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115-560: The lagoon is classified as an endorheic lake, meaning there is no outflow to other bodies of water such as oceans or rivers. The Buada Lagoon is the biggest and only true lake in Nauru , a small nation in Oceania consisting of a flat island of 21.3 km (8.2 sq mi) in area. The lake lies in Nauru's Buada district, from which it gets its name. It is not a lagoon as such, in that

230-659: A Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted the doctrine of Nanshin-ron , promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward and eventually led to war with the United States and the Western Allies. In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria , again provoking little response from other European powers. Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on

345-578: A cautious French probe into the Saarland . The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany , which aimed to damage the country's economy and war effort. Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships, which would later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic . On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw . The Polish counter-offensive to

460-798: A large portion of Europe drains to the endorheic Caspian Sea, Europe's wet climate means it contains relatively few terminal lakes itself: any such basin is likely to continue to fill until it reaches an overflow level connecting it with an outlet or erodes the barrier blocking its exit. There are some seemingly endorheic lakes, but they are cryptorheic, being drained either through manmade canals , via karstic phenomena, or other subsurface seepage. A few minor true endorheic lakes exist in Spain (e.g. Laguna de Gallocanta , Estany de Banyoles ), Italy , Cyprus ( Larnaca and Akrotiri salt lakes) and Greece . Many small lakes and ponds in North Dakota and

575-709: A mountain range, cutting off water egress to the ocean. The inland water flows into dry watersheds where the water evaporates, leaving a high concentration of minerals and other inflow erosion products. Over time this input of erosion products can cause the endorheic lake to become relatively saline (a " salt lake "). Since the main outflow pathways of these lakes are chiefly through evaporation and seepage, endorheic lakes are usually more sensitive to environmental pollutant inputs than water bodies that have access to oceans, as pollution can be trapped in them and accumulate over time. Endorheic regions can occur in any climate but are most commonly found in desert locations. This reflects

690-524: A pretext to initiate the invasion. The first German attack of the war came against the Polish defences at Westerplatte . The United Kingdom responded with an ultimatum for Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after the ultimatum was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany. During the Phoney War period, the alliance provided no direct military support to Poland, outside of

805-781: A pretext to worsen relations. On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate the handover of Danzig , and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German minority would vote on secession. The Poles refused to comply with the German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a confrontational meeting with the British ambassador Nevile Henderson , Ribbentrop declared that Germany considered its claims rejected. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as

920-523: A redistribution of water from these hydrologically landlocked basins such that endorheic water loss has contributed to sea level rise , and it is estimated that most of the terrestrial water lost ends up in the ocean. In regions such as Central Asia, where people depend on endorheic basins and other surface water sources to satisfy their water needs, human activity greatly impacts the availability of that water. Large endorheic regions in Africa are located in

1035-532: A result of the Buada Lagoon's endoreic state; it has no outlet and is fed only by rainwater, there being no rivers at all in Nauru. Thus, between the monsoon season from November to February, when most of the rain falls (this is on average some 2,126 mm each year) and the dry season, especially in years when La Niña is present, the low-water level can sink as far down as five metres below sea level. The lake's greenish waters are slightly brackish, with

1150-439: A salt concentration of two percent, and slightly basic with a pH of 8. Very little information is available about the Buada Lagoon's lacustrine flora, However, the presence of the invasive water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes (now Pontederia crassipes ), which chokes waterways and promotes flooding, has been confirmed. In 1993, it was reported as a "recent introduction", still "rare" at that time. The vegetation along

1265-475: A secret protocol that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland , Finland, Estonia , Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish independence. The pact neutralised the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of

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1380-774: A similar pact and rejected ceding part of its territory to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, and was subsequently expelled from the League of Nations for this crime of aggression. Despite overwhelming numerical superiority, Soviet military success during the Winter War was modest, and the Finno-Soviet war ended in March 1940 with some Finnish concessions of territory . In June 1940,

1495-531: A two-front war, as it had in World War   I. Immediately afterwards, Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay it. In response to British requests for direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made demands on Poland, which served as

1610-466: Is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans ); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent and seasonal lakes and swamps that equilibrate through evaporation . Endorheic basins are also called closed basins , terminal basins , and internal drainage systems . Endorheic regions contrast with open lakes (exorheic regions), where surface waters eventually drain into

1725-476: Is mainly made up of: There are parasitic plants like Cassytha filiformis , or Psilotum nudum . Glochidion societatis is found in open areas while Cyperus (specifically Cyperus javanicus and Cyperus compressus , species close to papyrus ), Portulaca oleracea and Ipomoea aquatica are found in the wetlands, much of which was destroyed during the Japanese Occupation during

1840-476: Is one place on Nauru where insects proliferate, mostly because of the nearby expanses of stagnant freshwater such as the Buada Lagoon itself and also the rainwater cisterns found at dwellings and farms. Thus, three species of mosquito , Culex quinquefasciatus , Culex sitiens and Aedes aegypti , proliferate in the monsoon season from November to February near expanses of stagnant freshwater like household rainwater cisterns, used tires, wells and, of course,

1955-403: Is one such case, with annual precipitation of 850 mm (33 in) and characterized by waterlogged soils that require draining. Endorheic regions tend to be far inland with their boundaries defined by mountains or other geological features that block their access to oceans. Since the inflowing water can evacuate only through seepage or evaporation, dried minerals or other products collect in

2070-526: The Allies and the Axis powers . Nearly all the world's countries —including all the great powers —participated, with many investing all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities in pursuit of total war , blurring the distinction between military and civilian resources. Tanks and aircraft played major roles , with the latter enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and delivery of

2185-604: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish declaration of non-aggression . The situation became a crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise against the Polish border. On 23 August the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, after tripartite negotiations for a military alliance between France, the United Kingdom, and Soviet Union had stalled. This pact had

2300-627: The Bonneville flood . The Malheur / Harney lake system in Oregon is normally cut off from drainage to the ocean, but has an outflow channel to the Malheur River . This is presently dry, but may have flowed as recently as 1,000 years ago. Examples of relatively humid regions in endorheic basins often exist at high elevation. These regions tend to be marshy and are subject to substantial flooding in wet years. The area containing Mexico City

2415-689: The British Empire , with fighting in the Balkans , Mediterranean, and Middle East , the aerial Battle of Britain and the Blitz , and naval Battle of the Atlantic . Through a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany took control of much of continental Europe and formed the Axis alliance with Italy , Japan , and other countries. In June 1941, Germany led the European Axis in an invasion of

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2530-581: The German Revolution of 1918–1919 , and a democratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic , was created. The interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline opponents on both the political right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made some post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into

2645-853: The German invasion of Poland and the United Kingdom and France 's declaration of war on Germany two days later on 3 September 1939. Dates for the beginning of the Pacific War include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the earlier Japanese invasion of Manchuria , on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor , who stated that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously, and

2760-576: The Italian mainland , and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France at Normandy , while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies westward. At the same time, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled

2875-553: The Japanese Navy and captured key islands . The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories ; the invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the fall of Berlin to Soviet troops; Hitler's suicide ; and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 . Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam Declaration ,

2990-695: The League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but the League did little when the former clearly violated Article X of the League's Covenant . The United Kingdom and France supported imposing sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions were not fully enforced and failed to end the Italian invasion. Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria . When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to

3105-731: The Nationalist rebels , led by General Francisco Franco . Italy supported the Nationalists to a greater extent than the Nazis: Mussolini sent more than 70,000 ground troops, 6,000 aviation personnel, and 720 aircraft to Spain. The Soviet Union supported the existing government of the Spanish Republic . More than 30,000 foreign volunteers, known as the International Brigades , also fought against

3220-690: The Rome–Berlin Axis . A month later, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact , which Italy joined the following year. The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allies and new regional warlords . In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan , which had long sought influence in China as

3335-942: The Sahara Desert , the Sahel , the Kalahari Desert , and the East African Rift : Endorheic lakes exist in Antarctica's McMurdo Dry Valleys , Victoria Land , the largest ice-free area. Much of Western and Central Asia is a giant endorheic region made up of a number of contiguous closed basins. The region contains several basins and terminal lakes, including: Other endorheic lakes and basins in Asia include: Australia , being very dry and having exceedingly low runoff ratios due to its ancient soils, has many endorheic drainages. The most important are: Though

3450-704: The Second World War . Further, exotic plants such as guava , lantana , Grona triflora and Chamaesyce hirta have colonized places that have experienced disturbances . Within this forest, on small parcels of land, are grown fruit trees such as pandan , breadfruit , banana , mango , guava and soursop , as well as vegetables such as cabbage and bitter melon for consumption. Also grown are ylang-ylang , Cassia grandis , Crotalaria spectabilis , Samanea saman , seagrape and, for ornamentation, some Asteraceae such as Ageratum conyzoides and Synedrella nodiflora . The lagoon's depression

3565-590: The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border. Hitler believed that the United Kingdom's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany sooner or later. On 31 July 1940, Hitler decided that

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3680-598: The Stresa Front in April 1935 in order to contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation ; however, that June, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of Eastern Europe , drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect, though, the Franco-Soviet pact

3795-709: The Sudetenland , an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the United Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich Agreement , which was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands. Soon afterwards, Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary, and Poland annexed

3910-707: The Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria , and Chahar and Suiyuan . After the 1936 Xi'an Incident , the Kuomintang and CCP forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war began with

4025-579: The Trans-Olza region of Czechoslovakia. Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement, privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked British and Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939, Germany invaded

4140-558: The Treaty of Craiova . The loss of one-third of Romania's 1939 territory caused a coup against King Carol II, turning Romania into a fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu , with a course set towards the Axis in the hopes of a German guarantee. Meanwhile, German-Soviet political relations and economic co-operation gradually stalled, and both states began preparations for war. In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore from Sweden , which

4255-749: The United Kingdom and France to declare war on Germany. Poland was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , in which they had agreed on " spheres of influence " in Eastern Europe. In 1940, the Soviets annexed the Baltic states and parts of Finland and Romania . After the fall of France in June 1940, the war continued mainly between Germany and

4370-709: The Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium, trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near Lille. The United Kingdom was able to evacuate a significant number of Allied troops from the continent by early June, although they had to abandon almost all their equipment. On 10 June, Italy invaded France , declaring war on both France and

4485-451: The aftermath of World War I and the rise of fascism in Europe and militarism in Japan . Key events leading up to the war included Japan's invasion of Manchuria , the Spanish Civil War , the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War , and Germany's annexations of Austria and the Sudetenland . World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany , under Adolf Hitler , invaded Poland , prompting

4600-543: The only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in 70 to 85 million deaths , more than half being civilians. Millions died in genocides , including the Holocaust of European Jews, as well as from massacres, starvation, and disease. Following the Allied powers' victory, Germany , Austria , Japan , and Korea were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders . The causes of World War II included unresolved tensions in

4715-427: The oriental fruit fly , the Pacific fruit fly and the mango fly, were present before the 2000s and caused considerable damage to farms. The lands around the Buada Lagoon have been affected by these flies, who have found a breeding ground in the many fruit trees grown there. The flies have also been the object of eradication efforts, some of which have met with success, such as the one against the oriental fruit fly, which

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4830-404: The reunification of East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World War   II issues. No formal peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union was ever signed, although the state of war between the two countries was terminated by the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , which also restored full diplomatic relations between them. World War I had radically altered

4945-409: The 20th century, was never exploited. Oval in shape, with a length of roughly 280 m along a north-south axis and a width of about 140 m, and lying some 1,300 m from the seashore, the Buada Lagoon is shallow, with a depth of one or two metres on average, reaching five metres at its deepest, and its average surface level is near sea level. However, the lake's levels can vary considerable as

5060-409: The Allies were attempting to cut off . Denmark capitulated after six hours , and despite Allied support , Norway was conquered within two months. British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain , who was replaced by Winston Churchill on 10   May 1940. On the same day, Germany launched an offensive against France . To circumvent

5175-400: The Axis war against the Soviet Union, in Romania's case partially to recapture territory ceded to the Soviet Union . In early June 1940, the Italian Regia Aeronautica attacked and besieged Malta , a British possession. From late summer to early autumn, Italy conquered British Somaliland and made an incursion into British-held Egypt . In October, Italy attacked Greece , but the attack

5290-421: The Blitz , but largely ended in May 1941 after failing to significantly disrupt the British war effort. Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy , using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic . The British Home Fleet scored a significant victory on 27   May 1941 by sinking the German battleship Bismarck . In November 1939,

5405-472: The Buada Lagoon Swim-up bar and pedicure salon was constructed in the middle of the lake. Open from Thursday to Saturday, it allows customers to swim up to the floating bar and buy drinks or receive treatments. The salon was built with the permission of the local council and locals from nearby Buada village. Endorheic An endorheic basin ( / ˌ ɛ n d oʊ ˈ r iː . ɪ k / EN -doh- REE -ik ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin )

5520-410: The Buada Lagoon in the hopes of getting pisciculture going again and limiting the invasion of mosquitos. Unfortunately, the tilapias multiplied to such an extent that they presented some serious competition to the milkfish being raised in the lagoon, with no milkfish ever reaching a size suitable for harvest, that being some 20 cm (7.9 in) long. This led many fish farmers to give up the trade, as

5635-471: The Buada Lagoon, albeit only slightly more seriously than towards the seashore. These mosquitos, beyond simply being an annoyance to the local populace at dawn, also carry a parasitic illness, filariasis , although the incidence among the local people is not high. The only two predators that feed on these mosquitos are fishes, the milkfish and the gambusia , which feed themselves on the larvae, as well as two species of Odonata . Three species of fruit flies ,

5750-405: The European Axis declaring war on the US. Japan conquered much of coastal China and Southeast Asia , but its advances in the Pacific were halted in mid-1942 after its defeat in the naval Battle of Midway ; Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and

5865-410: The French possessions of Syria and Lebanon , assisted by the Free French . With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union made preparations for war. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany, and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia , the two powers signed

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5980-400: The French word endoréisme , which combines endo- ( Ancient Greek : ἔνδον éndon 'within') and ῥεῖν rheîn 'flow'. Endorheic lakes (terminal lakes) are bodies of water that do not flow into an ocean or a sea. Most of the water that falls to Earth percolates into the oceans and the seas by way of a network of rivers, lakes, and wetlands . Analogous to endorheic lakes is

6095-426: The Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on 6   October . Despite the military defeat, Poland never surrendered; instead, it formed the Polish government-in-exile and a clandestine state apparatus remained in occupied Poland. A significant part of Polish military personnel evacuated to Romania and Latvia; many of them later fought against the Axis in other theatres of

6210-450: The Nationalists. Both Germany and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War   II but generally favoured the Axis . His greatest collaboration with Germany was the sending of volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front . In July 1937, Japan captured

6325-436: The Nauruans for being so rich in fat . Fish farming therefore stood as a social organiser between different tribes: the exploitation was shared by tribes by using low walls, looking after the fish was trusted to men who regularly waded in the waters to keep them oxygenated and filled with nutrients, and children were forbidden to bother the fish when they bathed in the waters. About 1960, Mozambique tilapias were introduced into

6440-410: The Nile species possessed qualities that better appealed to local people's tastes. This meant that pisciculture might be revived in Nauru. At the same time, a Taiwanese project also sought to revive fish farming by using intensive methods of raising fish, but these were nevertheless both given up for want of funds. The failure of these attempts to get the fish farming industry running again then led to

6555-407: The Northern Great Plains are endorheic, and some have salt encrustations along their shores. Some of Earth's ancient endorheic systems and lakes include: Second World War Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions:

6670-452: The Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission after a carrier attack at Taranto , and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan . Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa; at the end of March 1941, Rommel 's Afrika Korps launched an offensive which drove back Commonwealth forces. In less than a month, Axis forces advanced to western Egypt and besieged

6785-423: The Soviet Union occupied the entire territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as the Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region . In August 1940, Hitler imposed the Second Vienna Award on Romania which led to the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In September 1940, Bulgaria demanded Southern Dobruja from Romania with German and Italian support, leading to

6900-421: The Soviet Union , opening the Eastern Front and initially making large territorial gains. Japan aimed to dominate East Asia and the Asia-Pacific , and by 1937 was at war with the Republic of China . In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories in Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific , including Pearl Harbor in Hawaii , which resulted in the US and the UK declaring war against Japan, and

7015-418: The Soviet Union and Mongolia . The Japanese doctrine of Hokushin-ron , which emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the Imperial Army during this time. This policy would prove difficult to maintain in light of the Japanese defeat at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War and ally Nazi Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets. Japan and the Soviet Union eventually signed

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7130-575: The Soviet Union should be eliminated and aimed for the conquest of Ukraine , the Baltic states and Byelorussia . However, other senior German officials like Ribbentrop saw an opportunity to create a Euro-Asian bloc against the British Empire by inviting the Soviet Union into the Tripartite Pact. In November 1940, negotiations took place to determine if the Soviet Union would join the pact. The Soviets showed some interest but asked for concessions from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan that Germany considered unacceptable. On 18 December 1940, Hitler issued

7245-402: The US dropped the first atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago , the possibility of further atomic bombings, and the Soviet declaration of war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria , Japan announced its unconditional surrender on 15 August and signed a surrender document on 2 September 1945 , marking

7360-424: The United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence ; when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece . Shortly after the Franco - British pledge to Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel . Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and renounced

7475-489: The United Kingdom attacked on 3   July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany. The air Battle of Britain began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours . The German campaign for air superiority started in August but its failure to defeat RAF Fighter Command forced the indefinite postponement of the proposed German invasion of Britain . The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with night attacks on London and other cities in

7590-401: The United Kingdom. The Germans turned south against the weakened French army, and Paris fell to them on 14   June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany ; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones , and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime , which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which

7705-473: The United States was assisting China and the Western Allies, and had amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies. In 1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased . In September the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases . Still, a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention in

7820-434: The Yellow River ; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan , but the city was taken by October. Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead, the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war. In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border clashes with

7935-493: The balance between tectonic subsidence and rates of evaporation and sedimentation. Where the basin floor is dropping more rapidly than water and sediments can accumulate, any lake in the basin will remain below the sill level (the level at which water can find a path out of the basin). Low rainfall or rapid evaporation in the watershed favor this case. In areas where rainfall is higher, riparian erosion will generally carve drainage channels (particularly in times of flood), or cause

8050-408: The basin, eventually making the water saline and also making the basin vulnerable to pollution. Continents vary in their concentration of endorheic regions due to conditions of geography and climate. Australia has the highest percentage of endorheic regions at 21 per cent while North America has the least at five per cent. Approximately 18 per cent of the Earth's land drains to endorheic lakes or seas,

8165-405: The capital Nanking in December 1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese . In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang , but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May. In June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding

8280-441: The centre-west of Buada District . Girded by a road, the lakeshore is made up of private residential properties where fruit trees are grown, such as pandan , breadfruit , banana , mango , guava and soursop , and along with those such vegetables as cabbage and bitter melon . These households together form the community of Arenibek . Since the island's sewage treatment and household waste collection are not very efficient,

8395-412: The centuries, and even though this practice was given up in the 1960s, it has lately seen efforts to revive it, despite the lagoon's water pollution. The Buada Lagoon, which is found in the southwest of the plateau that spreads over most of the central part of the island of Nauru, lies in the middle of a swampy depression of 12 hectares. This karstic bowl, dominated in the northwest by Command Ridge ,

8510-537: The class of bodies of water located in closed watersheds (endorheic watersheds) where the local topography prevents the drainage of water into the oceans and the seas. These endorheic watersheds (containing water in rivers or lakes that form a balance of surface inflows, evaporation and seepage) are often called sinks. Endorheic lakes are typically located in the interior of a landmass, far from an ocean, and in areas of relatively low rainfall. Their watersheds are often confined by natural geologic land formations such as

8625-403: The conflict well into 1941. In December 1940, Roosevelt accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled out any negotiations as useless, calling for the United States to become an " arsenal of democracy " and promoting Lend-Lease programmes of military and humanitarian aid to support the British war effort; Lend-Lease was later extended to the other Allies, including the Soviet Union after it

8740-526: The creation of a " New Roman Empire ". Adolf Hitler , after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 when Paul von Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing a radical, racially motivated revision of

8855-564: The degree that a lake no longer forms. Even most permanent endorheic lakes change size and shape dramatically over time, often becoming much smaller or breaking into several smaller parts during the dry season. As humans have expanded into previously uninhabitable desert areas, the river systems that feed many endorheic lakes have been altered by the construction of dams and aqueducts. As a result, many endorheic lakes in developed or developing countries have contracted dramatically, resulting in increased salinity, higher concentrations of pollutants, and

8970-440: The disruption of ecosystems. Even within exorheic basins, there can be "non-contributing", low-lying areas that trap runoff and prevent it from contributing to flows downstream during years of average or below-average runoff. In flat river basins, non-contributing areas can be a large fraction of the river basin, e.g. Lake Winnipeg 's basin. A lake may be endorheic during dry years and can overflow its basin during wet years, e.g.,

9085-757: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires. To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was established in 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference . The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military, and naval disarmament , as well as settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration. Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War   I , irredentist and revanchist nationalism had emerged in several European states. These sentiments were especially marked in Germany because of

9200-662: The end of May completed the German conquest of the Balkans. Partisan warfare subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia , which continued until the end of the war. In the Middle East in May, Commonwealth forces quashed an uprising in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria . Between June and July, British-led forces invaded and occupied

9315-511: The end of the war. World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the world, and it set the foundation of international relations for the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st century. The United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the US—becoming

9430-502: The establishment in 2001 of a semi-intensive aquaculture programme, also Taiwanese, which involved building concrete basins 20 by 10 by 1.5 metres (65.6 ft × 32.8 ft × 4.9 ft). These were equipped with oxygenators, nets and specially adapted feeding. The idea was to allow fish farmers to raise milkfish using seawater, and without having to share the water with tilapias. Buada Lagoon, Nauru's only inhabited inland area, with some 660 inhabitants living around it, lies in

9545-631: The first step of what its government saw as the country's right to rule Asia , staged the Mukden incident as a pretext to invade Manchuria and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo . China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai , Rehe and Hebei , until

9660-835: The former Tulare Lake . Because the Earth's climate has recently been through a warming and drying phase with the end of the Ice Ages, many endorheic areas such as Death Valley that are now dry deserts were large lakes relatively recently. During the last ice age, the Sahara may have contained lakes larger than any now existing. Climate change coupled with the mismanagement of water in these endorheic regions has led to devastating losses in ecosystem services and toxic surges of pollutants. The desiccation of saline lakes produces fine dust particles that impair agriculture productivity and harm human health. Anthropogenic activity has also caused

9775-864: The former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge incident , which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China. The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior cooperation with Germany . From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan , engaged the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou , and fought Communist forces in Pingxingguan . Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai , but after three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push Chinese forces back, capturing

9890-405: The gambusia to help eradicate mosquitos. In certain years, Nauruans traditionally practised pisciculture by catching milkfish in the island's inshore waters (by some definitions, the actual lagoon, just behind the offshore coral reefs) and releasing them into the Buada Lagoon and another such body of water at Anabar . Indeed, the fish thus raised have long been considered a high-quality food by

10005-525: The invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia ) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy ( Regno d'Italia ), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea . The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa ( Africa Orientale Italiana , or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of

10120-403: The island's highest point, came about as a result of sagging of the ground, itself arising from dissolving coral limestone, the mineral that makes up a great part of the plateau's rocks in the form of pinnacles, among which phosphate ore, of a high level of purity, is found. The lagoon's basin, though, is the only region of the plateau where the ore, which was the mainstay of Nauru's economy through

10235-463: The island's plateau. This species likes shrubby areas in the tropical rainforest , farms and gardens, including the area around Buada Lagoon, which are associated with those three habitats. Three fish species are found in the Buada Lagoon: milkfish , Mozambique tilapia and gambusia , those last two having been introduced to Nauru, the tilapia to afford the local people a new food source, and

10350-510: The lake becomes polluted with both sewage and rubbish from the shore residents, which leads to contamination from Escherichia coli . Despite these threats of environmental degradation , no protective measures are being undertaken, even though Buada Lagoon would seem to meet the criteria of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. However, Nauru is not a signatory to that treaty. More recently, in June 2022,

10465-493: The lake is not joined to the sea, but its water is slightly brackish. Freshwater is rare in Nauru, being present only in the form of a small phreatic zone , the Moqua Well (a small underground lake) and the Buada Lagoon, which is the most visible, rivers and streams being utterly absent from the country. The lake has traditionally been used for pisciculture , which saw the raising of milkfish for human consumption through

10580-414: The lake's edge to a great extent represents a relic of the tropical forest that occupied 90 per cent of the island before the phosphate ore began to be exploited in the 20th century. Covering 40 hectares (99 acres) and growing on a fertile, waterlogged soil, it is made up mostly of tamanu ( Calophyllum inophyllum ) along with a few Rubiaceae like Guettarda speciosa . There is also: The undergrowth

10695-582: The lake's surface; this is a highly toxic molecule , particularly to fish, and dangerous to humans, but also biodegradable. The lake was thus temporarily poisoned. In 1991, the FAO's "South Pacific Aquaculture Development Project" (SPADP) showed that it was possible that the milkfish and the tilapia could coexist in fish farming. The FAO thus introduced in 1998 Nile tilapias into the Buada Lagoon, an experiment much like one carried out in Fiji that had been able to show

10810-422: The largest of these land areas being the interior of Asia. In deserts, water inflow is low and loss to solar evaporation high, drastically reducing the formation of complete drainage systems . In the extreme case, where there is no discernible drainage system, the basin is described as arheic . Closed water flow areas often lead to the concentration of salts and other minerals in the basin. Minerals leached from

10925-462: The ocean. In general, water basins with subsurface outflows that lead to the ocean are not considered endorheic; but cryptorheic . Endorheic basins constitute local base levels , defining a limit of the erosion and deposition processes of nearby areas. Endorheic water bodies include the Caspian Sea , which is the world's largest inland body of water. The term endorheic derives from

11040-502: The permanent members of its security council . The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers , setting the stage for the Cold War . In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia . Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion . World War II began in Europe on 1 September 1939 with

11155-589: The political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers —including Austria-Hungary , Germany , Bulgaria , and the Ottoman Empire —and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia , which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I , such as France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new nation-states were created out of

11270-599: The port of Tobruk . By late March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact ; however, the Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later by pro-British nationalists. Germany and Italy responded with simultaneous invasions of both Yugoslavia and Greece , commencing on 6 April 1941; both nations were forced to surrender within the month. The airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete at

11385-722: The remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state , the Slovak Republic . Hitler also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March 1939, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region , formerly the German Memelland . Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig ,

11500-410: The significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles . Under the treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas possessions , while German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed forces . The German Empire was dissolved in

11615-447: The start or prelude to World War II. The exact date of the war's end also is not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 ( V-J Day ), rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which officially ended the war in Asia . A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was signed in 1951. A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed

11730-593: The strong Maginot Line fortifications on the Franco-German border, Germany directed its attack at the neutral nations of Belgium , the Netherlands , and Luxembourg . The Germans carried out a flanking manoeuvre through the Ardennes region, which was mistakenly perceived by the Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured vehicles. By successfully implementing new Blitzkrieg tactics,

11845-599: The surrounding rocks are deposited in the basin, and left behind when the water evaporates. Thus endorheic basins often contain extensive salt pans (also called salt flats, salt lakes, alkali flats , dry lake beds, or playas). These areas tend to be large, flat hardened surfaces and are sometimes used for aviation runways , or land speed record attempts, because of their extensive areas of perfectly level terrain. Both permanent and seasonal endorheic lakes can form in endorheic basins. Some endorheic basins are essentially stable because climate change has reduced precipitation to

11960-537: The tilapias themselves were not very good to eat. To set this ecological blunder right, a number of attempts were made, some meeting with no success, and others even worsening an already bad situation. So the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), at Nauru's request, from 1979 and 1980 put in place a programme to reduce the tilapia population. This programme entailed spreading rotenone on

12075-585: The two wars became World War II in 1941. Other proposed starting dates for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War   II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939. Others view the Spanish Civil War as

12190-513: The war were not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian , and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist, left-wing, and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy aimed at making Italy a world power, promising

12305-475: The war. Germany annexed western Poland and occupied central Poland ; the Soviet Union annexed eastern Poland ; small shares of Polish territory were transferred to Lithuania and Slovakia . On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France, which

12420-495: The water level in the terminal lake to rise until it finds an outlet, breaking the enclosed endorheic hydrological system's geographical barrier and opening it to the surrounding terrain. The Black Sea was likely such a lake, having once been an independent hydrological system before the Mediterranean Sea broke through the terrain separating the two. Lake Bonneville was another such lake, overflowing its basin in

12535-512: The west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Wehrmacht . Remnants of the Polish army broke through to besieged Warsaw . On 17 September 1939, two days after signing a cease-fire with Japan , the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the supposed pretext that the Polish state had ceased to exist. On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to

12650-707: The world order , and soon began a massive rearmament campaign . France, seeking to secure its alliance with Italy, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia , which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription. The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed

12765-614: Was invaded by Germany. The United States started strategic planning to prepare for a full-scale offensive against Germany. At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and Germany as the Axis powers . The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country—with the exception of the Soviet Union—that attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three. The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary , Slovakia , and Romania joined. Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to

12880-415: Was eliminated in 1999. Birds, particularly seabirds, are Nauru's most visible animals, and some stop there in great numbers during their migration or for nesting. Only one bird species, the Nauru reed warbler , is endemic , but it is threatened with extinction by habitat destruction, even though it has been colonising areas recently reforested now that phosphate deposits are no longer being exploited on

12995-456: Was postponed until the spring of 1940 due to bad weather. After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania with military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts allowing the creation of Soviet military bases in these countries; in October 1939, significant Soviet military contingents were moved there. Finland refused to sign

13110-772: Was repulsed with heavy Italian casualties; the campaign ended within months with minor territorial changes. To assist Italy and prevent Britain from gaining a foothold, Germany prepared to invade the Balkans, which would threaten Romanian oil fields and strike against British dominance of the Mediterranean. In December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa . The offensives were successful; by early February 1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with

13225-673: Was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless. The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August of the same year. Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement . In October 1936, Germany and Italy formed

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