseignements peut-on tirer de la crue ?" sont également proposées.
No abstract
The growing demand for critical raw materials (rare earth elements—REE, Nb, Ta, and others) enforces a need to look for their alternative sources. Distortions of the mineral supply chain caused by COVID-19 have necessitated a re-evaluation of what exists as mining waste from previous exploitation. Consequently, this study aims to provide an inventory of raw materials on the Indonesian Tin Islands (Bangka and Belitung). Geological and mineralogical examinations on Bangka have permitted an economic appraisal of tailings from the processing of cassiterite-bearing sands and confirmed the presence of REE-bearing minerals, chiefly monazite and xenotime, zircon, ilmenite, rutile, niobium-tantalum phases. In general, the mineral content of the tailings varies depending on the sampling site and the type of processing used during ore-production. ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometers) analyses revealed anomalous concentrations of LREE (light rare earth elements): La > 5%, Ce > 5%, Pr > 1%, Nd > 1%, Sm > 1% and HREE+Y (heavy rare earth elements and yttrium) up to 2.51 wt%. High values have been found for the “most critical” metals of the HREE group: Dy (up to 0.34 wt%), Tb (up to 0.08 wt%), Eu (up to 61.8 ppm), Nd (>1.0 wt%), and Y (up to 1.20 wt%). In addition, the following contents have been defined: Ga (to 0.03 wt%); Hf (to 0.64 wt%); Ta (to 0.08 wt%); Nb (to 0.23 wt%); W (to 0.14 wt%); Zr (>5.0 wt%); and Sc (to 0.01 wt%). Such high concentrations suggest the tailing dumps to be a potential new source of “critical raw materials”.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.