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Bastnäsite

The mineral bastnäsite (or bastnaesite) is one of a family of three carbonate-fluoride minerals, which includes bastnäsite-(Ce) with a formula of (Ce, La)CO3F, bastnäsite-(La) with a formula of (La, Ce)CO3F, and bastnäsite-(Y) with a formula of (Y, Ce)CO3F. Some of the bastnäsites contain OH− instead of F− and receive the name of hydroxylbastnasite. Most bastnäsite is bastnäsite-(Ce), and cerium is by far the most common of the rare earths in this class of minerals. Bastnäsite and the phosphate mineral monazite are the two largest sources of cerium and other rare-earth elements.

Bastnäsite was first described by the Swedish chemist Wilhelm Hisinger in 1838. It is named for the Bastnäs mine near Riddarhyttan, Västmanland, Sweden. Bastnäsite also occurs as very high-quality specimens at the Zagi Mountains, Pakistan. Bastnäsite occurs in alkali granite and syenite and in associated pegmatites. It also occurs in carbonatites and in associated fenites and other metasomatites.

Composition
Bastnäsite has cerium, lanthanum and yttrium in its generalized formula but officially the mineral is divided into three minerals based on the predominant rare-earth element. There is bastnäsite-(Ce) with a more accurate formula of (Ce, La)CO3F. There is also bastnäsite-(La) with a formula of (La, Ce)CO3F. And finally there is bastnäsite-(Y) with a formula of (Y, Ce)CO3F. There is little difference in the three in terms of physical properties and most bastnäsite is bastnäsite-(Ce). Cerium in most natural bastnäsites usually dominates the others. Bastnäsite and the phosphate mineral monazite are the two largest sources of cerium, an important industrial metal.

Bastnäsite is closely related to the mineral series parisite. The two are both rare-earth fluorocarbonates, but parisite's formula of Ca(Ce, La, Nd)2(CO3)3F2 contains calcium (and a small amount of neodymium) and a different ratio of constituent ions. Parisite could be viewed as a formula unit of calcite (CaCO3) added to two formula units of bastnäsite. In fact, the two have been shown to alter back and forth with the addition or loss of CaCO3 in natural environments.

Bastnäsite forms a series with the minerals hydroxylbastnäsite-(Ce) [(Ce,La)CO3(OH,F)] and hydroxylbastnäsite-(Nd). The three are members of a substitution series that involves the possible substitution of fluoride (F−) ions with hydroxyl (OH−) ions.

Name
Bastnäsite gets its name from its type locality, the Bastnäs Mine, Riddarhyttan, Västmanland, Sweden. Ore from the Bastnäs Mine led to the discovery of several new minerals and chemical elements by Swedish scientists such as Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Wilhelm Hisinger and Carl Gustav Mosander. Among these are the chemical elements cerium, which was described by Hisinger in 1803, and lanthanum in 1839. Hisinger, who was also the owner of the Bastnäs mine, chose to name one of the new minerals bastnäsit when it was first described by him in 1838.

Occurrence
Although a scarce mineral and never in great concentrations, it is one of the more common rare-earth carbonates. Bastnäsite has been found in karst bauxite deposits in Hungary, Greece and the Balkans region. Also found in carbonatites, a rare carbonate igneous intrusive rock, at the Fen Complex, Norway; Bayan Obo, Mongolia; Kangankunde, Malawi; Kizilcaoren, Turkey and the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California, US. At Mountain Pass, bastnäsite is the leading ore mineral. Some bastnäsite has been found in the unusual granites of the Langesundsfjord area, Norway; Kola Peninsula, Russia; Mont Saint-Hilaire mines, Ontario, and Thor Lake deposits, Northwest Territories, Canada. Hydrothermal sources have also been reported.

The formation of hydroxylbastnasite (NdCO3OH) can also occur via the crystallization of a rare-earth bearing amorphous precursor. With increasing temperature, the habit of NdCO3OH crystals changes progressively to more complex spherulitic or dendritic morphologies. The development of these crystal morphologies has been suggested to be controlled by the level at which supersaturation is reached in the aqueous solution during the breakdown of the amorphous precursor. At higher temperature (e.g., 220 °C) and after rapid heating (e.g. < 1 h) the amorphous precursor breaks down rapidly and the fast supersaturation promotes spherulitic growth. At a lower temperature (e.g., 165 °C) and slow heating (100 min) the supersaturation levels are approached more slowly than required for spherulitic growth, and thus more regular triangular pyramidal shapes form.

Mining history
In 1949, the huge carbonatite-hosted bastnäsite deposit was discovered at Mountain Pass, San Bernardino County, California. This discovery alerted geologists to the existence of a whole new class of rare earth deposit: the rare earth containing carbonatite. Other examples were soon recognized, particularly in Africa and China. The exploitation of this deposit began in the mid-1960s after it had been purchased by Molycorp (Molybdenum Corporation of America). The lanthanide composition of the ore included 0.1% europium oxide, which was needed by the color television industry, to provide the red phosphor, to maximize picture brightness. The composition of the lanthanides was about 49% cerium, 33% lanthanum, 12% neodymium, and 5% praseodymium, with some samarium and gadolinium, or distinctly more lanthanum and less neodymium and heavies as compared to commercial monazite. The europium content was at least double that of a typical monazite. Mountain Pass bastnäsite was the world's major source of lanthanides from the 1960s to the 1980s. Thereafter, China became an increasingly important rare earth supply. Chinese deposits of bastnäsite include several in Sichuan Province, and the massive deposit at Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia, which had been discovered early in the 20th century, but not exploited until much later. Bayan Obo is currently (2008) providing the majority of the world's lanthanides. Bayan Obo bastnäsite occurs in association with monazite (plus enough magnetite to sustain one of the largest steel mills in China), and unlike carbonatite bastnäsites, is relatively closer to monazite lanthanide compositions, with the exception of its generous 0.2% content of europium.

Ore technology
At Mountain Pass, bastnäsite ore was finely ground, and subjected to flotation to separate the bulk of the bastnäsite from the accompanying barite, calcite, and dolomite. Marketable products include each of the major intermediates of the ore dressing process: flotation concentrate, acid-washed flotation concentrate, calcined acid washed bastnäsite, and finally a cerium concentrate, which was the insoluble residue left after the calcined bastnäsite had been leached with hydrochloric acid. The lanthanides that dissolved as a result of the acid treatment were subjected to solvent extraction, to capture the europium, and purify the other individual components of the ore. A further product included a lanthanide mix, depleted of much of the cerium, and essentially all of samarium and heavier lanthanides. The calcination of bastnäsite had driven off the carbon dioxide content, leaving an oxide-fluoride, in which the cerium content had become oxidized to the less basic quadrivalent state. However, the high temperature of the calcination gave less-reactive oxide, and the use of hydrochloric acid, which can cause reduction of quadrivalent cerium, led to an incomplete separation of cerium and the trivalent lanthanides. By contrast, in China, processing of bastnäsite, after concentration, starts with heating with sulfuric acid.

Extraction of rare-earth metals

Bastnäsite ore is typically used to produce rare-earth metals. The following steps and process flow diagram detail the rare-earth-metal extraction process from the ore.
 * 1) After extraction, bastnasite ore is typically used in this process, with an average of 7% REO (rare-earth oxides).
 * 2) The ore goes through comminution using rod mills, ball mills, or autogenous mills.
 * 3) Steam is consistently used to condition the ground ore, along with soda ash fluosilicate, and usually Tail Oil C-30. This is done to coat the various types of rare earth metals with either flocculent, collectors, or modifiers for easier separation in the next step.
 * 4) Flotation using the previous chemicals to separate the gangue from the rare-earth metals.
 * 5) Concentrate the rare-earth metals and filter out large particles.
 * 6) Remove excess water by heating to ~100 °C.
 * 7) Add HCl to solution to reduce pH to < 5. This enables certain REM (rare-earth metals) to become soluble (Ce is an example).
 * 8) Oxidizing roast further concentrates the solution to approximately 85% REO. This is done at ~100 °C and higher if necessary.
 * 9) Enables solution to concentrate further and filters out large particles again.
 * 10) Reduction agents (based on area) are used to remove Ce as Ce carbonate or CeO2, typically.
 * 11) Solvents are added (solvent type and concentration based on area, availability, and cost) to help separate Eu, Sm, and Gd from La, Nd, and Pr.
 * 12) Reduction agents (based on area) are used to oxidize Eu, Sm, and Gd.
 * 13) Eu is precipitated and calcified.
 * 14) Gd is precipitated as an oxide.
 * 15) Sm is precipitated as an oxide.
 * 16) Solvent is recycled into step 11. Additional solvent is added based on concentration and purity.
 * 17) La separated from Nd, Pr, and SX.
 * 18) Nd and Pr separated. SX goes on for recovery and recycle.
 * 19) One way to collect La is adding HNO3, creating La(NO3)3. HNO3 typically added at a very high molarity (1–5 M), depending on La concentration and amount.
 * 20) Another method is to add HCl to La, creating LaCl3. HCl is added at 1 M to 5 M depending on La concentration.
 * 21) Solvent from La, Nd, and Pr separation is recycled to step 11.
 * 22) Nd is precipitated as an oxide product.
 * 23) Pr is precipitated as an oxide product.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Bastnäsite


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Maximilian von Spee

Maximilian Johannes Maria Hubert Reichsgraf von Spee (22 June 1861 – 8 December 1914) was a naval officer of the German Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy), who commanded the East Asia Squadron during World War I. Spee entered the navy in 1878 and served in a variety of roles and locations, including on a colonial gunboat in German West Africa in the 1880s, the East Africa Squadron in the late 1890s, and as commander of several warships in the main German fleet in the early 1900s. During his time in Germany in the late 1880s and early 1890s, he married his wife, Margareta, and had three children, his sons Heinrich and Otto and his daughter Huberta. By 1912, he had returned to the East Asia Squadron as its commander, and was promoted to the rank of Vizeadmiral (Vice Admiral) the following year.

After the outbreak of World War I in July 1914, Spee led his squadron across the Pacific to the coast of South America. Here on 1 November, he defeated the British 4th Cruiser Squadron under Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock in the Battle of Coronel, sinking two of Cradock's cruisers and forcing his other two ships to retreat. A month later, Spee decided to attack the British naval base in the Falkland Islands, but a superior British force surprised him. In the ensuing Battle of the Falkland Islands, Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee's squadron, which included two powerful battlecruisers, destroyed the East Asia Squadron. Spee and his two sons, who happened to be serving on two of his ships, were all killed, along with about 2,200 other men. Spee was hailed as a hero in Germany, and several ships were named in his honor, including the heavy cruiser GERMAN CRUISER Admiral Graf Spee, which was built in the 1930s and was scuttled after the Battle of the River Plate during World War II.

Early career
Spee was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 22 June 1861, though he was raised in the Rhineland in Germany, where his family had an estate. He joined the Kaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) in 1878 and initially served in the main German naval base at Kiel. He was commissioned an officer at the rank of Leutnant zur See (Lieutenant at Sea), and was assigned to the gunboat SMS Möwe (1879), which was sent to western Africa. During this voyage, the Germans signed treaties with local rulers in Togo and Cameroon, creating the colonies of Togoland and Kamerun, respectively. In 1887, Spee was transferred to Kamerun where he commanded the port at Duala. He contracted rheumatic fever while there, and had to be sent back to Germany to recover, though he occasionally suffered from rheumatism for the rest of his life.

After returning to Germany in 1889, he married his wife, Margareta Baroness von der Osten-Sacken. With her he had two sons—Otto, born on 10 July 1890, Heinrich, born on 24 April 1893—and one daughter, Huberta, born on 11 July 1894. In December 1897, Spee was stationed in Germany's East Asia Squadron after it seized the Jiaozhou Bay Leased Territory, with its port at Qingdao. Here, he served on the staff of Vizeadmiral Otto von Diederichs. During the Boxer Uprising in China in 1900, Spee saw action at Qingdao and on the Yangtze.

After arriving back in Germany, he was promoted to the rank of Korvettenkapitän (Corvette Captain) and assigned as the first officer aboard the pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Brandenburg. Between 1900 and 1908, Spee held command of several ships, including the aviso SMS Hela, the minelayer SMS Pelikan, and finally the pre-dreadnought SMS Wittelsbach. During this period, he was promoted to Fregattenkapitän (Frigate Captain) on 27 January 1904 and to Kapitän zur See (Captain at Sea) exactly a year later; his command of Wittelsbach followed the latter promotion. In 1908, he was assigned as the chief of staff to the commander of the North Sea Station, and in 1910 he was promoted to the rank of Konteradmiral (KAdm–Counter Admiral). Spee was then assigned as the deputy commander for the reconnaissance forces of the High Seas Fleet.

East Asia Squadron
In late 1912, Spee was given command of the East Asia Squadron, replacing KAdm Günther von Krosigk on 4 December. Spee raised his flag on the armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst, and departed on a tour of the southwest Pacific along with Scharnhorst's sister ship SMS Gneisenau, during which Spee made visits to several ports, including Singapore and Batavia. Spee was promoted to Vizeadmiral the following year. Over the following year and a half, Spee met with the leaders of several East Asian countries. From 1 April to 7 May 1913, Scharnhorst took Spee to Japan to meet the Taishō Emperor. Later in the year, Spee met with Chulalongkorn, the King of Siam. In May 1914, Spee took Scharnhorst and the torpedo boat SMS S90 on a visit to Port Arthur and then to Tianjin; Spee continued on to Beijing, where he met with Yuan Shikai, the first President of the Republic of China. He came back aboard Scharnhorst on 11 May and the ship returned to Qingdao.

Spee thereafter began preparations for a cruise to German New Guinea; Scharnhorst departed on 20 June. The two armored cruisers proceeded to Nagasaki, Japan, where they coaled in preparation for their tour. While en route to Truk in the Caroline Islands, they received news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. On 17 July, the East Asia Squadron arrived in Ponape in the Carolines, where the ships remained while tensions steadily rose in Europe. In Ponape, Spee had access to the German radio network, and he learned of the Austro-Hungarian declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July, followed shortly thereafter by the Russian mobilization—tantamount to a declaration of war—against Austria-Hungary and possibly Germany. On 31 July, word came that the German ultimatum that Russia demobilize its armies was set to expire; Spee ordered his ships' crews to prepare for war. On 2 August, Wilhelm II ordered German mobilization against Russia and its ally, France. Following Germany's violation of neutral Belgium during its invasion of France, Britain declared war on Germany.

World War I

The East Asia Squadron consisted of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the light cruisers SMS Emden, SMS Nürnberg (1906), and SMS Leipzig (1905). At the time, Nürnberg was returning from the west coast of the United States, where Leipzig had just replaced her, and Emden was still in Qingdao. Spee recalled his ships to consolidate his forces; Nürnberg arrived on 6 August and the three cruisers plus their colliers moved to Pagan Island in the Marianas, at that time a German colony. Emden and the liner SS Prinz Eitel Friedrich (1904), which had been converted into an auxiliary cruiser, joined the squadron there on 12 August. The four cruisers, accompanied by Prinz Eitel Friedrich and several colliers, then departed the central Pacific, bound for Chile. On 13 August, Commodore Karl von Müller, captain of the Emden, persuaded Spee to detach his ship as a commerce raider. On 14 August, the East Asia Squadron departed Pagan for Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. While en route across the Pacific, Spee relaxed formalities aboard his ships, integrating the messes for officers and non-commissioned and engineering officers.

To keep the German high command informed, on 8 September Spee detached Nürnberg to Honolulu to send word through neutral countries. Nürnberg returned with news of the Allied capture of German Samoa, which had taken place on 29 August. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sailed to Apia to investigate the situation. Spee had hoped to catch a British or Australian warship by surprise, but upon his arrival on 14 September, he found no warships in the harbor. Spee decided against attacking the Allied troops ashore, since doing so would risk killing Samoans and damaging German property. On 22 September, Scharnhorst and the rest of the East Asia Squadron arrived at the French colony of Papeete. The Germans attacked the colony, and in the ensuing Battle of Papeete, they sank the French gunboat Zélée. The ships came under fire from French shore batteries but were undamaged. Fear of mines in the harbor prevented Spee from seizing the coal in the harbor. Spee then continued across the Pacific, passing through the Marquesas Islands, where his ships acquired supplies including fresh meat by barter, purchase, or confiscation. On 12 October, the squadron reached Easter Island, where it was reinforced by Leipzig, SMS Dresden (1907), and four more colliers. Spee's ships were off the coast of Chile by 1 November, when he learned that the British cruiser HMS Glasgow (1909) was moored in Coronel, ostensibly alone; he decided to try to sink the ship.

Battle of Coronel
Glasgow was assigned to the 4th Cruiser Squadron, under Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock; as it turned out, Glasgow was joined by the armored cruisers HMS Good Hope (1901) and HMS Monmouth (1901) and the auxiliary cruiser HMS Otranto. After discovering the entire squadron off Coronel, Spee decided to engage the British ships, but he delayed the action using his ships' superior speed until later in the day, when the setting sun would silhouette Cradock's ships. The German ships would meanwhile be obscured against the Chilean coast, making the task of the British gunners more difficult. At 18:07, Spee issued the order to open fire, with his two armored cruisers battling Cradock's armored cruisers and his light cruisers engaging Glasgow and Otranto. Cradock quickly detached Otranto, as she had no place in the line of battle. By 18:50, Gneisenau had disabled Monmouth and so shifted fire to Good Hope; the combined firepower of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau neutralized Good Hope by 19:23. Spee then withdrew his two armored cruisers and sent in his light cruisers to finish off Monmouth and Good Hope. The British had lost both ships and suffered more than 1,600 dead, including Cradock, though the German ships had expended around 40 percent of their ammunition supply. Spee had inflicted the first defeat on a Royal Navy squadron since the Napoleonic Wars a century earlier.

After the battle, Spee took his ships north to Valparaiso. Since Chile was neutral, only three ships could enter the port at a time; Spee took Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Nürnberg in first on the morning of 3 November, leaving Dresden and Leipzig with the colliers at Mas a Fuera. There, Spee's ships could take on coal while he conferred with the Admiralty Staff in Germany to determine the strength of remaining British forces in the region. In addition, Spee sought to counter British press reports that attempted to minimize their losses and exaggerate German casualties. A reception followed at the German Club of Valparaiso, though Spee insisted that the event be restrained in tone. He received a bouquet of flowers to celebrate the victory at Coronel; Spee replied that they would do nicely for his grave. He stated that,

"You must not forget that I am quite homeless. I cannot reach Germany. We possess no other secure harbor. I must fight my way through the seas of the world doing as much mischief as I can, until my ammunition is exhausted, or a foe far superior in power succeeds in catching me. But it will cost the wretches dearly before they take me down."

While in port, Spee received the order from the Admiralty Staff to attempt to break through to Germany. The ships remained in the port for only 24 hours, in accordance with the neutrality restrictions, and arrived at Mas a Fuera on 6 November, where they took on more coal from captured British and French steamers. Dresden and Leipzig took their turn in Valparaiso, after which the re-formed squadron continued south and rounded Cape Horn into the South Atlantic. In the meantime, the Royal Navy sent a pair of battlecruisers—HMS Invincible (1907) and HMS Inflexible (1907)—commanded by Vice Admiral Doveton Sturdee to hunt down Spee's squadron and avenge Cradock's defeat.

Battle of the Falkland Islands
On the morning of 6 December, Spee held a conference with the ship commanders aboard Scharnhorst to determine their next course of action. The Germans had received numerous fragmentary and contradictory reports of British reinforcements in the region; Spee and two other captains favored an attack on the Falkland Islands to destroy the British wireless station there, while three other commanders argued that it would be better to bypass the islands and attack British shipping off Argentina. Spee's opinion carried the day and the squadron departed for the Falkland Islands at 12:00 on 6 December. The ships arrived off the Falkland Islands two days later; Gneisenau and Nürnberg were delegated for the attack. As they approached, observers aboard Gneisenau spotted smoke rising from Port Stanley, but assumed it was the British burning their coal stocks to prevent the Germans from seizing them. As they closed on the harbor, 30.5 cm shells from the elderly battleship HMS Canopus (1898), which had been beached as a guard ship, began to fall around the German ships, which prompted Spee to break off the attack. As Spee withdrew, Sturdee quickly got steam up in his ships and sortied to chase the Germans.

By 13:20, the battlecruisers had caught up with Spee, who realized his armored cruisers could not escape the much faster battlecruisers. He ordered the three light cruisers to attempt to break away while he tried to hold off the British squadron with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Sturdee instead ordered his cruisers to chase down the fleeing German light cruisers while Invincible and Inflexible dealt with Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Spee deftly maneuvered his ships, taking the leeward position; the wind kept his ships swept of smoke, which improved visibility for his gunners. This forced Sturdee into the windward position and its corresponding worse visibility. Scharnhorst straddled Invincible with her third salvo and quickly scored two hits on the British battlecruiser. The German flagship was herself not hit during this phase of the battle. Sturdee attempted to widen the distance by turning two points to the north to prevent Spee from closing to within the range of his numerous secondary guns. Spee counteracted this maneuver by turning rapidly to the south, which forced Sturdee to turn south as well to keep within range. This allowed Scharnhorst and Gneisenau to turn back north and get close enough to engage with their secondary 15 cm guns. Their shooting was so accurate that it forced the British to haul away a second time.

The British gunfire became increasingly accurate, and by 16:00, Scharnhorst had begun to list badly, while fires raged aboard the ship. Spee ordered Gneisenau to try to disengage while he turned Scharnhorst toward his attackers in an attempt to launch torpedoes at them. At 16:17, Scharnhorst capsized and sank, taking her entire crew with her, including Spee. The British, still focused on Gneisenau, made no effort to rescue survivors. Gneisenau, Leipzig, and Nürnberg were also sunk. Only Dresden managed to escape, but she was eventually tracked to the Juan Fernández Islands and sunk. The complete destruction of the squadron killed about 2,200 German sailors and officers, including both of Spee's sons; Heinrich died aboard Gneisenau, and Otto was killed aboard Nürnberg.

Legacy
Spee was hailed as a hero in Germany and the men of the East Asia Squadron were celebrated in the press, which emphasized their bravery and refusal to surrender. In September 1917, the second Mackensen-class battlecruiser was named Graf Spee, and was christened by Spee's widow Margarete. Construction of the ship had not been completed by the time of the Armistice of 11 November 1918, and she was broken up for scrap by 1921. In 1934 Germany named the new heavy cruiser GERMAN BATTLESHIP Admiral Graf Spee after him; as with the earlier vessel, a member of Spee's family christened the ship, this time his daughter. In December 1939, Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled by her crew after the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Uruguay. Between 1959 and 1964 the Federal German Bundesmarine operated the training frigate Graf Spee.

The wreck of Spee's flagship Scharnhorst was found off the Falklands on 5 December 2019, almost 105 years to the day after her sinking. Wilhelm Graf von Spee, head of the Graf von Spee family, called the location of the wreck "bittersweet", remarking that the family took comfort "from the knowledge that the final resting place of so many has been found, and can now be preserved, whilst also being reminded of the huge waste of life. As a family, we lost a father and his two sons on one day. Like the thousands of other families who suffered an unimaginable loss during the First World War, we remember them and must ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain."

title: Maximilian von Spee


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Self-governance

Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of institution, such as family units, social groups, affinity groups, legal bodies, industry bodies, religions, and political entities of various degrees. Self-governance is closely related to various philosophical and socio-political concepts such as autonomy, independence, self-control, self-discipline, and sovereignty.

In the context of nation states, self-governance is called national sovereignty which is an important concept in international law. In the context of administrative division, a self-governing territory is called an autonomous region. Self-governance is also associated with political contexts in which a population or demographic becomes independent from colonial rule, absolute government, absolute monarchy, or any government that they perceive does not adequately represent them. It is therefore a fundamental tenet of many democracies, republics and nationalist governments. Mohandas Gandhi's term "swaraj" is a branch of this self-rule ideology. Henry David Thoreau was a major proponent of self-rule in lieu of immoral governments.

Background
This principle has been explored in philosophy for centuries, with figures in ancient Greek philosophy such as Plato positing that is necessary for true freedom. Plato believed that individuals or groups cannot achieve freedom unless they govern their own pleasures and desires, and instead will be in a state of enslavement. He states that self-mastery is the ability to be one's own master, it means being able to control one's own impulses and desires, rather than being controlled by them. Accordingly, this principle is not only a fundamental moral freedom but also as a necessary condition of political freedom and by extension the freedom and autonomy of any political structure.

John Locke further developed this idea, arguing that genuine freedom requires cognitive self-discipline and self-government. He believed that man's capacity for self-governance is the source of all freedom. He believed that freedom is not a possession but an action, that is, it is not something that you have but something you do. Locke proposes that rationality is the key to true agency and autonomy, and that political governance is enabled by the governing of one's own judgement. His political philosophy was a prominent influence on Immanuel Kant, and was later taken up in part by the Founding Fathers of the United States.

The nature of self-governance, that freedom relies upon self-regulation, has further been explored by contemporary academics Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, William E. Connolly, and others.

Self-governance is not just a philosophical concept but also a practical one. It can be seen in various forms such as self-regulation, self-control, self-management and self-leadership. It is an important concept in the fields of management, leadership, and governance, and is seen as a key to achieving personal and organizational goals. Self-governance can also be seen in the context of community and society, where it refers to the ability of individuals to take responsibility for their own actions and the actions of their community.

Additionally, self-governance is also closely related to the concept of self-determination. Self-determination refers to the idea that individuals and groups have the right to govern themselves, to make decisions about their own lives and to determine their own future and political status without outside interference. This concept is closely linked to the idea of self-governance because it emphasizes the importance of individuals and groups being able to take control of their own lives and to make decisions about their own future. It is also closely linked to the idea of autonomy, which refers to the ability of individuals and groups to make decisions for themselves, without external influence or control.

Means of self-governance
The means of self-governance usually comprises some or all of the following:
 * A code of conduct that outlines acceptable behavior within the unit or group. This may include a legal or ethical code (e.g. the Hippocratic Oath of doctors, or established codes of professional ethics).
 * A means of ensuring external authority does not become involved unless and until certain criteria are satisfied.
 * A means of facilitating the intended functions of the unit or group.
 * A means of registering and resolving grievances (e.g. medical malpractice, union procedures, and for achieving closure regarding them).
 * A means of disciplinary procedure within the unit or group, ranging from fines and censure up to and including penalty of death.
 * A means of suppressing parties, factions, tendencies, or other sub-groups that seek to secede from the unit or group.

title: Self-governance


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Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the drainage divide, made up of a succession of elevated features, such as ridges and hills. A basin may consist of smaller basins that merge at river confluences, forming a hierarchical pattern.

Other terms for a drainage basin are catchment area, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin, water basin, and impluvium. In North America, they are commonly called a watershed, though in other English-speaking places, "watershed" is used only in its original sense, that of a drainage divide.

A drainage basin's boundaries are determined by watershed delineation, a common task in environmental engineering and science.

In a closed drainage basin, or endorheic basin, rather than flowing to the ocean, water converges toward the interior of the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake, a dry lake, or a point where surface water is lost underground.

Drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic unit code, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks. In a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins.

Ocean basins
About 48.71% of the world's land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. In North America, surface water drains to the Atlantic via the Saint Lawrence River and Great Lakes basins, the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, the Canadian Maritimes, and most of Newfoundland and Labrador. Nearly all of South America east of the Andes also drains to the Atlantic, as does most of Western and Central Europe and the greatest portion of western Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Western Sahara and part of Morocco.

The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic. The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U.S. interior between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains, a small part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, eastern Central America, the islands of the Caribbean and the Gulf, and a small part of northern South America. The Mediterranean Sea basin, with the Black Sea, includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa (through the Nile River), Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the coastal areas of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.

The Arctic Ocean drains most of Western Canada and Northern Canada east of the Continental Divide, northern Alaska and parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana in the United States, the north shore of the Scandinavian peninsula in Europe, central and northern Russia, and parts of Kazakhstan and Mongolia in Asia, which totals to about 17% of the world's land.

Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean. Its basin includes much of China, eastern and southeastern Russia, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, most of Indochina, Indonesia and Malaysia, the Philippines, all of the Pacific Islands, the northeast coast of Australia, and Canada and the United States west of the Continental Divide (including most of Alaska), as well as western Central America and South America west of the Andes.

The Indian Ocean's drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earth's land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, and most parts of Australia.

Largest river basins
The five largest river basins (by area), from largest to smallest, are those of the Amazon (7M km$2$), the Congo (4M km$2$), the Nile (3.4M km$2$), the Mississippi (3.22M km$2$), and the Río de la Plata (3.17M km$2$). The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganges, and Congo rivers.

Endorheic drainage basins

Endorheic basin are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Endorheic basins cover around 18% of the Earth's land. Some endorheic basins drain to an Endorheic lake or Inland sea. Many of these lakes are ephemeral or vary dramatically in size depending on climate and inflow. If water evaporates or infiltrates into the ground at its terminus, the area can go by several names, such playa, salt flat, dry lake, or alkali sink.

The largest endorheic basins are in Central Asia, including the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Other endorheic regions include the Great Basin in the United States, much of the Sahara Desert, the drainage basin of the Okavango River (Kalahari Basin), highlands near the African Great Lakes, the interiors of Australia and the Arabian Peninsula, and parts in Mexico and the Andes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, adjacent closed basins.

In endorheic bodies of water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea.

Geopolitical boundaries
Drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important. For example, the English crown gave the Hudson's Bay Company a monopoly on the fur trade in the entire Hudson Bay basin, an area called Rupert's Land. Bioregional political organization today includes agreements of states (e.g., international treaties and, within the US, interstate compacts) or other political entities in a particular drainage basin to manage the body or bodies of water into which it drains. Examples of such interstate compacts are the Great Lakes Commission and the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

Hydrology
In hydrology, the drainage basin is a logical unit of focus for studying the movement of water within the hydrological cycle. The process of finding a drainage boundary is referred to as watershed delineation. Finding the area and extent of a drainage basin is an important step in many areas of science and engineering.

The majority of water that discharges from the basin outlet originated as precipitation falling on the basin. A portion of the water that enters the groundwater system beneath the drainage basin may flow towards the outlet of another drainage basin because groundwater flow directions do not always match those of their overlying drainage network. Measurement of the discharge of water from a basin may be made by a stream gauge located at the basin's outlet. Depending on the conditions of the drainage basin, as rainfall occurs some of it seeps directly into the ground. This water will either remain underground, slowly making its way downhill and eventually reaching the basin, or it will permeate deeper into the soil and consolidate into groundwater aquifers.

As water flows through the basin, it can form tributaries that change the structure of the land. There are three different main types, which are affected by the rocks and ground underneath. Rock that is quick to erode forms dendritic patterns, and these are seen most often. The two other types of patterns that form are trellis patterns and rectangular patterns.

Rain gauge data is used to measure total precipitation over a drainage basin, and there are different ways to interpret that data. If the gauges are many and evenly distributed over an area of uniform precipitation, using the arithmetic mean method will give good results. In the Thiessen polygon method, the drainage basin is divided into polygons with the rain gauge in the middle of each polygon assumed to be representative for the rainfall on the area of land included in its polygon. These polygons are made by drawing lines between gauges, then making perpendicular bisectors of those lines form the polygons. The isohyetal method involves contours of equal precipitation are drawn over the gauges on a map. Calculating the area between these curves and adding up the volume of water is time-consuming.

Isochrone maps can be used to show the time taken for runoff water within a drainage basin to reach a lake, reservoir or outlet, assuming constant and uniform effective rainfall.

Geomorphology
Drainage basins are the principal hydrologic unit considered in fluvial geomorphology. A drainage basin is the source for water and sediment that moves from higher elevation through the river system to lower elevations as they reshape the channel forms.

Ecology

Drainage basins are important in ecology. As water flows over the ground and along rivers it can pick up nutrients, sediment, and pollutants. With the water, they are transported towards the outlet of the basin, and can affect the ecological processes along the way as well as in the receiving water body.

Modern use of artificial fertilizers, containing nitrogen (as nitrates), phosphorus, and potassium, has affected the mouths of drainage basins. The minerals are carried by the drainage basin to the mouth, and may accumulate there, disturbing the natural mineral balance. This can cause eutrophication where plant growth is accelerated by the additional material.

Resource management
Because drainage basins are coherent entities in a hydrological sense, it has become common to manage water resources on the basis of individual basins. In the U.S. state of Minnesota, governmental entities that perform this function are called "watershed districts". In New Zealand, they are called catchment boards. Comparable community groups based in Ontario, Canada, are called conservation authorities. In North America, this function is referred to as "watershed management". In Brazil, the National Policy of Water Resources, regulated by Act n° 9.433 of 1997, establishes the drainage basin as the territorial division of Brazilian water management.

When a river basin crosses at least one political border, either a border within a nation or an international boundary, it is identified as a transboundary river. Management of such basins becomes the responsibility of the countries sharing it. Nile Basin Initiative, OMVS for Senegal River, Mekong River Commission are a few examples of arrangements involving management of shared river basins.

Management of shared drainage basins is also seen as a way to build lasting peaceful relationships among countries.

Catchment factors
The catchment is the most significant factor determining the amount or likelihood of flooding.

Catchment factors are: topography, shape, size, soil type, and land use (paved or roofed areas). Catchment topography and shape determine the time taken for rain to reach the river, while catchment size, soil type, and development determine the amount of water to reach the river.

Topography
Generally, topography plays a big part in how fast runoff will reach a river. Rain that falls in steep mountainous areas will reach the primary river in the drainage basin faster than flat or lightly sloping areas (e.g., > 1% gradient).

Shape
Shape will contribute to the speed with which the runoff reaches a river. A long thin catchment will take longer to drain than a circular catchment.

Size
Size will help determine the amount of water reaching the river, as the larger the catchment the greater the potential for flooding. It is also determined on the basis of length and width of the drainage basin.

Soil type
Soil type will help determine how much water reaches the river. The runoff from the drainage area is dependent on the soil type. Certain soil types such as sandy soils are very free-draining, and rainfall on sandy soil is likely to be absorbed by the ground. However, soils containing clay can be almost impermeable and therefore rainfall on clay soils will run off and contribute to flood volumes. After prolonged rainfall even free-draining soils can become saturated, meaning that any further rainfall will reach the river rather than being absorbed by the ground. If the surface is impermeable the precipitation will create surface run-off which will lead to higher risk of flooding; if the ground is permeable, the precipitation will infiltrate the soil.

Land use
Land use can contribute to the volume of water reaching the river, in a similar way to clay soils. For example, rainfall on roofs, pavements, and roads will be collected by rivers with almost no absorption into the groundwater. A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean.

title: Drainage basin


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Chytridiomycota

Chytridiomycota are a division of zoosporic organisms in the kingdom Fungi, informally known as chytrids. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek χυτρίδιον (), meaning "little pot", describing the structure containing unreleased zoospores. Chytrids are one of the earliest diverging fungal lineages, and their membership in kingdom Fungi is demonstrated with chitin cell walls, a posterior whiplash flagellum, absorptive nutrition, use of glycogen as an energy storage compound, and synthesis of lysine by the $α$-amino adipic acid (AAA) pathway.

Chytrids are saprobic, degrading refractory materials such as chitin and keratin, and sometimes act as parasites. There has been a significant increase in the research of chytrids since the discovery of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, the causal agent of chytridiomycosis.

Classification
Species of Chytridiomycota have traditionally been delineated and classified based on development, morphology, substrate, and method of zoospore discharge. However, single spore isolates (or isogenic lines) display a great amount of variation in many of these features; thus, these features cannot be used to reliably classify or identify a species. Currently, taxonomy in Chytridiomycota is based on molecular data, zoospore ultrastructure and some aspects of thallus morphology and development.

In an older and more restricted sense (not used here), the term "chytrids" referred just to those fungi in the class Chytridiomycetes. Here, the term "chytrid" refers to all members of Chytridiomycota. The chytrids have also been included among the Protoctista, but are now regularly classed as fungi.

In older classifications, chytrids, except the recently established order Spizellomycetales, were placed in the class Phycomycetes under the subphylum Myxomycophyta of the kingdom Fungi. Previously, they were placed in the Mastigomycotina as the class Chytridiomycetes. The other classes of the Mastigomycotina, the Hyphochytriomycetes and oomycetes, were removed from the fungi to be classified as heterokont pseudofungi.

The class Chytridiomycetes has over 750 chytrid species distributed among ten orders. Additional classes include the Monoblepharidomycetes, with two orders, and the Hyaloraphidiomycetes with a single order.

Molecular phylogenetics, and other techniques such as ultrastructure analysis, has greatly increased the understanding of chytrid phylogeny, and led to the formation of several new zoosporic fungal phyla:

 * The order Blastocladiales, originally within the Chytridiomycota, are now classified as a separate phylum, the Blastocladiomycota.
 * The Neocallimastigales, originally an order of anaerobic fungi of the class Chytridiomycetes, found in the digestive tracts of herbivores, was later raised to a separate phylum, the Neocallimastigomycota.
 * The Olpidiaceae, including the type genus Olpidium, formerly classified in the order Chytridiales, were raised to a separate phylum, the Olpidiomycota.

Life cycle and body plan
Chytridiomycota are unusual among the Fungi in that they reproduce with zoospores. For most members of Chytridiomycota, sexual reproduction is not known. Asexual reproduction occurs through the release of zoospores (presumably) derived through mitosis.

Where it has been described, sexual reproduction of chytrids occurs via a variety of methods. It is generally accepted that the resulting zygote forms a resting spore, which functions as a means of surviving adverse conditions. In some members, sexual reproduction is achieved through the fusion of isogametes (gametes of the same size and shape). This group includes the notable plant pathogens Synchytrium. Some algal parasites practice oogamy: A motile male gamete attaches itself to a nonmotile structure containing the female gamete. In another group, two thalli produce tubes that fuse and allow the gametes to meet and fuse. In the last group, rhizoids of compatible strains meet and fuse. Both nuclei migrate out of the zoosporangium and into the conjoined rhizoids where they fuse. The resulting zygote germinates into a resting spore.

Sexual reproduction is common and well known among members of the Monoblepharidomycetes. Typically, these chytrids practice a version of oogamy: The male is motile and the female is stationary. This is the first occurrence of oogamy in kingdom Fungi. Briefly, the monoblephs form oogonia, which give rise to eggs, and antheridia, which give rise to male gametes. Once fertilized, the zygote either becomes an encysted or motile oospore, which ultimately becomes a resting spore that will later germinate and give rise to new zoosporangia.

Growth continues until a new batch of zoospores are ready for release. Chytrids have a diverse set of release mechanisms that can be grouped into the broad categories of operculate or inoperculate. Operculate discharge involves the complete or incomplete detachment of a lid-like structure, called an operculum, allowing the zoospores out of the sporangium. Inoperculate chytrids release their zoospores through pores, slits, or papillae.

Habitats
Chytrids are aquatic fungi, though those that thrive in the capillary network around soil particles are typically considered terrestrial. The zoospore is primarily a means of thoroughly exploring a small volume of water for a suitable substrate rather than a means of long-range dispersal.

Chytrids have been isolated from a variety of aquatic habitats, including peats, bogs, rivers, ponds, springs, and ditches, and terrestrial habitats, such as acidic soils, alkaline soils, temperate forest soils, rainforest soils, Arctic and Antarctic soils. This has led to the belief that many chytrid species are ubiquitous and cosmopolitan. However, recent taxonomic work has demonstrated that this ubiquitous and cosmopolitan morphospecies hide cryptic diversity at the genetic and ultrastructural levels. It was first thought aquatic chytrids (and other zoosporic fungi) were primarily active in fall, winter, and spring. However, recent molecular inventories of lakes during the summer indicate that chytrids are an active, diverse part of the eukaryotic microbial community.

One of the least expected terrestrial environments the chytrid thrive in are periglacial soils. The population of the Chytridiomycota species are able to be supported even though there is a lack of plant life in these frozen regions due to the large amounts of water in periglacial soil and pollen blowing up from below the timberline.

Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
The chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is responsible for chytridiomycosis, a disease of amphibians. Discovered in 1998 in Australia and Panama this disease is known to kill amphibians in large numbers, and has been suggested as a principal cause for the worldwide amphibian decline. Outbreaks of the fungus were found responsible for killing much of the Kihansi Spray Toad population in its native habitat of Tanzania, as well as the extinction of the golden toad in 1989. Chytridiomycosis has also been implicated in the presumed extinction of the Southern Gastric Brooding Frog, last seen in the wild in 1981, and the Northern Gastric Brooding Frog, last recorded in the wild in March 1985. The process leading to frog mortality is thought to be the loss of essential ions through pores made in the epidermal cells by the chytrid during its replication.

Recent research has revealed that elevating salt levels slightly may be able to cure chytridiomycosis in some Australian frog species, although further experimentation is needed.

Other parasites
Chytrids mainly infect algae and other eukaryotic and prokaryotic microbes. The infection can be so severe as to control primary production within the lake. It has been suggested that parasitic chytrids have a large effect on lake and pond food webs. Chytrids may also infect plant species; in particular, Synchytrium endobioticum is an important potato pathogen.

Saprobes
Arguably, the most important ecological function chytrids perform is decomposition. These ubiquitous and cosmopolitan organisms are responsible for decomposition of refractory materials, such as pollen, cellulose, chitin, and keratin. There are also chytrids that live and grow on pollen by attaching threadlike structures, called rhizoids, onto the pollen grains. This mostly occurs during asexual reproduction because the zoospores that become attached to the pollen continuously reproduce and form new chytrids that will attach to other pollen grains for nutrients. This colonization of pollen happens during the spring time when bodies of water accumulate pollen falling from trees and plants.

Fossil record
The earliest fossils of chytrids are from the Scottish Rhynie chert, a Devonian-age lagerstätte with anatomical preservation of plants and fungi. Among the microfossils are chytrids preserved as parasites on rhyniophytes. These fossils closely resemble the modern genus Allomyces. Holocarpic chytrid remains were found in cherts from Combres in central France that date back to the late Visean. These remains were found along with eucarpic remains and are ambiguous in nature although they are thought to be of chytrids. Other chytrid-like fossils were found in cherts from the upper Pennsylvanian in the Saint-Etienne Basin in France, dating between 300~350 ma.

In fictional media
The novel Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Fallout (2007) features a species of chytrid that feeds on petroleum and oil-based products. In the story the species is modified using nuclear radiation, to increase the rate at which it feeds on oil. It is then used by Islamic extremists in an attempt to destroy the world's oil supplies, thereby taking away the technological advantage of the United States.

title: Chytridiomycota


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Zygomycota

Zygomycota, or zygote fungi, is a former division or phylum of the kingdom Fungi. The members are now part of two phyla: the Mucoromycota and Zoopagomycota. Approximately 1060 species are known. They are mostly terrestrial in habitat, living in soil or on decaying plant or animal material. Some are parasites of plants, insects, and small animals, while others form symbiotic relationships with plants. Zygomycete hyphae may be coenocytic, forming septa only where gametes are formed or to wall off dead hyphae. Zygomycota is no longer recognised as it was not believed to be truly monophyletic.

Etymology
The name Zygomycota refers to the zygosporangia characteristically formed by the members of this clade, in which resistant spherical spores are formed during sexual reproduction. Zygos is Greek for "joining" or "a yoke", referring to the fusion of two hyphal strands which produces these spores, and -mycota is a suffix referring to a division of fungi.

Spores
The term "spore" is used to describe a structure related to propagation and dispersal. Zygomycete spores can be formed through both sexual and asexual means. Before germination the spore is in a dormant state. During this period, the metabolic rate is very low and it may last from a few hours to many years. There are two types of dormancy. The exogenous dormancy is controlled by environmental factors such as temperature or nutrient availability. The endogenous or constitutive dormancy depends on characteristics of the spore itself; for example, metabolic features. In this type of dormancy, germination may be prevented even if the environmental conditions favor growth.

Mitospores
In zygomycetes, mitospores (sporangiospores) are formed asexually. They are formed in specialized structures, the mitosporangia (sporangia) that contain few to several thousand of spores, depending on the species. Mitosporangia are carried by specialized hyphae, the mitosporangiophores (sporangiophores). These specialized hyphae usually show negative gravitropism and positive phototropism allowing good spore dispersal. The sporangia wall is thin and is easily destroyed by mechanical stimuli (e.g. falling raindrops, passing animals), leading to the dispersal of the ripe mitospores. The walls of these spores contain sporopollenin in some species. Sporopollenin is formed out of β-carotene and is very resistant to biological and chemical degradation. Zygomycete spores may also be classified in respect to their persistence:

Chlamydospores
Chlamydospores are asexual spores different from sporangiospores. The primary function of chlamydospores is the persistence of the mycelium and they are released when the mycelium degrades. Chlamydospores have no mechanism for dispersal. In zygomycetes the formation of chlamydospores is usually intercalar. However, it may also be terminal. In accordance with their function chlamydospores have a thick cell wall and are pigmented.

Zygophores
Zygophores are chemotropic aerial hyphae that are the sex organs of zygomycota, except for Phycomyces in which they are not aerial but found in the substratum. They have two different mating types (+) and (-). The opposite mating types grow towards each other due to volatile pheromones given off by the opposite strand, mainly trisporic acid and its precursors. Once two opposite mating types have made initial contact, they give rise to a zygospore through multiple steps.

Once contact between the zygophores has been made, their walls adhere to each other, flatten and then the contact site is referred to as the fusion septum. The tips of the zygophore become distended and form what is called the progametangia. A septum develops by gradual inward extension until it separates the terminal gametangia from the progametangial base. At this point the zygophore is then called the suspensor. Vesicles accumulate at the fusion septum at which time it begins to dissolve. A little before the fusion septum completely dissolves, the primary outer wall begins to thicken. This can be seen as dark patches on the primary wall as the fusion septum dissolves. These dark patches on the wall will eventually develop into warty structures that make up the thickness of the zygospore wall. As the zygospore enlarges, so do the warty structures until there are contiguous around the entire cell. At this point, electron microscopy can no longer penetrate the wall. Eventually the warts push through the primary wall and darken which is likely caused by melanin.

Meiosis usually occurs before zygospore germination and there are a few main types of distinguishable nuclear behavior. Type 1 is when the nuclei fuse quickly, within a few days, resulting in mature zygospore having haploid nuclei. Type 2 is when some nuclei do not pair and degenerate instead, meiosis is delayed until germination. Type 3 is when haploid nuclei continue to divide mitotically and then some associate into groups and some do not. This results in diploid and haploid nuclei being found in the germ sporangium.

Cell wall
Zygomycetes exhibit a special structure of cell wall. Most fungi have chitin as structural polysaccharide, while zygomycetes synthesize chitosan, the deacetylated homopolymer of chitin. Chitin is built of β-1,4 bonded N-acetyl glucosamine. Fungal hyphae grow at the tip. Therefore, specialized vesicles, the chitosomes, bring precursors of chitin and its synthesizing enzyme, chitin synthetase, to the outside of the membrane by exocytosis. The enzyme on the membrane catalyzes glycosidic bond formations from the nucleotide sugar substrate, uridine diphospho-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine. The nascent polysaccharide chain is then cleaved by the enzyme chitin deacetylase. The enzyme catalyzes the hydrolytic cleavage of the N-acetamido group in chitin. After this the chitosan polymer chain forms micro fibrils. These fibers are embedded in an amorphous matrix consisting of proteins, glucans (which putatively cross-link the chitosan fibers), mannoproteins, lipids and other compounds.

Trisporic acid
Trisporic acid is a C-18 terpenoid compound that is synthesized via β-carotene and retinol pathways in the zygomycetes. It is a pheromone compound responsible for sexual differentiation in those fungal species.

History
Trisporic acid was discovered in 1964 as a metabolite that caused enhanced carotene production in Blakeslea trispora. It was later shown to be the hormone that brought about zygophore production in Mucor mucedo. The American mycologist and geneticist Albert Francis Blakeslee discovered that some species of Mucorales were self-sterile (heterothallic), in which interactions of two strains, designated (+) and (-), are necessary for the initiation of sexual activity. This interaction was found by Hans Burgeff of the University of Goettingen to be due to the exchange of low molecular weight substances that diffused through the substratum and atmosphere. This work constituted the first demonstration of sex hormone activity in any fungus. The elucidation of the hormonal control of sexual interaction in the Mucorales extends over 60 years and involved mycologists and biochemists from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.

Functions of trisporic acid in Mucorales
Recognition of compatible sexual partners in zygomycota is based on a cooperative biosynthesis pathway of trisporic acid. Early trisporoid derivatives and trisporic acid induce swelling of two potential hyphae, hence called zygophores, and a chemical gradient of these inducer molecules results in a growth towards each other. These progametangia come in contact with each other and build a strong connection. In the next stage, septae are established to limit the developing zygospore from the vegetative mycelium and in this way the zygophores become suspensor hyphae and gametangia are formed. After dissolving of the fusion wall, cytoplasm and a high number of nuclei from both gametangia are mixed. A selectional process (unstudied) results in a reduction of nuclei and meiosis takes place (also unstudied until today). Several cell wall modifications, as well as incorporation of sporopollenin (responsible for the dark colour of spores) take place resulting in a mature zygospore.

Trisporic acid, as the endpoint of this recognition pathway, can solely be produced in presence of both compatible partners, which enzymatically produce trisporoid precursors to be further utilized by the potential sexual partner. Species specificity of these reactions is among others obtained by spatial segregation, physicochemical features of derivatives (volatility and light sensitivity), chemical modifications of trisporoids and transcriptional/posttranscriptional regulation.

Parasexualism
Trisporoids are also used in the mediation of the recognition between parasite and host. An example is the host-parasite interaction of a parasexual nature observed between Parasitella parasitica, a facultative mycoparasite of zygomycetes, and Absidia glauca. This interaction is an example for biotrophic fusion parasitism, because genetic information is transferred into the host. Many morphological similarities in comparison to zygospore formation are seen, but the mature spore is called a sikyospore and is parasitic. During this process, gall-like structures are produced by the host Absidia glauca. This, coupled with further evidence, has led to the assumption that trisporoids are not strictly species-specific, but that they might represent the general principle of mating recognition in Mucorales.

Phototropism
Light regulation has been investigated in the zygomycetes Phycomyces blakesleeanus, Mucor circinelloides and Pilobolus crystallinus. For example, in Pilobolus crystallinus light is responsible for the dispersal mechanism and the sporangiophores of Phycomyces blakesleeanus grow towards light. When light, particularly blue light, is involved in the regulation of fungal development, it directs the growth of fungal structures and activates metabolic pathways. For instance, the zygomycota use light as signal to promote vegetative reproduction and growth of aerial hyphae to facilitate spore dispersal.

Fungal phototropism has been investigated in detail using the fruiting body, sporangiophore, of Phycomyces as a model. Phycomyces has a complex photoreceptor system. It is able to react to different light intensities and different wavelengths. In contrast to the positive reaction to blue light, there is also a negative reaction to UV light. Reactions to red light were also observed.

Activation of beta-carotene biosynthesis by light
The two genes for the enzymes phytoene desaturase (carB) and the bifunctional phytoene synthase/carotene cyclase (carRA in Phycomyces, carRP in Mucor) are responsible for synthesis of beta-carotene. The product of the gene crgA, which was found in Mucor suppresses the carotene formation by inhibiting the accumulation of carB and carRP mRNAs.

Influence of light in sporulation and sexual development
The zygomycete P. blakesleeanus builds two types of sporangiophores, the macrophores and the microphores which differ in size. The formation of these sporangiophores work at different light fluences and therefore with specific photoreceptors. Light also regulates asexual sporulation. In Mucor the product of the crgA gene acts as an activator. In contrast, the sexual development of Phycomyces is inhibited by light because of a specialized photoreceptor system.

Gravitropism
Gravitropism is a turning or growth movement by a plant or fungus in response to gravity. It is equally widespread in both kingdoms. Statolites are required in both fungi and plants for the mechanism of gravity-sensing. The Zygomycota sporangiophores originate from specialized “basal hyphae” and pass through several distinctive developmental stages until the mature asexual spores are released. In addition to the positive phototropism, the sporangiophores are directed by a negative gravitropic response into a position suitable for spore dispersal and distribution. Both responses are growth reactions i.e. the bending is caused by differential growth on the respective opposite flanks of the sporangiophore, and influence each other. The only model for the mechanism of the gravitropic reaction of Phycomyces is based on the floatability of the vacuole within the surrounding cytoplasm. The resulting asymmetric distribution of the cytoplasm is proposed to generate increased wall growth on the lower side of horizonally placed sporangiophores as in the thicker cytoplasmic layer forming there the number of vesicles secreting cell-wall material would be higher than on the upper side. Gravitropic bending starts after approximately 15 – 30 min in horizontally placed sporangiophores and continues until after, approximately 12 – 14 hours, the sporangiophore tip has recovered its original vertical position. Usually, the gravitropic response is weaker compared to the phototrophic one. However, in certain conditions, equilibrium could be established and the responses are comparable. In plants and fungi, phototropism and gravitropism interact in a complex manner. During continuous irradiation with unilateral light, the sporangiophore (fruiting body) of the zygomycete fungus, Phycomyces blakesleeanus reach a bending angle of photogravitropic equilibrium at which the gravitropic and phototropic stimuli balance each other (Fig. 1, bending angle +α, due to light irradiation ).

Protein crystals involved in graviperception
In Phycomyces blakesleeanus, wild type sporangiophores contain large, easily seen octahedral paracrystalline crystals with size up to 5×5×5 μm. Generally, they are found near the main vacuole in clusters consisting of more than ten crystals. They are often associated to the vacuolar transepts. Sedimentation with speed of about 100 μm/s can be observed when the sporangiophores are tilted. Sliding along during sedimentation or pulling at the vacuolar membranes and transepts serves as an inter-cellular signal to a probable cytoskeleton response, and that activates receptors located in the cell membrane. These receptors in turn trigger a chain of events which finally leads to the asymmetrical growth of the cell wall. Studies of the bending angle of wild type and mutant strain sporangiophore growth have shown that mutant strains that do not have crystals exhibit reduced gravitropic response.

Lipid droplets involved in graviperception
Complex of apical lipid globules are also involved in graviperception. These lipids are clustered in cellular structures, complex of lipid globules, about 0.1mm below the very tip of the apex. (Fig. 2) The globules migrate to the columella when the sporangium is formed. In mature stage this complex is believed to act as a gravireceptor due to its floatability. Mutants that lack this lipid complex show greatly lowered gravitropic response.

Phylogeny
Historically, all fungi producing a zygospore were considered to be related and placed into Zygomycota. The use of molecular phylogenetics has increasingly revealed this grouping to be paraphyletic. However, the rank (i.e., phylum or subphylum) these clades is in dispute. What follows is a phylogeny of fungi with the zygomycete subphyla derived from Spatafora et al. (2016) with both possible phylum names.

Industrial uses
Many species of zygomycetes can be used in important industrial processes. A resume of them is presented in the table.

Culture conditions
The zygomycetes are able to grow in a wide range of environments. Most of them are mesophilic (growing at 10–40 °C with an optimum 20–35 °C), but some, like Mucor miehei or Mucor pusillus, are thermophilic with a minimum growth temperature of about 20 °C and maximum extending up to 60 °C. Others like Mucor hiemalis can grow at temperatures below 0 °C.

Some species of the order Mucorales are able to grow under anaerobic conditions, while most of them require aerobic conditions. Furthermore, while the majority of the zygomycetes only grow at high water activities, some of them are able to grow in salt concentrations of at least 15%. Most species of Mucor grow rapidly on agar at room temperature filling the Petri dish in 2–3 days with their coarse aerial mycelium. When incubated in liquid culture under semi-anaerobic conditions, several species grow in yeast like state. Zygospore formation may be stimulated at higher temperatures of incubation (30–40 °C).

Growth of Zygomycota in solid agar can produce low or very high fibrous colony that rapidly fills the entire Petri dish. Its color may range from pure white to shades of gray or brown. In old cultures, dark pigmented sporangia are observed. Everything depends on the species and the media used. In liquid culture, Zygomycota usually form a bland mass and do not produce spores. This is because they cannot grow aerial hyphae.

Culture media
Zygomycetes grow well on most standard fungal culture medium such as Sabouraud dextrose agar. They can also grow on both selective and non-selective media. Minimal media, supplementary media and induction media can also be used. Most zygomycetes are sensitive to cycloheximide (actidione) and this agent should not be used in culture media.

Reproduction
A common example of a zygomycete is black bread mold (Rhizopus stolonifer), a member of the Mucorales. It spreads over the surface of bread and other food sources, sending hyphae inward to absorb nutrients. In its asexual phase it develops bulbous black sporangia at the tips of upright hyphae, each containing hundreds of haploid spores.

As in most zygomycetes, asexual reproduction is the most common form of reproduction. Sexual reproduction in Rhizopus stolonifer, as in other zygomycetes, occurs when haploid hyphae of different mating types are in close proximity to each other. Growth of the gametangia commences after gametangia come in contact, and plasmogamy, or the fusion of the cytoplasm, occurs. Karyogamy, which is the fusion of the nuclei, follows closely after. The zygosporangia are then diploid. Zygosporangia are typically thick-walled, highly resilient to environmental hardships, and metabolically inert. When conditions improve, however, they germinate to produce a sporangium or vegetative hyphae. Meiosis occurs during germination of the zygosporangium so the resulting spores or hyphae are haploid. Grows in warm and damp conditions.

Some zygomycetes disperse their spores in a more precise manner than simply allowing them to drift aimlessly on air currents. Pilobolus, a fungus which grows on animal dung, bends its sporangiophores towards light with the help of a light sensitive pigment (beta-carotene) and then "fires" them with an explosive squirt of high-pressure cytoplasm. Sporangia can be launched as far as 2 m, placing them far away from the dung and hopefully on vegetation which will be eaten by an herbivore, eventually to be deposited with dung elsewhere. Different mechanisms for forcible spore discharge have evolved among members of the zygomycete order Entomophthorales.

Evolution of conidia
The evolution of the conidium from the sporangiospore is the main defining difference between zygomycetes and ascomycetes. The evolution of sporangiospores typical of zygomycetes to conidia similar to those found in ascomycetes can be modeled by a series of forms seen in zygomycetes. Many zygomycetes produce multiple sporangiospores inside a single sporangium. Some have evolved multiple small sporangiola that contain few sporangiospores. In some cases, there may be a few as three spores in each sporangiolum, and a few species have sporangiola which contain just a single spore. Choanephora, a zygomycete, has a sporangiolum that contains one spore with a sporangium wall that is visible at the base of the sporangium. This structure is similar to a conidium, which has two, fused cell walls, an inner spore wall and an outer sporangium wall.

title: Zygomycota


text:
Battle of Coronel

The Battle of Coronel was a First World War naval battle that led to an Imperial German Navy victory over the Royal Navy on 1 November 1914, off the coast of central Chile near the city of Coronel. The East Asia Squadron (Ostasiengeschwader or Kreuzergeschwader) of the Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee met and overpowered a British squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock.

The engagement probably took place as a result of misunderstandings. Neither admiral expected to meet the other in full force. Once the two met, Cradock understood his orders were to fight to the end, despite the odds being heavily against him. Although Spee had an easy victory, destroying two enemy armoured cruisers for just three men injured, the engagement also cost him almost half his supply of ammunition, which was irreplaceable.

Shock at the British losses led the Admiralty to send more ships, including two modern battlecruisers, which in turn destroyed Spee and the majority of his squadron on 8 December at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

Background
At the outbreak of war the Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, with assistance from New Zealand and Japanese naval and land forces in the Far East, had captured the German colonies of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, Yap, Nauru, and Samoa, instead of searching for the German East Asia Squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Maximilian von Spee, which had abandoned its base at the German concession at Tsingtao in the expectation of war breaking out with Japan. The East Asia Squadron rendezvoused at Pagan Island in the Marianas in early August 1914. Eventually, recognising the German squadron's potential for disrupting trade in the Pacific, the British Admiralty decided to destroy it and searched the western Pacific Ocean after the East Asia Squadron had conducted the Bombardment of Papeete (22 September 1914), where a French steamer reported its presence.

On 4 October 1914, the British learned from an intercepted radio message that Spee planned to attack shipping on the trade routes along the west coast of South America. Having correctly guessed the intention of the German commander, Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock patrolled the area with a squadron consisting of the armoured cruisers HMS Good Hope (1901) (flagship) and HMS Monmouth (1901), the modern light cruiser HMS Glasgow (1909), and the armed merchantman HMS Otranto. The Admiralty had planned to reinforce the squadron by sending the newer and more powerful armoured cruiser HMS Defence (1907) from the Mediterranean, but temporarily diverted this ship to patrol the western Atlantic. Defence reached Montevideo two days after the battle, and Cradock instead received the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Canopus (1897).

The change of plan meant that the British squadron comprised obsolete or lightly armed vessels, crewed in the case of Good Hope by inexperienced naval reservists. Monmouth and Good Hope had a large number of 6-inch guns but only Good Hope was armed with two 9.2-inch guns mounted in single turrets. Spee had a superior force of five modern vessels (the armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and SMS Gneisenau and the light cruisers SMS Dresden (1907), SMS Leipzig (1905) and SMS Nürnberg (1906)), led by officers hand-picked by Grand Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau carried eight 8.2-inch guns each, which gave them an overwhelming advantage in range and firepower; the crews of both ships had earned accolades for their gunnery before the war. The Admiralty ordered Cradock to "be prepared to meet them in company", with no effort being made to clarify what action he was expected to take should he find Spee. On receiving his orders, Cradock asked the Admiralty for permission to split his fleet into two forces, each able to face Spee independently. The two groups would operate on the east and west coasts of South America to counter the possibility of Spee slipping past Cradock into the Atlantic Ocean. The Admiralty agreed and established the east coast squadron under Rear-Admiral Archibald Stoddart, consisting of three cruisers and two armed merchantmen.

The remaining vessels formed the west coast squadron, which was reinforced by Canopus on 18 October. At the outbreak of war and said to be in need of overhaul, Canopus had a top speed of 18 kn. (After the fleet sailed, it was found that the ship could only make 16 kn and that the senior engineer was mentally ill.) The Admiralty agreed that with Canopus the fleet would be too slow to force an engagement with the German cruisers and that without Canopus the west coast squadron stood no chance. Cradock sailed from the Falklands on 20 October, still under the impression that Defence would soon arrive and with Admiralty orders to attack German merchant ships and to seek out the East Asiatic Squadron. As the British squadron rounded Cape Horn, wireless transmissions from Leipzig increased in power and it seemed that the British would catch the ship while isolated, but Spee had made rendezvous with Leipzig on 14 October and had enforced wireless silence on the other ships.

Lines of communication
On 30 October, before the battle but due to communications delays too late to have any effect, Admiral Jackie Fisher was re-appointed First Sea Lord, replacing Prince Louis of Battenberg, who, along with Churchill, had been preoccupied with fighting to keep his position as First Sea Lord in the face of widespread concern over the senior British Admiral being of German descent. Battenberg was a proven and reliable admiral but was replaced to appease public opinion. The crisis drew the attention of the most senior members of the Admiralty away from the events in South America: Churchill later claimed that if he had not been distracted, he would have questioned the intentions of his admiral at sea more deeply.

A signal from Cradock was received by Churchill on 27 October, advising the Admiralty of his intention to leave Canopus behind because of her slow speed and, as previously instructed, to take his remaining ships in search of Spee. He re-stated that he was still expecting reinforcements in the form of Defence, which he had previously been told was coming and that he had given orders for her to follow him as soon as possible. Although Defence had once been sent to reinforce Cradock, it had then been recalled part way, returned to the Mediterranean and then been sent again to form part of a new squadron patrolling the eastern coast of South America. A misunderstanding had arisen between Cradock and the Admiralty over how ships were to be assigned and used. Cradock believed he was expected to advance against Spee with those forces he had, whereas the Admiralty expected him to exercise caution, using Canopus for defence and merely to scout for the enemy or take advantage of any situation where he might come across part of the enemy force. Churchill replied to the signal, telling Cradock that Defence was to remain on the east coast and that Cradock was considered to have sufficient forces for his task, making no comment about his plan to abandon Canopus. Churchill had passed on the message to the Admiralty staff, saying he did not properly understand what Cradock intended.

Cradock probably received Churchill's reply on 1 November with the messages collected by Glasgow at Coronel, giving him time to read it before the battle. Thus, Cradock would have taken the message as final confirmation that he was doing what was expected. Departing from Stanley he had left behind a letter to be forwarded to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Hedworth Meux in the event of his death. In this, he commented that he did not intend to suffer the fate of Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge, a friend of Cradock, who at the time was awaiting court-martial for failing to engage the enemy. The governor of the Falklands reported that Cradock had not expected to survive, as did the governor's aide. Luce reported that "Cradock was constitutionally incapable of refusing or even postponing action if there was the smallest chance of success".

On 3 November, Fisher in London received news from Valparaíso that Spee had been sighted. He urgently gave orders for Defence to join Cradock and stressed the need to keep Canopus together with the other ships. On 4 November, German reports of the battle started to reach London.

British preparations
On 22 October, Cradock cabled the Admiralty that he was going to round Cape Horn and was leaving Canopus behind to escort his colliers. Admiral John Fisher replaced Battenberg as First Sea Lord on 27 October, and the following day Fisher ordered Cradock not to engage Spee without Canopus. He then ordered HMS Defence to reinforce Cradock. The previous week Cradock had sent Glasgow to Coronel to pick up any messages the Admiralty might have sent. Spee, having learned of the presence of Glasgow off Coronel, sailed south from Valparaíso with all five warships with the intention of destroying her. Glasgow intercepted radio traffic from one of the German cruisers and informed Cradock, who turned his fleet north to intercept the cruiser.

Given the German superiority in speed, firepower, efficiency and numbers, why Cradock chose to engage puzzles historians. At the time Rear Admiral Ernest Troubridge, a friend of Cradock, was awaiting court-martial for failing to engage the enemy, and he had been told by the Admiralty that his force was "sufficient". The accepted view among Cradock's colleagues was that he was "constitutionally incapable of refusing action". On 31 October, he ordered his squadron to adopt an attacking formation. Both sides are thought to have expected to encounter a single ship until they sighted each other at 16:40 on 1 November.

Battle
On 31 October, Glasgow entered Coronel harbour to collect messages and news from the British consul. Also in harbour was a supply ship—Göttingen—working for Spee, which immediately radioed with the news of the British ship entering harbour. Glasgow was listening to radio traffic, which suggested that German warships were close. Matters were confused because the German ships had been instructed to all use the same call sign, that of Leipzig. Spee decided to move his ships to Coronel to trap Glasgow while Admiral Cradock hurried north to catch Leipzig. Neither side realised the other's main force was nearby.

At 09:15 on 1 November, Glasgow left port to meet Cradock at noon, 40 mi west of Coronel. Seas were rough so that it was impossible to send a boat between the ships to deliver the messages, which had to be transferred on a line floated in the sea. At 13:05, the ships formed into a line abreast formation 15 mi apart, with Glasgow at the eastern end, and started to steam north at 10 kn searching for Leipzig. At 16:17 Leipzig, accompanied by the other German ships, spotted smoke from the line of British ships. Spee ordered full speed so that Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Leipzig were approaching the British at 20 kn, with the slower light cruisers Dresden and Nürnberg some way behind.

At 16:20, Glasgow and Otranto saw smoke to the north and then three ships at a range of 12 mi. The British reversed direction, so that both fleets were moving south, and a chase began which lasted 90 minutes. Cradock was faced with a choice; he could either take his three cruisers capable of 20 kn, abandon Otranto and run from the Germans, or stay and fight with Otranto, which could only manage 16 kn. The German ships slowed at a range of 15000 yd to reorganise themselves for best positions, and to await best visibility, when the British to their west would be outlined against the setting sun.

At 17:10, Cradock decided he must fight, and drew his ships closer together. He changed course to south-east and attempted to close upon the German ships while the sun remained high. Spee declined to engage and turned his faster ships away, maintaining the distance between the forces which sailed roughly parallel at a distance of 14000 yd. At 18:18, Cradock again attempted to close, steering directly towards the enemy, which once again turned away to a greater range of 18000 yd. At 18:50, the sun set; Spee closed to 12000 yd and commenced firing.

The German ships had sixteen 21 cm guns of comparable range to the two 9.2 in guns on Good Hope. One of these was hit within five minutes of the engagement's starting. Of the remaining 6 in guns on the British ships, most were in casemates along the sides of the ships, which continually flooded if the gun doors were opened to fire in heavy seas. The merchant cruiser Otranto—having only eight 4.7 in guns and being a much larger target than the other ships—retired west at full speed.

Since the British 6 in guns had insufficient range to match the German 21 cm guns, Cradock attempted to close on the German ships. By 19:30, he had reached 6000 yd but as he closed, the German fire became correspondingly more accurate. Good Hope and Monmouth caught fire, presenting easy targets to the German gunners now that darkness had fallen, whereas the German ships had disappeared into the dark. Monmouth was first to be silenced. Good Hope continued firing, continuing to close on the German ships and receiving more and more fire. By 19:50, she had also ceased firing; subsequently her forward section exploded, then she broke apart and sank, with no one witness to the sinking.

Scharnhorst switched her fire to Monmouth, while Gneisenau joined Leipzig and Dresden which had been engaging Glasgow. The German light cruisers had only 10.5 cm guns, which had left Glasgow almost unscathed, but these were now joined by the 21 cm guns of Gneisenau. John Luce, captain of Glasgow, determined that nothing would be gained by staying and attempting to fight. It was noticed that each time he fired, the flash of his guns was used by the Germans to aim a new salvo, so he also ceased firing. One compartment of the ship was flooded but she could still manage 24 kn. He returned first to Monmouth, which was now dark but still afloat. Nothing was to be done for the ship, which was sinking slowly but would attempt to beach on the Chilean coast. Glasgow turned south and departed.

There was some confusion amongst the German ships as to the fate of the two armoured cruisers, which had disappeared into the dark once they ceased firing, and a hunt began. Leipzig saw something burning, but on approaching found only wreckage. Nürnberg—slower than the other German ships—arrived late at the battle and sighted Monmouth, listing and badly damaged but still moving. After pointedly directing her searchlights at the ship's ensign, an invitation to surrender—which was declined—she opened fire, finally sinking the ship. Without firm information, Spee decided that Good Hope had escaped and called off the search at 22:15. Mindful of the reports that a British battleship was around somewhere, he turned north.

With no survivors from either Good Hope or Monmouth, 1,660 British officers and men were dead, including Admiral Cradock. Glasgow and Otranto both escaped (the former suffering five hits and five wounded men). Just two shells had struck Scharnhorst, neither of which exploded: one 6-inch shell hit above the armour belt and penetrated to a storeroom where, in Spee's words, "the creature just lay there as a kind of greeting." Another struck a funnel. In return, Scharnhorst had managed at least 35 hits on Good Hope, but at the expense of 422 21 cm shells, leaving her with 350. Four shells had struck Gneisenau, one of which nearly flooded the officers' wardroom. A shell from Glasgow struck her aft turret and temporarily knocked it out. Three of Gneisenau's men were wounded; she expended 244 of her shells and had 528 left.

Aftermath
This was Britain's first naval defeat since the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812 and the first of a British naval squadron since the Battle of Grand Port in 1810. Once news of the defeat reached the Admiralty, a new naval force was assembled under Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee, including the battlecruisers HMS Invincible (1907) and her sister-ship HMS Inflexible (1907). This found and destroyed Spee's force at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

Glasgow, having escaped the battle, steamed south for three days at 20 kn, passing through the Straits of Magellan. Canopus—warned by Glasgow's messages—turned about and headed back at the best speed she could manage, 9 kn. On 6 November, the two ships met and proceeded slowly towards the Falklands. Twice during the voyage Canopus had to report that she was not under control. After coaling, both ships were ordered north but again Canopus broke down. She was finally ordered to be beached in the inner part of Stanley Harbour, where she could serve as a defensive battery.

Otranto steamed 200 nmi out into the Pacific Ocean before turning south and rounding Cape Horn. On 4 November the Admiralty issued orders for the surviving ships to go to the Abrolhos Rocks, where a new force was being assembled. Rear-Admiral Archibald Stoddart, with the armoured cruisers HMS Carnarvon (1903) and HMS Cornwall (1902), were to meet them there and await the arrival of Defence. Sturdee was ordered to travel with the battlecruisers HMS Invincible (1907) and HMS Inflexible (1907)—then attached to the Grand Fleet in the North Sea—to command a new squadron with clear superiority over Spee.

Despite his victory, Spee was pessimistic about his own chances of survival and dismissive with regard to the harm done to the British navy. The official explanation of the defeat as presented to the House of Commons by Winston Churchill was: "feeling he could not bring the enemy immediately to action as long as he kept with Canopus, he decided to attack them with his fast ships alone, in the belief that even if he himself were destroyed... he would inflict damage on them which ...would lead to their certain subsequent destruction."

On 3 November Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Nürnberg entered Valparaíso harbour to a welcome by the German population. Spee refused to join in the celebrations; when presented with a bouquet of flowers, he refused them, commenting that "these will do nicely for my grave". He was to die with most of the men on his ships on 8 December 1914, at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

Commemoration

The Coronel Memorial Library at Royal Roads Military College, now Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was named in honour of the four Canadian midshipmen who perished in HMS Good Hope at the Battle of Coronel. In 1989 a memorial to those who perished in the battle was erected in the Plaza 21 de Mayo (21st May Square) at Coronel, Chile. Along with two plaques depicting HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth, it has a central dedication plaque (in Spanish) which reads

"In memory of the 1,418 officers and sailors of the British military squadron and their Commander-in-Chief, Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, Royal Navy, who sacrificed their lives in the Naval Battle of Coronel, on 1 November 1914. The sea is their only grave."

- 21st May Square plaque

title: Battle of Coronel


text:
Talk:Maximilian von Spee

Untitled
'''Note: Links to Nurnberg, Leipzig, and Dresden currently point to the German cities rather than to the ships. Possibly need to change the links to "SMS ...", but should check first that this is the correct abbreviation for WW1 German warships!''' Arwel 02:08 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

SMS (Seiner Majestaet Schiff) is the correct abbreviation. Links have been switched to point to SMS... rather than the cities, though most articles have still to be written. Arwel 02:11 Mar 7, 2003 (UTC)

"Lured" to the Falklands?
... the Spee Squadron had been lured onto the guns of the British battlecruiser squadron by means of a fake telegram sent in a German naval code that British cryptographers had broken and which "ordered" the German ships to the Falkland Islands to destroy the wireless station there.

Really? I wonder why Pulitzer prize-winning historian Robert K. Massie makes no mention whatever of this assertion in his account of WWI at sea, Castles of Steel, which contains a lengthy description of the British destruction of the East Asia Squadron? According to Massie's account, Spee overruled a majority of his captains in deciding to attack the Falklands.

See: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea (Balantine Books, 2004) by Robert K. Massie, ISBN 0-345-40878-0(also J. Cape, 2004, ISBN 0-224-04092-8)

Sca (talk) 15:07, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

 * Seems rather dubious to me - I've never seen the claim repeated elsewhere either. It's been removed from the article. Parsecboy (talk) 16:36, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

First Defeat?
"Spee had inflicted the first defeat on a Royal Navy squadron since the Napoleonic Wars a century earlier." Certainly this was quite a defeat, and the first surface action defeat of the British, but in September a German sub sank three old armoured cruisers in a single engagement. A different sort of defeat than Craddock's, of course, but seems like the statement in the article is a bit misleading. I recommend revising. Busaccsb (talk) 23:24, 14 December 2015 (UTC)
 * That's how the battle is routinely described. We can't make up our own criteria and apply it to the article. Parsecboy (talk) 23:46, 14 December 2015 (UTC)
 * An engagement requires both sides to know that each other is there in the first place. It was more accurately a massacre. But I agree with Parsecboy on the policy angle. Irondome (talk) 00:02, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Also a fair point ;) Parsecboy (talk) 00:07, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
 * For info: Action of 22 September 1914. Irondome (talk) 00:19, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
 * The British at this point hadn't lost a squadron engagement on the high seas since the battle of Flamborough Head during the American war of Independence. They'd lost squadron battles on lakes (mostly to Americans) and single-ship actions (mostly to Americans), but losing a cruiser squadron at sea was a shock. 2404:4404:1408:CE00:6D26:DE20:4D5D:6F8A (talk) 11:59, 20 May 2023 (UTC)

Footnotes and references

 * Hello, I just realized that you are the user who greatly improved this article some years ago. I must apologize if I incorrectly added those references, but still, can you kindly find the references for footnotes such as "Strachan, p. 471", " Staff, pp. 29–30", "Bennett, p. 118", "Herwig, p. 158" and "Williamson, p. 39"? Please feel welcome to correct the recent references that I added. --Gabloc (talk) 01:33, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

 * Ah, I hadn't noticed I had never added the full citations to those - this is the main reason I've since started using sfn templates for citations, since it adds a red error message if the citations and references don't match up. Most of the books you've added are the wrong ones by those authors - I'll take care of them. Parsecboy (talk) 12:08, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Falklands
The reasoning for the attack on the islands versus some 'meatier' target seems very meager - why bother with some target at the bottom of the world when Germany's strategic needs were so clear - can the RS's provide more detail here? 50.111.8.86 (talk) 03:31, 22 June 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Maximilian von Spee