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town is located near the former Gulag camp called Butugychag (also called Lower Butugychag). Other towns were deserted due to deindustrialisation and the economic crises of the early 1990s attributed to post-Soviet conflicts – one example being Tkvarcheli in Georgia, a coal mining town that suffered a drastic population decline as a result of the War in Abkhazia in the early 1990s.
## Antarctica.
The oldest ghost town in Antarctica is on Deception Island, where in 1906, a Norwegian-Chilean company set up a whaling station at Whalers Bay, which they used as a base for their factory ship, the "Gobernador Bories". Other whaling operations followed suit, and by 1914 there were thirteen factory
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ships based there. The station ceased to be profitable during the Great Depression, and was abandoned in 1931. In 1969, the station was partially destroyed by a volcanic eruption. There are also many abandoned scientific and military bases in Antarctica, especially in the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Antarctic island of South Georgia used to have several thriving whaling settlements during the first half of the 20th century, with a combined population exceeding 2,000 in some years. These included Grytviken (operating 1904-64), Leith Harbour (1909–65), Ocean Harbour (1909–20), Husvik (1910–60), Stromness (1912–61) and Prince Olav Harbour (1917–34). The abandoned settlements have become increasingly
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dilapidated, and remain uninhabited nowadays except for the Museum curator's family at Grytviken. The jetty, the church, dwellings and industrial buildings at Grytviken have recently been renovated by the South Georgian Government, becoming a popular tourist destination. Some historical buildings in the other settlements are being restored as well.
## Europe.
Urbanization – the migration of a country's rural population into the cities – has left many European towns and villages deserted. An increasing number of settlements in Bulgaria are becoming ghost towns for this reason; at the time of the 2011 census, the country had 181 uninhabited settlements. In Hungary, dozens of villages are also
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threatened with abandonment. The first village officially declared as "dead" was Gyűrűfű in the late 1970s, but later it was repopulated as an eco-village. Some other depopulated villages were successfully saved as small rural resorts, such as Kán, Tornakápolna, Szanticska, Gorica, and Révfalu.
In Spain, large zones of the mountainous Iberian System and the Pyrenees have undergone heavy depopulation since the early 20th century, leaving a string of ghost towns in areas such as the Solana Valley. Traditional agricultural practices such as sheep and goat rearing, on which the mountain village economy was based, were not taken over by the local youth, especially after the lifestyle changes that
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swept over rural Spain during the second half of the 20th century.
In the United Kingdom, thousands of villages were abandoned during the Middle Ages, as a result of Black Death, climate change, revolts, and enclosure, the process by which vast amounts of farmland became privately owned. Since there are rarely any visible remains of these settlements, they are not generally considered ghost towns; instead, they are referred to in archaeological circles as deserted medieval villages.
Sometimes, wars and genocide end a town's life. In 1944, occupying German Waffen-SS troops murdered almost the entire population of the French village Oradour-sur-Glane. A new settlement was built nearby after
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the war, but the old town was left depopulated on the orders of President Charles de Gaulle, as a permanent memorial. In Germany, numerous smaller towns and villages in the former eastern territories were completely destroyed in the last two years of the war. These territories later became part of Poland and the Soviet Union, and many of the smaller settlements were never rebuilt or repopulated, for example Kłomino ("Westfalenhof"), Pstrąże ("Pstransse"), and Janowa Góra ("Johannesberg"). Some villages in England were also abandoned during the war, but for different reasons. Imber and Tyneham, along with several villages in the Stanford Battle Area, were commandeered by the War Office for use
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as training grounds for British and US troops. Although this was intended to be a temporary measure, the residents were never allowed to return, and the villages have been used for military training ever since.
Disasters have played a part in the abandonment of settlements within Europe. After the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, the cities of Pripyat and Chernobyl were evacuated due to dangerous radiation levels within the area. As of today, Pripyat remains completely abandoned, and Chernobyl has around 500 remaining inhabitants.
## North America.
### Canada.
There are ghost towns in parts of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec. Some were logging
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towns or dual mining and logging sites, often developed at the behest of the company. In Alberta and Saskatchewan, most ghost towns were once farming communities that have since died off due to the removal of the railway through the town or the bypass of a highway. The ghost towns in British Columbia were predominantly mining towns and prospecting camps as well as canneries and, in one or two cases, large smelter and pulp mill towns. British Columbia has more ghost towns than any other jurisdiction on the North American continent, with one estimate at the number of abandoned and semi-abandoned towns and localities upwards of 1500. Among the most notable are Anyox, Kitsault, and Ocean Falls.
Some
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ghost towns have revived their economies and populations due to historical and eco-tourism, such as Barkerville. Barkerville, once the largest town north of Kamloops, is now a year-round provincial museum. In Quebec, Val-Jalbert is a well-known tourist ghost town; founded in 1901 around a mechanical pulp mill that became obsolete when paper mills began to break down wood fibre by chemical means, it was abandoned when the mill closed in 1927 and re-opened as a park in 1960.
### United States.
There are many ghost towns or abandoned communities in the American Great Plains, the rural areas of which have lost a third of their population since 1920. Thousands of communities in the northern plains
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states of Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota became railroad ghost towns when a rail line failed to materialize. Hundreds more towns were abandoned when the US Highway System replaced the railroads as the favored mode of travel. Ghost towns are common in mining or mill towns in all the western states, and many eastern and southern states as well. Residents are compelled to leave in search of more productive areas when the resources that had created an employment boom in these towns were eventually consumed. Some unincorporated towns become ghost towns due to flooding caused by dam projects that created manmade lakes, such as Oketeyeconne. Ghost towns are particularly numerous in
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the southwestern state of New Mexico.
Sometimes a ghost town consists of many abandoned buildings as in Bodie, California, or standing ruins as in Rhyolite, Nevada, while elsewhere only the foundations of former buildings remain as in Graysonia, Arkansas. Old mining camps that have lost most of their population at some stage of their history such as Aspen, Deadwood, Oatman, Tombstone and Virginia City are sometimes referred to as ghost towns although they are presently active towns and cities. Many U.S. ghost towns, such as South Pass City in Wyoming are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Some of the earliest settlements in the US, though they no longer exist in any tangible
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sense, once had the characteristics of a ghost town. In 1590, mapmaker John White arrived at the Roanoke Colony, North Carolina to find it deserted, its inhabitants having vanished without a trace. The Zwaanendael Colony became a ghost town when every one of the colonists was massacred by Indians in 1632. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, was abandoned when Williamsburg became the new capital of the colony in 1699.
Starting in 2002, an attempt to declare an "official ghost town" in California stalled when the adherents of the town of Bodie and those of Calico, in Southern California, could not agree on the most deserving settlement for the recognition. A compromise
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was eventually reached – Bodie became the "official state gold rush ghost town", while Calico was named the "official state silver rush ghost town".
## Latin America.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a wave of European immigrants arrived in Argentina and settled in the cities, which offered jobs, education, and other opportunities that enabled newcomers to enter the middle class. Many also settled in the growing small towns along the expanding railway system. Since the 1930s, many rural workers have moved to the big cities. Other ghost towns were created in the aftermath of dinosaur fossil rushes.
A number of ghost towns throughout Latin America were once mining camps or lumber
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mills, such as the many saltpeter mining camps that prospered in Chile from the end of the Saltpeter War until the invention of synthetic saltpeter during World War I. Some of these towns, such as the Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works in the Atacama Desert, have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Another former mining town, Real de Catorce in Mexico, has been used as a backdrop for Hollywood movies such as "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948), "The Mexican" (2001), and "Bandidas" (2006).
## Oceania.
The boom and bust of gold rushes and the mining of other ores has led to a number of ghost towns in both Australia and New Zealand. Other towns have become abandoned whether
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due to natural disasters, the weather, or the drowning of valleys to increase the size of lakes.
In Australia, the Victoria gold rush led to numerous ghost towns (such as Cassilis and Moliagul), as did the hunt for gold in Western Australia (for example, the towns of Ora Banda and Kanowna). The mining of iron and other ores has also led to towns thriving briefly before dwindling.
In New Zealand, the Otago gold rush similarly led to several ghost towns (such as Macetown). New Zealand's ghost towns also include numerous coal mining areas in the South Island's West Coast Region, including Denniston and Stockton. Natural disasters have also led to the loss of some towns, notably Te Wairoa, "The
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Buried Village", destroyed in the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera, and the Otago town of Kelso, abandoned after it was flooded repeatedly after heavy rainstorms. Early settlements on the rugged southwest coast of the South Island at Martins Bay and Port Craig were also abandoned, mainly due to the inhospitable terrain.
# See also.
- Abandoned mine
- Abandoned village
- Exclusion zone
- List of ghost towns by country
- Old field (ecology)
- Phantom settlement
- Unused highway
- Urban decay
- Modern ruins
- Urban exploration
# External links.
- Ghost Towns in Utah Utah Office of Tourism
- Russian journalist explores the lives of illegal residents in the ghost town in the far-flung
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by country
- Old field (ecology)
- Phantom settlement
- Unused highway
- Urban decay
- Modern ruins
- Urban exploration
# External links.
- Ghost Towns in Utah Utah Office of Tourism
- Russian journalist explores the lives of illegal residents in the ghost town in the far-flung Russian Arctic
- Ghost Town Gallery (with about 200 ghost towns throughout the American west)
- Ghosts of North Dakota (an extensive collection of prairie ghost towns)
- Abandoned towns, villages and other communities in Great Britain
- Ontario Abandoned Places (ghost towns in Canada)
- Ghost towns and historic locations in Colorado
- Ghost towns of Arizona and surrounding states
- Ghost Towns in Italy
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Pension fund
A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income.
Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and private companies. They are especially important to the stock market where large institutional investors dominate. The largest 300 pension funds collectively hold about $6 trillion in assets. In January 2008, "The Economist" reported that Morgan Stanley estimates that pension funds worldwide hold over US$20 trillion in assets, the largest for any category of investor ahead of mutual funds, insurance companies, currency reserves, sovereign wealth
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funds, hedge funds, or private equity.
The Federal Old-age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is the world's largest public pension fund which oversees $2.72 trillion USD in assets.
# Classifications.
## Open vs. closed pension funds.
Open pension funds support at least one pension plan with no restriction on membership while closed pension funds support only pension plans that are limited to certain employees.
Closed pension funds are further subclassified into:
- "Single employer pension funds"
- "Multi-employer pension funds"
- "Related member pension funds"
- "Individual pension funds"
## Public vs. private pension funds.
A public pension fund is one that is regulated under public
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sector law while a private pension fund is regulated under private sector law.
In certain countries the distinction between public or government pension funds and private pension funds may be difficult to assess. In others, the distinction is made sharply in law, with very specific requirements for administration and investment. For example, local governmental bodies in the United States are subject to laws passed by the states in which those localities exist, and these laws include provisions such as defining classes of permitted investments and a minimum municipal obligation.
# By country.
## Australia.
### Government.
- Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (old scheme for federal civil
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servants)
- Military Superannuation and Benefits Scheme (current scheme for Australian Defence Force personnel)
- Public Sector Superannuation accumulation plan (current scheme for federal civil servants)
- Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (old scheme for federal civil servants)
- State Super (for New South Wales state civil servants)
### Industry (not-for-profit).
- AustralianSuper
- AustSafe Super
- CareSuper
- Cbus
- Energy Super
- FIRSTSUPER
- HESTA
- Hostplus
- legalsuper
- LUCRF Super
- Media Super
- MTAA Super
- NGS Super
- REI Super
- TWUSUPER
- UniSuper
### Private.
- ANZ Australian Staff Superannuation Scheme (for employees of ANZ Bank)
- Retail Employees
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Superannuation Trust
## Brazil.
- Aceprev
- Baneses
- Banesprev
- Centrus
- FAPES
- Forluz
- Funcef
- Fundação Banrisul
- Fundação CESP
- Fundação Itaubanco
- Petros
- PREVI - Caixa de Previdência dos Funcionários do Banco do Brasil (the closed private pension fund for employees of the Brazilian federal government-owned bank)
- Sistel
- Valia
## Canada.
### Government.
- Alberta Investment Management
- British Columbia Investment Management Corporation
- Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec
- Canada Pension Plan (investments directed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)
- HOOPP
- Ontario Teachers Pension Plan
- PSP investments
- Public Sector Pension Investment
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Board
### Private.
- BC Pension Corporation, including the College Pension Plan, the Municipal Pension Plan, the Public Service Pension Plan, the Teachers' Pension Plan, and WorkSafeBC
- Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan (CAAT)
- Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP)
- OMERS Administration Corporation (OMERS)
- Ontario Pension Board (OPB)
- Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
- OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust)
## Chile.
- AFP Modelo
- Chile pension system
## China.
- - managed by National Council for Social Security Fund
## Greece.
### Government.
- Public Employees Pension Fund
### Private.
- TAPILTAT, the Fund for Mutual Assistance of the Employees of Ioniki
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Bank and Other Banks, the multi-employer auxiliary pension fund
## Hong Kong.
- Mandatory Provident Fund
## India.
- Employees' Provident Fund Organisation – a statutory body of the government of India that administers a compulsory Provident Fund Scheme, Pension Scheme and an Insurance Scheme. Provident Fund is applicable across for employees across establishments (private as well as government, subject to criteria). EPF is the largest social security organisation in India with assets well over 5 lakh crore (US$104 billion) as of 2014.
- National Pension Scheme – a defined-contribution–based pension scheme launched by the government of India open to all citizens of India on a voluntary
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basis and mandatory for the employees of central government (except Indian Armed Forces) who are appointed on or after 1 January 2004. Indian citizens between the age of 18 and 65 are eligible to join.
## Japan.
- See Japan Pension Service
- Government Pension Investment Fund, Japan (GPIF, 年金積立金管理運用独立行政法人)
## Malaysia.
- Employees Provident Fund (Malaysia's largest, total assets of around RM407 billion in diversified portfolio)
## Morocco.
- Caisse de dépôt et de gestion
## Nepal.
- Employees Provident Fund Nepal
## Netherlands.
- Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (ABP)
- Stichting Pensioenfonds Zorg en Welzijn (PFZW, formerly PGGM)
## Norway.
- The Government Pension Fund - Global (Statens
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pensjonsfond - Utland)
- The Government Pension Fund - Norway (Statens pensjonsfond - Norge)
## Romania.
The pension system in Romania is made of three pillars. One is the state pension (Pillar I – Mandatory), the second is a private mandatory pension where the state transfers a percentage of the contribution it collects for the public pension, and the third is an optional private pension (Pillar III – Voluntary).
The Financial Supervisory Authority – Private Pension is responsible for the supervision and regulation of the private pension system.
## Saudi Arabia.
- Public Pension Agency (PPA)
- General Organization for Social Insurance
## Serbia.
- The pension system in Serbia is made
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of three pillars. One is the state pension (Pillar I – Mandatory), where every insured person is obliged to pay contributions from their paycheck, the second is a voluntary state pension, where an uninsured person is voluntarily included in state pension system, and the third is an optional private pension (Pillar III – Voluntary).
- Pension and disability insurance fund
## Singapore.
- Central Provident Fund
## Switzerland.
- Pension system in Switzerland
## Turkey.
### Government.
- Sosyal Güvenlik Kurumu (Social Security Institution, SGK)
Social Security Institution was established by the Social Security Institution Law No:5502 which was published in the Official Gazette No: 26173
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dated 20.06.2006 and brings the Social Insurance Institution, General Directorate of Bağ-kur and General Directorate of Emekli Sandığı whose historical development are summarized above under a single roof in order to transfer five different retirement regimes which are civil servants, contractual paid workers, agricultural paid workers, self-employers and agricultural self-employers into a single retirement regime that will offer equal actuarial rights and obligations.
### Private.
- Armed Forces Pension Fund
OYAK (Ordu Yardımlaşma Kurumu/Armed Forces Pension Fund) provides its members with "supplementary retirement benefits" apart from the official retirement fund, T.C.Emekli Sandığı/SSK,
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to which they are primarily affiliated.
- YAPI ve KREDİ BANKASI A.Ş. Mensupları Yardım ve Emekli Sandığı Vakfı
- AKBANK T.A.Ş. Mensupları Tekaüt Sandığı Vakfı
- TÜRKİYE GARANTİ BANKASI A.Ş. Memur ve Müstahdemleri Emekli ve Yardım Sandığı Vakfı
- TÜRKİYE ODALAR BORSALAR VE BİRLİK PERSONELİ SİGORTA VE EMEKLİ SANDIĞI VAKFI
- TÜRKİYE İŞ BANKASI A.Ş. Mensupları Emekli Sandığı Vakfı
## United States.
In the United States, pension funds include schemes which result in a deferral of income by employees, even if retirement income provision isn't the intent. The United States has $19.1 trillion in retirement and pension assets ($9.1 trillion in private funds, $10 trillion in public funds) as of
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RLİK PERSONELİ SİGORTA VE EMEKLİ SANDIĞI VAKFI
- TÜRKİYE İŞ BANKASI A.Ş. Mensupları Emekli Sandığı Vakfı
## United States.
In the United States, pension funds include schemes which result in a deferral of income by employees, even if retirement income provision isn't the intent. The United States has $19.1 trillion in retirement and pension assets ($9.1 trillion in private funds, $10 trillion in public funds) as of December 31, 2016. The largest 200 pension funds accounted for $4.540 trillion as of September 30, 2009.
# See also.
- Global assets under management
- Pension insurance contract
- Pension regulation
- Qualifying registered overseas pension schemes
- Sovereign wealth fund
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Crayfish
Crayfish, also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, mudbugs, or yabbies are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters (to which they are related). Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some species are found in brooks and streams where fresh water is running, while others thrive in swamps, ditches, and paddy fields. Most crayfish cannot tolerate polluted water, although some species such as "Procambarus clarkii" are hardier. Crayfish feed on animals and plants, either living or decomposing, and detritus.
# Names.
The name "crayfish" comes from the Old French
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word ' (Modern French '). The word has been modified to "crayfish" by association with "fish" (folk etymology). The largely American variant "crawfish" is similarly derived.
Some kinds of crayfish are known locally as lobsters, crawdads, mudbugs, and yabbies. In the Eastern United States, "crayfish" is more common in the north, while "crawdad" is heard more in central and southwestern regions, and "crawfish" further south, although considerable overlaps exist.
The study of crayfish is called astacology.
## Other animals.
In Australia (on the eastern seaboard), New Zealand and South Africa, the term "crayfish" or "cray" generally refers to a saltwater spiny lobster, of the genus "Jasus" that
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is indigenous to much of southern Oceania, while the freshwater species are usually called "yabby" or "", from the indigenous Australian and Māori names for the animal respectively, or by other names specific to each species. Exceptions include western rock lobster (of the Palinuridae family) found on the west coast of Australia; the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish (from the Parastacidae family) found only in Tasmania; and the Murray crayfish found along Australia's Murray River.
In Singapore, the term "crayfish" typically refers to "Thenus orientalis", a seawater crustacean from the slipper lobster family. True crayfish are not native to Singapore, but are commonly found as pets, or as
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an invasive species ("Cherax quadricarinatus") in the many water catchment areas, and are alternatively known as "freshwater lobsters".
# Anatomy.
The body of a decapod crustacean, such as a crab, lobster, or prawn (shrimp), is made up of twenty body segments grouped into two main body parts, the cephalothorax and the abdomen. Each segment may possess one pair of appendages, although in various groups these may be reduced or missing. On average, crayfish grow to in length, but some grow larger. Walking legs have a small claw at the end.
# Geographical distribution and classification.
There are three families of crayfish, two in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere.
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The Southern Hemisphere (Gondwana-distributed) family Parastacidae, with 14 extant genera and two extinct genera, live(d) in South America, Madagascar and Australasia. They are distinguished by the absence of the first pair of pleopods. Of the other two families, the three genera of the Astacidae live in western Eurasia and western North America, while the 15 genera of the family Cambaridae live in eastern Asia and eastern North America.
## North America.
The greatest diversity of crayfish species is found in southeastern North America, with over 330 species in nine genera, all in the family Cambaridae. A further genus of astacid crayfish is found in the Pacific Northwest and the headwaters
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of some rivers east of the Continental Divide. Many crayfish are also found in lowland areas where the water is abundant in calcium, and oxygen rises from underground springs.
In 1983, Louisiana designated the crayfish, or crawfish as they are commonly referred, as their official state crustacean. Louisiana produces 100 million pounds of crawfish per year with the red swamp and white river crawfish being the main species harvested. Crawfish are a part of Cajun culture dating back hundreds of years. A variety of cottage industries have developed as a result of commercialized crawfish iconology. Their products include crawfish attached to wooden plaques, T-shirts with crawfish logos, and crawfish
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pendants, earrings and necklaces made of gold or silver.
## Australia.
Australia has over 100 species in a dozen genera. Australia is home to the world's three largest freshwater crayfish – the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish "Astacopsis gouldi", which can achieve a mass of over and is found in rivers of northern Tasmania, the Murray crayfish "Euastacus armatus", which can reach , although there have been reports of animals up to and is found in much of the southern Murray-Darling basin. and marron from Western Australia (now believed to be two species, "Cherax tenuimanus" and "C. cainii") which may reach a weight of . Many of the better-known Australian crayfish are of the genus "Cherax",
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and include the common yabby ("Cherax destructor"), western yabby ("Cherax preissii") and red-claw crayfish ("Cherax quadricarinatus"). The marron species "C. tenuimanus" is critically endangered, while other large Australasian crayfish are threatened or endangered.
## New Zealand.
In New Zealand, two species of "Paranephrops" are endemic, and are known by the Māori name "".
# Fossil record.
Fossil records of crayfish older than 30 million years are rare, but fossilised burrows have been found from strata as old as the late Palaeozoic or early Mesozoic. The oldest records of the Parastacidae are in Australia, and are 115 million years old.
# Crayfish plague.
Some crayfish suffer from a
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disease called crayfish plague, caused by the North American water mould "Aphanomyces astaci" which was transmitted to Europe when North American species of crayfish were introduced there. Species of the genus "Astacus" are particularly susceptible to infection, allowing the plague-coevolved signal crayfish to invade parts of Europe.
# Uses.
## Food.
Crayfish are eaten worldwide. Like other edible crustaceans, only a small portion of the body of a crayfish is eaten. In most prepared dishes, such as soups, bisques and étouffées, only the tail portion is served. At crawfish boils or other meals where the entire body of the crayfish is presented, other portions, such as the claw meat, may be
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eaten. Like all crustaceans, crayfish are not kosher because they are aquatic animals that do not have both fins and scales. They are therefore not eaten by observant Jews.
As of 2005, Louisiana supplies 95% of the crayfish harvested in the US. In 1987, Louisiana produced 90% of the crayfish harvested in the world, 70% of which were consumed locally. In 2007, the Louisiana crawfish harvest was about 54,800 tons, almost all of it from aquaculture. About 70%–80% of crayfish produced in Louisiana are "Procambarus clarkii" (red swamp crawfish), with the remaining 20%–30% being "Procambarus zonangulus" (white river crawfish).
## Bait.
Crayfish are preyed upon by a variety of ray-finned fishes,
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and are commonly used as bait, either live or with only the tail meat. They are a popular bait for catching catfish, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, striped bass, perch, pike and muskie. When using live crayfish as bait, anglers prefer to hook them between the eyes, piercing through their hard, pointed beak which causes them no harm; therefore, they remain more active.
When using crayfish as bait, it is important to fish in the same environment where they were caught. An Illinois State University report that focused on studies conducted on the Fox River and Des Plaines River watershed stated that rusty crayfish, initially caught as bait in a different environment, were dumped into the water
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and "outcompeted the native clearwater crayfish." Other studies confirmed that transporting crayfish to different environments have led to various ecological problems, including the elimination of native species. Transporting crayfishes as live bait has also contributed to the spread of zebra mussels in various waterways throughout Europe and North America, as they are known to attach themselves to exoskeleton of crayfishes.
## Pets.
Crayfish are kept as pets in freshwater aquariums, typically with bluegill or bass, rather than goldfish or tropical or subtropical fish. They prefer foods like shrimp pellets or various vegetables, but will also eat tropical fish food, regular fish food, algae
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wafers, and small fish that can be captured with their claws. A report by the National Park Service as well as video and anecdotal reports by aquarium owners indicate that crayfish will eat their molted exoskeleton "to recover the calcium and phosphates contained in it." As omnivores, crayfish will eat almost anything; therefore, they may explore the edibility of aquarium plants in a fish tank. However, most species of dwarf crayfish, such as "Cambarellus patzcuarensis", will not destructively dig or eat live aquarium plants. They are also relatively non-aggressive and can be kept safely with dwarf shrimp.
In some nations, such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and New Zealand,
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imported alien crayfish are a danger to local rivers. The three species commonly imported to Europe from the Americas are "Orconectes limosus", "Pacifastacus leniusculus" and "Procambarus clarkii". Crayfish may spread into different bodies of water because specimens captured for pets in one river are often released into a different catchment. There is a potential for ecological damage when crayfish are introduced into non-native bodies of water: e.g., crayfish plague in Europe, or the introduction of the common yabby ("Cherax destructor") into drainages east of the Great Dividing Range in Australia.
# See also.
- Pain in crustaceans
# Further reading.
- Regional European Crayfish Workshop:
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for pets in one river are often released into a different catchment. There is a potential for ecological damage when crayfish are introduced into non-native bodies of water: e.g., crayfish plague in Europe, or the introduction of the common yabby ("Cherax destructor") into drainages east of the Great Dividing Range in Australia.
# See also.
- Pain in crustaceans
# Further reading.
- Regional European Crayfish Workshop: Future of Native Crayfish in Europe. Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems. No. 394-395 (2009)
# External links.
- International Association of Astacology (IAA)
- America's Crayfish: Crawling In Troubled Waters
- Louisiana Crawfish Research and Promotion Board
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Fjord
Geologically, a fjord or fiord (, ) is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. There are many fjords on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Kamchatka, the Kerguelen Islands, New Zealand, Norway, Novaya Zemlya, Labrador, Nunavut, Newfoundland, Quebec, Scotland, South Georgia Island, and Washington state. Norway's coastline is estimated at with nearly 1,200 fjords, but only when fjords are excluded.
# Formation.
A true fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by ice segregation and abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. According to the standard model, glaciers formed in pre-glacial
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valleys with a gently sloping valley floor. The work of the glacier then left an overdeepened U-shaped valley that ends abruptly at a valley or trough end. Such valleys are fjords when flooded by the ocean. Thresholds above sea level create freshwater lakes. Glacial melting is accompanied by the rebounding of Earth's crust as the ice load and eroded sediment is removed (also called isostasy or glacial rebound). In some cases this rebound is faster than sea level rise. Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea; Sognefjord, Norway, reaches as much as below sea level. Fjords generally have a sill or shoal (bedrock) at their mouth caused by the previous glacier's reduced erosion rate and terminal
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moraine. In many cases this sill causes extreme currents and large saltwater rapids (see skookumchuck). Saltstraumen in Norway is often described as the world's strongest tidal current. These characteristics distinguish fjords from rias (e.g. the Bay of Kotor), which are drowned valleys flooded by the rising sea. Drammensfjorden is cut almost in two by the Svelvik "ridge", a sandy moraine that during the ice cover was under sea level but after the post-glacial rebound reaches above the fjord.
Jens Esmark in the 19th century introduced the theory that fjords are or have been created by glaciers and that large parts of Northern Europe had been covered by thick ice in prehistory. Thresholds at
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the mouths and overdeepening of fjords compared to the ocean are the strongest evidence of glacial origin, and these thresholds are mostly rocky. Thresholds are related to sounds and low land where the ice could spread out and therefore have less erosive force. John Walter Gregory argued that fjords are of tectonic origin and that glaciers had a negligible role in their formation. Gregory's views were rejected by subsequent research and publications. In the case of Hardangerfjord the fractures of the Caledonian fold has guided the erosion by glaciers, while there is no clear relation between the direction of Sognefjord and the fold pattern. This relationship between fractures and direction of
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fjords is also observed in Lyngen. Preglacial, tertiary rivers presumably eroded the surface and created valleys that later guided the glacial flow and erosion of the bedrock. This may in particular have been the case in Western Norway where the tertiary uplift of the landmass amplified eroding forces of rivers.
Confluence of tributatry fjords led to excavation of the deepest fjord basins. Near the very coast the typical West Norwegian glacier spread out (presumably through sounds and low valleys) and lost their concentration and reduced the glaciers' power to erode leaving bedrock thresholds. Bolstadfjorden is deep with a threshold of only , while the deep Sognefjorden has a threshold around
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deep. Hardangerfjord is made up of several basins separated by thresholds: The deepest basin Samlafjorden between Jonaneset (Jondal) og Ålvik with a distinct threshold at Vikingneset in Kvam.
Hanging valleys are common along glaciated fjords and U-shaped valleys. A hanging valley is a tributary valley that is higher than the main valley and were created by tributary glacier flows into a glacier of larger volume. The shallower valley appears to be 'hanging' above the main valley or a fjord. Often, waterfalls form at or near the outlet of the upper valley. Hanging valleys also occur under water in fjord systems. The branches of Sognefjord are for instance much shallower than the main fjord. The
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mouth of Fjærlandsfjord is about deep while the main fjord is nearby. The mouth of Ikjefjord is only 50 meters deep while the main fjord is around at the same point.
# Fjord features and variations.
## Hydrology.
During the winter season there is usually little inflow of freshwater. Surface water and deeper water (down to or more) are mixed during winter because of the steady cooling of the surface and wind. In the deep fjords there is still fresh water from the summer with less density than the saltier water along the coast. Offshore wind, common in the fjord areas during winter, sets up a current on the surface from the inner to the outer parts. This current on the surface in turn pulls
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dense salt water from the coast across the fjord threshold and into the deepest parts of the fjord. Bolstadfjorden has a threshold of only and strong inflow of freshwater from Vosso river creates a brackish surface that blocks circulation of the deep fjord. The deeper, salt layers of Bolstadfjorden are deprived of oxygen and the seabed is covered with organic material. The shallow threshold also creates a strong tidal current.
During the summer season there is usually a large inflow of river water in the inner areas. This freshwater gets mixed with saltwater creating a layer of brackish water with a slightly higher surface than the ocean which in turn sets up a current from the river mouths
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towards the ocean. This current is gradually more salty towards the coast and right under the surface current there is a reverse current of saltier water from the coast. In the deeper parts of the fjord the cold water remaining from winter is still and separated from the atmosphere by the brackish top layer. In fjords with a shallow threshold this deep water is not replaced every year and low oxygen concentration makes the deep water unsuitable for fish and animals. In the most extreme cases there is a constant barrier of freshwater on the surface and the fjord freezes over such that there is no oxygen below the surface. Drammensfjorden is one example.
The Gaupnefjorden branch of Sognefjorden
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is strongly affected by freshwater as a glacial river flows in. Velfjorden has little inflow of freshwater.
## Coral reefs.
As late as 2000, some coral reefs were discovered along the bottoms of the Norwegian fjords. These reefs were found in fjords from the north of Norway to the south. The marine life on the reefs is believed to be one of the most important reasons why the Norwegian coastline is such a generous fishing ground. Since this discovery is fairly new, little research has been done. The reefs are host to thousands of lifeforms such as plankton, coral, anemones, fish, several species of shark, and many more. Most are specially adapted to life under the greater pressure of the water
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column above it, and the total darkness of the deep sea.
New Zealand's fjords are also host to deep-water corals, but a surface layer of dark fresh water allows these corals to grow in much shallower water than usual. An underwater observatory in Milford Sound allows tourists to view them without diving.
## Skerries.
In some places near the seaward margins of areas with fjords, the ice-scoured channels are so numerous and varied in direction that the rocky coast is divided into thousands of island blocks, some large and mountainous while others are merely rocky points or rock reefs, menacing navigation. These are called skerries. The term skerry is derived from the Old Norse ", which means
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a rock in the sea.
Skerries most commonly formed at the outlet of fjords where submerged glacially formed valleys perpendicular to the coast join with other cross valleys in a complex array. The island fringe of Norway is such a group of skerries (called a "); many of the cross fjords are so arranged that they parallel the coast and provide a protected channel behind an almost unbroken succession of mountainous islands and skerries. By this channel one can travel through a protected passage almost the entire route from Stavanger to North Cape, Norway. The Blindleia is a skerry-protected waterway that starts near Kristiansand in southern Norway, and continues past Lillesand. The Swedish coast
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along Bohuslän is likewise skerry guarded. The Inside Passage provides a similar route from Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia, to Skagway, Alaska. Yet another such skerry protected passage extends from the Straits of Magellan north for .
## Epishelf lakes.
An epishelf lake forms when meltwater is trapped behind a floating ice shelf and the freshwater floats on the denser saltwater below. Its surface may freeze forming an isolated ecosystem.
# Etymology.
The word "fjord" comes from Norwegian (pronounced , , or in various dialects), where it can have a more general meaning: in many cases to refer to any long narrow body of water, inlet or channel (for example, see Oslofjord).
The
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Norse verb ' (travelling/ferrying), the Norse noun substantive ' means a "lake-like" waterbody used for passage and ferrying, which is of Indo-European origin (*' from *' or *"").
The Scandinavian "fjord", Proto-Scandinavian *', is the origin for similar Germanic words: Icelandic ', Swedish ' (for Baltic waterbodies), Scots '. The Norse noun ' was adopted in German as ', used for the narrow long bays of Schleswig-Holstein, and in English as "firth" "fjord, river mouth". The English word "ford" (compare German ', Low German ' or ', in Dutch names ' such as Vilvoorde, Ancient Greek , ', and Latin ') is assumed to originate from Germanic ' and Indo-European root *' meaning "crossing point". Fjord/firth/Förde
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as well as ford/Furt/Vörde/voorde refer to a Germanic noun for "a travel": North Germanic ' or ' and of the verb "to travel", Dutch ', German '; English "to fare".
As a loanword from Norwegian, it is one of the few words in the English language to start with the sequence "fj". The word was for a long time normally rendered "fiord", a spelling preserved in place names such as Grise Fiord, but now generally current only in New Zealand English.
## Scandinavian usage.
The use of the word fjord in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish is more general than in English and in international scientific terminology. In Scandinavia, "fjord" is used for a narrow inlet of the sea in Norway, Denmark and western
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Sweden, but this is not its only application. In Norway and Iceland, the usage is closest to the Old Norse, with fjord used for both a firth and for a long, narrow inlet. In eastern Norway, the term is also applied to long narrow freshwater lakes (for instance Mjøsa [commonly referred to as '], Randsfjorden and Tyrifjorden) and sometimes even to rivers (in local usage, for instance in Flå in Hallingdal, the Hallingdal river is referred to as '). In southeast Sweden, the name fjard ' is a subdivision of the term 'fjord' used for bays, bights and narrow inlets on the Swedish Baltic Sea coast, and in most Swedish lakes. This latter term is also used for bodies of water off the coast of Finland
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where Finland Swedish is spoken. In Danish, the word may even apply to shallow lagoons. In modern Icelandic, ' is still used with the broader meaning of firth or inlet. In Faroese ' is used both about inlets and about broader sounds, whereas a narrower sound is called '. In the Finnish language, a word "" is used although there is only one fjord in Finland. Small waterfalls within these fjords are also used as freshwater resources for the people of Scandinavia and, in particular, Norway.
In old Norse genitive was "fjarðar" whereas dative was "firði". The dative form has become common place names like Førde (for instance Førde), Fyrde or Førre (for instance Førre).
The German use of the word
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' for long narrow bays on their Baltic Sea coastline, indicates a common Germanic origin of the word. The landscape consists mainly of moraine heaps. The ' and some "fjords" on the east side of Jutland, Denmark are also of glacial origin. But while the glaciers digging "real" fjords moved from the mountains to the sea, in Denmark and Germany they were tongues of a huge glacier covering the basin of which is now the Baltic Sea. See Förden and East Jutland Fjorde.
Whereas fjord names mostly describe bays (though not always geological fjords), straits in the same regions typically are named "Sund", in Scandinavian languages as well as in German. The word is related to "to sunder" in the meaning
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of "to separate". So the use of "Sound" to name fjords in North America and New Zealand differs from the European meaning of that word.
The name of Wexford in Ireland is originally derived from " ("inlet of the mud flats") in Old Norse, as used by the Viking settlers—though the inlet at that place in modern terms is an estuary, not a fjord.
Before or in the early phase of Old Norse " was another common noun for fjords and other inlets of the ocean. This word has survived only as a suffix in names of some Scandinavian fjords and has in same cases also been transferred to adjacent settlements or surrounding areas for instance Hardanger, Stavanger and Geiranger.
# Differences in definitions.
The
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differences in usage between the English and the Scandinavian languages have contributed to confusion in the use of the term fjord. Bodies of water that are clearly fjords in Scandinavian languages are not considered fjords in English; similarly bodies of water that would clearly not be fjords in the Scandinavian sense have been named or suggested to be fjords. Examples of this confused usage follow.
The Bay of Kotor in Montenegro has been suggested by some to be a fjord, but is in fact a drowned river canyon or ria. Similarly the Lim bay in Istria, Croatia, is sometimes called "Lim fjord" although it was not carved by glacial erosion but instead is a ria dug by the river Pazinčica. The Croats
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call it "", which does not translate precisely to the English equivalent either.
In the Danish language any inlet is called a fjord, but none of the fjords of Denmark may be considered a fjord in the geological sense. Limfjord in English terminology is a sound, since it separates the North Jutlandic Island (Vendsyssel-Thy) from the rest of Jutland. Ringkøbing Fjord on the western coast of Jutland is a lagoon. The long narrow fjords of Denmark's Baltic Sea coast like the German were dug by ice moving from the sea upon land, while fjords in the geological sense were dug by ice moving from the mountains down to the sea.
The fjords in Finnmark (Norway), which are fjords in the Scandinavian sense
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of the term, are not universally considered to be fjords by the scientific community. Although glacially formed, most Finnmark fjords lack the steep-sided valleys of the more southerly Norwegian fjords since the glacial pack was deep enough to cover even the high grounds when they were formed. The Oslofjord on the other hand is a rift valley, and not glacially formed.
In Acapulco, Mexico, the calanques—narrow, rocky inlets—on the western side of the city, where the famous cliff-divers perform daily, are described in the city's tourist literature as being fjords.
# Freshwater fjords.
Some Norwegian freshwater lakes that have formed in long glacially carved valleys with sill thresholds, ice
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front deltas or terminal moraines blocking the outlet follow the Norwegian naming convention; they are frequently named fjords. Ice front deltas developed when the ice front was relatively stable for long time during the melting of the ice shield. The resulting landform is an isthmus between the lake and the saltwater fjord, in Norwegian called "eid" as in placename Eidfjord or Nordfjordeid. The post-glacial rebound changed these deltas into terraces up to the level of the original sea level. In Eidfjord, Eio has dug through the original delta and left a terrace while lake is only above sea level. Such deposits are valuable sources of high quality building materials (sand and gravel) for houses
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and infrastructure. Eidfjord village sits on the "eid" or isthmus between Eidfjordvatnet lake and Eidfjorden branch of Hardangerfjord. Nordfjordeid is the isthmus with a village between Hornindalsvatnet lake and Nordfjord. Such lakes are also denoted "fjord valley lakes" by geologists.
One of Norway's largest is Tyrifjorden at above sea level and an average depth at most of the lake is under sea level. Norway's largest lake, Mjøsa, is also referred to as "the fjord" by locals. Another example is the freshwater fjord Movatnet (Mo lake) that until 1743 was separated from Romarheimsfjorden by an isthmus and connected by a short river. During a flood in November 1743 the river bed eroded and sea
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water could flow into the lake at high tide. Eventually Movatnet became a saltwater fjord and renamed Mofjorden (). Like fjords, freshwater lakes are often deep. For instance Hornindalsvatnet is at least deep and water takes an average of 16 years to flow through the lake. Such lakes created by glacial action are also called fjord lakes or moraine-dammed lakes.
Some of these lakes were salt after the ice age but later cut off from the ocean during the post-glacial rebound. At the end of the ice age Eastern Norway was about lower (the marine limit). When the ice cap receded and allowed the ocean to fill valleys and lowlands, and lakes like Mjøsa and Tyrifjorden were part of the ocean while Drammen
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valley was a narrow fjord. At the time of the Vikings Drammensfjord was still higher than today and reached the town of Hokksund, while parts of what is now the city of Drammen was under water. After the ice age the ocean was about at Notodden. The ocean stretched like a fjord through Heddalsvatnet all the way to Hjartdal. Post-glacial rebound eventually separated Heddalsvatnet from the ocean and turned it into a freshwater lake. In neolithic times Heddalsvatnet was still a saltwater fjord connected to the ocean, and was cut off from the ocean around 1500 BC.
Some salt water fish got trapped in lakes that originally were part of the salt fjord and gradually became freshwater fish such as the
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arctic char. Some freshwater fjords such as Slidrefjord are above the marine limit.
Like freshwater fjords, the continuation of fjords on land are in the same way denoted as "fjord-valleys". For instance Flåmsdal (Flåm valley) and Måbødalen.
Outside of Norway, the three western arms of New Zealand's Lake Te Anau are named North Fiord, Middle Fiord and South Fiord. Another freshwater "fjord" in a larger lake is Western Brook Pond, in Newfoundland's Gros Morne National Park; it is also often described as a fjord, but is actually a freshwater lake cut off from the sea, so is not a fjord in the English sense of the term. Locally they refer to it as a "landlocked fjord". Such lakes are sometimes
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called "fjord lakes". Okanagan Lake was the first North American lake to be so described, in 1962. The bedrock there has been eroded up to "below" sea level, which is below the surrounding regional topography. Fjord lakes are common on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains and Cascade Range; notable ones include Lake Chelan, Seton Lake, Chilko Lake, and Atlin Lake. Kootenay Lake, Slocan Lake and others in the basin of the Columbia River are also fjord-like in nature, and created by glaciation in the same way. Along the British Columbia Coast, a notable fjord-lake is Owikeno Lake, which is a freshwater extension of Rivers Inlet. Quesnel Lake, located in central British Columbia, is claimed to
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be the deepest fjord formed lake on Earth.
## Great Lakes.
A unique family of freshwater fjords are the embayments of the North American Great Lakes. Baie Fine is located on the northwestern coast of Georgian Bay of Lake Huron in Ontario, and Huron Bay is located on the southern shore of Lake Superior in Michigan.
# Locations.
The principal mountainous regions where fjords have formed are in the higher middle latitudes and the high latitudes reaching to 80°N (Svalbard, Greenland), where, during the glacial period, many valley glaciers descended to the then-lower sea level. The fjords develop best in mountain ranges against which the prevailing westerly marine winds are orographically lifted
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over the mountainous regions, resulting in abundant snowfall to feed the glaciers. Hence coasts having the most pronounced fjords include the west coast of Norway, the west coast of North America from Puget Sound to Alaska, the southwest coast of New Zealand, and the west and to south-western coasts of South America, chiefly in Chile.
## Principal fjord regions.
- West coast of Europe
- Faroe Islands
- Westfjords of Iceland
- Eastern Region of Iceland
- Norway, the whole coast including Svalbard
- Kola Peninsula in Russia
- West coast of New Zealand
- Fiordland, in the southwest of the South Island
- Northwest coast of North America
- Coast of Alaska, United States: Lynn Canal, Glacier
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Bay, etc.
- British Columbia Coast, Canada: from the Alaskan Border along the Portland Canal to Indian Arm; Kingcome Inlet is a typical West Coast fjord.
- Hood Canal in Washington, United States and various of the arms of Puget Sound
- Northeast coast of North America
- Labrador: Saglek Fjord, Nachvak Fjord, Hebron Fjord
- The east coast of Ungava Bay.
- Greenland: Kangerlussuaq, Ilulissat Icefjord, Scoresby Sund
- Saguenay Fjord, Quebec
- Southwest coast of South America
- Fjords and channels of Chile
- Isla de los Estados, Argentina
## Other glaciated or formerly glaciated regions.
Other regions have fjords, but many of these are less pronounced due to more limited exposure to
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westerly winds and less pronounced relief. Areas include:
- Europe
- Ireland
- Lough Swilly
- Carlingford Lough
- Killary Harbour
- Russia (see also List of fjords of Russia)
- Chukchi Peninsula
- Kola Peninsula
- Scotland (where they are called firths, the Scots language cognate of fjord; lochs or sea lochs). Notable examples are:
- Loch Long
- Loch Fyne, Scotland's longest fjord at 65 km
- Loch Etive
- Sweden
- Gullmarsfjorden, in Bohuslän, Sweden
- North America
- Canada:
- the west and south coasts of Newfoundland, particularly:
- Facheux Bay
- Bonne Bay in Gros Morne National Park
- Aviron Bay
- La Hune Bay
- Bay de Vieux
- White Bear Bay
- Baie d'Espoir
- La Poile
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Bay
- Bay Le Moine
- the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, particularly:
- Ellesmere Island
- Baffin Island
- Greenland
- Scoresby Sund, the largest fjord in the world
- Søndre Strømfjord or Kangerlussuaq
- Disko Island
- Ilulissat Icefjord, the most productive ice fjord in the world.
- United States:
- Somes Sound, Acadia National Park, Maine
- Hudson River
- most clearly seen at The Palisades
- Puget Sound
- South America
- Argentina:
- Isla de los Estados
- Arctic
- Arctic islands
- Novaya Zemlya
- Severnaya Zemlya
- Antarctica
- South Georgia (UK)
- Kerguelen Islands (France)
- particularly the Antarctic Peninsula
- Sub-Antarctic islands
## Extreme fjords.
The longest
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fjords in the world are:
- 1. Scoresby Sund in Greenland—
- 2. Greely Fiord/Tanquary Fiord in Canada— The length of the total fjord system from the head of Tanquary Sound, through Greely Fjord, to the mouth of Nansen Sound is approximately 400 km, making it arguably the longest fjord in the world.
- 3. Sognefjord in Norway—
- 4. Independence Fjord in Greenland—
- 5. Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia— (a strait with a fjord structure)
Deep fjords include:
- 1. Skelton Inlet in Antarctica—
- 2. Sognefjord in Norway— (the mountains then rise to up to and more, Hurrungane reaches )
- 3. Messier Channel in Tortel, Chile—
- 4. Baker Channel in Tortel, Chile—
# See also.
- Firth
-
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ly the longest fjord in the world.
- 3. Sognefjord in Norway—
- 4. Independence Fjord in Greenland—
- 5. Matochkin Shar, Novaya Zemlya, Russia— (a strait with a fjord structure)
Deep fjords include:
- 1. Skelton Inlet in Antarctica—
- 2. Sognefjord in Norway— (the mountains then rise to up to and more, Hurrungane reaches )
- 3. Messier Channel in Tortel, Chile—
- 4. Baker Channel in Tortel, Chile—
# See also.
- Firth
- Förden and East Jutland Fjorde
- Fjard
- Ria
# External links.
- Use of whales to probe Arctic fjord's secrets
- Fiordland's Marine Reserves Department of Conservation
- Nextstopnorway – Listing of Norwegian fjords
- Saguenay River – The Canadian Atlas Online
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Pension
A pension (, from Latin "pensiō", "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years, and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension may be a "defined benefit plan" where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a "defined contribution plan" under which a fixed sum is invested and then becomes available at retirement age. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is usually paid in regular installments for life after retirement, while the latter is typically paid as a fixed amount after involuntary termination of employment prior to retirement.
The
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terms "retirement plan" and "superannuation" tend to refer to a pension granted upon retirement of the individual. Retirement plans may be set up by employers, insurance companies, the government or other institutions such as employer associations or trade unions. Called "retirement plans" in the United States, they are commonly known as "pension schemes" in the United Kingdom and Ireland and "superannuation plans" (or "super") in Australia and New Zealand. Retirement pensions are typically in the form of a guaranteed life annuity, thus insuring against the risk of longevity.
A pension created by an employer for the benefit of an employee is commonly referred to as an occupational or employer
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pension. Labor unions, the government, or other organizations may also fund pensions. Occupational pensions are a form of deferred compensation, usually advantageous to employee and employer for tax reasons. Many pensions also contain an additional insurance aspect, since they often will pay benefits to survivors or disabled beneficiaries. Other vehicles (certain lottery payouts, for example, or an annuity) may provide a similar stream of payments.
The common use of the term "pension" is to describe the payments a person receives upon retirement, usually under pre-determined legal or contractual terms. A recipient of a retirement pension is known as a "pensioner" or "retiree".
# Types of pensions.
##
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Employment-based pensions.
A retirement plan is an arrangement to provide people with an income during retirement when they are no longer earning a steady income from employment. Often retirement plans require both the employer and employee to contribute money to a fund during their employment in order to receive defined benefits upon retirement. It is a tax deferred savings vehicle that allows for the tax-free accumulation of a fund for later use as a retirement income. Funding can be provided in other ways, such as from labor unions, government agencies, or self-funded schemes. Pension plans are therefore a form of "deferred compensation". A SSAS is a type of employment-based Pension in the
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UK.
Some countries also grant pensions to military veterans. Military pensions are overseen by the government; an example of a standing agency is the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. "Ad hoc" committees may also be formed to investigate specific tasks, such as the U.S. Commission on Veterans' Pensions (commonly known as the "Bradley Commission") in 1955–56. Pensions may extend past the death of the veteran himself, continuing to be paid to the widow.
## Social and state pensions.
Many countries have created funds for their citizens and residents to provide income when they retire (or in some cases become disabled). Typically this requires payments throughout the citizen's working
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life in order to qualify for benefits later on. A basic state pension is a "contribution based" benefit, and depends on an individual's contribution history. For examples, see National Insurance in the UK, or Social Security in the United States of America.
Many countries have also put in place a "social pension". These are regular, tax-funded non-contributory cash transfers paid to older people. Over 80 countries have social pensions. Some are universal benefits, given to all older people regardless of income, assets or employment record. Examples of universal pensions include New Zealand Superannuation and the Basic Retirement Pension of Mauritius. Most social pensions, though, are means-tested,
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such as Supplemental Security Income in the United States of America or the "older person's grant" in South Africa.
## Disability pensions.
Some pension plans will provide for members in the event they suffer a disability. This may take the form of early entry into a retirement plan for a disabled member below the normal retirement age.
# Benefits.
Retirement plans may be classified as "defined benefit" or "defined contribution" according to how the benefits are determined. A defined benefit plan guarantees a certain payout at retirement, according to a fixed formula which usually depends on the member's salary and the number of years' membership in the plan. A defined contribution plan
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will provide a payout at retirement that is dependent upon the amount of money contributed and the performance of the investment vehicles utilized. Hence, with a defined contribution plan the risk and responsibility lies with the employee that the funding will be sufficient through retirement, whereas with the defined benefit plan the risk and responsibility lies with the employer or plan managers.
Some types of retirement plans, such as "cash balance" plans, combine features of both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. They are often referred to as "hybrid" plans. Such plan designs have become increasingly popular in the US since the 1990s. Examples include Cash Balance and Pension
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Equity plans.
## Defined benefit plans.
A traditional defined benefit (DB) plan is a plan in which the benefit on retirement is determined by a set formula, rather than depending on investment returns. Government pensions such as Social Security in the United States are a type of defined benefit pension plan. Traditionally, defined benefit plans for employers have been administered by institutions which exist specifically for that purpose, by large businesses, or, for government workers, by the government itself. A traditional form of defined benefit plan is the "final salary" plan, under which the pension paid is equal to the number of years worked, multiplied by the member's salary at retirement,
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multiplied by a factor known as the "accrual rate". The final accrued amount is available as a monthly pension or a lump sum, but usually monthly.
The benefit in a defined benefit pension plan is determined by a formula that can incorporate the employee's pay, years of employment, age at retirement, and other factors. A simple example is a Dollars Times Service plan design that provides a certain amount per month based on the time an employee works for a company. For example, a plan offering $100 a month per year of service would provide $3,000 per month to a retiree with 30 years of service. While this type of plan is popular among unionized workers, Final Average Pay (FAP) remains the most
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common type of defined benefit plan offered in the United States. In FAP plans, the average salary over the final years of an employee's career determines the benefit amount.
Averaging salary over a number of years means that the calculation is averaging different dollars. For example, if salary is averaged over five years, and retirement is in 2009, then salary in 2004 dollars is averaged with salary in 2005 dollars, etc., with 2004 dollars being worth more than the dollars of succeeding years. The pension is then paid in first year of retirement dollars, in this example 2009 dollars, with the lowest value of any dollars in the calculation. Thus inflation in the salary averaging years has
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a considerable impact on purchasing power and cost, both being reduced equally by inflation
This effect of inflation can be eliminated by converting salaries in the averaging years to first year of retirement dollars, and then averaging.
In the US, specifies a defined benefit plan to be any pension plan that is not a defined contribution plan (see below) where a defined contribution plan is any plan with individual accounts. A traditional pension plan that "defines" a "benefit" for an employee upon that employee's retirement is a defined benefit plan. In the U.S., corporate defined benefit plans, along with many other types of defined benefit plans, are governed by the Employee Retirement
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Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
In the United Kingdom, benefits are typically indexed for inflation (known as Retail Prices Index (RPI)) as required by law for registered pension plans. Inflation during an employee's retirement affects the purchasing power of the pension; the higher the inflation rate, the lower the purchasing power of a fixed annual pension. This effect can be mitigated by providing annual increases to the pension at the rate of inflation (usually capped, for instance at 5% in any given year). This method is advantageous for the employee since it stabilizes the purchasing power of pensions to some extent.
If the pension plan allows for early retirement, payments are
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often reduced to recognize that the retirees will receive the payouts for longer periods of time. In the United States, under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, any reduction factor less than or equal to the actuarial early retirement reduction factor is acceptable.
Many DB plans include early retirement provisions to encourage employees to retire early, before the attainment of normal retirement age (usually age 65). Companies would rather hire younger employees at lower wages. Some of those provisions come in the form of additional "temporary" or "supplemental benefits", which are payable to a certain age, usually before attaining normal retirement age.
### Funding.
Defined
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benefit plans may be either "funded" or "unfunded".
In an "unfunded" defined benefit pension, no assets are set aside and the benefits are paid for by the employer or other pension sponsor as and when they are paid. Pension arrangements provided by the state in most countries in the world are unfunded, with benefits paid directly from current workers' contributions and taxes. This method of financing is known as "pay-as-you-go". The social security systems of many European countries are unfunded, having benefits paid directly out of current taxes and social security contributions, although several countries have hybrid systems which are partially funded. Spain set up the Social Security Reserve
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Fund and France set up the Pensions Reserve Fund; in Canada the wage-based retirement plan (CPP) is partially funded, with assets managed by the CPP Investment Board while the U.S. Social Security system is partially funded by investment in special U.S. Treasury Bonds.
In a "funded" plan, contributions from the employer, and sometimes also from plan members, are invested in a fund towards meeting the benefits. All plans must be funded in some way, even if they are pay-as-you-go, so this type of plan is more accurately known as "pre-funded". The future returns on the investments, and the future benefits to be paid, are not known in advance, so there is no guarantee that a given level of contributions
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will be enough to meet the benefits. Typically, the contributions to be paid are regularly reviewed in a valuation of the plan's assets and liabilities, carried out by an actuary to ensure that the pension fund will meet future payment obligations. This means that in a defined benefit pension, investment risk and investment rewards are typically assumed by the sponsor/employer and not by the individual. If a plan is not well-funded, the plan sponsor may not have the financial resources to continue funding the plan.
### Criticisms.
Traditional defined benefit plan designs (because of their typically flat accrual rate and the decreasing time for interest discounting as people get closer to retirement
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age) tend to exhibit a J-shaped accrual pattern of benefits, where the present value of benefits grows quite slowly early in an employee's career and accelerates significantly in mid-career: in other words it costs more to fund the pension for older employees than for younger ones (an "age bias"). Defined benefit pensions tend to be less portable than defined contribution plans, even if the plan allows a lump sum cash benefit at termination. Most plans, however, pay their benefits as an annuity, so retirees do not bear the risk of low investment returns on contributions or of outliving their retirement income. The open-ended nature of these risks to the employer is the reason given by many employers
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for switching from defined benefit to defined contribution plans over recent years. The risks to the employer can sometimes be mitigated by discretionary elements in the benefit structure, for instance in the rate of increase granted on accrued pensions, both before and after retirement.
The age bias, reduced portability and open ended risk make defined benefit plans better suited to large employers with less mobile workforces, such as the public sector (which has open-ended support from taxpayers). This coupled with a lack of foresight on the employers part means a large proportion of the workforce are kept in the dark over future investment schemes.
Defined benefit plans are sometimes criticized
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as being paternalistic as they enable employers or plan trustees to make decisions about the type of benefits and family structures and lifestyles of their employees. However they are typically more valuable than defined contribution plans in most circumstances and for most employees (mainly because the employer tends to pay higher contributions than under defined contribution plans), so such criticism is rarely harsh.
The "cost" of a defined benefit plan is not easily calculated, and requires an actuary or actuarial software. However, even with the best of tools, the cost of a defined benefit plan will always be an estimate based on economic and financial assumptions. These assumptions include
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